She approached in a wide circle so that her father could see her coming. It was not a good idea to disturb him while he was practicing throwing axes. Sneak up on him at the wrong moment and he tended to react instinctively. Tia didn't fancy the idea of an axe sticking out of the middle of her forehead. He had berated her for a whole hour before he sent her to bed without supper the one time she had interrupted him while he was practicing... and almost lost an ear to boot.
He had the eyepatch flipped up. The scars were horrible over that eye, but somehow he could still see out of it. Her father had told her that he wore it so as not to offend or disgust anyone he met. He could be disconcerting enough on his own with his gruff manner now that he was settled down and living amongst "polite society". Tia was used to the scars however and just considered them part of what made him her father. They had always been there to her.
"What is it, Tia?" he asked.
"Supper's ready, father."
"I'll be there..." THUNK! "in a minute."
She didn't turn to leave. She was watching as he alternated between throwing the axes, and using them to chop wood.
"I thought that was bad for throwing axes; that it ruined their balance...?" she queried.
"That's the point. These are my old throwing axes. Their balance is off anyway. You don't always have a choice what you have available to throw in a scrap, hon. Sometimes you have to make due with something that's not in the shape you'd like it to be in," he responded.
"So you're practicing to be able to use bad axes." It wasn't a question. It was a declaration to show that she understood what he was trying to tell her. He grunted a nod in response.
She returned by the path to the cabin from which she came; a benefit of the awarded nobility her father had earned as a Knight of the Realm. It was no small cabin, and the view over the valley was gorgeous. Tia still occasionally brought out her easel to paint images of it from different angles.
As she approached the cabin Zephyr and Brutus came gliding and trundling up respectively in her and his own time. Zephyr licked Tia's face w/ her long tongue. The story of how her father had come by these animal companions (they were still too wild to even consider calling them pets) was a tale unto itself. Zephyr was a she-wolf ostracized from her pack as a pup. She somehow had managed to form her own pack with Brutus, a middle-aged black bear with no mate. Father had rescued them both from the duel dangers of a hunter and a mountain lion. They visited him off and on regularly as hunting and the seasons permitted thereafter.
Brutus stood on his hind legs, waved his forepaws, and whined in that deep, lonesome growl of his that indicated he was begging for food.
"Just a moment, Brutus. I'll get you something," she smiled as she went into the cabin. Zephy wagged her tail and followed her in. Brutus was too big to enter, but that never stopped him from sticking his head in through the window- usually when it was still closed! Father and the local window-maker were good friends now...