To Be Wild

Domitius, Anit and Solomon were walking across the Taniya Mountains, Solomon’s handler Dahlia still mounted on his back and leading them across the mountain peaks to a more ideal location to set them off on their way to completing their second Rite.
  For a week Domitius, Anit and Solomon were expected to survive in the wild with little to no help from Dahlia unless in dire situations. As such, Dahlia would be close by but wouldn’t aide them in retrieving food. For now, she was merely showing them where they would call home for a week.
  With her, she has a sack containing medicines and bandages as well as some emergency rations and a water skin of water. Mostly for her seeing as Anit, Solomon and Domitius could eat the snow for hydration.
  When they were at the peak of the mountain, with no sources of food or water in sight and no shelter to be found Dahlia dismounted from Solomon’s back and took the saddle off of him, patting his side gently. “Right. You’re on your own now,” she said and even smiled at Anit and Domitius.
  Solomon glanced at Dahlia and then looked to his side where Anit and Domitius stood in confusion. “I think our Rite starts now…?”
  Anit looked around with a slight scowl on her face. “Are we meant to be living here?”
  “I hope not,” Domitius chimed in, peering down the mountainside at the forests below them. “I don’t think we’ll find anything to eat up here.”
  “I think that’s the point,” when Anit and Domitius looked to Solomon he looked back at Dahlia who was standing there and waiting patiently. “I think we’re meant to look for food and shelter to survive the week.”
  Anit looked to Dahlia and then looked around her. “So, she led is here for…?”
  “To make it difficult.”
  “To help us,” Solomon corrected Domitius and looked around himself; at the viewpoint, they now had high at the peak of the Taniya Mountains. “At least, as much as she can, anyway. Our only access to water right now is just the snow, but we have choices of where to go for food and shelter, we just need to go to it.”
  Domitius walked closer to the edge and looked down and around them. “So this is our vantage point? To… See where we could find food and shelter?”
  “I think so.”
  Anit went to the opposite side of the mountain from where the other two males were standing and looked around on her side. The wind rushed up the side of the mountain to ruffle the fur around her face and mane and she frowned slightly. She could see the faint stretch of land from the Aniriit Valley – not the best of places to go for food but a good choice if there wasn’t anywhere else.
  Solomon picked out the infamous White Forest – a no go even if they were desperate – and further ahead was the Vernant Valley. Not the best places to go for food, he had to admit.
  “The Superiors isn’t that far from here,” Domitius suddenly said, drawing Anit’s and Solomon’s attention to where he was looking towards.
  “You’re right.”
  “Would it be a good place to find shelter, though?” Anit tilted her head and looked up at the two Tokotas taller than her.
  Solomon nodded. “There should be a few places to rest. I mean, we don’t need to find a cave or den; somewhere that can give us some shelter from the snow should suffice. Unless you two would prefer a cave or den…?”
  “If we were going to be spending more than a week out I would say yes, but since it is only a week I see no problem with being out in the elements.” Came the reply from Domitius and beside him, Anit nodded in agreement.
  “Alright. Then we’ll just have to climb down the mountain and make our way to the Superiors.”
  “What about food?”
  “We can settle that when we find shelter,” Domitius told Anit for Solomon, looking out at at the land beneath them. “We might find some sources of food when we go looking for shelter.”
  Anit nodded slowly and peered down the mountain for a way down, her ears tilted forward slightly.
  Behind them, Dahlia stood to the side and watched them. From their snorts and chuffs, she knew they were conversing in their own way though she hoped they knew what they were doing and why there were here. She soon watched as Solomon began to lead the way down the mountain and she moved to follow after them, making sure there was a good metre or two gap between her and the Tokotas.
  When they reached the foot of the mountain the three Tokotas stood still to get their bearings, looking around and scenting the air. Once they knew which way to go, Anit and Domitius began to head towards the Superiors while Solomon waited behind them to ensure Dahlia was managing to keep up with them.
  While she may not be able to help them and they were mostly meant to be surviving the week on their own, Solomon didn’t want her getting lost or finding herself in danger without him knowing. When he saw she was safe or that she was managing to keep up he would move to his own pace.
  The snow was less here as the evergreens offered some shelter for the forest floor from the weight of the snow that bent their branches.
  They found berry bushes that didn’t appear nor smell poisonous though neither of the three was looking forward to spending an entire week consuming berries, especially as they needed a sufficient supply of food to keep them warm and strong to survive. The berries, they decided, would be for emergencies when they needed to eat something to keep going. Otherwise, they would continue looking for another source of food.
  When they reached the Superiors their main focus was set to finding shelter; it didn’t matter that it was open and only that it could offer a way to keep out of the cold or keep the snow from falling on them. A cluster of sapling evergreens whose branches were close to the ground became their sleeping shelter for the week.
  Once they marked their new home so that they didn’t lose it and to avoid others coming to claim it, they decided to split up in their search for food, though this was quickly shut down by Anit.
  “We can’t do that,” she said with a frown. “How are we going to signal each other when we do find food? If we make a noise we may spook them into running.”
  Domitius paused and slowly dropped his head. “You’re right…”
  “So then we’ll move as one. Three heads and six eyes is better than one, I suppose.” Solomon turned his head to look back at Dahlia. She was still hanging back away from them and was already setting up her own little makeshift tent for her own shelter. She smiled at him when she noticed he was looking at her.
  Solomon, Domitius and Anit set off together to find a source of food that wasn’t berries. There was no chance of them running into deer around the Winter season as they had all migrated. But rather than coming across a herd of deer or a warren of rabbits… they instead sighted a few moose and mountain goats.
  While the chances of them hanging around were slim it did mean that there was some unconventional prey wandering around the Superiors that they could hunt down and consume when they needed to.
  As they had been travelling for quite some time with no stops to rest or even eat, Solomon, Domitius and Antic went ahead to take down a mountain goat to an evening meal before they retired for the night.

  The week they spent in the wilderness with Solomon’s handler, Dahlia, being there only for emergencies the three Tokotas had gone through the week as well as most Tokotas would.
  Their source of food wasn’t as secure as they had hoped; they had to go beyond where they had been before to find mountain lions, a yak, and even tempted fate by attacking and killing a cow. Whether it was owned or not they weren’t sure, but seeing as the cow was near frozen and malnourished they doubted the cow would be missed any time soon.
  Neither of them acquired any injuries – though Antic had almost fallen down a badger hole that had been dug out from a rather enthusiastic predator scouting out the warren for prey. She had been pulled out tail-first by Domitius because Solomon had been far too busy howling with laughter at the sight of a small brown butt sticking out amongst a field of white.
  At the dawn of their last day, Dahlia approached them at last and hugged Solomon with all her might with pride swelling in her chest.
  “One more Rite to do,” she told him and he glanced at his two companions, blinking the sleep from their eyes.
  “Ready to get going?”