Amara tried to talk to all of her fellows at the camp. Although the spirits were rivals, they worked together and that should be how things were in their camp too. "We are more than warriors. We shared a vision, all of us, one of the great feathered rivals. Each of us was chosen by one of them. Each has a place, and a time. All are needed. I am pleased to have you as my brothers." She tilted her head as she looked at Cloud walker. "But for you, I have this question. As all in the Sky Watchers know, I do not get lost. I know where I am always. My question is this, I am now an adult, and when I was a child, I did not feelt he need to be anywhere, so why do I feel the need to go to the west?"

Greeshar doesn't let himself be distracted by the others as he assesses Kobal. Seeing nothing escape the young man's eyes, he remains in readiness until the reaching hand takes the proffered skin. Kobal takes the drink with due ceremony, and Greeshar is taken aback by the compliment on his lance work.

This brave treats me as a clan-brother, he thinks quietly to himself. Then a small voice in his head asks simply, Why? He doesn't even notice his friend Micklebran enter, or Cloudwalker's joke.

He is jarred back to the present as the brave chooses the well-trod path, and mocks his name! Without thinking, he replies, “It is what your mother always called me,” and then he laughs uproariously as at an innocent joke. I will take him down at his first move, Greeshar thinks to himself, ready for a fight.

"The West you say?" The Shaman looks down at the young woman, taking in her red hair, rare amongst the nomads of the plains.

"Well....Let us see what is in the West..... Your traditional Clan lands for one. Then there are the myriad of Holy places of our people. Then there are our enemies: the Sable and their lords....The Red Moon Worshippers, who are said to come from far away, past the prey we raid in Dragons Pass. Reason enough perhaps and enough to motivate any warrior."

Here he nudges Amara indicating her brother and his rising ire.

"A true Storm is brewing...."

Then continuing, he lifts a long strand of her hair.

"I suspect that this is the true answer and one that your Priestess would explain far better than I."

At the sound of the hyena, several of the older braves get up and run off into the darkness, grabbing nearby weapons as they go.

In reply to GM (msg # 56):

Melock runs after the braves, pausing only to grab a sword and to check he has his sling and a few stones.

Amara watched her brother get angrier, she knew she could defuse it with a touch, but it might be better for him to get it out and men always became friends after hitting one another in her experience....so long as it wasn't taken too far. "Yes it is, wise one. The storm has been brewing inside him for a very long time."

Deciding she needed to intervene this time, she walked forward to place a hand on her brothers shoulder. "Greeshar, let this be the time for new friendships. There will be much time in the days to come for you to shed blood beside our new friends."

At hearing the hyena, Fireborn also leaps to his feet. Too many bison go missing to sit and swill kumiss while the hyena feast. Time for drink later.

He snatches up two of the javelins and runs after the older warriors. As he runs his mind goes over the ideas of drinking from skulls and collecting the scalps and skins of the clans enemies. A glorious blanket of Sable skin for his bison, sound good.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:14, Mon 26 Aug 2013.

Hacha smiles as he gets to his feet. He runs over to his javelins, and grabbing them up, leaves the light of the camp fires. He lopes quickly in the direction of the hyena call.

Greeshar starts slightly at Amara's touch, but his eyes do not leave Kobal, a potential opponent.

“Now sister, we were only jesting, as men do. And we are friends, Kobal, are we not?”

He cocks his head to one side. “But what is this, the braves are chasing the hyenas in the night? Shall we join them for some sport?” he asks. “I'll wager you my collection of smooth stones, Kobal, that I can  bring one down before you do. What do you say?”

As the youths begin to get up and grab weapons, Tokar hollers after them

"Make sure you get some sleep! We leave at dawn....."

The warrior then waves a hand in their direction, shrugging at the three Shamans

"Pah...They'll be red eyed, hung over and bad humoured....."

But with a laugh he adds

"Just like us back in the day eh?"

The Shamans grin to a man.

"Oi and you two cut it out! Take your aggression off somewhere else...." Greeshar and Kobal receive his famous snarl, though both see that he is smiling too.

"Enough posturing...Either hit each other or go chase some Hyenas. Remember they are part of Genert. No taking hunting tokens....Bury those you kill."

Koanu stands up and shouts "ok, the Thunder guys, let's stop palaver and let's show how we love the excitement of action !" And he runs to his tent to grab his javelins.

Kobal's eyes widen first in surprise, then narrow dangerously.  You would insult my mother?!  He sizes up Greeshar.  Solid, but I can take him.  He's about to teach this rhino rider a lesson, when Greeshar's flame-haired sister steps in.





Friends?  This guy insults my mother and I'm just supposed to pretend it's nothing?!



Not taking his eyes off Greeshar, he says "Aye, Eight Sable, I'm coming.  There'll be plenty of time to deal with this later."  He turns and goes to collect his sword and javelins.  "Let's go, Kaonu, brother, let's catch us a hyena or two."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:04, Wed 28 Aug 2013.

"That one will bear watching, sister," says Greeshar quietly to Amara as he watches the youth out. "The sooner we establish that I am the stronger, the better." He sighs, then adds, "But Melock, that one has eyes for you. You be wary of him, and I shall watch Kobal.  Now I must get my weapons and be after the hyena. Do you hunt too? Then come, let us be off!"

Amra gave an exasperated sigh, speaking in a low voice with her brother. "I do not need you to watch over me, brother. I am an adult, affirmed as such in front of all of our clan. You should not worry though. He is merely a bison rider. He will never be rhino rider." she waved her brother off to go hunt. "Go hunt hyena, some of us have greater responsibilities than chasing after every snort in the wilderness. I'll stay and help around here."

This message was deleted by the player at 16:19, Wed 28 Aug 2013.

It's early evening and the party, having said goodbye to the Baboons who have vanished into the Wastes once more, are sitting outside their tents around the Bachelor's fire.

The sky is clear, no rain for now, and from all around comes the sound of herd beasts, drums and singing.

Fireborn sits entirely too close to the fire letting the heat scorch his skin as he ponders the events of the last couple of days. It seemed that no matter where he and his fellow Rivals were, there was adventure of some sort, adventure and scars.

Kaono watches Fireborn, marvelling that his friend doesn't burn. It used to unnerve him, but now, especially after the last few weeks, nothing really surprises him.

He takes a quick look upwards, noticing that the Blue Streak has returned to the night sky, where it has begun it's slow movement towards the East and Dead Bottom. The Wicked Writher on it's perpetual journey across the sky dome…

Slowly he begins to beat the large drum between his legs, an easy beat, a low bass note to accompany those starting up elsewhere about other fires.

They'd speed up soon enough.

"Well that was an odd time for us all" he states matter of factly to no one in particular.

"And tomorrow we must go and face our totem birds, and find out what they have in store for us…

I must admit that I do not like the unfinished business we have with the Impala braves and that Shaman. Especially the Shaman….And I suspect that was he who spirited Long Grass away today."

Boom…Badda….Boom goes the drum.

"

Melock will sit at the edge of the fire light, happy to be in the shadows. So Salen, do you have any news about Long Grass?

Camp fires have sprung up everywhere,  with Mahome spreading her love amongst her worshippers, though if anyone bothered to check they would have found that the bachelor's fire burnt the brightest of them all.

On the rare occasion that Fireborn moved away, the blaze would lower noticeably, only returning to it's former glory as he sat back down.

On the other hand where Melock sat, the shadows seemed to have pooled about the young man, chilling the air and making it hard to see beyond.

Yasha and Dust flies high, the elderly Ostrich rider slaves, greet their young wards, and ask how they had fared during the last few days, both saying that they had heard snippets of this and that, and that the braves were the talk of the camp, especially after the visit of the baboons.

Neither pay any attention to Saqui if and when he arrives, not sure of what his situation is yet.

There's also a handful of older bachelors sitting about the fire, talking about the days events and their part in the ritual, with Tokar Eight Sable, the brave's tutor, sitting in their midst nursing a fat skin of Kumiss….

Greeshar returns to the fire at the bachelor's tents, collecting Saqui on his way. He introduces the slave to Yasha and Dust Flies High. “This is Saqui, taken in battle today. I want him to work with you two here at the Bachelor's Tents, and for you to make sure he knows what is expected of him. He will also assist the Sky Watchers when we have no need of him here.”

While the firelight plays over his face, it is evident that the young brave is exhausted. He is the worse for wear, and hopes to sleep well tonight.

“Tomorrow we begin the trials,” he says to no one in particular. He looks down at the fetish, frowning at it. “I will need my rest,” and he seems to be addressing the bone.

Sitting, he helps himself to some kumiss, and remarks, “Our friends the Walkabout troupe have proved to be good friends. When they call upon us some day, I shall answer gladly.”

In reply to Greeshar Longhorn (msg # 73):

From the shadows, your right, they have. Whos blood are you going to feed it?

Greeshar's grin is all teeth as he replies to Melock, “Why, the blood of my enemies, of course.”

He manages to hold the pose for a few beats of the drum, then laughs loudly. “And the occasional animal destined for the spit, as I did tonight.” Abruptly he looks sober, and adds quietly, “But the thing is angry, this is sure. It makes the Devil's noise.” And his knuckles grow white as he clenches his hands into fists.

In reply to Greeshar Longhorn (msg # 75):

Melock laughs as well, we sure seem to have a lot of those at the moment He listens for a bit just make sure you keep it fed, i don't fancy trying to put it back if it escapes

"No, that would not be my first choice either," he adds with a real smile now.