UE: A New Dawn - Chryil 25th, Late MT

[Brytan]

Oni waited quietly as Catherine took over as she had requested.

"She seems annoyed for me having her ask the question. And this Quinlan seems weary of them."

Quinlan replied and Oni was clearly not going to give in to his plight. Repeating his presumed "good" intentions seemed to have no impact on the stern woman in her white robes. Her face was a mask with the golden eyes set in the middle, locked on the soldier made envoy.

"Your people and my people differ greatly."

Oni looked up at Catherine and then back at the soldier in front of her. "You are free to leave when you choose to do so. Some of us owe you their lives in part and we will allow you to go. Until you do, you may stay in the village away from the Cryers."

She got up again and cast a gaze at the weapon Quinlan had laid down beside him.

"You have made contact, as you say. That is all you have done. I do not sense any respect, only impatience with us and our concerns. You do not know us and yet you judge us by standards that are so far removed from ours you can not begin to comprend our point of view."

"Perhaps we do the same."

A short pause.

"This is our land. You and your men may leave it. Tell your leaders that we want no more of your kind on our island. If more come, they will not be met with words. We want no part in your wars or in your ways, as you want no part in ours, but we shall protect ourselves if we must."

The Kanthan waited, looking at the man in front of her to see how he reacted. Her stance seemed relaxed yet Catherine sensed the bird Kanthan prepare. Her Inner Animal moved with her in the awareness of another predator on guard, focusing her senses and readying her muscles.

"We shall return to the village."

[Quinlan Corodin]

Swallowing his pride, the lieutenant saw no sense in contesting Oni's closing words. Particularly, of course, if there was truth to them. From his perspective, he had allowed himself to mirror some of the tribal's hostility back at them. It fed his ego, but it was sabotaging for the expedition.

"I understand." He offered a smile - superficial at best - for good measure. Too little, too late. Quinlan could taste the disappointment. He had failed to protect the envoy, and he had failed as the envoy.

Quinlan got to his feet and went for his sword belt. He fastened it around his hips. There were small stains on his backside from sitting in the grass, added to the collection of others he had gained from the trip's tribulations. At least one for each thing that had gone wrong.

As an afterthought, he realized he didn't even take his turn asking a question.

Lieutenant Corodin squared his shoulders, and waited for the kanthrop to lead the way back to their village of hovels.

[Elvin Motricé]

Catherine sighed, tired from all this verbal sparring that lead to nothing and served nothing. It worried her that this meeting would end like this. The blonde-haired woman feared that the Kanthrop would not be left alone. Not understanding the world around them and it's inhabitants might prove fatal. A framework had to be created to ensure that the Kanthrop would not be treated the same as in ancient times. The shifter wondered what could be done. Entrusting an outsider with the secret of the Kanthrop was too risky. Throughout Oni's and Quinlan's conversation she struggled with the problem and reached a conclusion.

"I'll have to do it myself... I'm one of the few who has the right mindset for this." She realized that she was right, only a few Kanthrop were trained to communicate with others. Most of her people possessed a simple enough mindset, they were unfailingly loyal to the Kanthrop community and feared everything outside of it.

When Quinlan finished the leopard shifter replied: "Neither of our people has the right mindset to meet each other without suspicion. As Oni mentioned, all my people want is to be left alone. However, I fear that this is out of the question now that our most potent defense has disappeared. Be it curiosity or another intent that brings outsiders here. I would like to accompany you, Quinlan. I want to learn about your culture and the way your people think," she smiled sadly, "Most of my people will not understand. Especially those that I have trained and spent my childhood with," she looked in Quinlan's eyes with her feline gaze, "When you grow tired of my company I will resume my travels alone."

Catherine looked at Oni, seemingly impassive, but to another Kanthrop the small, seemingly insignificant, signs in her body language showed how difficult this was for the leopard shifter. She chose to leave behind everything she knew for a world that, according to the old stories, would kill her if they ever figured out her true nature...

OOC: Soooo busy! I didn't receive a notification of the last replies so sorry for the delay!

[Quinlan Corodin]

The Condotierre lieutenant was quite surprised, in a word. One more item to add to a list of things he never could have expected out of the trip. Why, after all the puffed chests and ruffled feathers, one of the tribals wants to leave? Practically become something like an ambassador, even?

The statements were a welcome change at this point, though there seemed a change in Catherine's tone as well. And as she glanced back at her leader, Quinlan began to wish he could excuse himself from seeing any part of Oni's reaction.

"Well," he began as he often did, though he had little notion of what he should say. "You are welcome to, eh, do as you will, as far as my people and I are concerned. We will be glad to provide you passage, so much as we are able."

If we have enough crew and know-how remaining to get that skiff aloft, that is, was the thought in the back of his mind.

[Brytan]

Oni was already moving towards the path when Catherine made her offer. She turned and watched her but said nothing. The walk back to the village was similar to the walk to the meadow. Quinlan struggled with his weapon where Cat and Oni moved with ease through the woodland. Their return to the village was met with a rather anti-climactic finish. The village was mostly deserted, save for the day to day goings on of the few villagers that remained behind for daily duties. Most of them had departed to other places on the island, fishing, hunting or farming as Catherine would know.

Quinlan's party was still there. Sitting in pretty much the same spot as where he had left them the soldiers along with Carlotta and Guido were talking amongst themselves. Some kit swerved around them looking at the shiny metal and dodging the gazes of the soldiers by hiding behind tents and poles.

The soldiers rose to attention as they saw their commander approach, giving a salute, which seemed to intrigue the local children endlessly, calling for immediate impersonation. Some of the kit rustled up some spears and bows they used for practice and mimicked the soldiers. Two of them got into an argument over who got to play the "leader" which erupted in a spear fight.

It was uncanny the grace and agility with which the kit fought. To the outlanders they would appear to be lunging at each other with full force, ducking and poking at each other with an unnatural ferocity. Oni watched them for a while. The other kit cheered their champions. Eventually one of them landed on it's back, a young boy named Met and got tapped in the chest with the blunt end of the spear.

"You're dead. I can play leader." The other boy, Chase, replied.

Oni clapped her hands and the kit sprung to attention. "Very good children. Go to the training circle now please. It is time for your teachings. Petran is waiting." The Kanthan then turned to Catherine. "I shall want to speak to you later. Be sure to seek me out before you leave."

OOC: I suggest we round this up and move to the synch date. Use the next day to prepare for the trip or anything else as you see fit, and feel free to start off new threads on the 27th at your discretion.

[Elvin Motricé]

Catherine inclined her head to Quinlan and smiled: "Then so it shall be," seeing no need for further conversation the leopard shifter followed Oni quietly back to the village.

A genuine smile played around the blonde-haired woman's lips when she saw the kit. Then it struck her: "This is what I want to protect but to do so I will no longer be a part of it..." That notion saddened the Kanthrop and the smile faded. The realisation saddened her but also strengthened her resolve. "Our children shall always be free, so help me Ursa..." Catherine vowed silently.

To Oni's request she nodded: "As you wish," and turned to Quinlan, "I will need some time to make preparations but I imagine so will you. Our people will provide you with food necessary for you journey," she made a notion to a small hut that stood a bit apart, "You can find me in that hut." she looked about for Kaila, knowing that the Kanthrop would not object to supply food to the people who helped them fight against the Cryers.

OOC: Quinlan, I'll leave you with the initiative to start a thread for departure as it's your ship :-). PM me when you created something.

[Quinlan Corodin]

Quinlan returned the salute of his fellow Condotierre, though it was less snappy than usual. The simple fact was he felt weary as ever since that first night. It added to the decisiveness of his announcement.

"Rest today, for we begin preparations at dawn tomorrow to depart. I want to be in the sky by the next morning... if at all possible." The initial camp had been set up in the matter of a mark or two, so two full tides of daylight to pack up what wasn't destroyed and take stock of the Tal'Fea seemed like plenty of time. It was only fear of darkness and Cryers that kept the lieutenant from pushing the party to cast off tomorrow.

The scholarly of the expedition were taken aside.

"The soldiers and I will see to the preparations. Please do make the most of today and tomorrow for your observations."

The playfighting kit were given only a cursory glance from Quinlan as he made his way back toward the inn. For the moment, he was no longer in the spirit to be charmed by the native people. Once inside, the uniform was unceremoniously stripped off, replaced by linen shirt and simple breeches and boots. He was no longer in the spirit to don his regalia, either.

[Brytan]

Skilled and archived!