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My boss is too cruel... why'd he send me out here with this crazy person? Janrim? Rastling wild Janrim? I know Xaraan you moron!

4 losses versus Janarim (+68 exp)

After her encounters in the wilderness with the Janarim, Sanele needed a break. To have to kill an animal she only wanted to capture and tame was hurting her. It would have been her or the Janarim so obviously she had fought to survive! But the fact she had been too weak to simply subdue or scare the beast off and instead had to resort to killing it just to save herself… that sat wrong with her. It hurt both her pride and her heart; for as much as she acted like a hard a** and sassed people, Sanele loved animals and anything that hurt them hurt her.
Eiso apparently understood this and had told her to go north where the Xaraan lived in large herds and she could easily observe them. Or she could return home and rest there till she was ready to return. She had simply thanked him and headed north with her Perzi. She wanted to return home, return to the safety of her home and work.. but knew that if she did so she might never leave again and then all that effort and the janarim’s death would have been for nothing. That and while there were Xaraan at home and with work… Sanele wanted to see them running wild. See them as they were meant to live not in a farm or tamed and working alongside earthlings.

That, she figured, would be far more healing and help her regain her fire and drive to finish her goal. Normally she never let anything get her down; she would get her goal and dreams no matter what! Barring theft or murder of course… Sanele did not like the thought of dirtying her dream with acts like that. Her dream would be pure and won through hard work! Except... it had blood on it now.
She sighed and continued on her journey northward. She shoved those thoughts aside and focused on finding the tracks of Xaraan.

Two days out and she ran across a herd of Xaraan… Bright reds, browns, muted yellows and oranges all scattered about. Their colors and patterns were fairly typical of Xaraan; the elegant stripe that so many had. But as she sat and watched the herd she was able to see other markings: spots, wavy markings, stripes in different locations. It made her smile and she sat there for a long time, simply watching and listening to the herd of Xaraan as they milled about, lazing in the sun, rolling in the grasses, eating or strutting about. Her experienced eye picked out the stallions. She sighed with envy at them; they were the strongest and biggest of the Xaraan; and in her opinion the most beautiful. While she liked small ad fast… there was just something about the beasts when they stood tall and broad and proud. Ii want one of those so badly! Simba would be super upset she’d found a larger stallion but he could deal with it!

And its not like I need all racing Xaraan on my ranch. She thought suddenly. I’ll need helping Xaraan! Ones to help out on the farm.. for she also wanted a farm for her family to help out with. Something to give them all food and help feed the appetites of the Xaraan rather than having to buy food for them. Could use them for courier mounts… caravan beasts of burdens… guards… her mind started thinking of all the excuses it could so she could own one of those lovely tall brutes. One day, she thought. One day….

She looked up when Czar gave a small growl and caught sight of a Xaraan quickly ducking behind a large rock.. that was too small for it. The thickness of the tail told her it was a big one and she grinned; perhaps one day was today?

She pulled out and apple from her bag and scooted down off the top of the hill. Treats always worked!

That afternoon she spent the majority of her time getting the shy tall female xaraan to approach her. Her thoughts on it were favorable; xaraan were so much more calm and less vicious than Janarim! Give her a Xaraan any day! By evening she had managed to get the xaraan used to her… and away from its herd so she couldn’t return. The rope bridle had been difficult to get one but this girl was docile… far more docile than Simba in fact! Were you once trained, Sanele thought, or are you just normally a sweet thing that likes people?

All in all: she left the northern areas of Oba happy; she had her first wild xaraan! Sort of at least… At least it’d been caught in the wild for all that she was a docile sweet Xaraan. With lovely coloring too, Sanele thought with admiration. The sun design about the eyes was particularly fetching and she wondered if she could breed a racer out of this girl.. or if not then perhaps pretty mounts for nobles?

I’ll have to head home now, was he final thought as she curled against the new xaraan for warmth against the nights cold. Need to get her home so I can train her before she decides to not be so docile and runs away! No way was Sanele going to let this catch escape her! I’ll meet up with Eiso after I get her settled at home. Or maybe he will find me and can help train her out here? Does he even train animals? She scrunched up her nose. Eiso seemed more like a hunter who specialized in capturing Janarim… but perhaps he could tame them too? What else had her odd ball teacher done or knew she didn’t know.. but now that she was thinking she was curious about it. I’ll ask him later when I meet back up, she thought sleepily.

She’d deal with all that later; tonight she would go to sleep proud of her first capture! Though it didn’t really feel like one since all shed done was get a docile xaraan to follow her with bribes..

vs 2 Janarim (1 win, 1 loss, 1 successful taming (net)

While she was waiting for her ranch to be built, Sanele would spend time in the wilderness about her ranch. Exploring and familiarizing herself with the area; if one of her xaraan (or her silly janarim) escaped she wanted to make sure she could find them. And that meant finding the spots a Xaraan would go to! It was fun; she got to see wild xaraan and still go home to a soft bed and warm food! Except today was not the same.

The first sign she knew she was in trouble was when she heard the hissing of a xaraan. Xaraan hissed when angry. Surprised or happy they would squawk; but a hiss? Long and drawn out? That was anger and meant you were about to be attacked. You were a threat and they were letting you know you were unwelcome. Sanele looked around, trying to spot a way out of the deep ravine she was in that took her away from the xaraan… as well as try to spot the xaraan she was offending. She finally did spot it.. Above her. Her hand went to her whip but didn’t draw it... Yet. If she backed out that would calm the xaraan. At least it should have! Her time with semi tamed xaraan had made her confident she could calm this one; and in fact she was looking forward to doing so if only to test her skills.

As she backed up the way she came, the xaraan’s hiss turned into a shriek and it jumped down the wall, charging her. Her mind scrambled at that moment; she’d backed up! Xaraan weren’t suppose to charge when you were backing up! Her hand came up with the whip and cracked it as she jumped to the side. As she rolled pieces of information clicked together. Female xaraan. Safe hidden ravine. Water and plants all about. And soft chirping….

Nerad and On’os save me; this is her nest! She tried to locate the chirping and get away from it; but this mother xaraan was having none of it. Her baby was in danger and that meant the threat had to be eliminated. Sanele and her whip kept the animal at bay for a while. Until San’s sandaled foot landed on something soft that shrieked and the mother went insane.
Instinct took over and her free hand whipped down to her belt for her knife as the Mother’s beak grabbed her whip and tore it in half. The short forearms weren’t so short when the xaraan was on top of you and Sanele’s next few moments were a blur. Claws scratching across her chest, the sound of small baby xaraan’s frantic chirping, the loud world filling shrill scream of an angry xaraan, a heavy weight hitting her and the beak coming down for her neck.

Then silence. Silence and the eight of the xaraan falling on top of her, warm blood seeping from the eye where Sanele’s knife lay embedded. Soft cheeps broke the silence and sanele let go of the knife and stared at her shaking hand.

She’d… killed it. She’d killed a xaraan. That… that shouldn’t happen. She was suppose to tame them. Befriend them. Keep them safe. Not … not kill one. She took a deep breath and winced, her chest suddenly filled with fire as her adrenaline ran out and she felt the pain of the xaraan’s attacks.

It took a few tries but she finally managed to roll the dead body off of herself. She sat and just stared for a while. Guilt filling her as the small xaraan chicks popped out of the greenery to nudge the body and cheep softly.

Death, she knew, was part of life. All things died, and often before their time. But she’d only once taken a life before; a janarim that had attacked her as prey. She was not used to death. Was not used to how sudden it came and how little you could fight it. Tears fell from her eyes as she mourned for a life she hadn’t needed to take. If she’d only noticed sooner, if she’d only backed away faster. If she’d only been better with wild animals this wouldn’t have happened.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed but the light was getting less when a voice called out from nearby.


“San?” She heard a familiar voice call. “Sanny you in there?” It took a moment for her to recognize it; her teacher. The crazy Eiso who’d taught her to survive in the wilderness. She looked up and wiped her a hand across her face, to wipe the tears away. What was he doing here? Her thoughts were fuzzy and it took her a moment to realize he’d promised to come by and help her with her janarim.

“San?” The voice was closer.

“H-” Her voice cracked and she took a moment to swallow; “Here.” Her voice sounded odd to herself; distant almost. Oh yeah…. She’d lost blood. She thought slowly as she looked at her chest. I ought to .. bind that.

The sound of footsteps got louder and picked up pace. Eiso came trotting up and took in the scene with calm sadness.

“Oh you silly girl. You didn’t notice the signs did you?”

She shook her head and looked down at the chicks who were huddled together and peeping sadly.
“I.. didn’t know and then… she came down and.. I.. I couldn’t!”

“Shhh.. quiet.” He said as he crouched next to her. “Deep breaths and drink this. Let me bind your wounds and get some food in you before you die too.”

“Shouda.” She mumbled as she slouched, a buzzing in her ears.

“No. No one should have. It was you or her, silly girl. Rules of the wild: the strong survive, the weak die.”

It was her or me… and I chose me.

“Shouldna be tha- way. Should.. Should let all live.”


“I know. Essad knows no one wants to die. All life is precious my dear… But when you are attacked you must make a choice; do you want to live or die?”

“Live.” His hands quickly wiped away the blood and bandaged them. “Didna have to kill her.. Coulda left. Coulda never been here.”

“But you were here, and from the tracks I see you couldn’t get out in time. It was simply a mother protecting her young and you got cornered.”

“Shoulda been able to calm her. Not kill her.”

“And in time maybe you will be able to. But you are young and inexperienced. You know only the tame ones. Wild xaraan are different from the ones you learned from at Lans.” He patted her shoulder. “Eat and drink. We must get you home. Tis a good thing I have a mount as I doubt you will be able to walk far.”

She obeyed and watched the young xaraan as he fed them and calmed them. “I’ll raise em. And can you teach me more? I don’t know enough.” Her voice was soft when she said this. She needed to know more, HAD to know more. She never again wanted to kill a xaraan. Kill anything.

She had gone too far and her inexperience and lack of knowledge had cost a beloved xaraan her life.

“You will need to leave racing behind. It will take months to teach you and if you are distracted you will not learn as much.” He said. She nodded; she could take a break. She loved to race… but she loved xaraan more. To keep this from happening ever again she needed to learn and learn fast.

“Your ranch will wait as well. It will take them a year to get everything set up. In that time you and I will go out into the wilderness…. Out of Oba even. You need to leave civilization behind to truly understand a feral animal.”

That… was harder to take… but she would do it. “What of the chicks then? If we are traveling would they not be in danger?”

“Yes.. but you will protect them. Raising them feral will teach you more than raising your tame pets.”

That.. she could do that. She would do that. Difficult but she’d do so.

“My xaraans?” She hesitantly asked… normally Sanele would not leave them behind or alone for anything.. But she needed to learn and if being apart from them for a while would mean no more deaths occurred she’d have to do it.
“Stay behind. Let them get used to the workers and your family as well as the land. Tis a new place, they will not be comfortable until they get used to it. Being apart from you is also good for them. They need to be strong on their own and not trust in mommy San to give them everything. Let them go slightly feral for a while. WIll be good for them.

After all her hard work? But… it did make sense. And would allow her time to get the ranch set up and her trained. Perhaps there’d be chicks when she got back.

She took a breath and nodded. Eiso offered her a hand up and smiled. “Now let’s get you home and cleaned and let them all know what happened and what is to be.”

Sanele nodded and then paused. “My friend Sabiyya, she wanted to travel Tendaji… would she be welcome?” Since they were apparently leaving Oba… might as well ask?

Eiso nodded. “We’ll take her with us so now go. Get on my janarim and get yourself to your house. I’ll clean up here and follow with the chicks.”

Sanele, hurting in heart, mind ,and body left to do so. She had always been sure of her path… but now it was going places she didn’t know or want it to go.