Zykovian attempts to communicate mentally with the catmen, but they seem a little put off and nervous of the sounds they hear in their minds. However, his learning the language of the catmen is coming along, albeit slowly. When the party stops for the evening, the psychic warrior climbs to the tops of the trees in which surround the encampment. Again, he is treated to a massive view of the night sky and the two moons which apparently share a phase exactly once a month. Currently, they are both in "half phase" now. In the eastern direction, looming far off, Zykovian spots the outline of a distant mountain range. He does not, however, notice anything above the treeline in the other directions.
Zyrial decides the bird's name will be Myllir (mill-ER) which means "swift as the wind" in the catmen's tongue. He observes closely that Alsavian is, what is primarily noted in nature, the "alpha male" of the small party of catmen. He notices that most of the other felines do as he commands when he makes a gesture or appears to give an order. There is one catman who seems to be somewhat insubordinate and generally unfriendly to you and your cousins, but Alsavian exerts some force of will or rank upon him and he reluctantly falls into place. The ranger will also note the greeting methods of the catmen are somewhat unconventional. It appears that, instead of clasping hands when greeting, they lightly stroke each other's faces with an upraised paw. This greeting starts with the palm of the paw atop the forehead and gently strokes down towards the mouth and nose. It is used by all the catmen. Another strange (at least to civilized races of your land) behavior is the nature in which they keep clean. Like other felines he has observed, Zyrial watches them bathe themselves with their tongues and help others with the tough spots. There is little, if any, shame about this degree of intimacy, and as far as Zyrial can tell, there are currently no females with the party.
Ulysses' understanding of the language is moving much quicker than any of his cousins. Through the use of his magic, the wizard and Alsavian speak for many hours about the history and conditions of his people, the Felin*. Alsavian describes that they are only a small part of the entire race of Felin. There are other tribes and races, and not all are friendly to his tribe, the prennu mwenna, or Black Arrow. As far as he knows, the other tribes that live in this vast forest keep to their own parts, but these territories are somewhat disputed over. His people are nomadic by nature, so small tribes are preferred rather than large tribes, to keep the entire group mobile in a moment's notice. Alsavian, however, has a look of uncertainty when he learns of your people's objective to make a new home here. He says that it is not for him to decide, but if the elves choose this forest then there will have to be fighting amongst some of the tribes, if not all of them, that are local to the area. Alsavian warns Ulysses that it is dangerous ground to tread when speaking of using land already claim by blood right by the different tribes of Felin. As far as the alliance is concerned, though, that is a decision for the chief to make and not he, although, again, he suspects the importance of location of the elven people will become a large part of any alliance agreement, even if it is with a common enemy in mind.
Ellar, you are successful (so it seems) at avoiding the eyes of the catmen, but there where a few times where you thought you had been caught when a few of the sentries began sniffing the air and moving your direction. You are successful at contacting the others in the group. [ooc: I'd like to see more of that conversation played out] Also, a familiar bat lands next to you on a branch with a rolled up piece of parchment.
[ooc: I thought I had posted the results of your invisible search for Ellar, but I checked and I must not have. Due to his hidden nature and your invisibility, neither of you spot the other. Btw, I'm SOOO glad someone finally asked what they were called...I was getting tired of typing "catmen" all the time...hehehe]
*Pronounced (feelin') or the words "feel" and "in" spoken quickly.
