Meeting the Wild Tribe
Kirosh and Kadryn were headed out from the cave where they had dwelled for the past week while waiting for Kirosh’s wound to heal. Since the Clan’s camp was only a few hours walk away, he should have been able to make it before this. But Aisko wasn’t a place for the wounded to wander about in, any weakness could and would mean death out here.
Walking quickly into the teeth of the icy wind, Kadryn kept close to Kirosh, ready to lend him a shoulder if he needed it. The wind howled and clouds began to gather, Kadryn was nervous. She’d weathered a few blizzards in her cave before, and she didn’t want to even think about trying to outlast it in the open. But Kirosh waded onwards, his eyes looking for signs that every clan left about the place to show members to their camp. He suddenly sighed in relief, and pointed out a rock to Kadryn.
“Obsidian! We’re only an hour out now. Every clan marks the area with stone that doesn’t belong to the local area. No volcanoes here, so they mark it with Obsidian.” Grinning now, he sped up, the tense set to his shoulders gone. He must have been more worried than I thought, Kadryn mused. Maybe he didn’t want to get caught out either.
The threatened snow storm hit just as they came upon the camp. She got a glimpse of large domes before they were whitened out by the snow. Kirosh grabbed her hand and booked it as the snow whitened the world about them, dampening all sound. All Kadryn was aware of was his warm hand on hers, and she shook her head to try and clear it. Foolishness! What is wrong with me? We’re out in a blizzard and all I can think of is him? Kirosh pulled her up next to him and shouted in her ear,
“And we’re here! Just in time too!” He then quickly opened up a thick flap and staggered in, pulling Kadryn in after him.
Shaking his hood off and dropping her hand, he grinned at the startled faces of a group of Dovaa.
“Ah, would you look at that; the chiefs tent, aren’t we lucky! Hey there guys, pardon the intrusion, but the blizzard blew us in!”“Kirosh?” The large Aiskala Dovaa male in the back looked startled then happy. “Where have you been, boy? You said you would only be out briefly then never came back!” He boomed as he stood up and walked over to clasp arms with Kirosh. Looking over at Kadryn, he gave her a smile, “And who’s li’l lass? Aren’t you a little young to be here?”
Kirosh snorted in amusement and nodded at Kadryn to introduce herself. The rest of the group, two young adult female Dovaa, one older woman and one really young Dovaa boy, looked on with interest though they didn’t stop in their tasks.
“I’m Kadryn, and I’m certainly old enough to be here! Not my fault I’m small.” Kadryn shot back with a smile and offered her own hand to shake.
“Kadryn’s strong enough to be here, don’t worry. I got caught out by a pack of Bykaldtra and bitten before I could escape. She saw them chasing me and dropped down between them.” He grinned cheekily as he wandered into the tent, near the fire and sniffed the air,
“Smells good, do I get fed too?” He asked the older woman with wide innocent eyes.. well, eye sockets anyways.
Kadryn snorted
. “Chasing? It was more like they had caught you and were about to start the mauling! Don’t let his puppy face fool you, ma'm. We ate only a few hours ago and he had the last of the bread too, the fiend.”The dovaas chuckled and the large male waved her further in. “Ha! That would happen to him. Fool boy always did stare at the scenery too much and let things sneak up on him. Though we’re glad you happened upon him when you did. I’m Drail by the way.” The littlest boy giggled. “You had to be rescued by a girl. What happened to all your bragging? I’m Yeson.” He said to Kadyrn. “You’re smaller than the girls Kirosh u—“
“Ah -ah!" Kirosh exclaimed as he grabbed the boy from behind and clamped a hand over his moth.
“No filling her ears with evil gossip! Let her at least warm up some and get to know you all before you try to stain my sterling reputation!” The two younger girls smirked and looked at each other, then giggled. Kadryn had seen this happen before with girls in her village and it always confused her. What were they giggling about? And how could they know what the other person meant? All they did was raise an eyebrow…
The older woman chucked at that. “Welcome Kadryn; I’m Loresha, the chief of this clan. Thank you for helping Kirosh. You are welcome to stay with us till you wish to leave.” She smiled and Kadryn could sense great power from her. She was, Kadryn thought, a Firani Dovaa. The bright orange and red streaks in her hair and golden scales certainly did give her a fiery appearance. What better way to spend a blizzard than with a Fire Mage? She thought with a smile and nodded thanks to Loresha. She was stopped from saying anything by the two Giali Dovaa girls speaking up.
“I’m Opal and my sister’s Pearl. Come with us, we’ll get you some warm dry clothes. Good thing you’re so small! You should be able to fit into our old clothes.” They both giggled as they grabbed Kadryn’s hands and dragged her with them. Kadryn was taken aback by their enthusiasm and the sly looks they kept casting at her.
They dragged her into another smaller tent off from the main one and rummaged through several chests before coming up with a thick winter tunic and leggings. Handing them to her they dove back into the clothes chests, giggling about something.
“You can change right there, after you clothes dry we’ll store them in a different chest of your own.”
“Okay,” Kadryn looked about and dropped her mace and bag to the side and began to strip off the snow dampened clothes. Quickly putting on the dry clothes, Kadryn had to roll up the edges to make them fit. As it was, they were still a bit loose but that was fine. They were warm and comfortable, and that was what mattered. Shivering slightly, Kadryn was startled to see both of them staring at her.
“What?” She said crossly. They were certainly rude! Giggling to themselves all the time and staring!
They looked at each other before the taller one spoke, “Well, we’re just thinking how tiny you are!”
“You sure you’re able to be here? There are a lot of dangerous creatures out there.” The smaller one asked with wide eyes.
Kadryn stared at them and sighed. Why was it her size made people think she was weak? The other kids, when she’d been growing up, had all made that mistake. She reached into her bag and pulled out her Aiskala orbs.
“I’ve been hunting my whole life. Size has nothing to do with my ability to fight.”“Oh.” They looked at the orbs and then her. “Um.. sorry?”
Kadryn smiled,
“Nah, it’s fine. I'm used to it happening. Is there any dry boots or something in my size here?”The smaller one offered a smile as she handed over a set of fuzzy slippers. “Nope, but there’s these slippers that should be close enough.”
Kadryn, Opal, and Pearl walked back out to the main room where Kirosh was telling them about how he’d gotten ambushed and Kadryn had come in.
The young boy was rolling about on the ground laughing; Kirosh had told the tale in such a way to make him seem like the damsel in distress and Kadryn a knight rescuing him. Kadryn shook her head at him when he saw them and waved.
Loresha chuckled and shook her head. “You should be a bard with that silver tongue of yours! Ah Kadryn, Kirsoh mentioned you would be interested in join us?”
“Well, he told me about the Wild Tribe and it sounded like some place I could be happy. Though I’m not too sure about the bit about going into towns and cities and causing trouble…”
Drail snickered and grinned, “This coming from the girl who went berserk in the Citadel itself!” The others in the tent looked in astonishment at her as Kadryn stared in shock at him.
“How’d you know that? And just cause I did it once doesn’t mean I like to cause trouble!”
“I know cause I talk to other warriors. Gossip goes ‘round the world, girl. It’s amazing how willing people are to gossip! Apparently a small blue girl wielding a mace almost as big as herself got goaded into a rage while sparring.. .”
Yeson whistled. “Woah. In the Citadel itself? Man, that’s intense! Nice one!” Kadryn glared at him.
“There wasn’t anything nice about it. Trying to kill another person is nothing to laugh at!” She snapped angrily, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched.
“I am not happy with what I did nor do I ever want to be in that position again!” Kirosh stood up and walked over to her to put a hand on her arm.
“Whoa there, Kadyrn; Yeson didn’t mean anything by it. We have quite a bit of Berserkers in the Tribe and they tend to brag about how it feels and what they do when in a rage…”Kadryn took a deep breath and calmed down.
“I don’t like the thought of what I tried to do alright? I don’t mind the thrill of battle and all that, but I hate how when I go berserk everything becomes a target to smash and I can kill you without hesitation…” She muttered.
Loresha smiled at this, “And that’s what I wanted to hear. We have enough hot heads about the place. If you can keep that thought with you as you go about your life, then I have no qualms about letting you join. Kirosh can tell you the tasks. He’s rather good at gauging what a person can do and coming up with things to challenge them. And you, Drail, owe her an apology! You should not gossip so much and need to think about how the other people feel before you open your big mouth!” She glared at him. He looked embarrassed and glanced at Kadryn.
“I’m sorry lass. Berserkers usually don’t mind…ah heck. That’s an excuse. I just wanted to see how you’d react. My apologizes.”
Kadryn offered him a small unwilling smile,
“Apology accepted, just don’t mention that again and we should be fine.”Kirosh looked about and then nodded abruptly,
“Now that that’s gout of the way, come help me get a tent set up Kadryn. This one’s too small for all of us! I’ll show you how to set a tent up from inside a tent.” He said as he dragged her off down yet another tunnel made up of tent.
Behind them, Opal looked at Drail.
“Wow, talk about putting your foot in your mouth!”
“Hey... you think they’ll share a tent?” Pearl said at the same time. The group looked at her. “What? Just asking; Kirosh usually doesn’t stick that close to a girl and offer to show her around like that… ”
“She’s totally not his usually type. Not tall or curvy at all.” Yesson piped in with a grin.
Opal sighed; “After Drail just got in trouble for gossip, you’re going to start gossiping, really?” Pearl and Yesson looked unperturbed until Loresha spoke up again.
“Get to know her before you even think about spreading rumors. She seems a little sensitive about certain things and I’d hate to see you hurt if you piss her off. She can probably take all three of you on…. Drail would win, but against you three?” She cocked an eyebrow at the group of young Dovaas. “You’d be a smear on the floor. Her mace shows signs of great use and she carries herself confidently and moves like a warrior. She may be small but she is dangerous. Don’t forget that…. And now it’s time for lunch, go get plates and forks.”
Meanwhile Kadryn and Kirosh were about finished setting up the tent. Kadryn had never seen someone set up a tent from inside another tent in the middle of a blizzard and she was impressed. He’d basically prepared the tent and set it up inside then pushed it through a specially made cut in the tunnel tent’s wall.
“There we go, all set. Now to go fill it with my stuff!” Kirosh looked over at Kadryn,
“You can stay here till we leave. Tents belong to members only otherwise I’d set you up with your own tent. Wait here for a bit.” He went off down the tunnel yet again humming, leaving Kadryn behind to go and sit in the tent. It was chilly so she set her bag and slightly damp clothes off to the side and grabbed the brazier from her bag and set it up in the center.
She thought on what had just happened. Why did I go off like that? I thought I got over the whole Berserk thing? Maybe because it was he assumed that I wanted to be berserk all the time and enjoyed the destruction… She sighed; well I do enjoy the feelings of wildness and some of the destruction, but not against people! I don’t like the willingness to slaughter anyone while I’m in a rage!
Kirosh walked in with a huge armload of stuff and was followed by a small Ferakat.
“Ah, thanks, you got something to warm this place up! Don’t take to heart what Drail said, Kadryn. He likes to push buttons and see how far he can go to get a reaction out of people. It’s why he’s in the Chief’s tent. Other people always kick him out after a month or two. I don’t mind him, but then I’ve never lived with him so.” Kirosh shrugged as he dumped his stuff near the entrance and began to pull out thick rugs. Kadryn went over to help him and they began to set the place up with rugs, large pillows, and a low table for eating.
“You don’t mind that I went berserk and never told you?” Kadryn asked him, it was nice what he’d said, but she had to know. Kirosh looked over at her and smiled before launching a pillow at her.
“Almost everyone in the Tribe has something bad in their past they don’t like to think of. Our world is full of pain and war and we come to the wild to escape that. If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t. I certainly haven’t told you some stuff! ’Sides, what happened in the past doesn’t matter too much. It’s how you act now and in the future that matters.” Kadryn caught the pillow and smiled with relief.
“Thanks Kirosh. Um, Lerosha said something about you giving me my tasks?” “I’m thinking on it! I’ve got some ideas but I need to think a bit longer… why does Chief always land these on me? Oh well, where ever it is, it’s going to be some place warm! I’m headed out from AIsko!” Kadryn looked at him,
“Wait, you’re coming too?” Her heart, the silly traitor, skipped a beat.
Kirosh looked over at her with an eyebrow raised,
“Of course! The task master is required to go along to see what happens! Why, you don’t want me to come along?” He pouted at her.
Kadryn giggled and shook her head,
“Not that! I just didn’t think you’d want to go traveling with someone you just met a week ago…. Besides, aren’t these people like family or something?”Kirosh waved a hand languidly,
“Oh, they’re friends and I do enjoy their company, but I’ve been on Aisko for over a year now! I’m tired of the snow and cold! And I don’t mind traveling with strangers, I’ve certainly done it often enough! How else am I supposed to get to know you if I don’t travel with you?” He grinned at her and sat proudly on a large pillow and lounged back.
“There, a comfy home to live in for now!” Kadryn looked about as she too settled down on a pillow.
“Well, it certainly is comfortable… though I have to question your sense of color!” There was no color scheme at all, and it seemed he’d chosen rugs based on how thick and comfy without thinking of how they’d look together. Quite often the patterns and color clashed. Kirosh looked offended and began to throw pillows at her. Kadryn laughed and responded, all potential glom dispersed by Kiorsh and his odd antics.
