[XTA] The Wild One

Before I go on an expedition, I always make sure I have everything. From my tent, to food supply, and writing equipment. One can say I take too many precautions, but I never know how long I will be gone, nor that I know what I will meet along the way.

So here I am, with my equipment nicely tied to my back, exploring the wood, in hope of finding a red spider web. My goal was to find some Knotty Spider to study. I was always curious to learn about the animal living around our world. I've recently learned about this particular species, so I wanted to study them myself.

Since spiders tend to be more active at night, I looked for their webs during the day, so I would not disturb them. Once I've found webbing, I decided to install my tent in the area. Not to close in case they were territorial, but not too far so I could still observe them.

After I was set, I spend the rest of the day resting.

Before going out for the night, I took my note book with me, and went to watch the spider.

The first specimen I observer didn't seam to be bothered by my presence. It just stayed there on the tree. I was taking notes about its body structure, when I started hearing movement in the forest. I looked around, but didn't see anything so I continued writing.

Then, there is was again, it sounded as if something were moving towards me, but when I moved my head to the side of the tree to look around. I could only see the trees and a few spiders. I was starting to think my imagination was playing trick on me. Still there was a part of me that felt uneasy about this.

It took several minutes before I heard it again, I didn't expecting to see anything as I moved around to take a look. It happened so fast, I had just arrived to the side of the tree. When a Mhoat rose on its hind leg, and growled at me. I screamed with fear, without thinking I walked backwards, witch was a bad idea, it took only a few steps before my foot bumped on a tree root and sent me falling to the ground. When I landed, I heard and felt my armour breaking. I could hear the furred Mhoat moving around, I had no idea what it was doing, but it didn't matter at the moment. I manage to sit despite the pain. Then took a look at my injurie, it wasn't pretty, but it wasn't life threatening.

Then I heard the stranger coming closer to me, and when I looked up I saw that it was carrying a spider on itself. I was quite confused by this, but didn't dear moving. It took the arachnide and gently placed it near the opening. I watched the spider as it weaved over the opening, closing the opening as it did so.

As the spider tended to my injury, I could hear the feral Mhoat sniffing around, I had no idea what it was looking for, and it was not like I could help it. When it came back, it was carrying my bag of provision with its mouth. It put the bag close to me and took the spider back, then walked away.

I panicked a bit and yelled: Wait.

It simply turned it head at me and growled softly. It wasn't like the first grow I head, this one didn't sound menacing. I must say that I was confused but this reaction, but thinking about it, I'm realizing that I never heard this Mhoat pronounce a single word. Maybe it was simply unable to talk?

It continued on it way, and I decided to take some food to eat. Once I felt better, I looked for my note book, and found it near the tree where I had studied a spider.

A looked around a bit, hoping I would see the wild Mhoat one last time. I could only see it silhouettes and faint glow in the distance. I decided to put some of my food near the tree as a gift to it. I didn't know if it would get the meaning of it, but a small part of me hoped it would understand that I was sorry that I invaded it territory and that I was thankful for it assistance.

Then I left, promising myself that one day I will come back here.