Chapter 12

Natalie decided to roast the hare with a touch of rosemary. On her way back to camp with her delectable morsel, she kept a eye out for anything that she did not have any of yet in her Soulscape. Better to be prepared to face the worst and collect a little of everything that you can, then need something later on and not have any. By the time she got back to her camp, Nat had a veritable forest growing inside. All that was missing was a motley of smaller creatures to make the forest truly come alive. As she started dressing the rabbit, she had an idea. She wasn't able to put items into her Soulscape that were already there. She noticed this with the branches. However she had not tried changing the object that she put in. Getting Kali to summon another hare in there, she attempted to get the pelt she had just skinned into her. Much to her delight, the pelt entered without any issue. Now if she just kept skinning any of her hunts, she could have a comfy bed set up in no time.

She was pulled out of her daydream of a pelt bed by her stomach rumbling at her. Doubling down, she finished dressing and preparing the hare as fast as she could. Thankfully, it was a simple recipe, one that her father had taught her when he took her on a hunting trip. Just few herbs, seared over a campfire on a rotisserie. Simple, yet really tasteful. And if you could not finish it all, it was safe to leave out, as nothing in it was poisonous to animals. Her father was the one that taught her how to survive and hunt, and was the one that inspired her to pursue a job the helped animals.

Lighting the fire took no time at all, and she quickly got the hare roasting. It let off the most delectable scents as it cooked over the open fire. Just as she finished cooking the hare and had put it on her plate, she got surprised by Kali suddenly poking her head out of her chest. 'Look good. Smell good. Taste good?' the questioning caught her off guard, but she figured that if she could look in, it would make sense for the wolves to be able to look out.

"I think it tastes good. How about you take it inside, share it with your pups, and let me know what you think. Then please bring out another one, as I am still quite hungry." Natalie's stomach rumbled, almost as if to help accentuate her point. She watched Kali seize the roasted hare in her mouth, before disappearing back inside the Soulscape. Nat did not even have to look inside to know their impression of it, as the pups relentlessly called out 'Tasty, tasty!' over and over again after eating it. Next thing she knew, Kali's paw had extended back out her chest, with a brand new hare, still sizzling as if it had just come off the fire. 'Huh, guess things save the temperature at the moment they are brought in. Sounds like I am able to get some ice and snow in there then.'

Quickly finishing off the hare, she cleaned up her cooking area and utensils. Since the hare itself was large enough to feed six people comfortably, she just sent the rest of the hare into herself, where it was consumed with haste by the wolves. 'Try not to spoil your pups with that too much, wouldn't want them to become lazy and unable to hunt.' She sent to Kali. After receiving a feeling of affirmation, followed by five individual feelings of disappointment, she giggled to herself as she imagined them being lectured by their mother about the importance to maintain ones hunting ability was. When she headed down to the pond to wash everything up, she got one of the pups to bring some of the water inside, before bringing that same amount back out. After taking a look, Natalie was satisfied when she saw a medium size pond had become an installation on the landscape.

Finishing her clean up, Natalie continued her journey through the wooded area. She collected some bigger rocks that would be perfect for laying around and sunbathing on, many more varieties of plant life, and some fallen trees, to both use as potential building materials and a large source of firewood. One of the trees that she grabbed was even the one that pinned Kali the night before. After it was brought in, it may or may not have been scratched up in revenge. We will refuse to make any comments or answer any questions at this time.

When the time for dinner had finally rolled around, Natalie's Soulscape looked almost picturesque. There was an outcropping of rocks, a pond, trees with smaller brush around its bases, a solid start to a meadow that was sprawling between the three. The wolves were lounging about for the most part, except for two that were playing tag. Through this game, she realized that the wolves couldn't be hurt inside there. How else would you explain a pup taking a fall off of a rock that would break its neck, and then just run around and have fun as if nothing happened. As far as she or Kali could tell, there was no damage anywhere. However, after a day full of walking around the forest and mountainside, Nat was exhausted and did not feel up to cooking anything different. She just got Kali to pop out another roasted hare for her, and surprised herself by eating all of it in just one sitting.

Doing a quick tidy of the camp, she headed back into her tent and immediately crawled into her sleeping bag. As soon as she closed her eyes she was asleep. As she woke up the next morning, she was not surprised in the slightest to find that the wolves had once again joined her and made the sleeping bag full yet comfy once more. Sighing in relief at the warm fur all around her, she laid there for another half hour just enjoying the sensation. Finally feeling a need to get up, Nat woke up the wolves, put on her boots and walked out her tent. As she looked around to see if anything was out of place, there was one thing that seemed off to her. A giant plume of smoke was rising into the clouds in the distance. As her mind woke up, she realized what seemed off about this most of all. That smoke, was coming from the direction of Waterton!

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times.