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Future plans = working toward stage 4!

Sauron moved the polishing cloth slowly over the divided head of his lance meditatively. The alkidike attacks hadn’t ceased with time like he had hoped they would there was nothing for it but to prepare for battle. He hadn’t been in a true melee since the second to last conflict with Oba, but all good things must apparently come to an end. A knock at the door distracted him and he replaced the lance back on the wall, well out of reach of the three little darlings that kept himself and Kelina on their toes.
He opened the door slowly and cautiously, one could never be too careful as he had told his eldest daughter over and over again. The faces on the other side were more anxious than warlike, and he opened the door wide for them.
“Can I help you?” he asked beginning to worry about what was wrong. Was it one of the children?
“Yes at least we think you can, is this the house of the healer?”
“Yes I guess. I deal mostly with the simple stuff though.” His brow furrowed. “What happens to be wrong?”
“Well sir its one of our friends and he fell out of a tree going for fruit.”
“A shifter fell out of a tree?”
“Well, no a visiting leafling.”
“Ah well, let’s go, no time to loose.”
He grabbed his herbs and stuffed them in a bag along with a few other things including an extra belt. It wasn’t to say a shifter couldn’t fall out of a tree, he had done it occasionally he had just wanted to know, his younglings seemed to have no problem with it.
They rushed to the base of a verdant fruit grove, where a young leafling was moaning and clutching his leg. Sauron blanched, he had seen battle sure but well it had happened to enemies then, this was a poor girl who was probably going to ache mightily in the cold, that was if he could reset her broken leg right, otherwise she would have quite the limp.
“Easy, easy help is here.” He had never set a broken leg before but he had in fact made sure to learn how. He located the fracture thoroughly but using only enough force to be accurate, she was in quite enough pain without his hamfists messing it up.
“Okay guys hold her shoulders, and you get on the undamaged leg, before wrapping or anything it has to be straightened and set properly or it won’t work and her leg may have to be rebroken. And no one wants that Miss.” He stroked her face as he was accustomed to with all his children. “Now breath deep and on my count, One “ He straightened the leg, she jumped but her companions held her so it didn’t undo his work. He checked the fracture and demed it in the right place, thank goodness, he didn’t want to move the bone again, he couldn’t even imagine how much that hurt and he had been injured before, but never broken a bone.
“Branches boys, branches, quick now, the straightest ones you can.”
They snapped some off nearby trees and he aligned the two best ones up with her bone, before wrapping it tightly. “Your not to put weight on this for a while, you’ll risk upsetting the set, and you don’t want to do that.” He knew she didn’t want it to happen again, her face showed her pain quite plainly and she nodded fervently as her friends helped her up.
Thank goodness the bone hadn’t been protruding, otherwise her companions might have panicked or worse. He wasn’t sure how he would have faired either, violence was not his thing until someone threatened his family or himself. “Lets get her back to my place, please. I need to make her some tea for the pain, and some other herbs to help her sleep at night.
It was a slow painful walk back and he thought the whole time about what if that had been one of his children who had fell, then it would have been his pain as well more than empathy. Fortunately his children were safe for now, Seze in Zena abouts, even though he still worried and the rest of his children here within the shifter core of Ast as far as he knew. Soon the younglings would be grown as well, and out on their own like Seza was, but he would be able to go check on them and help with whatever new skirmish there was, currently it was alkidikes who were apparently not fond of peace, even though it wasn’t all the alkidike just a select few. Like radaku on the hunt, all the more savage for numbers had one too many nights together, feeding off each other’s ideas until it became one grand cause so now they were out accosting innocent people.
He remembered the bloodlust, the pure joy of fighting with others but those others had not been shifters, at least not all of them, and they were fighting for a reason to save their home for a threat and in a way they had one, eventually, his battle not so much but the war with Oba yes. He wondered if the alkidike extremists were the young ones or a mixture, impossible to tell at the moment. He smiled as he thought about his one encounter with one. She seemed rather young, at the very least younger then he, if older than his eldest daughter.
Lost in his thoughts he was stunned when they reached his home, he helped to lift the girl over the threshold, and got her comfortable with her companions, two of which he suspected were admirers, he had been there alright. He put some water on to boil, and dug in his bag for the proper herbs.
He made her a strong tea and gave her and her companions instructions on dosage and use. “You’ll probably want it at least for tonight and tomorrow, then take these ones out and it will be good for pain, you made take some of just that in the day but don’t drink over 3 or your digestion will not thank you and you will be too busy with it to think about how bad your legs hurt.
Once everything was done, she drank the tea, promptly fell asleep, rousing only slightly when they picked her up and carried her out. He made sure that one would return once in a while to let him know in case there were complicatios.
Then he was left alone in the house to tidy up. Sighing he brought down his spear to try and regain his mental composure.
1126

Solo 003

The time for the quarterly moss harvest has come yet again to the humid jungle of Jauhar, the sun refuesed to penetrate the thick canopy to illuminate the shifter searching through crevices of rocks and the dank boled of the huge trees for the rare mosses that owuld bring him the most money. Gathering moss was arguably the most peaceful time in his life as he lived in a house full of five children, 4 radaku, countless pet fish, and one beautiful wife who outshone all the other woman of tendaji and beyond. He loved his large family above all things but even so, one could not overvalue the perks of pure silence once in a while. Not to mention a healthy dose of light exercise. Upon reflection he had always seen himself gathering moss but he could have never foreseen finding Kelina, having five children and being a part of the wars with Oba and the Alks.
As he found the correct species of moss, he wrapped them in damp cloth and bound them with string to ensure freshness and save space, he bult packs both for himself and his loyal radaku Skava who was no longer an overgrown puppy but a mature adult, for the most part. Sauron thought that they might look rather rediculous like this but there was no other way to bring such a haul into town. Once he was sure they had had as much as they could want he led the white radaku home so he could pull more moss out of their multiple clay storage jars, these he bundled too and added tot he strategically placed spaces left for exactly this purpose in the pack. Then after a refreshing drink they were ready to go to the apothecary for unloading. As they traveled the short distance through town, Sauron was once again grateful that moss was so light.

It didn't matter how much muscle you had after a while awkward bulky packs did get stressful to carry, It was with a sight of relief when he divested himself of this pack so that he could better reach the straps to help Skava out of his burden. He dragged his prizes into th store, with the radaku following behind being careful not to step on his masters bundles. Sauron wasn't sure whether the vendor was more reluctant to address Sauron himself on the issue of having such a large fanged beast in his store or Skava and thus risk the wrath of either or both. But the owner came and started to hat amiably with him thus making the issue moot. This bemused Sauron greatly as the owner ruffled Skava's ears affectionately and the poor new person behind the desk looked a bit poleaxed. New people were always so much fun to tease with his well behaved pet, this on e seemed to be a leaf shifter hybrid of some sore.
"Ahh yet another large shipment form my favorite moss collector, see here Dervin how well behaved this radaku is , better to raise them from young i say if they all turn out like this lad,"
"Oh stop Navin your going to make him blush," Sauron tugged playfully on Skava's long tail, causing the radaku to spin and fake chew on his hands in an effort to get sauron to release his poor tail.
"See this viciousnesss here they never loose it," he held up unmarked hands for them to see, and patted Skava on the head, the radaku's tongue lolled out of his mouth. "Naw I got really lucky with his personality too." Skava stood up on his hind legs and licked Sauron's face amiably , amid the half choked sounds of fiened disgust leaking from him master. Navin chucked at the heart warming sight. Sauron gently pushed his overly affectionate beast away from his face and hauled the first bundle up onto the table.
"This lot here is the uncommon stuff which i mostly managed to sniff out this morning and last week so it should still be very fresh and of excellent use to you in your concoctions, fine Red Haired, Mustle's Peak, and Tiivi's Grass, with not a little of Blue Gone tossed in to the mix." Suaron cocked a foot and began to help the other shifter unwrap the multitude of small bundles.
"I likes me a provender who takes good care of his wares, this makes for potent potions I don't have to tell you. I pay more for healthy stuff and most of my suppliers have figured it out such as you have but occcssionaly I get the odd crispy, broken batch thats not worth more then pennies, its such a shame to see." Navin rambled on as he weighed and labeled each batch with small neat tags which detailed the speies before handing the bundlers to this assistant and recording his aquisitions in a leather bound ledger neatly. "I can only take about half of the Mustle's Peak, its not selling like it once did, falling out of favor I expect before Tiivi's Grass of which I just sold the last potion containing it, its'a all about supply and demand as ever it were." He mumbled.
"No problem, I prefer the Mustle for the little ones not as harsh on their stomachs."
"Too right, Tiivi's Frass packa a strong punch. Which is why its so popular."
The pair chatted on , working through the stock until only a few bundles got repackaged to accompany Sauron back home.
Just then the dorr opened and a young leaf woman came striding in.
Navin had just finished handing Sauron his money when the girl adressed him. "Navin, someone found a Nayzir Lily! But whoever it was just left it outside my house."
"A Nayzir? Really? they mus be blooming then and you must have an everlasting admirer."
The girl waved a curly orange and purple lily at him and Navin comfirmed its identification. "Yess indeed!" Sauron peered at the flower curiously wondering what was so special abou tit besides its stunning beauty. He was a moss specialist and so only knew the more common glowers. Navin saw him looking and handed him the flower for a closer look. "They bloom for a really long time, thats what makes it so special. It's also quite valuable for that reason and while they are not all that rare their colonies can be pretty hard to find, having one is a sign of diligence and in this young ladies case admiration. Someone searched all over Tale for those flowers to give to her. You lucky girl Mee."
The leaf girl chuckled lightly, "I know just who it is too, I suppose I'll have to give him a date huh?
The pair giggled while Sauron twirled the flower. He gave it back with his congratulations, young love was always so cute.
"All over Tale huh? Well I'll go look for them myself then," Sauron said.
"Why?"
"Well I've been thinking about a change in appearance and I want to perhaps use these flowers if I can find them."
"Ah well if you find them bring them to me and I'll make you some barrettes for a good price, Its always a pleasure to work with those flowers.

And so Sauron took his moss home, left a note and set off to scour Tale. He was careful to make lots of noise so that he and Skava didn't run into any more Kinfa. Sauron had gotten adislike for the huge brids from his last trip to Tale and he was looking to avoid a repeat performance.
He had given Skava a sniff of the flower before he left and followed the radaku's lead. It was fun to have such a helpful companion in times like these. His own nose could never compete and he figured that Skava's help would cut the search time in half. Already it felt like they had covered a lot of ground, then again they had been searching for a whole day and soon enough it was time to make camp for the night. Sauron made their evening meal under the bright Tale stars and fell asleep after extinguishing the fure snuggled up to his radaku companion. In the morning they packed up camp and ate trail food as they went. Skava took down some prey while Sauron stuck to nuts and the occasional strip of dried meat.
By midafternoon Skava finally picked up a trail and they followed it right to a fair sized patch of the flowers. Sauron selected a few to take home totalling about seven flowers and left many of them to ensure the production of seeds for the next season so tht others would be able to enjoys them if they ever found the floral gems hidden deep in the dense thicket as they were. He made sure to reward Skava richly for his incredible and fruitful efforts. Bedraggled and dusty and completely pooped, (they had not managed to avoid all the creatures of Tale and at the last minute four Scorra had chased Skava off and run Sauron up a tree, (Kelina was going to laugh when he told her.) Sauron dragged his sorry butt back to the apothecary to drop off the flowers to be made into barettes.

"My my don't we look care worn and travel weary,"snickered Navin at the sight of him.
"Scorra," Sauron answered, "Skava was a great help with the flowers ut we were outnumbered by the birds and I don't think anything truly avian likes me very much to tell you the truth, either its personal or I smell too much like radaku."
This cracked the other man up and Sauron smiled grudgingly.
"In any case you found them, you and your radaku despite your trials and fine specimens they are too, quite proper attire for half the head of a household how is your wife doing anyway these days?"
"Oh shes in fine fettle as per usual and as beautiful as ever despite the best efforts of our spawnlings."
Navin chuckled he could well understand having children of his own. "Aye my two boys are quite the handful by themselves, I keep hoping they will take after me in the family buisness but they like you and most other young boys insist on playing with sharp weapons, although I suppose I should be lucky they have not procurred any vicious pets yet."
"Pets can be, er are wonderful, as long as they are trained properly."
"Aye and I am afraid we have not the means to do so, not all of us were raised by riders you know."
"Fair point, but its really Sezarra that has the real talent with the critters and she isn't a rider." Sauron added. "She's the one who half helped me with Skava after all and after basic training it was basically a lot of bonding after that. On another note tell me have you heard much at all about the Yaeli besides the usual rumors? I can't seem to find much on them at all yet."
"They are still quite mysterious to be sure and with the weather about to turn I don't expect that will change for quite a while. Not unless more important messages need to make it through."
"I suppose your right, it's just disapointing is all, they would have to make quite a trip of it to get all the way up here but I'm rather impatient to find out more about them. After all its much more pleasant to make nice then make war." Sauron vented.
"It is at that my good man, in my case your barettes shouldn't take me long, a day at most depending on how busy the store front is.
"Very well," I'll be around to pick them up shortly then." A good day to you Mr. Navin."

The next day Sauron went back to the shop to pick up his flowers, and walked in to see an impressive pile of of prepared flowers skillfully crafted. Navim helped him put them into his hair and Sauron was very satisfied with the striking result that the flowers caused against his silver hair and skin. "Very impressive," he said. He gave the man some of his money back in payment for the flower barrettes. Both men started the day off very satisfied with the work that had been done.

Word Count: 2077

Sauron was sad to say that he was bored, a man his age, distinguished, and respected should at least feel a hearty sense of accomplishment about something. Anything really. He had known deep down amid all the wishes for peace that his current regretful situation would just be a matter of time. He would not wish again for war to come and tear his world apart again, they would not survive his impatient wrath. His children were grown, he was prosperous and happy, so why in the name of the moon goddess was he bored? Boredom was a young man’s game and he was far from being a young man as five children could attest to. So what business was it of his to be the least bit disturbed by the lack of action in his life? None, absolutely none. Nor was he willing to greet old age and death placidly with a sprig of hay dangling from a toothless mouth, his wifes cherished voice falling on deaf ears. Sauron shuddered at the thought. Obviously it was time to change it up. He would go out and play like well, like he never had before, what could go wrong?
He got ready, cleaned himself up and set out for whatever the future might hold, he could feel the old carefree spring in his step, the one that had been untempered with time, worry and more battle experience then you could shake a stick at. He breathed in the damp air and was grateful to be out and about, free to do as he wished, an echo of his youth, soon enough after wandering around Ast for two whole hours, ( its a quiet town okay, even with a bushel of his children running around), idly wishing that it was bigger, he managed to find a group of younger people, most of them in their frist steps down their career path. He remembered those days, when he and Kelina were all young and gangly off to prove to the world that well, that they had something to prove, of course.
He almost walked away, almost.... but the lure was too great. So instead he puffed himself up and introduced himself and tried to look a little less muscle and old. They all vaguely knew each other of course, Ast was a small village after all. But this was his chance to get to know them on a deeper level , as a companion and whatnot.
Time went on and the whole group relaxed and got bigger, once numbers hit about 11 the real party started and the alcohol came out, the dancing began soon after and the night shone like a brilliant burning star.
Eventually everyone passed out in various stages of awkwardness, the night faded and dawn’s gentle glow fell upon the somnolent faces of the late night partiers, including Sauron’s...and his bed partner?
Oh my Serin there was someone in his borrowed hammock and it was not KELINA! What had he done last night?! He sat up holding his head...only to discover there were TWO girls in this hammock with him. How did it hold their weight? Was that the question he should really be asking right now? He sank back down in a wave of dizziness. The two girls still very much passed out. They were so young, but thankfully older then his daughters..SERIOUSLY WHAT HAD HE DONE?
He fisted his hands and pressed them against his eyes. He couldn’t remember..the last thing he could recall was dancing by the fire..that was it! Curse alcohol! Curse him! Curse this hammock! It seriously threatened to attack him when he wiggled out using all the strength and balance and flexibility he had gotten over the years. He managed not to dump the two ladies out onto the forest floor thankfully. If anything he was the one who deserved to be dumped out like so much trash to be eaten by radaku at a later date. How could he be so careless, so foolish..he had wanted action..well by crikey NOW HE HAD IT. But it was the wrong kind the kind that could threaten to tear his life apart. Everything he loved, everything he had built was now in jeopardy..and there was no way he could hide this from Kelina. She deserved only the best..which now was apparently not him. He slouched home, dejected. He would tell her, she would leave him forever ...he grimaced at the thought of the look on her face, the looks on his children’s faces when they learned what their father had done..or hadn’t done..he couldn’t remember still. His head was all fuzzy and sloopy and terrible.
What would they think of him..Traitor. That’s what they would think. How could he who loved his wife and children above all other things commit such an atrocity!
Later he would wonder why he didn’t wake the girls up and simply ask, save his soul from such prolonged torment. Later he would answer why. Shame. Pure undiluted shame. A self proclaimed good guy, noble warrior, family man, had let himself get away for the excuse of a little action.
How would this reflect on him on the whole? Would he go through history as the shifter who screwed up so late in life? Folly of youth was expected, folly from a spearman was unexpected, nearly unheard of here. He was a model for younglings prentices and lancers alike..and he had let everyone down, from his children, his wife to his village and his race.
He couldn’t even bring himself to look his own radaku in the eye. And Skava really wouldn’t care who he woke up with being an animal and all. This was the ultimate shame and he had no one to blame but himself. All hope was gone, his stomach roiled acidly to the point where he stumbled out back of the house and threw up all the things that had gone down the night before. Which wasn’t much. Part of it was the alcohol but the majority of it was his inner emotional firestorm. How could he!
Sauron yelled up at the sky, with no one to fight but himself and his own mind, he was now trapped in his body. His radaku sat watching, perplexed and amused at this new behaviour from his bonded. Sauron snorted at him and wished he was a radaku too. But that was the cowards way out to wish himself of a different species with looser morals so he did not have to deal with the mental load of potentially having cheated on his wife with two young ladies. He squatted on the ground by his mess and held his head with an arm propped on his knee. Serin forgive him..cause Kelina he was sure never would.
Eventually exhausted he fell into his bed, feeling somewhat like he was making it dirty by just being there.. it was his and Kelina’s bed and he had scarred their bond forever. There was no way their love, pure as it was could survive the strain he had just put on it. Why? Why had he drunk so much, why couldn’t he remember what happened? Did he want to..what kind of beast slept with someone other than the mother of his five children. Kelina had given him everything! And he had wrecked it all!
She had given him, love, kindness, all of his children, risked her life at war, at childbirth, had sweated and strained just as he had to keep their family together, had supported his friends when they needed them had gone through all kinds of situations, mulitiple wars and the daily strain of corralling all five kids. She had done so much more then he, given herself fully to this relationship, she never would have put herself in a situation as he had, she never would have betrayed him. He did not deserve her anymore.
Sauron tried so hard to sleep, it should have been easy but he felt oily and his mind would not stop churning over and over and over until he was sure he would wearing a hole in his brain.
Well there was no help for it, he would have to devise a way to tell his wife of the absolutely most shamefull thing he had ever done, would never have done without the curse that was alcohol. He got up and got dressed, taking his time to wash and wash and wash as if that would somehow make himself more clean. It didn’t, it just made his skin feel raw and chapped and dry. Not helped by his radaku licking him periodically. At least Skava still loved him..he might be the only one left to do so soon. Thank Serin for the unbreakable bond between shifter and mount. He tried to straighten his shoulders, but could not. Once proud, now brought low, was Sauron. He opened the door and leaped out before he could crawl back under his bed and die there.
It was time to tell Kelina.
Serin help him.
He didn’t think she would.
All hope was lost.
Word Count: 1525