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Lifting a hand to her mouth the alkidike bit down on the piece of fruit she had gathered only moments before she slumped down onto the branch with as much grace as she could muster. Leg dangling down she swung it back and forth as she continued to eat the fruit in hand. It had been an interested past couple of weeks if uneventful.

Meeting up with Rishma's 'mother' as well the shifter who she faced off in a battle she was starting to feel that perhaps united the tribes wouldn't be at all that hard if they could at least ...get along for the most part. It was old blood...old stories that were keeping the tribes separate and unifying them was now her intended goal. Jerarda saw herself as prime leader material when she was younger...and more...foolish. The alkidike still had a long ways to go before she could really call herself a leader. Certainly she had leadership qualities...and she felt somewhat better about having apologized formerly to the shifter half breed Animah.

There was still the case of the other shifter she had tormented when she was young and stupid. That nervous one she had chased down in the middle of the night...though it had only been half a year or so since that exploration of the new areas...it felt like it had been years. She should try and track down that boy if he was still alive... formerly apologize to him as well....if he would take it.

Lost in her thoughts Jerarda was sitting in a tree near the sandy beaches on the very outskirts of the Jahaur forest. The woman had been planning on traveling back to the islands, bring her...sis...er...brother? with her to meet Aisha the mother tree, but they had been delaying for awhile...things just kept stalling them it seemed.

It was her antenna that alerted her of the girls presence before she actually looked up to see the girl standing on branches above her, still chewing her fruit she swallowed after a moment and smiled at her. Well then, though a younger sister she wondered just how long she had been around the forest. There were a few things to note about the girl above her. Heavier or more..big boned was the better word and a strange scar than ran from the corners of her mouth, that perhaps was the most curious thing.

"Hello sister, I do not believe I have met you before." Jerarda started slowly though in a friendly manner as she then went to lick the dripping fruit juice that was trailing down her fingers, then she slowly went to stand up taking her time as she turned to now face the girl or at least get a better look at her. Yes she was younger..but what did that make her? Old? Mature? She almost snorted, she could hardly claim to be an adult.

"Did you just arrive to the forest?" She inquired as this was her first time seeing her around here.

Jerarda watched her dark eyes watching as the other alkidike come down to join her on the branch, shifting her ways backwards to give her 'sister' more room. Finishing the fruit she licked the juices off her fingers before she considering her reply. True it had been a long time since she had been home to the islands, but there was a very long story involved with the explanation.

"That is true my sister, though I have not been home in a long time, but that shall be changed as soon as my friend is ready to meet with the Great Mother Aisha." Jerarda explained, perhaps a bit too formally but it was enough to at least keep the conversation going.

Guessing by what Vollerei was saying this was her first time to the forests of Jahaur and she hadn't gone too deep into them before. "I am Jerarda, though perhaps you have heard of me." The alkidike woman offered the name, and though she was..preening a bit as she had quite the reputation back home it had still been some time since she had been there. Had people forgotten about her? That wouldn't do, though she was sure that her Elder sisters from the exploration group had told of their great tales since their arrival back home.

"If this is your first time here, perhaps it is best if I tell you the locations of some of the shifter settlements." That was probably the best idea, for many of those clans were still suspicious and down right hostile towards the alkidikes though given the bad blood between them Jerarda hoped to fix that upon her arrival back home.

Though the shifters were a worry as they could be a thread more worrisome were the countless creatures that roamed in these woods. Unlike on the islands were they were all relatively safe these woods were rather dangerous if you didn't have any idea of what lurked in them. Jerarda went to sit down on leg dangling as she observed her sister. The scar that went across her face had her very curious, she wanted to ask about it but felt perhaps it was not the most polite thing to do at least not until she got to know her better.

Looking down to the forest floor, she noted her spear was still leaning against the base of the tree, not that she felt she would need it right at the moment. Though given how dangerous the forest could be, perhaps it would be prudent to go gather it, though just not at this moment.

"Though the shifters may be the lease of your worries, there are creatures in this forest that are rather dangerous...though I haven't run into some of them the stories I've heard about them are quite...awful. Have you ever heard of the Menzuri?" Jerarda inquired as with a raised eyebrow.

Jerarda gave a bit of a start, was the menzuri edible? Some part of her wanted to burst out laughing, but instead she managed only to give a chuckle as she shook her head, there were lots of insects that were...but the menzuri...even if you killed one she doubted anyone would want to give it a taste.

"The menzuri is a large crystalline beast, with eight legs and a bad temper. It's rather venomous so even if you killed one...I don't know if you'd want to eat it. " She mused thinking on it, wondering if anyone had tried it in the past. "I think though the shifters eat primarily fruit, most of these tree's bare a various types of fruits and most if not all are edible." Looking about she pointed to the tree next to them even though the fruit wasn't quite ripe the tree was laden with them.

"See? Oh! the menzuri also build webs really big ones..I'd suggest not touching them. The strands of the webs are toxic and causes hallucinations. "

Jerarda gave another passing look at the forest floor, there were all sorts of fungi living there and the scraggly plant or two trying to survive despite the dense population of trees, some of those fungi glowed and others did not. Some of the erupted spores if you prodded them...and she really wasn't the expert on wither any of those were poisonous. As for the creatures...most of the insects that grew quite large she supposed were edible though how much you'd want to eat them was...another story.

"Hmmm I am not an expert on the plants, I've seen shifters take from here and there certain ones and avoid others but it would take me all day trying to explain to you the differences. Plus I am not even sure WHY some of them are avoided...poisonous? Possibly...perhaps they just plain taste awful who knows." Jerarda was starting to relax as the conversation continued on, her sarcasm coming through as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Ah yes there is also a creature that tends to hunt in packs here. Its called a Radaku, a strange reptilian like creature that is fairly large. Apparently if you can find one when they are a pup they are easy to bond with and I am guessing to train. I've seen two sisters with them as companions. But if you run into them in the wild they are fairly...vicious." Putting her hands together she made to simulate a creatures jaws with teeth, opening and closing it making a chomping sound.

Jerarda shrugged, she hadn't seen the point in having a pet either, although Maya had one...and so did Rishima, she was actually surprised there weren't more of them around being toted as pets rather than wild animals. Jerarda looked to the girl and then smirked a bit, back on the islands? Perhaps there were some elders that had done some traveling back in their day, but it would probably be more prudent and...useful to ask the natives of the area.

"The shifters know these forests better than we do, since they live in the area. If you can find one that doesn't immediately want to kill you I would suggest asking them." Jerarda gave a chuckle, to be fair she hadn't met any shifters who immediately wanted to maim her, although she had terrified a couple since her arrival to Jahaur.

"Or better yet if you can find a half breed, they tend to be a lot more...peaceful." Rishima was a good example of that...though perhaps 'shut in' was a better description of him. "The best I can do is show you the places were fish gather in the small rivers that run through this place, as well the best fruits."

Jerarda felt that grin come onto her face, perhaps it was the fact she was being declared the 'leader' in this expedition, even if was only to go find food. Giving a laugh she went to slip off the branch to retrieve her spear, landing lightly on the soft ground below. Casting about her eyes to make sure that nothing was coming their way she grabbed the weapon and then was quickly scaling the tree back up.

Spear now in hand she relocating Vollerei and gestured for the woman to follow. After all they were quite happy in the tree's and taking off she was running. It wasn't hard for her to reposition herself, she had become pretty familiar with the area after spending many days exploring it whilst waiting for her 'sister' to be done with his challenge. Leaping to another branch she half turned to make sure that Vollerei was keeping up.

It wouldn't be long before the sound of the ocean was left behind them, and soon replaced with the sound of a river. Stopping at the top of a tree she looked down spotting the river quite quickly but also....something else. Putting a hand up to indicate to stop and be on the alert she was staring down at the ground, there was in fact a radaku there, drinking from the river. It was a strangely colored beast mottled blue's over its hide. It was alone...from what she could tell but it was fairly large, almost ride able and if they were not careful they would alert it to their presence.