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 Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:01 am
 Skuld was feeling her age these days. She had always liked wandering from time to time, but it was odd to have no permanent home to go back to. Their little group had wandered the rogue lands ever since the spirits told her that they had to leave Mizimu, and this too was becoming routine. One could get used to everything, she was old enough to know that.
It was comforting to know that her children were okay, but she knew that they wouldn't stay with her forever. Her son Ilo had found a place where he fit in, and while he still returned to see them now and then she knew that the new friends and a new pride would probably win out in the end. Urd was still with them, but she was young and if the girl found someone that could love her Skuld wasn't going to stand in her way. She loved her half spirited children, and she knew that they had other needs than she had. Their only casualty so far was her apprentice Kejeli. The boy had been injured and then wandered away in his confused state. They hadn't been able to find him, despite asking the spirits for help.
She gathered her bones for a reading, part of her daily ritual. The spirits had helped her a lot in her life so far, so she knew that she should always listen in case they had anything to say.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:27 pm
Moderate in age, Tapu had been crushed when the pride had found itself separated. It had been a slow, progressively deteriorating death, but a death all the same.
People around them had begun to go, and eventually the pride had left Tapu. The lioness felt a strange, and strong, connection to her home lands, and was extremely reluctant to leave. Had she been older, she would have stayed there until starvation claimed her life as she clung to old ways and old rituals.
But in the spirits, and in the cut throat of a dying rabbit, she'd seen the reason to leave. Tapu had always taken her work seriously, and had scorned any of those who thought the spirits did not know all and could not guide them. They would receive bitter, terrible ends.
Traveling with Skuld was its own blessing. The scryer still held heavily to tradition and the right path, so Tapu felt her conviction strengthened in her presence. She joined her, as Tapu often did, in the morning ritual of a reading.
"We should hunt a proper sacrifice soon," she mused out loud, feeling guilty for not having something substantial for the spirits to communicate to her by.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:46 am
Skuld studied the pattern her bones made as they fell. Nothing immediately alarming. Good. The rest of it could wait, because the bones weren't going anywhere. She looked up at Tapu, and nodded since the other scryer made a good point. Skuld had always felt most at home when reading the will of the spirits in her bones, and she had never desired to rise higher in the ranks. The spirits needed a sacrifice now and then to keep them happy, and Tapu was good at reading in the more traditional manner.
"Urd is hunting," she said, "But I don't think she'll think to bring back something living since I never told her to. Perhaps we should go get something small while she is away."
Her daughter was a decent hunter, despite being raised as a sacrifice, and despite the fact that she was only half lion and only half spirited. When she grew up she had been a curiosity, both pitied and admired. Out here they couldn't afford to pamper a sacrifice, so she and her brother had learned how to hunt. If the situation got dire enough to merit a lion sacrifice they'd have to sort it out somehow, but it was very unlikely that her two children would get the honor of a proper Mizimu sacrifice. Hopefully they’d still be able to die with honor when their time came to cross over to the spirit world.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:18 pm
Tapu could not keep herself from frowning. She did not mean to make a face, but though she was an expert fortune-teller and had held rank to prove it, she had never been required to hunt.
In the Mizimu, she would have been able to boast a larger belly and a full face. Now, she was thinner, almost frail in some sense of the word, and still completely without skill in the face of a hunt.
"Joining you would probably be unwise. Remember the time before?"
The blue-patterned lioness had agreed to join Skuld on a hunt. They had tracked a fine, fat pair of rabbits, when one of them had started to split off. Tapu had panicked, and rushed the rabbit too soon. The creatures were flushed, and they had ended up losing them both.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:42 am
Well, there was that. You won some and you lost some, but the botched hunt must have bothered Tapu more than Skuld had realized. The older scryer had learned how to hunt early on, and she'd retained that skill while wandering and communing with the spirits in the unclaimed territory around the Mizimu lands. There had been a learning curve, and she knew that even a good hunter missed now and then.
"The spirits will forgive us for not catching them all," she said, but she wouldn't push the issue. "We can wait for Urd if you want to. It's a pity Kejeli disappeared, he was getting good at taking them alive."
Her apprentice had showed a lot of promise before his accident, and she knew he'd aimed for the position of a haruspex before they had to leave. But with no apprentice to send they'd have to make do with what they could catch themselves.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:26 am
Tapu was certain the spirits would not forgive them for catching none. Should they waste all their energy on lost sacrifices, they would have nothing to eat themselves. Between three of them, they survived, but they did not prosper.
"May he walk with honor where he goes." Tapu did not have high hopes for the lost Kejeli. An injured, vanishing lion spoke nothing but 'dead' to the lioness' ears.
The dark lioness was nodding then, eyes scanning the trees as if Urd would suddenly make herself known. "It would be preferred."
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:02 pm
Skuld nodded, and looked back down at her reading. She had already made sure that there were no ill omens, but it actually looked pretty good today. The Spirits in the area seemed at peace and they wanted to tell her about the herds moving in the area. Perhaps they could give them a nice large sacrifice after all. Together they might be able to subdue a young animal so Tapu could slit its throat.
"She'll catch something," she said, and motioned to a cluster of bones, "And look at all the prey in the bones."
Skuld had always liked using her bones to find good hunting grounds, and as long as she could find cooperative spirits to guide her she was quite good at it. The old scryer had a good feeling about the spirits guiding her tools at the moment.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:54 am
Tapu's eyes moved from Skuld to the reading. Her eyes flicked over each of the bones, tilting her head there, taking in a breath there.
What Skuld said, however, was more than true. There was prey abound in those bones, and nothing to say that they should be concerned about a stampede. If they were crafty, they could have a feast with their sacrifice.
"The spirits know our plight, and are here to aid us."
While their pride may have given up, the spirits had never given up on them. The devotion that both she and Skuld gave them stayed strong, and so did their connection. Tapu pitied any being who had abandoned the old ways.
"It will be a strong hunt indeed. If they stay in such favor, perhaps they wish us to stay here for a time."
There was another thought which lingered in Tapu's mind that she dare not say: Perhaps we should teach the old ways, and try and rebuild a lost empire.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:19 am
It would be a good place to stay for a while, and it might do them good to save their energy for hunting and worship. She hadn't scented any territory marks in a while so they shouldn't have to worry about other predators wanting to claim the area.
"I think you're right," Skuld said, "The signs seem to favor staying in the area."
Not just the bones either, but she didn't have to point out the other favorable signs around them. Even a cub with only the basic knowledge of the Mizimu ways would be able to see and understand those, so she hardly had to mention them to Tapu. To an outsider they might seem very superstitious, but Skuld had learned that it was wise to listen to the spirits. Bad signs didn't have to mean bad tidings, but it meant you had to be careful. Good signs didn't have to pan out either, but if the spirits pointed out an opportunity it was stupid not to try to benefit from it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:00 pm
The Haruspex was nodding in time with Skuld's calm, easy agreement. Already, her eyes were scanning the area. It was still thick, woody. It was not the same sort of location as home, but a new life required a new location. If the spirits condoned it, so did she.
"Then it is so."
Eyes alighting on a broken twig, Tapu made a low sound in the back of her throat.
"There will be a sacrificial altar near." Whether it be the perfect crook of a fallen tree, a grooved rock, or simply a hollowed spot among leaves, Tapu would find it. No home was fit to stay in without a proper place of sacrifice.
"I will find it, while you hunt."
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:04 am
It took a few heartbeats for Skuld to see the sign Tapu had noticed. A very lucky sign indeed! The spirits in this area must really want them to stay. She wondered if some of their friendly ancestor spirits had joined them when they left the diseased and cursed Mizimu lands. Perhaps they too wanted a new home.
"I'll go look for Urd," she said, "Or if the Spirits see fit to lead me to an animal they want."
She gathered her bones and stashed most of them under a flat rock. The scryer rarely went anywhere without her bones, but for something as simple as this she only needed a few of them. She tossed them into the air, and only had to glance at the pattern to know where to go.
"This way then," she said, and nodded to Tapu, "I see you in a little while."
Skuld gathered her bones and went to look for her daughter, and some food for the spirits.
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