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The dust was kicked high as the Quhar trudged down the road leaving the Tale boards behind them. The light colored canvases kept the sun off the wares and drivers of the wagons and carts. Laying in the back of one of the carts near the end of the line was a young male. His blue eyes watched the swaying of baskets and water skins that hung from the wood ribs of the covered cart. Could this travel get any more boring? Rolling onto his side he stared out the back and down the dusty trail the caravan was leaving. Did they have to leave the forested terrain of Tale that quickly? Really?

Groaning to himself, Draven dragged himself from his stooper and up to the front of his father's cart to see where they were headed. There didn't seem to be that much out there. Dust, sand and small low laying bushes, he couldn't wait to reach the next rest stop or town. Even walking sounded good the him, if not for the dust.

"How much farther? I'm getting bored of riding" Draven groaned leaning against the back of the cart seat.

"Next town is still days away, but the next waterhole is only an hour away." replied his father who looked over his shoulder at his son, "If you are that bored you can always work on your figures."

This made Draven glare at his father, he hated figures and everything to with them. Sliding back to where he had been before, he sat with legs swinging off the cart tail. Was there others out there? Someone he could talk to besides his father? He could only hope.

Draven hadn't been so sure about his father trading their other beasts for these ones, but they seemed better suited for this terrain. Certainly didn't complain as much as the more spirited ones they left behind. The double Quhar pulled the large wagon that doubled as home and storage, was one of the slower ones in the caravan, but no one left them behind at any time.

Draven was the first to notice someone approaching from the side and through the dust the wagons and carts were picking up. Squinting past the haze he picked out that this someone wasn't alone. Something else was following them. Curious, Draven went back to the front of the wagon. With quick words to his father, he pulled the wagon out of the train to let the few behind him go a head.

Draven waited for the dust to settle some before poking his head out the back once more. It looked like a girl, and this was for sure. One who looked ready for outdoor living. What attracted his attention was the creature behind her. Was it a bird? Or something else? He had never seen anything like it.. Up close anyways.

"Hi there! Were you needing a ride out of here?" Draven called out, waving an arm from the back of the wagon. His father watching from the driver's seat.

Draven watched as the girl got closer to the wagon, saying someone about not needing a ride out of the area, but just supplies. There was some food that he could offer in trade, but his father was more if a fabric tradesman. Looking forward and out of the front of the wagon as the caravan pulled further away. At the head of the wagon the twin pair of Quhar stood patiently snorting lightly at the Xaraan's squawk.

"Don't have to worry about them, Father got a patient pair. The old farmer he traded with said they were used to this work and being around other creatures." Draven said trying to sound confident. But he wasn't sure how well it was coming across. "Also we have some supplies to sell, father's more into fabrics and bobbles. But sometimes takes up wares that can't fit in someone's cart."

"We deal with all currencies" Draven's father said from the front, "We just have little in the way of change for larger coins at this moment."

Frowning slightly Draven sighed inwardly. he was getting to that. But it seems that his father had beat him to it. Pawing around in a barrel to one side of the wagon, he pulled out a few apples before hunting for other things.

"I like the bird you have with you. Is it yours?" He asked absently, finding a couple loaves of bread packed away that smelled alright to him.

Draven looked up from what he was doing as she asked if she could ride for a bit. He didn't see anything wrong with it, they were going to be stopping soon anyways, with the rest of the caravan train that was now well a head of them. The final say would be from his father, since it was his wagon and all that.

"What do you think dad?" he asked as his father shifted slighting on the wooden set of the wagon.

"Don't see why not, we're headed for one of the rest stops along this line. You can ride until there or on to town when we depart there." Came the answer.


"Sounds like its alright for you to hitch a ride. Will you companion follow? You can always tie her lead to the end of the wagon, we don't travel that fast."

Draven moved to one side to make space for the girl to climb inside. He certainly was younger then she was, in his teens at least. One that didn't stray too far from what was considered home. That was the wagon and the caravan that he traveled within. Brushing his hair off his shoulder, Draven pulled a small basket with fruit and a couple loaves of bread within.

"This is what we go, when we catch up with the others you can buy more from another. This was what our food merchant couldn't fit onto his wagon, he always gets too much stock and we all end up eating the most of it before even making it to the next town." He commented, "Also three silver for these few things. If that sounds fair to you."

Collecting the coins, Draven deposited them into a small pouch at his waist. The coins he would give to his father when they reached the place they were to meet back up with the caravan. For the time being he moved over to settle on a small stack of crates that laid secured against the side of the wagon. From here he could see ahead of the wagon and behind, though there didn't seem to be that much in either direction.

"Draven, My father is Remman." He introduced, his father giving a wave as he stirred the quhar pair to move on again to follow the path that was left for them. "I take it that you were out here for a while then? Is hunting off the land that bad?" Draven asked as he looked back towards Sanele, "To me it sounds like an adventure. I always just go to the cook wagon for my meals when we are camped. The meat there is boxed and salted, nothing is ever fresh unless there is a butcher in the town we stop at."

The thought of hunting sounded fun, but he wouldn't know the ins and outs of the whole thing. He would likely get himself killed if anything else. His only skills so far were those of a Merchant, he wanted to learn more. More things that were different. Looking towards the back of the wagon and the critter that accompanied Sanele, he tilting his head to it. The Xaraan, as he was told, looked interesting if not a bit frightening on first encounter.

A city girl, she said, he was more a nomad then anything else it seemed. Traveling from town to town, helping his father sell his cloth and bobbles. But there was never a stable place to live, just the creak of the wagon and the stars over head. He didn't know what it meant to be from a city.

"Sounds like a life to me. Sure doing odd jobs for money to get supplies and stuff. But all I have ever known was travel, I don't think I could ever find a place to settle." Draven shrugged watching Sanele interact with the Xaraan. "Was your friend there hard to catch? Looks like it is very fond of you." he observed before looking forward as the wagon moved at an easy clip for everyone. The Quhar snorting once and a while as they pulled.

"Only family I have is here and the Caravan tends to look after everyone. Having a good hunting skill would be helpful. Specially when I strike out on my own, have adventures and see more then I ever could here." He motioned around at the wagon, he wanted to do something more then live with the caravan, while he was welcomed. Draven sought out something else, he wasn't sure what yet, but he would know it when it called to him.

"I am sure that someone in the caravan has the skills, I just never asked around. Wasn't really allowed to do too much for the most part." Draven muttered looking away, leaning back against the side of the wagon. "But I think some merchants know more skills then they want to let on, then again we've never run into too much trouble as far as I can remember."

Tilting his head a little, he really didn't want to talk about his caravan life that much. For the greater part of his years he remembered always watching the world through a crack in a door. Barred from the freedom other caravan kids had. Sighing to himself, his attention went back to the woman that sat with him in the back of his father's wagon. She spoke of being out in the wilderness for a while. Trying to capture a Janarim? What was that?

"Are they really that hard to tame?" He asked before looking back to the Xaraan that followed the wagon. "Guess some critters are easier then others. Have you tamed any other critters then the Xaraan?"