Ravi placed the finder into the hole in the ice that he had carved and flicked the switch. It settled into its rhythmic drumming and then started sinking low and rising again into the F’raa that flowed fast beneath the ice. Satisfied that the ice hole would be maintained and that he would be able to find his way back, he took the breath and dived through the ice, in search of the elusive armoured L’tee.

He was a fine,tall, barrel chested figure, eighteen turns in age. His white skin was still unblemished by the rigours of the dive. This, his first solo hunt, was to be his adult naming.

His gills retracted as he sank heavily into the F’raa, his natural bioluminescence dimmed then extinguished by its shining coldness. His body twisted heavily but he was quick to plant his feet on the underside of the thick ice-crust.

He paused momentarily to acclimatise, then opened his external eye-lid. Feeling the F’raa begin to tingle on his skin, he turned his eye downwards and set about his task. With one last look back he waded out and away.

L’tee are solitary creatures that roam and graze the crust, their hard, reflective shell making them hard to find and more so to catch. It was good fortune therefore that led Ravi to see the faint but unmistakable trail of freshly grazed ice just 5 minutes into his 20 minute breath cycle. As he approached he blinked at the size of the L’tee before him. He had never known one so big and fragrant.

Tradition dictated the numbee be used to stab the single barrel-like foot as the L’tee raised its bulk from the ice. The provider would then wait as the life spilled slowly from the creature, for only when their spirit had left and their body was still could the clan be called and the creature carried home. For larger creatures, the loss of their life force could take several breath cycles and the necessity of leaving the creature often ended with it being taken by L’jaa, the fierce and ravenous crab-like predators that preyed on the L’tee.

Ravi had often been criticised for his lack of respect for the traditions of his ancestors. A gifted thinker, he desperately wanted to show that sometimes tradition could be improved upon. And so, as the huge L’tee lumbered forwards, he lay the numbee stick onto the ice immediately in front of the creature and waited for it to raise, lift and then plant its foot. Patience. After what seemed an age, it was done and its huge carapace was over the numbee. Now all Ravi had to do was to plant his feet and lever the L’tee onto its shell. He strained on the ancient numbee and prayed it would be up to the task. His gills pulsed wildly in their sheath with the effort, but slowly the enormous L’tee lifted off the ice and tipped onto its shell from where, for the unfortunate creature, there was no return. Mouthing the words of the Cre’al, the ancient benediction to the prey, Ravi plunged the blade end of the numbee into the L’tee just forward of the foot where its immense beating heart was concealed. The creature shuddered briefly then stopped its struggle as its life force quickly evaporated into the F’raa. His skin oozed with the exertion and the radiation from the F’raa had dried and flaked his hindmost, but this mattered little. He had captured his first L’tee! He was now Ravi Nuun - Ravi the provider in his people’s tongue!

The noises of the F’raa dimmed as he turned his head to listen for the finder and its comforting drumming pulses calling him back. Surprised to find how easily the L’tee moved over the ice now it rested on its shell, Ravi decided that yet another tradition could be bettered. And so he chose to drag his prize himself rather than call the clan. Hauling the huge L’tee cost him dearly, his efforts had allowed the F’raa to sear his skin in several places, but this would heal. His triumph was complete when at last he hauled himself through the hole, unsheathed his gills and gestured for the waiting clan to widen the hole.

The tale of Ravi Nuun and the L’tee that fed the clan for more than a cycle would be spoken of for turns ever more.