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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ForceUser@Home" data-source="post: 264761" data-attributes="member: 4945">Session One, Part 6ANDOU HUE HIEN squinted in the waning light of dusk. He was a small, wiry man, barely grown from boyhood, with a mop of black hair and a ruddy, earth-toned complexion. He wore rough homespun cloth and animal skins with bits of colored rock, beads, and feathers sewn in. He sat at a makeshift table plucking a pheasant, and behind him leaned a jumble of bamboo huts, twenty in all. Under the table, a small brown fox dozed, and perched on his shoulder, a magnificent red eagle hunkered over, eyeing the carcass of the dead game bird. The eagle cocked its head toward the distant jungle and cried out.Hien looked up. “Hiraki, what is it?” The bird flapped its wings and cried again. Something was out there.Hien stood, and the fox yawned, stretched, and also got up. He looked around. There were few people working at this end of the village this late in the day. He could no longer hear the merry gurgle of the bamboo spirits that inhabited the community; they had already returned to wherever bamboo spirits go when night falls.  Grabbing his staff, the young shaman stepped forward and discerned movement across the meadow, just below the line of trees where the jungle began. People were coming down, and they were leading horses! Behind him, villagers began to light cooking fires.One of the newcomers, still distant, waved at Hien. Bemused, he waved back and walked out further. The fox growled and hid behind Hien’s legs. “Hush, you.” He admonished.Halfway across the sloping meadow, Hien met the strangers.“Hello!” gasped one, a man about Hien’s age. He led a magnificent stallion, and wore a masterful suit of chain-linked armor. A sword of similar quality hugged his hip. The man looked thoroughly miserable. So did the four other men with him, and the five horses. One of them, Hien noted, was a monk. They were all armed.  “Welcome to the village of Hoa Binh. Did you actually hack your way here through the jungle, or were you lost?” he asked.The monk exchanged dark looks with a tall warrior who carried some sort of polearm slung over his shoulder. “We were led to believe this was a shortcut from Son La.” The monk shot an annoyed glance at a balding middle-aged companion with wild iron-gray hair. The older man smiled and nodded, apparently oblivious to the tone of the monk. Hien laughed. “I’ve never heard of Son La. It must be far. Please, you look tired. Come eat with us, and I’ll see about getting you water with which to bathe. My name is Hue Hien.”“Er…Andou Hue Hien?” spoke the wealthy one. Surprised, Hien replied, “Yes! How do you know me? I don’t think we’ve ever met!”Five men heaved a sigh of relief as one. Well, four. One of them stood there like an idiot and grinned. ‘We are pleased to make your acquaintance!” the older man said, gesturing at himself and bowing. The monk groaned. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++</blockquote>

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