The family ate Shadowcat meat for dinner. This was Thorfinn's first time eating Shadowcat meat. Darie skewered the small pieces of meat and roasted them over the campfire. Seasoned with the spices the Free Folk gathered as needed, it had a distinctive flavor.
The family sat together in the warm tent, enjoying the Shadowcat meat. Little Orrik ate with his mouth covered in grease, and Raynard looked the same. Thorfinn and Darie were more graceful in their eating, at least compared to the two ravenous eaters across from them.
Even if the Shadowcat meat was not particularly delicious, it was at least abundant and filling, making it quality food in this icy world.
Darie often said that Thorfinn resembled her more, while Orrik was clearly cut from the same mold as Raynard, which was why Darie was fonder of Thorfinn. She had long recognized her eldest son's intelligence and, because of this, was more at ease with Thorfinn.
At this moment, Thorfinn spoke, "Mother, I had a dream again. This time it was a spider dream. I dreamed I turned into an Ice Spider. The feeling was amazing!"
Darie and Raynard stopped eating upon hearing Thorfinn's words. Raynard said, "An Ice Spider? Gods, that's not a good sign. I told you, Thorfinn, you should sleep less. Children should be lively like Orrik."
Thorfinn was a little disgruntled. "I'm almost ten. I can join the raiders in two more years. I'm not a child anymore."
Darie interjected, "Thorfinn most likely has the skinchanging talent. It is rumored that one of the signs before a Skinchanging awakens is transforming into their animal companion in their dreams!"
Raynard was confused. "But Thorfinn doesn't have an animal companion. Plus, Thorfinn dreamed of an Ice Spider. Where would we find one? Are we supposed to go to the White Walkers' den to ask for one? That would be suicide."
Darie continued, "An Ice Spider is a mythical magical creature. Even if one appeared in front of you, you probably couldn't handle it. At this time, the Shadowcats in the mountains should be giving birth! Tomorrow, go to the place where you found this Shadowcat and look around. It's a female, so its den might be nearby."
Shadowcats do not attack humans unless they are extremely hungry, so Darie's suggestion was highly feasible, and Raynard's safety could be guaranteed.
Orrik's eyes lit up at this. "Father is going to raid the Shadowcat's den? I want to go too, I want to go too." For his age, this was nothing short of an adventure.
Thorfinn had expected Raynard and Darie to both say, "No," as they usually did.
To his surprise, his father and mother agreed this time, and his mother even added, "Thorfinn, you should go too. You're old enough to start learning to hunt. Starting tomorrow, you'll practice archery with me and learn from your father how to become an excellent hunter."
Thorfinn nodded. "I understand, Mother."
Orrik was even jumping up and down with joy. Sleeping next to Orrik that night, the little boy was too excited to sleep. He whispered, "Thorfinn! Thorfinn! Are you asleep?"
Thorfinn didn't open his eyes but still replied, "What is it, Orrik? Are you too excited to sleep just thinking about going up the mountain to learn to hunt tomorrow?"
Orrik's voice was still filled with excitement. "Aren't you excited? Mother never let us go up the mountain before, otherwise, I wouldn't have risked going into that ice cave."
Thorfinn huffed. "You should be happy! Few other kids have such a thoughtful mother. Also, hunting isn't that simple. I've heard there are times when people don't come back. Some encounter a wolf pack hunt, some unlucky ones meet a foraging Snow Bear, and some just get lost."
Nine-year-old Orrik couldn't yet grasp how dangerous Thorfinn's words were, but he was still stubborn. "At least I won't get lost, and I can climb trees! You, Thorfinn, you need to be careful. Always dozing in bed won't make you strong."
"I'm going to sleep. You should too, Orrik," Thorfinn said, no longer paying attention to Orrik. Thorfinn knew Orrik was right—he needed to start exercising.
Thorfinn had been able to possess animals in his dreams since he was very young. That feeling of power was captivating. He had tried to consciously control his entry into an animal's body, but he had never succeeded. Apart from experiencing the sensation of entering many different animals in his dreams, he had no other results.
This state felt like a passive ability, and the inability to choose his animal companion was truly frustrating for Thorfinn. Thorfinn had considered trying to find an animal companion, but his father and mother were never very supportive of him having a pet. In their view, the domesticated sheep and cow were enough for them to worry about.
It is said that the wise men of the Children of the Forest, who possess mysterious powers, are the most powerful Skinchangings, capable of slipping into various creatures. The most potent among them can enter the consciousness of any animal.
Only one in a thousand people is born a Skinchanging, and only one in a thousand Skinchangings will be a Greenseer. And among the humans of Westeros, only the Northmen and the Wildlings, who have the blood of the First Men and worship the Old Gods like the Children of the Forest, have the potential to Skinchanging.
Does he really have the Skinchanginging talent? Thorfinn couldn't help but fall into self-doubt.
Although he had always lacked an animal companion to experiment with, he had tried using the family's cattle and sheep. Whether it was the fault of the animals or his own, there seemed to be an invisible barrier preventing his success.
Thorfinn was actually more conflicted and anxious than Orrik, feeling a constant sense of gain and loss that made him extremely uncomfortable.
Thorfinn was born in a village beyond the Wall, at the end of the last long winter. Starting as a Wildling, Thorfinn's heart was filled with resentment. Why did so many other transmigrators become great lords or knights, while he was exiled to the icy North to become a Wildling, not even a man of the Night's Watch?
Due to the harsh environment beyond the Wall, children had a high mortality rate, so the Free Folk believed that naming a child before the age of two would bring bad luck... Fortunately, Thorfinn bravely survived those initial difficult years. Even without a proper name as a child, Thorfinn remained tough and resilient.
What was so great about being a Wildling? Not only did he occasionally have to endure hunger and cold, but he also had to learn multiple languages. The terror of being dominated by the Common Tongue of Westeros, learned from Darie in his childhood, left Thorfinn speechless. In addition to that, he had to learn some of the Free Folk's dialects, the Old Tongue that his father always liked to babble, and the Ancient Tongue used when communicating with those people of the Thenn tribe—it was truly miserable.
But this wasn't the worst. What was the greatest danger beyond the Wall? Without a doubt, the biggest threat was the Others (White Walkers). The thought of that tide of wights, like an undead scourge, made Thorfinn's scalp tingle.
He first discovered the advantage of being a Wildling when he was three, when Thorfinn first dreamed of entering the body of a goat and realized he might have the Skinchanginging talent.
After entering the goat's body, Thorfinn drove its body to leave a mark outside their tent. Heaven knows how happy he was when he woke up the next day and found that mark. But that only happened once, and since then, it never happened again. To this day, Thorfinn is unsure if it was just a dream.
The only pity was that the poor goat had long ago turned into fragrant mutton under Raynard's knife. When young Thorfinn confirmed it was the goat he had once controlled... he could only eat a big bowl of meat in sorrowful indignation.
Speaking of which, Thorfinn's family could be considered a relatively well-off Free Folk family, as evidenced by the three or five sheep and one cow in the pen outside. Even though the Free Folk don't place too much importance on private property, they simply follow the tradition passed down through generations to store enough food before the arrival of winter.
The Free Folk have no concept of marriage; if it feels right, they are together, and if it doesn't, they separate. So, Thorfinn was already lucky just to have both parents alive and living together.
Comparatively, many Free Folk who were killed by the Crows (Night's Watch) or died on raiding trips also had families and children, but sadly, after their deaths, the family would often fall apart. This was also why Darie always opposed Raynard joining the raiding parties. It was better to live peacefully than to face grave dangers and risk death for glory.
Raynard understood the reasoning. Raiding represented not just glory, even though it was one of the most important parts of Wildling culture. Raynard had also joined a raiding party, but only once, and it was on that one trip that he met his mother.
Thorfinn didn't know how his mother fell in love with Raynard, but he knew his mother came from an unusual background because she knew many things about the people of the South. Because of this, Thorfinn always liked to pester his mother to tell him about all the strange and new things in the South. Unfortunately, his mother still refused to talk about her origins and family.
Connecting this to his mother's discovery today, Thorfinn had his own suspicions. An Other's ice spear could certainly inflict that kind of damage on a Shadowcat. It must have been the Others! Now that he was ten, it was time for him to learn how to fight. I don't just want to be a hunter; I want to become an excellent warrior! Thorfinn thought to himself.
The events of today also tightened the inner chord of relaxation Thorfinn had. The Others had already left clues, and winter was coming. He didn't have much time left to grow...