16.1 Best Fist Forward

General Summary

Day 179

After a few hours of riding in relative silence, Nina asks if Amytri is going to be okay. Was it really okay to just leave him there?   This is a major thing that I want apprentices to learn - when you care for someone grown-up and powerful sometimes the hardest part of that is respecting their choices and ability to make them. You can disagree with the decision and still allow it to happen; if you disagree strongly you must make every effort to convince them. In the end, it is not your choice.   Alder notes that sometimes if you are positive you are right and they are wrong, it’s better for them to be alive and hate you than dead and wrong. This, too, is a hard choice to make.   In the evening I begin reading the instructions for creating my own book of many pages. It will be a time-consuming project considering the strict requirements in quality and quantity of paper, as well as recommendations for the particular type of leather binding.  

Days 180 - 182

Travel is uneventful and productive. All the apprentices are learning well, especially Miriam, who is showing a remarkable thirst for magical knowledge and practice.  

Day 183

We travel deeper into the wastelands until we come to a territory marker. The post is 3 metres tall with a banner hung beneath a large animal skull. The banner itself is a worn stylized painting of an eye.   When I look into the past using the pearl I see very tall greyish figures with long fluffy ears. They carry spears and wear face paint and I recognize them from Rabiya’s descriptions. These are Tuskans, a nomadic people who value courage and strength.   Recalling that their traditional greeting is a strong punch to the face, we agree that Bran will greet anyone we meet. He is a very good sport about this decision!   At about midday we see a lone Tuskan atop a hill a fair distance from where we are travelling. He sounds a horn and slowly begins approaching us, while Alder scouts and returns with the news that about two dozen others are keeping pace with us on the other side of the hill.   When the figure finally reaches us and exchanges blows with Bran, he is knocked off his feet by Bran’s mystically-powered fist. He laughs and blows the horn again, calling his band over to us.   Some halting words are exchanged, from Rabiya’s teachings, before an elaborately painted woman with a carved and decorated spear joins us and begins to speak, equally halting, in elvish!   She introduces herself as Greedrah. Through a smattering of gestures and loose elvish, I tell her that the rest of my own clan is very far away, and she shakes her head and affirms that no, I have people right here and she’ll take us to them.   The Tuskans lope along easily beside our horses for a distance of about five hills until we come to a camp of tall, domelike tents and about three dozen other Tuskans. Amongst them are two elven women, one middle-aged and the other much younger. They’re dressed like the Tuskans and helping prepare an enormous carcass, laughing and speaking with the other tribe members.   When they see us they leave their work and come to greet us eagerly, introducing themselves as Twilight and Bredrah, her daughter. They’ve been here for forty years, ever-retreating from the hostile human cities until they found Tuskans in the wastelands.   Twilight sheepishly tells us that in their first interaction she was so frightened of the Tuskan’s strike that she shouted at them instead, knocking over an entire warband. Her voice is magical, apparently, along with a gift for languages. The band took her and her daughter in and gave them their own tent, eventually giving them a home in their tribe.   These people, she tells us, are good. They are straightforward and honest with no room for deceit. They care for their sick and elderly and have given her the status of elder despite having none of the frailty. They don’t live as long as us, of course.   And in return I tell her a bit about the human villages I’ve passed through that were not hostile to us. I tell her about Bran and Hella and how I came to collect a small group of humans. At this she starts and apparently recognizes my status for the first time.   “You serve the courts? Or the Empress?” she asks and I am only mildly bemused at the idea of an Imperial lady travelling through the Broken Lands on horseback with such a small retinue. I tell her that the war is still grim but I’m here seeking something to make it better. And I tell her of the Keep where she will always be welcome, if she ever feels like living amongst elves again. I know what it’s like to have found a family outside of elves, so I understand the conflict on her face at this idea. Still, the invitation is always there.   Over dinner (a hearty, meat-heavy stew), she tells me that she’ll ask for a celebration for the meeting of two Clans. We can prepare our own banner to hang alongside her own clan’s and there will be contests and food and celebration. Such a contrast to two groups of humans who might meet in a barren land and still come to a disagreement, I think. The meeting of two tribes here is a cause for excitement, socializing, and finding a mate. Twilight tells me that often a woman will kidnap a groom and bring him to her own tribe, as the Tuskans don’t track bloodlines or family outside of the bonds of their clan.   First though...a banner. With Bredrah’s help I’m sure Alder and Miriam will be able to fashion some dyes. Between Bran and I I’m sure we can craft something serviceable. The other apprentices can help with set-up tomorrow and Camellia (and perhaps Kadia) can provide music from our cultures.   I understand why no other elves have made it this far but really, I think most of us would have been happier here than amongst the humans.