Location: Yael
Creature: Tintural

The first thing he heard was a loud, triumphant cry coming from the jungle. The trees and vines in that direction were much too thick to see through, and the voice was far too distant to have anything to do with him. Still, Matchitemin froze like a startled animal, his back straightened, his head turned towards the sound, and one foot resting a step forward, so that he would be ready to run if he had to.

The voice returned again a few moments later, still booming but no longer a shout.

“Ha! Told you I’d get him, didn’t I?”

A second voice joined in, striking up with laughter. “Oh, aren’t you proud of yourself! Jyen, that thing moves as slow as a house! A youngling could ‘get’ him, same as an old man with one eye. It’s not much to brag around, anyway. What could these things possibly be good for anyway? It’s like a bushi but not as big.”

“Bushi don’t have plants growing on them, dummy. I heard in one of the Yaeli towns that the herbs on these critters’ backs are worth something. Anyhow, who cares what it’s good for? I’m not hiring it out for jobs, am I. But folks back home haven’t seen anything like this. There’s plenty who’ll pay good money for the novelty of owning one. Now, help me pull the net in, will you? This one sure is stubborn.”

Had these two people -- a man and a woman, by the sound of it -- been talking about anything else, Matchitemin would certainly have disappeared into the jungle by now. They were obviously strangers. He could tell that just by listening to them, in their manner of speech and the words they used (like ‘a bushi’ or even ‘folks back home’). But another thing that was obvious was the fact that they had captured a beast -- a tintural, by the sound of it. And this… well, he wasn’t sure how it made him feel. A thousand different things at once, perhaps. And amongst all those things… curiosity.

He crept forward, his bare feet silent on familiar ground. Eventually he reached a spot where he could climb a rocky outcrop that overlooked the strangers. Here, he crouched low and watched while remaining unseen.

He had been exactly correct. The two, a man and a woman of some strange race (gray-skinned, with silver hair) were standing around a tintural that was trapped underneath a net. The slow animal was trying to crawl out from under it, but the beast-hunters simply gathered up the ends and began to pull it away. Matchitemin bit his lip, feeling a wave of anger. What gave these strangers the right??! Why, he had half a mind to stand up and tell them what he thought of their greedy hands snatching up what was rightfully only the Yaeli’s… but there were two of them. One carried a whip as he did, but the man had two long blades hanging from his hips.

So he slipped back into the shadows instead, and tried his best not to feel embarrassed about his cowardice.

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