Chapter 7: Meeting the herd.

Act 1: Forest walk. Pov ???

I wasn't expecting this, escorting foreign folks from the lands beyond the forest, but I will as I promised the Shaman-elder, that if her prediction of kin coming to join our herd was true, that I would personally welcome them.

It took them longer than the elder had said, long enough for my girls to wonder if the Shaman-elder had eaten too much over rippen fruit and been tricked by the spirits again. 

But no it was true. Her prophetic words played in my head. 'Folks from beyond, with magic capable of bringing the sun into the forest, would come and join us.' I felt the same warm heat and safety giving light of the 'fire' of the foreign warrior, as I feel from the sun when its light rarely pierce through the forest canopy.

"Do you have a name Head-warrior?" The leader of the group spoke, he wore the hide of a Tusk-boar, powerful beasts that live in the forest. They were aggressive and territorial normally but once cursed like others they become bloodthirsty and hunt others of their kind or any unlucky soul in the forest.

He was smiling softly towards me, his teeth smooth in the middle with meat eater fangs at his sides. . . he was no rabbit-folk, unlike his sisters that were talking with my own. "Name? What is that?" I asked, confused.

"Like mine, I am called Lazir, that is my name, if people hear my name, they would know I was the one named Lazir." Oh I think I understand.

"Then I do have one and I already told you I am the Head-warrior of my herd, everyone in the herd knows me as such, and those beyond would know I was the Head-warrior of my herd." He nodded, I smiled as many of the herd always called me dull headed.

"That is what my old people called a title, a name is different, it is something personal and you would always have it even when you stopped being your herd's Head-warrior and become an elder." This warrior sounded my elders, making my head hurt as I tried to understand his words.

"I do not have a name, Warrior Lazir." He smiled when I called him with what I thought was his title and then his name.

"Good! You understood the difference between the two. . . do you want me to give you a name?" That made me think, from how he described what a name is and how valuable it was, I don't think I deserve one.

"I refuse, I think I'm not worthy of one yet." If a name is something everyone would understand as you, and no one else can have it even when your title is gone, then it is immensely valuable, what kind of magic is capable of that? Your name remembered, even after you rejoined the earth.

"Oh? Ha ha ha!" He laughed, his fire bursting with each laugh and becoming normal after.

"Sorry but you sounded like my sisters, before I gave them their names." He gave each a name? His sisters looked young, especially the smallest one, but I can see it in their eyes and way of talking they were survivors.

"It is fine, I'll give you a name one day maybe after I meet your elders, as I plan to name you all as part of my new family." His words sounded boastful yet, from the way he spoke I wished he would, I don't know what would happen next but will become safer after gaining so many warriors into the herd.

Act 2: Elders.

The rabbit folk village was smaller than I expected, their homes were single roomed cone like tents made of long sticks, tied together with forest vines and covered and insulated with leaves and dirt.

They had a wall of sticks pillared with trees surrounding their settlement covered with leaves made to look like a dense part of the forest, the sticks were not pointed oddly enough but thorn vines did cover the wall's surface.

The wall actually impressed me, with such limited material and tools at their disposal, yet they were still able to make a staked palisade that could dissuade many less intelligent beasts.

"Who made this wall?" I asked the nameless head-warrior of this herd.

"A crafter of the 4th generation built the wall of sticks and when he became an elder made the 5th generation of foragers to find the thorn vines that now grew on the wall." She said simply as we waited in the village's center, many children hiding behind the tents or playing with my sisters or the herd's warriors.

"It is impressive, how many times do you get attacked in a season?" I asked as half the village was in a natural clearing in the forest, up a small hill.

"Depends on the season, during the sun and snow season, it's rare that we get attacked. but in the water and earth season the foragers are attacked every other day and we need to guard them." That is not good, that would explain why there's so few here.

"And the village itself?" I asked if I saw her eyes hardened and her essence become cold in anger, but not towards me.

"Only the flying beast can attack our. . . 'village' but a pack of Sharp-claws had once generations ago attacked the village at night." I nodded in understanding as I patted her shoulder.

The head-warrior was much larger and taller than my sisters, her fur, no, all those in this herd were much thicker than those that covered my sisters. Maybe the children were less furred but the oldest was much taller and furred than Spark, are they different species or are my sisters much younger?

I never did, asked for their age didn't I? "Head-warrior, how old are you and how old does a rabbit folk need to be before they are called an adult?" The much larger warrior looked thoughtful before she spoke.

"I'm 13 Snow seasons old, and a child becomes an adult once they find their calling and survive 10 snow seasons." Sounded practiced, is that part of a story they pass through the generations?

"Welcome kin from the rolling hills of the grasslands! We welcome you to our herd." I looked away from the Head-warrior I spoke too as six rabbit folk approached us, as we sat on logs or boulders.

They wore nothing much like the children around us and unlike their warriors, do they see the leaf cloak not as clothes but only for staying hidden? Odd. The six must have been the elders of this herd, they all walked supported by sticks or helped by a child. . . I feel bad not going to their tents, why didn't tell me?

Their fur grayed, some darkened or patched off in some places mostly on their bellies and hunched backs. Their human-like faces wrinkled with time, and their smiles missing a few teeth, but even with how they appeared, I was heartened by their existence, making me believe that this clan was caring and strong.

I gave my fire to the girls as they kept using them to amuse the children, I approached the elders and offered my hand. "I am called Lazir, a Sage of my people, turned traveler and brother by fate, we have come for sanctuary."

I felt shock from the elders, but one and agreement from the Head-warrior, my sisters were bathed in worry as I heard them stopped playing with the children. I felt my hand grasped by an old hand yet soft and gentle.

I looked up and it was the oldest of the elders that came, supported with both wooden staff and an older girl. I smiled and pressed her hand on my head. "We do not know what a Sage is, nor what sanctuary means, or understand why fate would turn you into a brother and travel." She took a breath, as I saw speaking was hard for her.

"But I've seen you before coming here, you with the wisdom of countless crafters and elders, with no home, but with a family found. . .We would accept you and your sisters as our own, please come closer so I may embrace you son." I did as she asked, I gently held her afraid I might crush her frailing body.

Act 3: Night. Pov Ash.

It was night now, but with the magic of Lazir, it was light out. As his fire burned brightly as he and us all taught the gatherers and other adults how to cook while the children watched.

"Earth mother! This is good!" Yelled the Head-warrior as the others cheered her, she had just bit into her roasted water-tuber, mushrooms and greens.

I was surprised that clover grew plentiful in the forest, and their flowers were much sweeter than those of the grasslands. I sat down eating my own roasted meal, holding it all in stick, the meal was called a skewer by Lazir, a new thing from his stews.

"Are you okay child?" Asked an elder as he slowly ate his meal, it was another new meal called porridge much like a stew but softer and easier for the elders to eat and enjoy.

Wonder if he added meat in the meals, even I can't be sure if a brown slice was a mushroom or the dried salted meat of a boar-tusk. "I am fine elder, just thinking and relieved." He gave me a gentle smile.

"We know of your herd child, a generation ago your herd visited ours and we exchanged stories and gave each other gifts, we gave them finely crafted clubs and fruits and they gave us soft matts to sleep on." Then his smile saddened.

"We became sad when the next sun season we visited, but saw your herd scattered, finding only ruins and tried blood. . .But we heard from the other herds in the forest that they were able to adopt a few survivors." I nodded, already knowing this as one of the warriors told of it as we walked.

"Why is the herd so small elder? I thought my old herd was small when I was younger, but I'm not sure anymore." This made the elder laugh.

"It's a tradition of ours, unlike the ones in the grasslands, here in the forest if our herd becomes too big, large numbers of predators would come and hunt us. So we try to balance our number with the amount of warriors we have. . ." He stopped taking a labored breath and eating a mouthful of his porridge before Continuing.

"Actually we've splintered just this water season, if you've come to us earlier, even if we wanted to, we wouldn't have been able to take you in if you weren't warriors." He was being very honest, much like the elder that took care of us.

"So do you enjoy the porridge?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

He smiled at that and nodded. "Yes it is good, and finally I can eat water-tubers again, I do miss them, ever since I became an elder I've only been able to eat clovers and other greens." he said as he continued to eat and I too finished mine, it was a companionable silence between us.

 As I finished eating I stood up, as I saw the warriors starting to wrestle each other. "I'll be joining them elder." He waved me off. "Go on, give this old man some entertainment."

As I charged into the fray I heard something, it was a song, Lazir was singing before the crowd stopping them in there wrestling. 

"I will always remember,

The night you kissed my lips

Light as a bubble

And it went just like this. . ."

He sang a song, of something I knew was love, but it wasn't the one I was familiar with. We listened as we ate and sang along with him, not doing the normal brawl a celebratory gathering like this promised. . .