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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tormenet" data-source="post: 1632350" data-attributes="member: 15690">Drawing the LinesLast week Naram, the newly installed qadi of Heta arrived raging at the fortified mud brick gateway that is Shar Jehna’s main entrance. Diyala, qadi of Shar Jehna, was visibly stunned when her offer of hospitality was refused. Tired of unceasing revenge, the Duranni tribes long ago established the qadi system. Qadi are Duranni who exist outside the tribal structure. They are mediators and peacemakers, charged with judging crimes and ending vendettas. Naram was enraged beyond mediation, peacemaking, or even simple reason. He outlined his accusations. Three Tadu tribesmen of Shar Heta lay slain in a high pass. One of them, Lut Tadu, was the son of the headman of Heta’s gray council. According to two Tadu witnesses, reliable family men and seasoned warriors, the murderers were members of Shar Jehna’s Hazar and Afrid clans.  “Due to the importance of the slain men,” he yelled, “the Tadu tribe is justified in killing every Afrid and Hazar they can find for an unfixed period of time.” The watching crowd's muttering ceased. Naram’s judgment meant unlimited vendetta: no tribe member exempt, no restraint to the blood feud. Such words had not been spoken in at least a generation. That night Shar Jehna’s gray council met to decide the town’s response. Zidane Nefrat, leader of Sahr Jehna’s generally despised third tribe, immediately declared his follower’s neutrality. His words, expected by the Afrid and Hazar elders, drew curses from a few of the younger warriors present. The Nefrat had much to gain from Hazar and Afrid suffering. Thulyaar, head of Shar Jehna’s graceful featured Paree residents also bowed out of the fight. His words were saddening, but also expected. Isolationism was their way. Ixion, leader of those of Jehna’s residents who were descended from Draco’s veterans, declared his follower’s support for the Hazars and Afrids. “We are not of the tribes,” he said, “but when the army of the Leopard of Iona emerged from the Plain of Salt needing solace the benefactors of Shar Jehna gave it. Our debt is deep. We will see it repaid, Avasara willing.”    His words were brave; his invocation of the Creator made them binding. But the declaration was acquired at great personal expense. Two Ionian notables, Epiphilates and Deinon, had bitterly contested the decision. Standing behind Ixion as he proclaimed his choice, the two men did not mask their bitterness.Over the next few days, Qadi Diyala desperately sought the source of the killings. Valuable warriors were sent out seeking information, but they failed to turn up anything useful. Then some Afrid goatherds were attacked by Tadu warriors in the defiles south of Shar Jehna. Injuries were minor; tempers frayed the desire for restraint. At sunset, New Year’s Eve, all of Jehna’s warriors were called out. Several large groups of Tadu spearmen were approaching the town. The night promised blood compensation.The city’s notables quickly set about the task of assigning roles to their warriors.  Seeking faces of marked by youth and inexperience, Brother Ismail, a Wearer of White and guardian of Shar Jehna’s Sanctum, pointed to four members of the crowd and bid them to follow him west- away from the approaching Tadu force. Turning into the setting sun, Ajax, Corum, Cato, and Volgar followed Ismail at a jog.</blockquote>

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