The First Age of Man

[Shayuri]

Niraya looks back, then frowns a little. "I heard footsteps from that way...he must be going to check them out."

She meets the gaze of the Breathless woman again and takes a deep breath as she tries to feel what needs to be said, both for her own sake and for the sake of these lonely figures confronting her. When she lets it out, it plumes before her in a fog.

"I am humbled, and grateful that you all came to me...I feel like you must know how it hurts, feeling like there's no one in the world who can understand you." She gives a shy smile to Seerah briefly. "But maybe I was wrong. I'm still afraid, and I know I may still get hurt but...I have to give them a chance. Otherwise I'd always wonder. It would always be in my heart like a...a pebble in my boot. Whatever I do next, I want it to be with my whole heart. No regrets, and nothing holding me back. Not anymore."

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Seerah nods and returns the smile, "And if the others reject you, I will accompany you, where ever you choose to go." She turns to the Breathless, "You have my word that I will not leave her side."

 

[Voda Vosa]

Sheng Shemin

Sheng munches on a mouthful of berries while replying to Inguar, the traces of manners that he once hold are long gone now. Juice escapes his mouth and soak his beard as he chuckles "Me? Months... a year already perhaps. It's tough to be by yerself in these woods. I'm already running low on food, and its been three days since I didn't spot any game that would do for more than a meal. I also have to make more arrows, I'm running short; and with the orcs around, ye don't wanna run low on them arrows, heh..." there's a glint of nostalgia on his eyes, as his mind drifts to the more merry moments of his life, before the events that turned him into an outcast.
"Well you can stay here at me cave if ye want, I appreciate the company, been ages since I spoke to someone who could actually understand me. Would yer friends be back soon? It's getting dark soon enough, and they won't be able to track the cart tracks on the snow at night. Who were they after anyways?"

 

[Axel]

"Help you do what?" Tekai asked sceptically. "Bring food to your families? Grow your tribe by hiding who you are?" He shook his head at the idea. "Who then would feed our families?"

"If you need help, then ask and do not demand. Many people will help as much or as little as they can, though you are so alone I am not surprised you do not know. We have a saying in our tribe - there but for the grace of the gods go I."

 

[Piston Honda]

"So be it." The girl says flatly. "If you abandon her and anything happens to her, I will find you." She is a little more intense before looking once more to Niraya and dropping her head slightly. "Should you seek us, come to this place. We will know you are here."

She speaks to the others for a moment, the chatter lingers in the air once more before she looks back up. "Do not come here to deliberately waste our time, do you understand?"

---

"I have demanded nothing." Jakob sounds a bit irritated. "And if you knew what my people went through, you would understand why I have no desire to add to their numbers. But it is your people who add to them, we have always protected those who you have refused, what I saw was a frightened girl who did not know whether or not she would be able to return to her people. We would have let you pass without hindrance had that not occurred, but we had to make sure she knew that there was always a place for her."

He takes a few steps in the direction of the girl and the other Breathless.

"The great mother provides what we need. But there are many troubles in Reshturuk, and there are many things as dangerous as the Orcs out there, dangers that even my people fear. I...we believe that her power is a gift from the great mother, if that gift is not for us, I am certain something will provided."

---

Inguar listens to Sheng with interest before answering. "I am uncertain, Tekai is a skilled hunter, he should be able to find us. They were looking for my niece, Niraya...something happened to her, and she fled."

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Seerah was shaken by the threat, thinking, Where ever I go, I make enemies of the most dangerous sort. Am I truly so cursed?

She doesn't reply to the Breathless, merely nodding. She suddenly wanted to be away from this place.

 

[Voda Vosa]

"Perhaps she ran away from that creature that attacked the orcs? I have never seen such creatures before, but I'm glad it Hayes orcs as much as we do, I saw it chopping one for dinner while I made my way down the hill" Sheng comments. "there's always something strange going on in these forests, I keep getting the sensation that a white owl that has it's best nearby spies on me... As if it were sent by... You know...the breathless...." The warrior shakes his head "I have been alone for too much time perhaps...." Again that nostalgic look on his face as he spit a seed to the fire, before adding more timber. "The boy Tekai looked like an able huntsman, I bet you are proud, has any girl taken him yet? Perhaps the one with the spear?"

 

[Axel]

"It is not an easy thing to leave family behind," Tekai replied, half to himself and half to Jakob. Judging the conversation over, he walked back to the clearing and the two girls.

Standing in the clearing he announced loudly "Seerah, Niraya. We must leave soon to reach Inguar before dark. He will be worried."

 

[Piston Honda]

“An owl? I’m afraid I don’t know much about them. Some tales of them are exaggerated I imagine, some meetings are kept to oneself. But there are tales of many strange things in these woods, in this valley so it wouldn't surprise me." Inguar looks into the fire, seemingly distracted. "When I was a boy, my father would tell me tales of his grandmother nearly being taken by a river Nøkk when she was just a girl. We tell the tales of devils tricking men, and men tricking devils. How the All Father created the cosmos. Some of them are distractions of course. It is hard to distinguish between the tales to guide our youth and the truth.”


Inguar looks at the entrance to the cave, then down at Sialfi. “All of them are unclaimed. Tekai is still young, and takes care of his family, he is a good lad, and I’m honored to bring him with me, he’ll have a family of his own some day. Seerah, she is fairly new to our tribe but she seems unable to have a family. Niraya, she is...distant, I don’t know if she will claim anyone." He sounds a bit drained as he speaks of Niraya and looks at Sheng. "How did you come to be out here all by yourself?”

---

The girl nods back, acknowledging their understanding before turning her back almost in unison with the others, she speaks as she walks away, “You are a lucky one...” There is a final word, spoken in their language. Her departing words much more calm than anything else she has spoken. As they walk away, Niraya and Seerah become aware that there are others moving through the trees in the same direction on both sides of the clearing.


As the sun is beginning to set, Jakob watches as Tekai returns to the clearing, declaring that they should head back.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Seerah closed her eyes and reached out to Asra, making sure she was still safe and urging her to follow Seerah back to the others. Opening her eyes, she looked from Niraya to Tekai, "I don't think the others will understand any of this. We should not speak of it."