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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhialto" data-source="post: 2135122" data-attributes="member: 630">Recently, Val-Alen has hosted a young Juni shaman named Ikontet, who paints a different picture of the Juni invasion and the Bodai response.  According to Ikontet, when the Juni first arrived in the grasslands, they thought they had discovered paradise.  "Never in his life had my father seen so much green," he explained in halting Aleasani.  Food was abundant, and many among the Juni thought they might never have to suffer want again.  However, things soon changed when the Bodai found them.  At first the Juni had little fear--they had traded with the Bodai for generations, and were certain that moving closer would only strengthen their relationship.  However, they soon found out otherwise.  "When my father spoke to the Bodai chief, they told us, they said we could not live here.  They said that this land was theirs, and it had been given to them, and they alone could settle on it, and if we settled on it, they would kill us."  The discussion became heated, and then one of the Bodai grew angry and stabbed Ikontet's father to death.  Before the Juni could even react, the Bodai were launching arrows at the tribes' warriors, and rounding up the youths and women.  "They took us into slavery.  We are the Juni--we have no such thing.  In the Great Sand--life is hard.  When you meet another tribe--you celebrate, and you trade, and everyone leaves, as friends.  Sometimes, there are fights, but they are short, because if we all spent our time killing each other, and taking each other prisoner, we would all die.  The Bodai--they are not like this.  When one Bodai meets another Bodai, they do not say 'Come friend--share my food'--they say 'Who are you?  Are you as strong as I am?  Give me what you have!'  Then they fight, and sometimes, they kill each other, and other times, one takes the other, to use as a servent.  We--we were not expecting this.  We did not understand that you could own another person.  We still do not understand."According to Ikontet, he and his fellow captives were beaten and abused by the Bodai, and forced to perform menial tasks.  Finally, he escaped, and after a month on the run, found another tribe of Juni, and joined them, warning them of the Bodai's actions.  "I told them they could not trust the Bodai.  I told them in the Great Sand, the Bodai wore a friendly mask, but when they reached the grasslands, they took it off, and they were demons."  Ikontet says he has become a leader in the Juni struggle against the Bodai, though he still hopes for a peaceful resolution.  "If they wish to fight, we will fight.  We will ruin things so that they will fall to the smallest child of the smallest man.  But if they want to be friends, we will be friends.  We will stand with them until the last darkness falls."Bodai traders insist that Ikontet is a liar.  Many however feel his story shows every sign of being true...</blockquote>

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