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JANARIM (pl. Janarii) - These large, scaled creatures are vicious with piercing teeth and clawed feet. While speed is not their strong suit, they will move in packs of 3-5 to corner their prey, using their strength and spiked tails to take down their food. Bred in Oba for war, they are almost impossible to tame in the wild.
Difficulty || 16
Defense || 17
Intelligence || 19

A week after Sanele had walked away from Juli a nd his lack of training, Lan showed up. He had an amused smile on his face as he watched Sanele tending to the pregnant Xaraans.

“So I hear you had it out with Juli? I got his side.. what’s yours?”

“Jerk face there decided it was more fun to toss me and Biyya in with no training. That will lead to any of the following things; I get hurt, Biyya gets hurt, the Xaraan get hurt, the Xaraan don’t get trained. I decided he could either teach me, or not. I wasn’t going to risk and injury on anyone or ruin the Xaraan’s chance of being trained just to amuse him.” She said as she finished her task and turned to face her uncle in law. “I will get trained.. just not by him. If need be I will take time off to go and find a real trainer.”

He chuckled; “That is so you, Sanele! Don’t worry about it though…. I did find a new trainer… Juli is the best at taming wild Xaraan.. he just has a ….”

“Sadistic side?” Saneles tone was unamused; “A side that can get people hurt?”

“There’s always a risk, Sanele.”

“Yeah, I know. But there’s no need to increase that risk. He gave us too young of Xaraan who were frightened and more likely to strike out in fear… I am here to learn, not to hurt the Xaraan or frighten them.”

Lan grinned; “Then I think you will like the newer teacher. He’s eccentric, but a willing teacher and one of the better ones. Of course, you will need time off. I’ll give you next week off to go and learn from him. Try to last the week and see if you can wrok with him, Sanele. Otherwise you may end up not being … able to train wild Xaraan.”

She nodded in acceptance. “So long as he isn’t like Juli I think I can manage it.”

“Good girl… After next rest day, pack your bags. You’ll be leaving for the wilderness!” He laughed as he saw Sanele’s expression. “Master Eishtah doesn’t work in the city!”

Sanele spent the next few days getting ready; trying to figure out what she could take, what she needed… and worrying. She was a city girl! Not someone who’d ever spent any amount of time in the wilderness! Guess this will be a whole bunch of lessons rolled up in one. She thought as she set out before dawn to get to the rendezvous point.


Awaiting her was a much older oban, with wild blindingly white hair barely contained by a handkerchief.
“I hear you talked back to the boy Juli? Good for you.. he may be good but I never liked his heavy handed ways.” The man chuckled; “I am Eishta vas Olrika. You can call me Eisa though.”

“uh… Sanele… Kubu. Is it okay that I have Czar with me?” She asked and indicated the perzi asleep in her pack. “He refused to budge this morning so I figured I ought to just.. take him with me.”

“No harm in it!” the older man laughed and hopped off his perch to begin striding out. “May lose him to the wilderness, he may get eaten, but that’s all part of life…. Don’t cry if it happens!”

She didn’t like the sound of that at all….

“So… what are we going to do?

“Learning of course! Maybe some capturing… hopefully some taming. And preferably not dying!” Came the exasperating reply accompanied by a chuckle.

That doesn’t sound very good…. Sanele thought, but kept up her pace, not wanting to get lost. Eisa was in fact a very good teacher.. and also eccentric as all get out. He showed Sanele how to track an animal, where to find water. For the first week it was all about how to survive in the wilderness… with one frightening encounter near the end.

Czar woke them both up with a loud screech and Sanele had sat up in time to see the two Janarim, young but still dangerous, having a stand off with her gutsy perzi.

Sanele grabbed her whip and gave it one loud crack, startling the Janarim into fleeing.

“Good job that… better to scare than to attack.” Came her teachers vice from the shadows. “Ballsy perzi, your Czar certainly is! Standing up to two hungry Janarim.” He chuckled and fell silent. Sanele grabbed Czar and made sure he fell asleep next to her this time so he didn’t get eaten.