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Story:
Way back when, in two different family groups at around the same time, someone slept with someone they weren't supposed to and had little halfbreed babies. A half ice set, and a half leaf set.
For both of these people and their broods, they found differing degrees of prejudice and harm. The Half ice ones fared well enough- wind-ice liasons were not uncommon- but the leaf halfbreeds were exiled for their dark skin and pointed ears and the terrible luck of arriving on the verge of a series of nasty storms. Considered bad omens, they were outcasts until one of them became a hero, and even then it still took a great deal of time and effort to be accepted back with his wind kin.
Time passed, and the leaf blood and ice blood both became diluted as they bred comfortably within their own kinsfolk. At some point, the two family groups merged and then split again, as bands sometimes do.
And that is how a line of Wind tribesfolk bearing both ice and leaf blood came to be. Most did not show it- the occasional odd eyes or gems, perhaps, but their parents and grandparents and, by this point, great grandparents had been productive and valued members of the band. They were Wind.

In fact, Nuawahn's parents, both happening to be of that line (though they were only distantly related to each other) looked, basically, like normal windtribesfolk. Maybe their hair was a bit dark and their eyes a bit yellowish or, in his father's case, greenish, but all within the color ranges of the Wind tribe. Nuawahn's older sister and brother were born and were, also, normal save for a few small quirks that nobody thought much of.

And then Nuawahn was born with enough oddness for them all. He looked Wind. He had the skin and hair and ears of the Wind tribe. But his crystals were in odd places, his hands and feet were slightly dark with blue pigments, and his eyes...
Were definitely odd. Remarkably pretty, but odd.
Fortunately for Nu, he was a charmer from a young age. Fast to laugh and smile, happy to share the joy, and willing to be the sort of nuisance that makes you shake your head with exasperation, yet grin, and generally enough to assuage fears that he was a terrible omen of some sort. It helped that he was born at the beginning of a very good year for his band.

By the time he was old enough to really understand and care, he had been accepted as another youngling of the Wind tribe.

~~~~~

How he got there, he can't remember but one day he awoke from a fever at the capable hands of Takoda the Shifter Monk in Jahuar.
Since then, He's been wandering Jahuar and the Tale, making friends.

Friends of note include Tahira- who lives in Emeka and who insists he stay with her because he is a youngling wandering alone and that doesn't sit well with her.- and Tahigwa, who has taken a liking to the golden haired kid. He's made friends with many other people and become fond of the warm regions of Tendaji.

He did wonder, though, what had happened to bring him so far from home. At first, he didn't do anything about it, happy to play with the Alkidikes and explore the jungle.

But then, one day, on the way back to Emeka, he found a young Alkidike lady ijured on the road. He tried to save her, patching her up and carrying her to town. That night, though, he found out that she had died. Being of the worldview that everything was going to be okay, if you only nudged it a bit, he was a bit shaken. Doubts began to pile up – perhaps things weren't okay, perhaps his nightmares weren't normal – and he began to long for the half-forgotten warmth of his mother's arms.

So, he left for Sauti, trying to find home. He had an uneventful journey across the Tale, and finally made it to the mountains. He tracked down his family band and reunited with them.

It was tearful.

They had thought he was dead, and told him a story he did not remember, of a trader caravan full of family, lost far away and never heard from again. He had been, he was told, with this group.

The tale filled him with dread, and made him all too aware of the space of foggy blankness in his mind between Sauti and Jahuar. He tried to stay with his band, but after the story and the looks that they gave him – too hopeful and expectant for his liking – he ended up running away again. It was too much for him to be where his family was supposed to be, but wasn't, so he began to travel through Sauti with only his Capramel for company, shedding layers of stress and care until he was his usual happy self again.

He did, though, leave a family to grieve for their son a second time, but the thought that he might have hurt his mother and family never crossed his mind. He had just wanted to be free again.

~~~

He wandered towards Zena, and – remembering that he had never been there, paid it a visit. While there, he heard rumors of war beginning soon and, always up for an adventure, he decided to take a look.

One wonders if he really knows what he's in for...

Home:Home is where his Capramel is!
He pretty much goes anywhere and everywhere.

Items:
Nuawahn's inventory includes:
Various trinkets from all over Tendaji
Food
Spare cloaks
Various things he can give as gifts

Spells and Skills:

Nuawahn is a talker. He's pretty good at bringing down people's guards. He makes friends easily and quickly.

His innocence is both a bonus and a hinderance- he doesn't understand some things, which can be a problem, but people are more likely to trust him because of it.

Nuawahn figured out how to use his magic, and he seems to have an affinity for light, illusions, and the softer, non damaging magics. His magic is not suited to attacking. He will likely take the defensive magic route. At this point in his training, he has figured out how to use his magic to heal and also has a little mild telekinesis, manifesting as Air magic and barriers.

He also has a little formal healing training, and knows how to do first aid and make basic salves.

He can also entertain and cheer up people with his boundless energy and infectious cheer.

Art:

Significance of Magic: pt 1 - 1340 words

Nuawahn was not unwelcome in the settlement of Ast. In his wanderings, he had learned to use his sweet face and age to his advantage and in addition to his obvious youth, he brought items to trade from the Alkidike territories.
He had lingered in Ast for a time, but he was ready to move on, if only so that he could have more neat things to show his Alkidike friends when he got back to Emeka.
There was a group of Shifters about to set out for Sol, and they invited him to join them with his strange creature. After all, a youngling should not be traveling Jahuar alone. Sol seemed as interesting a place as any to travel to, and he hadn't been there yet, so he cheerfully agreed.

He camped with the group, sharing some of the Sautian spices that he had gotten from Tahira's mother. He had figured out that grown ups of this land liked to hear stories from Sauti, so he told any he remembered over the campfire. The group warmed to the strangely colored child in their group and some were glad that they had brought him with them. He brought a bit of daylight into the dark shade of the Jahuar night, and even a little bit was welcome.

They continued on in the morning. Though sleepy, Nuawahn managed to keep up with the tail end of the group, chattering with a Shifter guard. He was from a fishing family, and he told Nuawahn about the big fish that seemed to always evade him. He told story after story, exaggerating until, by the time they made camp again, it might as well have been a whale that had gotten away.

That night, everybody was in a good mood, willing to share stories of their own. Each one had a different story of the jungle, and the topic turned to their rites of passage, the event in their lives that symbolized their entry into the working ranks of their tribe. Each one had had a different trial to face. Everybody shared something, whether it was a story or a comment. Nuawahn drank in their stories with wide eyed eagerness, entranced by their telling. These were stories that were more than stories- they were real, yet they had all the wonder of a story.

One archer, though, was completely quiet. "So none of you understood why you had to face those tests? she asked suddenly, lifting her head, "There is a meaning behind each trial... Did you not see that?"
A meaning? The others were incredulous. There was no meaning, except for the fact that most were impromptu and slightly harrowing.
"No, there is meaning and significance. There is a reason you each did what you did."
The others shrugged, but Nuawahn leaned in, curious.
"What do you mean, ma'am?"

She began to talk of the other's trials. One's father had been injured, and his task had been to find a creature whose bones could heal him.
"Your Father," she said, "Represented the past, crippled by a mistake. The beast was the present, which you had to destroy to ensure that you would have a future."
Another had saved a colony of Nondwa from a young Menzuri, becoming a swordsman.
"The Nondwa was your innocence, since they are harmless and friendly creatures." she said quietly, "The Menzuri was your anger, which you had to drive away to protect your innocence. In the end, you were granted a role that would constantly put that innocence in jeopardy. The lesson behind the trial was that as long as you keep your anger at bay, your innocence will survive."
She was interrupted.
"Well, thats all well and good, but what of Biroki, Reshel's kid." asked a shifter, "Their hut really did burn down, and there really was a spirit. He almost drowned, I hear!"
Another shifter piped up, "And what about Zuri? I heard her pet was attacked by a criminal..."
"The mage and the half-ice lancer? What of them?"
"Those things were real. I saw the burnt space myself, and I was part of the group that captured the criminal. There isn't anything symbolic at all about that. They are just things that just happened"
"Yes" the archer said, smiling quietly, "There is. Didn't you notice something interesting about Biroki? He is quite meek, yet he speaks about beauty in everything..."
"When you can get the boy to talk at all and stop stammering!"
"Yes. Here's my take on his trial. The hut burning down was his fears- his own powers and their interaction with his own lack of self confidence. It forced him to move beyond his comfort zone and seek help. Instead of help, he found a stunning vision in the form of a woman who tried to destroy him. Brought in by her beauty, he then had to fight against its lure, and he did so. Hence why he is alive."
"What about Sen'oda? I heard he saved her."
The archer thought for a moment. "She's his mother, right? And she left a long time ago, didn't she? Well there. He saved the past he never knew from his own fears and anxieties."
Some of the Shifters rolled their eyes.
"You're full of it, Nanaat.” said one of the men, scoffing, “Well? what about Zuri."
"Simple" said the Archer, her eyes crinkling in amusement, "Her... whatever that pet was... was the quiet life she had found here after her long journey. And the man was threatening it for, what... some fur and meat and horn, wasn't it? So she had to wake up and become fierce and unrelenting to protect it from his petty needs and desires."
"Allright." said another Shifter, very annoyed at her, "What about your trial? What 'significance' does it have?"
Nuawahn leaned in. ”Yes!” he said, excitedly. He was always happy for another story, and she was setting it up so well! ”What's your story?”

She began to tell them of her own trial. One day, her sister had been carried off by a group of flying insects. Stealerflies, they were called. She had been unable to find help and, on her own, she had had to find a bow and arrows and shoot down the stealerflies before they got to her nest and ate her. They were so high up, though, that she had to time it and make sure her sister would fall in something cushioning like a tree.
"I had to shoot down the flies." she said, "I was fortunate. Each arrow I shot hit its mark. When three were killed, the others gave up and scattered. My sister fell into a tree and I climbed up and brought her home. That is when I was promoted."
"So?" Nuawahn's eyes were bright, "What does it mean?"
She smiled, a quiet, humble smile. "The stealerflies were my flaws, carrying away my sister, my virtues, away to destroy her. The three arrows were my determination, my ambition, and my love. The three I killed were my envy of what others had, my fear of the unknown, and my frustration at not having grown up yet. Once they were gone, the other flaws could no longer harm me." she smiled, "I'm not sure what significance the climbing of the tree had, but..."

Nuawahn grinned and raised his hand, waving it in the air vigorously.
"I do! I do!" he said, delighted at having found an answer to something so complicated and adult. "The tree was you!”
”That's an interesting thought” she said, looking at Nuawahn, ”Why do you say that?”

”You were growing up and tall and strong and that's why it saved your sister! Then you had to climb down because... uh..." he thought for a moment, "Because you needed to share your virtues with others? Otherwise, they'd just sit there and nobody would enjoy them..."

The archer laughed and touseled his soft blonde hair. "That might very well be it." she said kindly.

Tiny Tiny, Big Big - Nuawahn and Tahigwa, 428 words

Nuawahn snuggled into the mattress that Tahigwa's family had so kindly provided. He was in Andile now, and it was even more Alkidike than Emeka, which was kind of neat.

It had been a good day. He had met lots of new friends. Tahigwa, Nyah (she was a strange kid, but that was fine!), Tahigwa's mother (who was sick and that wasn't so good, but Nuawahn was determined to cheer her up), and Nesrine who was really stern and funny!

Well, he thought so anyway!

Tahigwa had explained to her mama that they had taken the beads to exorcise Nyah- which meant to chase the spirits off with magic, which made more sense than making Nyah run until the spirits went away! That was silly. Even if he liked the idea, he didn't want to make poor Nyah run all that way.

What wasn't so fun was the scolding. Trouble was fine- sometimes trouble made people laugh, but stealing was bad and didn't cause the good, fun kind of trouble. It made people unhappy, and he felt bad for that shifter.

But that would be okay too, because he didn't have to go return them- Nessie would! Tahi's family had even let him stay with them. They had said for the night, but he thought he could probably stay longer. People usually relented when he looked at them in that special way that made adults do what he wanted.

He knew that such a skill could easily be turned to bad things, but he didn't do bad things with it. He just wanted to explore Andile! It was new, and was full of Alkidikes who weren't mixed, and he wanted to explore it!

Perhaps Tahi would take him around tomorrow! That would be great!

La'amu was a little grumpy about the whole affair. Her notcalf had done something troublesome and, as usual, she was supposed to deal with the fallout.

She did so, mainly because she didn't like that twoleg's tone. They hadn't been very nice, and they had been angry, so she had blocked them with her very stubborn and sturdy body and horns.

Eventually they had given up trying to get past her and she had been on her way, tracking her Notcalf's scent to where he was staying. She scolded him in her own way, and now she was happy to sleep.

She hoped that he would stay out of trouble tomorrow- she was tired out.

They both closed their eyes and fell asleep. A fun day ended, a new one yet to begin.

A Journey's Beginning - 988 words


For most of his childhood, Nuawahn hadn't minded being far away from home in the jungles of Jahuar. He'd been too busy meeting people and enjoying himself, collecting and playing with the endless bounty of interesting things that the jungle had to offer. There had simply been no reason to go home. He had his Amma- what more could he want?
Ever since he had failed to save that Alkdike's life, though, he had been feeling pangs of sadness, especially in the quiet between bedtime and sleep. He would miss his large family; his mother, his father, his sister, his brother, his aunts, uncles, and cousins. He would miss the hard ground of Sauti, the warm and musky company of the troupe's capramel herd, and the spices that could make anything taste wonderful. Sometimes, it just hit him how jarring it was to be in one place and not the other.
Always, though, sleep came and wiped away the sorrow. His mood would brighten once more and in the light of the new day and the exciting adventures it brought the homesickness would fade.
But the truth was that his longing for home didn't truly leave him. It accumulated and accumulated, droplet by droplet and memory by memory, into a feeling that grew in strength and wouldn't go away. Eventually, it became overpowering, to the point where he knew he had to leave. He began the journey homeward, packing fruits and water and saying his goodbyes.

A pack by his side and good wishes at his back, he had taken the path towards Ast, hoping to go through there towards where a kind shifter living with her wife and daughter in Emeka had said was the settlement of Sol. That, she had said, would be the closest one to Yera, home of Takoda and other people that Nuawahn knew and wanted to be able to thank and say goodbye to.

By now, he had been living in Jahuar for years. He knew that the ground was dangerous if you were camped, and the trees were a safe haven. He knew that La'amu, especially, was in danger because she couldn't climb. Trees were an avenue that would take you where you needed to go if you moved swiftly from bough to bough, but that required skills that he just didn't have. He could climb trees with the best of them, but jumping like that was just not something he had grasped.

He felt each step away from Emeka like a new weight upon his shoulders. He was leaving his friends behind, and that hurt. But the need to go home beat against his chest urgently like a captured insect.

He reached Ast, then Sol, then year and, finally, after months of travel over jungle and desert, Nuawahn stepped over the arbitrary line in sand and stone that marked where the plains of the Tale ended and the mountains of Sauti began. He grinned broadly, standing up a bit straighter despite his long journey. He was home, at last, in the mountains he had been born in.

He bought a room at an inn in Dernd, purchased with the money made from selling some small Jahuaran beads, and also coat- long uneeded- from a merchant used to dealing with travellers from the warmer parts of Tendaji. The oddities he had picked up in his travels and wore on his clothing garnered him a few stares, and it struck him suddenly how different his own tribe was from the Alkidikes and the Shifters and the Leaf tribe. He felt, for a moment, slightly detatched. He had been so young when he woke up in Jahuar. Though he was still young now, was he no longer Wind?

The thought only lasted a moment. Everybody was different. Alkidike, Shifter, Leaf, Wind, Ice, insects, Radaku, Mammu... but in the end, the differences didn't matter as much as what they shared! He may be different than when he was last in Sauti, but he was still Nuawahn, and everybody was still everybody, and they all lived here on Tendaji. That had to count for something. Everybody was connected by the things that made them different and the things that made them the same. He felt a little bad for having thought that silly thought. It was so obvious to him how silly it was! He smiled again as a group of sailscales glided overhead on a training flight. Either way, he thought, I'm home.

Nighttime cloaked the world in coolness and he took advantage of that time to sit with other travelers and talk. He hadn't had company since Isd, and though that was a few days away from Dernd, it was still too long for him. He needed people, not solitude, and Amma didn't always count. So, he took full advantage of the allure of the warm fire. He didn't bother to ask about his family. They were wandering capramel herders, so he would ask in Tind, a place more likely to be on his family's route and definitely a better place to ask about them.

Instead, he talked of things like the weather, how different the air and water and soil were in other lands. The conversation soon turned to trade. Though he was asked about the people in the lands he had travelled to, he was mostly ignored- why would a mere child know of the complexities of trade and politics? It was true, he didn't. Those things were too serious for him, and, though he tried to listen, his mind drifted. He tried to turn the conversation to other, more interesting things, but as the adults began to talk of the impending war with the Obans of the South, he eventually and good-naturedly gave up and turned in for sleep.
Tomorrow, he would set off for Tind, and he would be one step closer to his family.
Tonight, though, he dreamed.

Finding - 1177 words

"Is that Tind over there, Amma?" he asked, peering through the haze of Sauti. There was a bright splotch against the stone further down the pass, and he thought it might be the settlement. He remembered the thick air of Jahuar, where every breath was like a a drink of water, and the clear air of the Tale, where you could see for miles and your eyes played tricks with distance. It was strange to see the haze of Sauti again, and odder still to find it strange at all.
La'amu didn't particularly care, so long as it had a place to rest her hooves. She was an old capramel, not as able to make long journeys as she once had been.
Nuawahn was, however, practically vibrating with surpressed energy. "C'mon! Lets go see!" he clambered down stones and over boulders, enjoying his own movement and the sense of intrepid joy it gave him. He ignoring the small scrapes, bruises, and cuts he got from his scrabble over the rocks.
He squinted. The white-ish blotches took form. There were huts, people, and capramels, blurry in the haze but clear enough to make out.
"It IS Tind!" he said excitedly, grinning ear to ear, and moving quickly down the path to the settlement. He was trying, really trying, not to get too far ahead of himself. He would go in, ask about his family group, and then find them. But he was so excited. He was already planning what he would do when he found them, what to tell them first, what trinkets to show off and to who.
But he couldn't do that until he found them, and he hadn't found them yet. He would soon though, and it was this eager glee that propelled him towards the settlement of Tind, La'amu following sedately. She, after all, had no inclination to rush.

~~~

Tind, being a border town, should have had an inn. Nuawahn knew that they were a relatively new concept outside of Sauti and Zena, but he liked them.
But a communal campground was just fine. There were lots of travellers there and that meant he had plenty of people to talk to, which suited him just fine.
He knew Tind well. He had been there many times. But things were different from before, and he didn't know what had actually done more of the changing- him or the town.
There were still capramels everywhere. Here, Tind, was where La'amu was born, bred, and raised. He liked capramels. He had even spent some time just playing with a herd of the beasts that day. La'amu had decided to let him wander the town alone. She was tired from walking all this way and was quite comfortable, thank you, in her nice, warm, rented straw in a barn. In her opinion, her notcalf could handle himself for a bit.
Nuawahn didn't mind her not coming with him. He knew she would find him in the morning. She always knew when it was time to go, or rather the time she wanted to go. Even when they weren't travelling, she liked to check in on him in the mornings.

It hadn't taken more than a few conversations to figure out where his family group would be. He had figured out when they had last come in with their herds, and had checked his memories with others who knew his band. He knew his family's nomadic cycle and so knew that, if he moved quickly, they would be North, at a campsite at Quachen's Pass. If he made it in a day, they would be but a day away. Longer, and he would have to trail them for a time. He hadn't been planning on staying in Tind long, anyway. Just enough to refill his canteen, chat, and get his bearings. La'amu was resting, though, and there were people to talk to. He decided to settle in for the night. Everything could wait until morning.

~~~

Nuawahn's favorite place in the whole world was, and had always been, a campfire surrounded by people telling stories. Ever since he was very young, he had loved listening to everybody and occasionally commenting. He had liked how people turned words into something more, into something that they had heard or- better yet- had lived. He could never figure out how they could weave words like that- for him, they always came out as just words. The fire in Tind had no amazing storytellers, but everybody had a story and Nuawahn listened, delighted.

Many were travellers. Some were nomads, at the southern area of their cycle, gathering capramels and pelts to bring North to Zena. Others would be cycling around east and meeting up with family bands there with new herds in tow. A few, though, were traders, hoping to traverse the Tale and start up trade routes for the lucrative exotic goods from the jungle and the desert. Something about their stories made him pay attention. Finally he spoke up.
"I've been to the Tale" he said, "To Jahuar too." They didn't believe him. He was a kid, they said, he hadn't been anywhere. "No, really, I've been there. he insisted. They laughed. Well, he should tell them all about it. There was elbowing. The kid might look strange and bear strange trinkets, but surely he didn't go so far on such an important route all alone. He told them about the Tale, how flat and lonely it was. How water was found in little gourds and trees grew tall and thick until they became villages. He told them about the greatest danger of the desert.
"It all looks the same" he said, poking at the fire, "If you don't know where you're going, then you'll walk around and around in circles. You have to have a goal and then go there in a straight line. And then you have to trust that you're staying straight. Check the moon and stars everyday." like Suen had taught him, "As long as you have a destination in mind and know how to get there, you'll get there."
Well, they did have a destination in mind. Jahuar.
"Thats not a destination. Maybe Vers?" he said, "Its too broad..."
They interrupted him. They were experienced wanderers, kid. Their leader smiled at him, not entirely friendly but still civil, at least. They knew how to handle themselves.
Nuawahn smiled disarmingly. "Oh, okay!" he said, willing to acquiesce.
They were so much more experienced, and adults besides. If they thought they could make it, then they probably could! It didn't sit well with him, but he was just a kid. Who was he to talk? He did feel a little deflated and, as the conversation turned to other things, Nuawahn left the campfire and curled up into his bedroll and tent. He couldn't wait for tomorrow. Sleep did not come for a while as he thought of what he would do when he saw his family. He snuggled his blanket. Tomorrow would be the best day ever.