Private Tales The eve of starry lights

[Hath Charosh]

It was - as a tribe - much more talkative than his own. Whilst Hath was certainly quieter than most in his tribe there was rarely this much of a hubbub. There was a lot of noise during the songs of the Great Rites, and usually after with half the tribe rutting I'm under the stars.

Hath was just glad of the warm press of bodies and the fires. The biting cold crept in at night quickly here. It didn't seem as if it ever actually left. It felt as if he would need a week in the savanna sun to chase it away.

"My family is a long way from here," Hath replied. "A very long way."

 

[Mabess]

The orc gazed a bit baffled before leaning behind and putting his hand on his chin.
His eyes scanned Hath from top to bottom.

»That's right, you're the foreigner,« he finally concluded. Apparently there has been word of him in the other tribes as well once they've gotten together.
Ashlanders rarely heard much about other tribes outside their imediate neighbors. In some ways their culture and charity was less wild, as if something was lost, and at the same time far advanced over that of other orcs, but their relations and ties outside their little secluded world were rather regressed from an outer view.
And arriving from the blightlands did carry some stigma afterall...


Mabess waved at Hath and beckoned to come closer, She had many orcs of various ages around her very nearby self, as well her beloved. But the further out the other orcs were, the less strong were the ties.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath wasnt put off by the pause that came before the reply, but he realised he should have explained. This wasn't just one tribe here, even if they did have close ties. Those who didn't recognise him would assume he was from one of the other linked tribes.

Mabess waving him over was something he didn't expect. Even though he wasn't a guest he had expected to remain a quiet observer through the proceedings. He would have taken no disrespect at being a distance from the chieftains and their inner circle. Mostly, that stemmed from not being close to the inner circle of his own tribe.

Hath gave a silent greeting with a gesture of his arm as he approached. With so much of her family close he didn't feel he had anything to offer, nor was she the person to direct his questions to through the events ahead.

 

[Mabess]

»Hath!« Mabess exclaimed as she approached, a smaller boy hiding behind her back.

»This here is Dordro, He was orhphaned during the gnoll infestation.« Mabess nudged the little boy forward. He looked gloomy at the mention of the passing. His mother waa long gone, but his father, Dord was later identified as the missing hunter.

»Would you have the honour of naming him this eve?«

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath's eyes widened a fraction as he looked down at the boy. For the typically stoic orc it was rather expressive of him. A sign of the shock at the sudden request.

He tried not to over think this, but the conversation he had held with Scabhair came to mind. Tension had been high as they held each other's quivering bodies in the dying firelight, but he could remember every word exchanged.

"Of course I will," Hath replied, dropping to one knee and meeting Dordro's eyes. He gave a sharp nod and then turned to look back up at Mabess.

"I might need to know a little more on how this ceremony will proceed?" he asked.

 

[Mabess]

Dordro's expression seemed to calm up as Hath lowered hinself. He was a little shy though, so it was a little unclear if he was purely happy or scared.

Mabess tilted her head oh so slightly sideways, closing her eyes and smiling lightly, »If I tell you, you'll forget when the time comes.«

»Repeat after the others and make it your own. There is not much to go wrong.«
At worst an elderly Shadowreaver might scowl if things went wrong, but most would sinply laugh, pardon and move on.


For a moment Mabess looked serene, perhaps taking her eyes off Dormak Nighthown gave her sone temporary peace of mind.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath wanted to know more. Where they were supposed to go now for a start. Did the boy go with him or rejoin the others? When did the gifts come relative to the naming?

Mabess was the chieftain and so it wasn't his place to press her further. Even if he didn't want to make anything awkward for the child who was already unable to approach the ceremony in the manner he might have expected.

Death was a part of life. As certain as the wind spirits would make their migrations down from the mountains and the stars would go around the world. An orc understood this. There was a natural order to the world, even if it wasn't always immediately obvious. Other cultures were difficult to understand. Even the human ways had an order to them, he had learned from Scabhair, even if he didn't like it. Hath was suddenly going from observer to participant in the Ashlander's ceremony. There had almost certainly been thought given to Mabess' actions too. Especially with that subtle smile.

"You know you part in this though, yes?" Hath asked Dordro with a smile. He tried not to let his concern show through.

 

[Mabess]

»U-huh,« Dordro nodded while shifting his left leg. He held his arms together, hanging loosely off his body.
The boy was small like any other child his appearance, light in build and with tar black hair, which consisted of a single black braid hanging off a shaven head.


»I will get the ancestor ashes for you...« Mabess spoke out before leaving.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath watched the chieftain leave. He stayed dropped close to the boy's eye level.

"Hope you know what those are," he muttered. He cast an appraising eye over the young orc. Dordro was still a few years from starting to fill out of his frame.

"You shoot? Hunt? Fight?" Hath asked bluntly.

 

[Mabess]

Dordro swayed between his hips, arms flailing a little as he though...
»U-mm«

»I want to be a hunter.«

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Good," Hath replied without a pause. He cast a glance after Mabess, wondering when they would be expected with the others. He wasn't prone to feeling overwhelmed but he had suddenly gone from silent observer to participant. And suddenly having a child who needed someone to teach him to hunt thrown in his path.

"You know spear, bow, tracking?"

 

[Mabess]

Mabess seemed to have gone detour, talking with Dormak at the sidelines, neither participant seeming pleased.


Dordro Spoke up again.
»Uh-mm,« he shoke his head.
He was afterall, at the eyes of the ashlanders; 'not a real ashlander' yet, still a little child. At least for this hour still .

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath turned away from the boy briefly. The tone of the conversation caught his attention again, but he reminded himself that it wasn't his business. At least it wasn't his business until it turned out the clans were going to start a scrap with each other over something. At least a good fight would warm his joints up.

"Must fight with sticks? Not that different," he replied. In his tribe the children were relatively feral at a young age. The fought each other, jostled for position and tried to say out from under the feet of the largest warriors. His tribe didn't have such a clear demarcation between child and learning the skills needed to become an adult.

 

[Mabess]

»Mmm, I was in the play! « He proclaimed proudly. If memory was perhaps flaky, the young boy played the role of a blight orc commander, Vexres the Red, right hand of Magala. It was hard to identify the kids on the enemy sides, due wearing heavy paints and decorations of skulls and furs.

His performance was quite good, he did not seem that quiet and shy in the fit of action, fake or not, especially when five tribes were watching.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Very good. You have a lot to learn after the ceremony then," he observed. It was not intended as an insult. Orcs rarely tried to veil their insults with misdirection or sarcasm.

"You've gone out hunting with the adults though?" he asked. Hath hadn't expected to be left alone with the boy. He assumed this had been brought about by Mabess for the boy's sake rather than for his own.

 

[Mabess]

»Mmm, only looked,« he admitted.


The grand pyre that was set up throughout the day was finally set ablaze.
The flames were still very much weak and set at the center, but once the six meter bonfire is ablaze, it'll be a marvel to uphold.

The orcs began to gather closer with the 8 year olds pushed to more prominent position with their guardians behind them.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath was glad to see the start of the flames. The roaring fire and the bodies in close proximity would chase away the chills, let him feel more like he was back in the savanna. The last time he had been at a tribal gathering around a pyre it had been a memorable night. He could help the slight tug of a smile as he turned toward the centre of the group.

"Something that will need to change then," he told the boy, no judgement in his voice. The other children seemed to be mocking towards the fire. Hath followed Dordro through the crowd. A few faces turned to consider the outsider going in that direction with one of their own.

 

[Mabess]

Of those that looked, Dormak's face seemed least approving of the sight. It explained him something, him, but it was dubious as to what as he leaned to Do'Ras and whispered to him. The gray Silvermane seemed to be indifferent and only nodded.

Aslander politics were complex.



Mabess arrived to the spot where se previously left hath and co. Holding a small urn of collective ashes belonging to Dordro's ancestors, she looked around before noticing the pair in question going deeper into the crowd.
She headed out to them.


»Uh-huh, « Dordro seemed to shine as he began leading Hath through the moving people. His shyness seemed to melt away the more his mind cleared up.

The Shadowreaver shaman was already speaking out, but his voice was frail and quickly lost in the crowd of anxious children.
He almost seemed like an angel of death with how his black robes draped over him. Only his withered gray hands and two blue shining pupils shone through the darkness of the hood. Trailing on his belt were various skulls of his elders...supposedly the last belonged to Shadowreaver himself.

 

[Hath Charosh]

After hearing of the customs of Scabhair's tribe he felt a touch of concern that Dordro was about to go through some terrible rest of endurance. In her tribe they came of age being held underwater and not all survived the experience. The boy seemed determined enough and kept pushing through the throng to join the other children of his age. Even young it was easy for Hath to see which were from each tribe. Even such a tight knit community of tribes had slight differences in clothing and customs.

Hath was glad of Dordro's enthusiasm. Not being able to hear the shaman well above the crowd left him feeling a little lost. Mabess could have given him a bit more warning about this, but it was too late now.

He felt her gaze upon him, turning to catch the eyes of the chieftain. Not able to slow Dordro's progress he held up a hand and kept aware of where she was so that she could catch up to them. Hopefully she had a little more insight into proceedings to provide. He felt the other eyes too. Hath was used to living on the periphery of his own community. It was going to take more than a disapproving stare to upset him.

 

[Mabess]

Mabess clutched the urn in her arms, seeming rather out of herself as she finally got to Hath and Dordro.
»You're already here, that's fine.«
Between Mabess' voice and the shaman's speach, cues about death and rebirth were spoken out by the elder.

The grand bonfire roared loudly as it was engulfed whole by fire. There were only about 6 children this season. Sometimes there are even none.

»You two should watch closely,« the chieftainess spoke, her eyes trailing to the firsr child that stepped onto the platform before. An eerie quetness befell the crowds.
Mabess whispered: »You will walk up behind Dordro to the Shaman and tell the name of an ancestor you wish to call upon to inhabit Dordro, your ward...This is all.«

The little girl stood before the shaman, her father behind her and some of her older brothers too, one of whic held a decorated urn.

»These here are the collective ashes of our ancestors...« Mabess spoke as the brother handed over the urn and knelt very lowly before the shaman.

The blackhawk father spoke as he knelt lowly as well, still behind his daughter.
»I, Brugruk Wolftooth, call forth Magosh, my huntress aunt whom fought giants alone to return as my daughter.«

»Magosh,« the shaman dipped his hand into the chalky ashes in the urn.
»will you return to the earthern plane once again to grace the ancestors.«

The elder retrieved a fist and held it shakingly above the girls face.
Ashes fell over her face before he smudged it over her forehead.

»... And so Gorri is now Magosh! Welcome her return!«
The silence erupted inloud cheers and old Gor lifted Magosh up on his shoulders as he carried her down to the place. Her family seemed almost like a procession and the air was filled with loud cheers, clattering bells and metal pots.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Bodies didn't last long in the savanna. With the tribe on the move they were typically left for the griffins, vultures and dogs. Even when they took up residence in the south during the dry season they tended to bury the dead. Not that the opportunity was always there. Live was dangerous.

Hath lowered himself to one knee. A firm hand turned Dordro to face him.

"Do you have an ancestor in mind?" he asked the youth. If the ashes belonged to Dordro's family then it stood to reason that he needed a name and at least something of note to call out.

 

[Mabess]

»Mmmm, « Dordro muttered, but he was too young to know of any ancestor that would be of his liking.

»Name me... after a respectable orc.«
He wanted to be like somebody worth respect and honour.
What an aspiration to fill.


Mabess tried to lead the two after another group of orcs, it would not be good to be last, nor among the first.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Ghaavel Charosh. The name formed in his mind almost immediately. The group marched closer as the shaman announced another name. It didn't seem quite right to draw the name of one from his own clan when they were calling upon the ancestors of their own line. There wasn't enough time to discuss it further. He couldn't delay the boy's ceremony.

"I can think of one," Hath said. His voice was a low whisper over Dordro's head. "They say he was just the right mix of cunning and stubborn. A battle with a human army was all but lost when he gathered his finest and cut a path to their leader to challenge him. The human declined of course, but when his guards were slain and his horse full of arrows he had to stand and fight. And die. Then his army collapsed. The orc died too that day. They said he had eighteen arrows sticking out of him when he finally fell. When the humans had fled."

 

[Mabess]

Dordro's eyes lightned up. Now a topic came up to his liking. But try as he might as he tried to ask for more, the elder shadowreaver rose his voice. This single child stood out a little, with how alone his company was.»Mm, «

It almost feeled too sudden, and yet there they were, on the platform before the shaman.

Mabess kneeled and held out the jar.
».., « Her head briefly turned to gaze at Hath, her look was approving.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Mabess

There was an air of silence as they kneeled that hadn't been there for the previous young ones. Hath couldn't tell if it was merely increased curiosity at an outsider involved in their ceremonies or something more malevolent. Odd that silence could carry such a weight when you were at the centre of it.

Mabess was looking at him. One bushy white brow belonging to the shaman was slowly raised.

"I, Hath Charosh..." a pause as the words the others spoke danced away from his grasp. "Call upon Ghaavel, who slayed many before bringing victory with the most honourable sacrifice. I call upon him to return now."

Hath briefly placed a hand on Dordro's shoulder and let his gaze fall from the shaman's.