Private Tales What Does Not Kill Us

[Pern]

Water pails successfully returned full to the campfire, Pern handed them off to one of the orcs tending the evening's meal and quietly apologized for the delay. She had been expected to help prepare the fish, but it seemed everything was in order.

<<You can help with the evening meal,>> said the orcess that Pern could not recall the name of. A friend of Shari's, though that meant little in the way of differentiating tribe members. Everyone here seemed to be friends with everyone else - she'd yet to see any odd rivalry but they had also only been with them for a short while.

Pern nodded in agreement, <<When does ...>> she licked at her lips as she thought on the words, <<the tribe find another ...many people?>>

<<Town,>> said the orcess, a word Pern did not yet know.

<<Town,>> echoed Pern, gently cleared her throat, <<When does the tribe ...find another town?>>

The orcess made a noncommital sound, <<Few days.>>

Another nod, <<Big town? Supplies to trade?>>

<<Not very big,>> said the orcess in response as she turned several fish to charr the other sides. A moment of thought as the gently touched at the fish with her fingertips to test them, <<There is a merchant who trades supplies.>>

<<Thank you.>> Said Pern, turning to look for Hath and finding him over in what had become their usual spot around the fire. She moved to join him, settling down on the ground at his side, "She shaid we will stop at another town soon. We should check our supplies."

She was not familiar with the path the tribe took or what this town might be. Few maps were so detailed this deep into the countryside, so far from major trade routes.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath glanced up as Pern settled beside him, his attention shifting to her. The firelight caught in his grey eyes as he listened, thoughtful rather than guarded now.

"A town, then," he said quietly. "They know this place? I used to go to towns to trade. It could be...interesting."

There was no disdain in his explanation, only acknowledgement of the difficulties for orcs trading with other species. A little note of humour.

He leaned forward to prod at the fire with a stick, embers stirring, then let it rest again. He was left wondering if the fortune tellers words had affected him and changed the future all on their own.

He wondered how often his shamans had been praised for predicting the weather. When they said it would be sunny again in the savanna and it was, did they deserve praise for their insight?

"We should ask the closest we will be to Elbion with the tribe. Lands there are not too dangerous."

After the trading at Wikkerton they had been left replenished. Initially hesitant about travelling with this tribe, it had saved their resources. He smiled to himself. After their darkest moments they had found that strange market town. It was a place he would always remember.

"Shall I collect skins to trade?" he asked.

 

[Pern]

"I think sho..." Pern replied, though no mention had been made specifically of familiarity, the tribe seemed to be taking an annual route. She inferred this to mean that they knew the route and the various settlements along it well. With so many young ones around, it made sense to know what paths were safe.

She nodded on the remark of Elbion, brows furrowing in thought, "I believe Shari shaid it wash shtill a fair dishtansh. Over a moon." Or was it two moons?

Her eyes watched as embers rose from Hath's prodding the fire and danced about the circle before fading away like the sunlight from the sky. A peachy orange and pink shaded the horizon and already the swathes of stars had begun to fill the sky.

"Shkinsh?" Pern raised a brow, looking to him, "It can't hurt, can it?" A smile at that. Wikkerton had wanted skins, so maybe this next town would, too?

"What short of thingsh do townsh out here need?"

 

[Hath Charosh]

He thought on the question for a moment.

"What I've traded: arrows, skins, meat. They need human things like coins. Then wool, grain, salt, metal. Oh, silks."

Those, he thought, were things that no orc tribe was likely to being to trade.

"Then weapons, pots, jewellery."

He looked at Pern and tilted his head.

"I would like to come to Elbion. Make sure you are safe. Is that okay?"

Hath was fairly certain that would still be the minimum plan. They would work out the rest laster. He was aware that he had been frustrating and wanted to check he still understand as much as that part of the journey.

It was not the start of him pressing the issue any further. He wouldn't do that again, not now.

 

[Pern]

Pern looked thoughtful at the list. There were many things on it she wasn't certain the tribe would spare except perhaps wooden or flinthead arrows. Metal arrowheads were expensive, even for them.

"I shtill have coin left from what my father gave me..." most of Wikkerton would not take her coin, as much as human things were shunned. Only one merchant took it simply for the value of the metal they were made from, and that had been the centaur smith. He, at least, could melt them down and put them to use.

"Sheemsh like meat and shkinsh might be the main opshunsh," another glance to him as he shortly changed the subject back to Elbion. Pern paused, already feeling an innate defense against the subject, but relaxed and nodded.

"Yesh, of courshe. My father would be glad to shee you are well again." And that was the truth of it. Ignatius was a caring man and she was certain he would want to know how Hath had come through.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Good," he said with a slow nod. "I would like to see him and thank him too."

Hath glanced down at the scar on his shoulder. There was still something residual in the magic that concerned him, but the mind that had latched onto his soul was long gone.

"We should ask the tribe," he said.

"About trade. I... They do not always look like they trust me. I do not want to undo their plans if they go to trade. I am better at hunting."

 

[Pern]

Pern nodded with a warm smile, the very same one that thinking of her father often made.

"I will talk to Yshka and ashk what the plan ish. I am shure you could join the hunting party. You have hunted with them before." In fact the tribe had found Hath's larger, stronger self handy for taking down the larger prey that helped feed more mouths for longer.

A few moments went by as Pern thought on something that had been lingering in the back of her mind, "Hath..."

Her brows furrowed in thought, "If the tribe came to akshept you ash one of their own ... would you shtay with them?"

Would being in a tribe once again provide a sense of belonging he no longer could find with his own family?

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath did not answer right away.

He stared into the fire, watching the wood shift and settle, sparks lifting and dying in the dark. It was not a difficult question to understand, but he had not expected it to be asked.

"They are a good tribe," he said quietly. "They are kind. They protect their young. They share what they have."

His eyes lifted to Pern then, grey catching the firelight, steady and sincere.

"Perhaps," he continued.

He had a clan. He had a mother, as little as she had shown it. Could he ever go back?

He shifted slightly, one arm resting on his knee, posture relaxed but open.

"If they accepted me, I would be grateful."

His gaze lingered on her now. He did not want to say too much. His place wasn't just decided by who would have him, but where he chose to stand.

"You would, if there were not other places you needed to be?" he asked.

 

[Pern]

While not a direct yes or no, it was an answer that brought a faint smile to her face. At the very least the tribe did not disgust Hath - though she suspected she would have known as much already if it did. It was more that Pern wondered just how much he preferred being a wandering, lone vagabond with no place to call home and... did he prefer that over being welcomed into a peoples that while not his own, could become his own in time?

Her head tilted in thought as he turned the question back on herself.

Need and want were not mutually exclusive in this instance. There would likely come a time that she was not needed in Elbion, but she wanted to be there. For her father. Expression shifting and smile vanishing, Pern dropped her gaze as she was forced to think of a world and time where she had no reason to stay in Elbion.

It did not sit well with her, thinking of such things.

Though she knew one day such a time would eventually come. Her father would not live forever, even if he did joke that mages had a knack for outfoxing Death.

"I shupposhe it would be a nice opshun... though I am unshertain how I might earn a living alwaysh being on the move with a tribe. It ish hard to make good quality thingsh with temporary forgesh."

The Centaur had a very nicely built mobile forge, but those were excessively costly. Pern tried hard not to be envious of others, but his setup was quite nice.

She gave a short, muted, self-deprecating laugh, "I am of little ushe to a tribe otherwishe."

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath turned fully toward her at that. He studied her face in the firelight when she spoke ill of herself.

"That is not true," he said. Not sharp or loud, but certain.

He shifted closer, one forearm resting on his knee, posture easy but attentive. He mirrored her smile, even if it still felt unnatural.

"You would not get to use your skills to their best," he admitted.

His grey eyes flicked briefly out towards the the camp. He could see silhouettes between the fires, the children, the easy flow of work and laughter.

"You mend things. You calm tempers. You teach." His gaze returned to her. "That is not little use."

He paused, choosing his next words with care.

"A tribe is more than hunters and warriors and weapons. It is stories and remembering how to do things better next time."

He paused then. He wasn't trying to convince her to stay. Any more and it definitely would have felt as if he was.

"But you worked hard. Maybe, when you have a name, you could have your own forge. Somewhere smaller on the road to Elbion. You will do well anywhere."

By which he meant, further away from the racism she had described in the city.

"But I do not understand how humans use money!" he admitted with a laugh.

He leaned back slightly, giving her space to breathe. He had been too intense with Pern recently. Damn that storyteller for making him look more at his own feelings.

That only made him feel them more.

The fire cracked softly between them as his words settled. She had been trying to gently ease him away from the idea of coming to Elbion with her. She wanted what was best for him and in the way way he wanted what was best for her.

But those two things were not in the same place.

Orcs were walking between the fires with skin bags.

"Root ale," he said to Pern.

He could smell it already. They mashed roots and mixed with berries before a quick fermentation. His own tribe had distilled stronger spirits from potatoes, whilst he had seen other tribes make Bone Mead from honey and grain.

He lifted his chin as they walked closer and they brought a skin bag. Hath tossed the water from his wooden mug and offered it up.

 

[Pern]

Those were very kind and thoughtful words coming from him. Not that Hath did not give thought to his words, but it was clear he took extra time to ensure what he spoke meant something. She appreciated the effort and nodded, but even now Pern still struggled to see herself as truly belonging among orcs. Though the past many months had shown her she was capable of a great many things she'd never dreamed of, a lifetime of Elbion's culture would not so easily be overwritten.

She looked up as another orc walked through with a waterskin and offered up Root Ale, shaking her head to decline. Having tried it before, Pern hadn't exactly found it much to her liking. She'd stick with water or the juice sometimes made when they were able to gather or trade for local fruit.

"When you were young..." Pern looked back to Hath as he was poured his ale, "what did you think you would become?" She couldn't recall speaking to him about his youth. She did know about his father's death and his mother taking on a new mate which had upended the success of clan hierarchy for him. But had he once dreamt of being a clan leader?

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Hmm."

The tone of the sound, along with the way he canted his head, told as much as an entire speech could. It was something he hadn't properly reflected upon.

"My uncle kept my away a lot," he said. He took a sip of root ale.

"I think he spent time making me... He made me walk in his steps. His brother was dead. Another Chieftain. We kept our distance or could have been sent away. Or killed."

Hath paused. That was some reasoning of his own, but not an answer.

"I suppose I felt that would do for me," he replied. "I had not known my father. Kardidua did not speak of him often. When she did she... She said he did not speak often. But she missed those times he did."

 

[Pern]

If only for the fact that she had spent a good deal of her life listening and watching others, rather than speaking to them, Pern's innate empathy for others picked up on the unspoken pieces of his response and her expression softened while he spoke. The faintest of smiles curled around her tusks.

"You musht take after him then," a light chuckle followed. Hath was not especially verbose and at first she had accepted it was likely due to the effect of being lost-in-translation. Common was not his native tongue and he still struggled at times to communicate his thoughts, but she knew now that he also was selective of the thoughts he chose to share. He spoke when it meant something and she did like that about him.

"Ish your... uncle shtill alive?" she couldn't recall if he'd been present when they arrived at Hath's clan. She thought she'd remember meeting him, but she had met so many faces there it was hard to remember them all.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath stared into his mug for a moment after her chuckle, the root ale dark and cloudy in the firelight. Her comment about taking after his father settled in him in a strange way. He did not know what to do with praise when it was gentle. When it felt true.

He took a slow sip, then set the mug down by his knee.

"My uncle is alive," he said. "Unless something has changed. He was alive when we left."

Hath's jaw tightened slightly, and he looked past the fires to the darkness beyond camp as if the answers might be out there instead of inside him.

"He was strong. Smart. He kept me close when I was young. He taught me how to hunt and how to survive."

"I would like to see Ghawek again one day. Not because he needs me, but just to talk. To reflect on what I didn't know then."

He felt no great need to find out what had happened to his uncle. He would have survived or he would have left the tribe. In either scenario going to the tribe would not help him.

 

[Pern]

As he spoke, an orcess began handing out wooden platters of charred river fish. Another carried around baskets of something Pern was not familiar with - like bread, but hard and crisp. A staple at every meal but she'd also seen the mothers giving it to the orclings when they whined about empty bellies or sore tusks. Yet another stooped by a fire and cauldron where a vegetable and root stew bubbled away. He dolled out bowls to those that approached and Pern stood to get one for each of them.

"Where do you think he would go?" she asked Hath as she took her seat again and passed him his bowl.

Hath had wandered far and wide after leaving his tribe, would his uncle have done the same? She always felt a nuisance asking him these sorts of questions, but Pern was genuinely curious about the lives of what she had been taught to call wild orcs, though now she had learned they weren't truly wild at all.

Simply in their natural habitat.