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She didn't tell either her aunt or now Selina what exactly had happened. He didn't press the issue, but he wondered why she wouldn't. Not that it really mattered. He came back around the horses again to stand near Tisha and wait.

Selina gave a curt nod to Marco, watching as he unnotched the bolt and put it away, then moved past her to Brute. She gave her head a shake as she wondered... "What the hell are you doing up here, Tisha? Why aren't you back at home in the city with your family?"

Tisha gave a half sob at Selina's unintentionally cruel words. She wasn't sure how bad off it was for her family, since Marco hadn't told her, and she needed to get to the cabin before she let herself crumble. Too much was at stake for them to be free of what had happened to her, and she didn't want to bring it up in the first place, though she knew she would have to at some point.

Finally, she turned to her mare, her words to Selina low, but easily heard by both the cat and the husky. "Power's gone in the city, maybe everywhere. Aunt Melanie's stables had no lights either. I don't know what happened to my family yet. I...I don't want to know until I know I'm safe, and that's when we get to the cabin. Melanie and Brielle are gonna come meet us up there in about a week with the wagon."

She looked over her shoulder at the cat, and grinned. "I can smell the tupaarnaq in your pouch. If you gather some more, and stuff to add, I can make a stew from the rabbit and squirrel for dinner for the three of us to share."

Selina's words made the fur on the back of Marco's neck bristle, that at the half sob that Tisha let out. He wanted to put an arm around her, but didn't think she would appreciate it in this instance and he decided to leave that impulse alone. He did look over at her with a concerned expression though, and then looked back at the cat. "Like she said, the power's out... It's getting bad in the city. The criminals are out and about and taking advantage of the situation. The safest thing to do was get the hell out of dodge while we still could."

Selina knew when to take advantage of Tisha, and this was a perfect time to do so, getting a good meal. She cocked her head as she looked at Tisha, though. "Tuparnak? What the hell are you saying, girl? And damn straight you're gonna cook for me."

Tisha rolled her eyes at Selina's obvious desire for someone else to cook for her. "Wild thyme, ya dense kitty. Get more of it, I can use it to make the stew better. Also get some wild onions and wild carrots. Anything else you can to make it a thick stew, cause I don't want to make too much and let it go to waste."

She gave a look to Marco and said, "The English version, not the Lakota. We'll get another hare or something similarly small to add to the meat in the stew."

Marco didn't say much while the kitty and Tisha bantered back and forth. He just kept his eyes and ears open, mouthing the word 'tupaarnaq' under his breath after she repeated it. HE saw that this cat was trying to take advantage of Tisha, but he also saw that she probably knew what was going on and was going along with it. He had rather hoped to talk to her once they reached the cabin, but if they had a guest... His thoughts trailed away as she made that joke and he laughed, shaking his head at the joke that only they knew.

Selina nodded. "I'll go play gatherer, while the two of you play hunters. I'll find the camp you set up tonight." With that said, the cat seemed to meld into the woods, vanishing swiftly from sight.

Tisha mounted her mare, smiling down at Marco. "Shall we go hunt up another hare for dinner tonight? And don't worry, Selina is not the type to stay in a house for very long. She loves the wild. When we get to the cabin, which won't be until tomorrow, we'll have privacy to figure out what we're going to do."

Marco nodded up at Tisha. "Alright, that's fine... how did you even know that I was wondering about her staying with us?" He asked, as he patted her mare and walked around it over to his own horse. He mounted swiftly, and adjusted his crossbow so that he could be on the ready in case he saw a hare before she did. He wouldn't have minded showing off his skills with the crossbow as well.

Tisha grinned down at him, despite the severity of the situation they found themselves in. "Selina is enough for most people after just fifteen minutes after meeting her. But she's really good with knowing what is edible food and what isn't. Which is another reason I asked her to get us the tupaarnaq, wild onions, wild carrots and other kinds of food for the wahapi." This time, the word sounded similar to the way she'd said 'good' in Lakota earlier, and it was pronounced, Wa-hahn-pee.

She waited for him to repeat the word, as she had with the others, then nodded. "We'll need to collect some ca for the peta after we find a site to camp in for the night." These two words were pronounced chahn and pay-dah.

He laughed softly and nodded, "I can see what you mean, she does tend to grate on the nerves." He shook his head and mounted, and once they were moving again his learning of the language resumed, with him repeating each word that she said, ending with 'Ca' and 'Peta'. He deduced what she meant, saying, "Wood for the fire?"

Tisha broke into a full smile, almost laughing with pleasure at how quickly he was picking up the language. "Exactly. You're catching on well. Your pronunciation is great, and you're even getting the meanings before I tell you what they are."

She gave her mare a gentle nudge and the horse picked up her pace, trotting forward. "Think you can fire from a trot? I'd give you a tougher challenge, but with the three horses tied to ours, it wouldn't be very feasible. Maybe after we get to the cabin we can go hunting without the extra sukawaka, and get some bigger meat." The new word was pronounced shuen-kah-wah-kahn.

He chuckled and nodded. "Thanks. I've always been a quick learner. I find it fascinating that your family has done this." He picked up his own horses' pace and after he had matched her own, he hefted his crossbow. "I'm sure I can, though I've not used a crossbow as much as I'm sure you have. If I was using a pistol or rifle, I would say for certain." He laughed and shook his head.

After they rode on a moment, he repeated the word she gave him. "That's after we've tied off the horses, we can go out and hunt for a deer or something, right?" He grinned.

Tisha nodded. "We can get a tahca." Again her pronunciation was spot on, the word sounding like dah-gchah. "Probably better to get a tabloka." The word rolled off her tongue as dah-bloh-kah. "For them, I can dry the meat and make wakablapi." Wah-kahn-blah-pee was how this newest word was said, and each new word was said slowly enough for him to understand how to say it.

"Plus, I can skin the animal and we can use the skins of the animals for clothing, and if it's an animal with thick fur, like a bear, we can make blankets. While you might have your own fur coat, Brielle, Melanie and I are human, no extra fur to keep us warm," she said with a laugh in her voice as she reached over to rub his arm.

After a few minutes, she spotted a hare, and waited to see if Marco saw it as well. While she knew she could get a shot off, she did want to see how fast Marco spotted it and reacted to the meal on the side of the road. She lifted her eyes some from the hare, not trying to draw attention to it, but she figured if he didn't get it, she would.

Marco was, at first, stumped by the three words which she spoke. Then he realized that perhaps what she was saying was Deer, repeating him first of all... then continuing on about...probably a buck. And what could you make with deer meat that was dried? Jerky of course. He grinned and repeated the words, then told her what he thought the meanings were.

He smiled when she touched his arm, and he looked over at her for a moment, then back to their trail. The horses were trotting along at a good pace, and he wished they could reach the cabin that night. Those clouds on the horizon hadn't gotten any lighter, and the sun would be setting in a few hours. He was about to mention the clouds when his eyes snapped to movement in the grass, and without a moment's hesitation, he snapped up the crossbow, loaded an arrow, and let fly.

His aim was true and the animal squeaked once as it was hit with the powerful bolt, falling dead. He grinned and reined in his horse, slipping down from the saddle to go claim his first kill with the bow. "Pretty good shot, if I do say so myself," he laughed, carrying it back over and tying it to his saddle. He mounted again, and then said, "Do you know any good places to camp tonight? Those clouds look like they're going to dump one hell of a storm."

Already the wind had picked up a bit and was cooler, coming down from the mountains ahead of them.

Tisha watched with a bit of amazement in his speed in shooting the hare, despite not being as practiced with the crossbow as she was. And it wasn't like when she'd shot hers, while they were walking. "Usually we head out a little earlier in the day than we did today, so maybe about another thirty minutes at a walk, but say fifteen by the pace we've been keeping to today. There's a cave, just large enough for five plus horses. It's where we normally stop at on the way up."

As they kept riding, she spotted another hare and quickly shot it and hopped down to snag it up before remounting on the fly and tying it to her saddle. "I'll make us some jerky from one of these rabbits for tomorrow, and we'll give the rest of the jerky from it to Selina. The other two and the squirrel will go into the stew with whatever she brings to the campfire."

She looked over at him, sighing softly. "A cave might not be the best place to camp, since there's only one way in and out, trapping us inside if anyone starts anything with us, but with a storm coming, it will give us a way to keep a fire going to keep us warm enough. Plus, with just one way in and out, we can defend our possessions easier than out in the open."

Marco was proud of the way he had handled the crossbow. He found that in reality, it wasn't much different than shooting a gun, just that the projectile couldn't move as far or quite as fast. It was more reliable though, since you could retrieve the spent arrow, clean it and use it again.

He nodded at the information she gave him. "You're right, a cave will be good enough. Not to mention that I'm sure there aren't all that many people that are wandering the hills here below the mountains, unless lots of people have tried to get out of the city, which I'm sure some have. Still though, it seems unlikely that any would find our lonely little cave." He shrugged.

Tisha kept the mares going towards where she remembered the cave being, and soon enough, it came into view. Pulling up her mare, she dismounted, then headed into the cave, leading the three female horses and leaving him to follow her inside the cave. It was easily ten feet tall, and a cleared circle was lined with stones, for a firepit, though it didn't look like it had been cleaned out since the last time her family had been up there.

Looking over her shoulder as she lead the mares to the area cordoned off for the horses, she chuckled. "I'll make you a deal, Marco. You go get us some firewood, from kindling on up to good sized pieces to burn through the night, and I'll get the horses unsaddled and everything set up for dinner."

"Knew I forgot something... an axe," he laughed, as he led his own horses inside. He dismounted and led them by hand back to the area for them. "You have a deal though. Don't leave the cave and holler if you need help. I won't be too far away." He smiled and turned, walking back out of the cave, past the fire pit.

The wind was getting downright cold now, and the clouds were rolling in fast. Shadows had begun to lengthen as even the sun began to get overcast. He hurried as he left the cave, walking across the path into the brush and undergrowth to look for dead wood, sticks, branches and everything they could use for firewood. This was a forest, so it wouldn't be too hard to find what they needed.

She grinned at his words, calling out to him as he headed out, "Just grab stuff from the ground. There should be plenty of firewood on the ground." After he left the cave, she went to work unsaddling the two they'd ridden first, then removed the packs from the other three and pulled off their saddles.

Luckily, the brushes and things needed for the horses was kept in their saddlebags and she dug them out, brushing the animals down before filling the feedbags with oats and putting them on the five horses. She needed water, and she knew there was a creek close by. She shifted from foot to foot, wanting to go get the water, but remembered the attack on her earlier and his words to stay in the cave. Her own safety kept her from leaving the cave to get the water. She'd wait until he returned, then send him for water while she got the fire going.

While he was gone, though, she could get things going on the meal, and expertly skinned the three rabbits and the squirrel. She just needed the items she'd told Selina to get, and the wood for the fire.

About fifteen minutes later he came walking back in. Under one arm he carried four or five large pieces of wood, under the other he had a large bundle of smaller sticks, wrapped up with a vine he had found and used to tie them together. He dropped both on the ground near the fire pit. "I'll probably need to grab some more large logs for the fire tonight, but that should do it for now. Anything else you need?" he asked, smiling down at her.

The shirt he wore did nothing to hide the muscles that rippled under his furry skin, in fact it tended to accentuate them, showing off his body a bit, even if he didn't intend it that way.

Tisha nodded, lifting a couple buckets. "We need five buckets of water, plus the pot for the stew with water. There's a creek near the cave. I could get it, but since we're not sure if anyone else came up this way, I don't feel like trying to go get it myself. And I don't want anyone taking off with the horses or supplies."

Carrying two buckets to the entrance, she waited for him, then pointed in the opposite direction he'd gone to get the wood. "Just follow the hillside here, about a quarter way around. You'll end up having to make a few trips, since you really shouldn't carry more than two at a time. I don't care how strong you are!"

She sounded like a mother hen with that last line, and the cooling air made her shiver, figuring she would change into warmer clothes. When they'd left the city, she'd forgotten how cold it got up here in the mountains, even in the hills.

He chuckled at her words and shook his head. "Yes, Mother." He winked and took the buckets from her hands, then, whistling a soft tune, he headed out of the cave, following her directions around the hillside to find the stream. It took him a few minutes, but his ears soon picked up the sound of trickling water, and he located the source of it moments later.

Kneeling by the side of the stream, he dipped both buckets in until they were full, then retraced his steps to the cave.

Tisha heard him coming back with the water, and as he stepped in, she said, "I think Wamakaska and Aputsiaq should get the water first, since they carried us. Brute and Snowflake. All of them got Native names as well."

Moving to the firepit, she undid the vine holding the smaller branches together, and soon set them up to start a fire, and pulling out the waterproof matches that she'd brought, along with every lighter they had in the house, she started the fire going, letting it feed off the smaller kindling to really get things going.

The meat waited to be cut up to go into the pot, and before that, she needed the other ingredients to toss in the pot with the water, but she could get things laid out, not just for them to eat and drink tonight, but the coffee pot for morning.

Marco nodded, "Alright." He carried the water over to the horses and held up first the one for his own horse, Brute, or Wamakaska, and let the animal drink from it until the bucket was empty. He smiled and petted the animal on the forehead, then he carried the bucket over for her horse.

Once both were empty, he headed out again, and again returned with two more. These two were also given to the horses. He made a third trip, and after watering the last horse, put the final bucket down near the fire pit. By this time the sky was grey and the wind was beginning to whip up into a near-gale. "I hope Selina will get here ok," he said.

While he was out getting the water, she kept the fire going with more kindling, and then slowly the larger logs. Then she changed out of her chaps, pulling her jeans on and a long sleeved shirt and her hoodie over it. It was getting downright cold out there. Giving a look to the dwindling pile of firewood, she looked to Marco, and said, "We're gonna need more wood. It's getting low, and if the wind keeps up with the weather, we'll want to have a stock on hand before all the spare wood gets wet out there."

She poured some of the water into the pot and some into the coffee pot, getting it ready for morning. She started cutting the meat into small chunks for the stew, already having the pot over the fire to start the water boiling.

Marco nodded, "Right, I'll hurry and be right back." He hopped up and jogged out of the cave, headed back into the woods. It was very chilly now, luckily, being a husky, his breed was used to cold temperatures. Still though, this was nearly unbearable for this time of year. He ran about, jogging when he could to keep up his body heat, as he picked up several more large logs under one arm, then a few more under the other. He had turned and was on his way back when the rain began.

"Aw fuck..." he cursed, dipping his head and heading back at a jog, quickly becoming thoroughly soaked as he came back through the sheets of falling rain. It took him longer coming back, but when he finally stumbled into the cave he was dripping from every point on his body, leaving a puddle, and he was shivering. "Got....the...wood..." he said with a stuttering grin.

Having heard the rain start, Tisha had already grabbed a blanket and, after he put it down near the rest of the wood, she wrapped him in it. "Sit down close enough to the fire for it to take the chill off. And use that blanket to dry off with. I don't want you to catch a cold with this weather."

She had another one out for when Selina got there, but the cat could get herself under it. She hadn't been there to rescue her from what had happened earlier, and Tisha felt a bond with the husky male. But since they only had four blankets, it would mean they would only have two for bedding, while the other two dried off later.

He shuddered softly and then plopped himself down near the fire, feeling her wrap him in the blanket. He smiled at her as she moved around him. "I won't... I've got a thick coat, I just got soaked...after I dry a bit I'll warm up nicely." He grinned again at her and then shook his head to get rid of some of the water droplets.