Buy One, Get One Free(Sama'el)

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

23rd day of Spring, 511AV It was a pleasant morning, pretty warm when you got out from under the tents. Jarhal Treeshadow wore his usual earthy clothes, but today his hunting greens and browns felt a bit out of place surrounded by all the red belonging to the hard working Ruby clan Drykas hurrying about him. The emerald hunter was a sort that preferred to take his time when he had time to take, but even he found himself hurrying his steps amidst the industrious Ruby clan Pavilions. They reminded him of ants. However, they were also master craftsmen. When you needed something built to last, something you had to rely on, this was the only place to come. Jarhal had need of quite a number of things before leaving Cyphrus, too many to list. Being unprepared meant buying something from foreigners, and frankly he didn't trust their workmanship. City folk couldn't do anything but steal, lie, and rape nature, if you asked Jarhal. More to get out of the general flow of the street than anything, Jarhal ducked aside to get his shopping spree started. The first thing, and most important really, was a new tent. It struck him immediately that he had no idea where to start looking, it seemed like every other Pavilion in this part of Endrykas held shop for their crafts. How would he find the best price? The best quality? It suddenly smacked him in the face that he had never in his life actually bothered to buy much beyond a new bowstring, arrows, and little things. Jarhal stood on the edge of the busy lane, at his side Chural looked quite wary of all the moving people so nearby. All of life was just a hunt for one thing or another, it seemed. A deer, a fox, a friend, a new tent... you just moved on from hunting one thing to hunting for the next.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The young Watchman was off duty that day, and walking among the red tents of the artisan clan after learning a thing or two from Utine about leatherworking. It didn't hurt to have multiple skills upon which to draw, and the Drykas were a self-reliant bunch, Sama'el more than most after spending so long on his own. So for the time being, he was without his horses, but walking on his own two feet. The weather was nice, so his woolen clothes had been traded for lighter garb. He was smiling and happy. Despite the occasional knock of ill fortune, he had been content in general since returning to the tents of his people. The foot traffic was heavy today, and when he paused to peruse some goods, the flow of that traffic hemmed him in for the time being. Finding himself caught, he turned his head, caught the eye of the hunter standing next to him with his dog and smiled as if the inconvenience could not trouble him less. "Good day, stranger," he said, and it was clear in his voice that he didn't consider any man among his people a stranger, but merely a friend he hadn't made yet. "Nice dog."

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

Slowly drawing back the green hood of his cloak, Jarhal took a few short moments of silence and looked the man over. His face held a neutral expression but it passed quickly enough. The only impression he got was that the man was more traveled than the average Drykas. He had seen a number of things further than Cyphrus, good or bad Jarhal couldn't say. "Is he really?" He looked down to Chural at his side, with an uncertain tone in his voice. The hound didn't seem to hear it. "He's alright, I suppose. My name is Jarhal, and this is Chural." It occurred to him that he should have brought his strider, Topher, along on this little trip too. How was he going to carry all of the stuff he needed to buy? He suddenly had an urge to put off his shopping as long as possible. The strider had chosen him not so long ago and it was still sometimes difficult to remember he could ride everywhere he desired, like a true Drykas should. "Have you come to shop, too?" He asked with a friendly smile. "I feel a bit lost in all this red, like a foreigner trying to hide in the tall grass." Yes, the majority of the Emerald hunter's metaphors, similes, and jokes were tinged with xenophobia. It was lucky that the desire to see the lands and animals of distant places outweighed his distaste for foreign culture, else he'd have never agreed to take a trip outside of Cyphrus.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Well," Sama'el said, giving judicious thought to his previous assessment, looking the dog over rather than Jarhal himself. It seemed rude to him to do so to a Drykas brother; not that he thought Jarhal rude, but that it would be rude for Sama'el to reciprocate. He still had a need to prove himself as a true Drykas to his peers after all those years away in shameful slavery and lonesome wandering. "I don't have a dog, so he's better than nothing." He smiled, hoping the joke would be taken with good grace. "I suppose if you pick a direction, you'll eventually end up somewhere," he offered. "I wasn't planning to shop, but visiting a friend in the Ruby Clan. You look a little lost, though. Perhaps I can help?"

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

"Well, take it from me, I'd get a falcon instead if I were you. They don't shed so much." He said, but all in good humor. He wore a thoroughly friendly smile, even though his eyes did not seem to reflect it completely. This was certainly preferable to bartering for a new bedroll or futon. Bartering was an activity he loathed, he always felt like he was being tricked by the end. "I like that. Pick a direction and you'll end up somewhere..." He nodded, "Well, does your friend happen to make yurts or tents? I'm going on a trip and need some things, you see." He wondered if his traveling companion had already gotten all this out of the way. Should he have talked to her first? What if she wanted to just share a large tent? Well, that seemed unlikely. Somebody could get peculiar ideas with that sort of arrangement. No point thinking about all that anyways, he was already here. He wondered if this man knew what it was like out there, in the world? There was a niggling worry in the back of his mind that he'd come to be disappointed by what he saw, somehow. Like it had all been one big childish fantasy, seeing towering trees and deserts of sand when they were. Perhaps he'd made too much of seeing them, had built up his expectations too high. "Have you been outside Cyphrus, cousin?" Jarhal still had a feeling he knew the answer, but he had been wrong before.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"But falcons are so unfriendly," he said, "and people would think I wanted to be an Inarta." He laughed a bit, wondering if people would point to an Inarta obsession when he married red-haired Dymphna -- hopefully this summer. "My friend makes just about anything out of leather. I could point out the Redpelt pavilion if you would like." He was certainly willing to help, and would be glad to bring Utine more business in thanks for her teaching him the rudiments of her art. He would never match her skill, but he would be that much more equipped to care for his own eventual pavilion. "I spent the majority of my life outside Cyphrus, cousin," he said, reciprocating the familiarity with his all but ever-present smile, "but it is not an especially happy tale for the most part." He shrugged, willing to share it, but not wanting to put a damper on every single person he met.

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

Truth be told, Jarhal had never owned a falcon. Dogs were all you could really want in a companion: They didn't really talk, they were happy with whatever scraps you threw at them, and they were loyal if you treated them right. If people were more like dogs then Jarhal might spend more time being social. The mention of Inarta made him think of his friend Raylin though, and made him wonder if she liked falcons. Should he get her one? Get her a falcon? What was he thinking about at a time like this. Women had been plaguing his thoughts lately, and his mind liked to jump to thinking about them at completely random times. It must be the season. All that was pushed out of his head before he could think about it much more. It disturbed him to think he was being influenced by something he couldn't control, so he simply didn't think about it. Instead, he listened to what the man said. Did he need anything made from leather? It seemed likely. This leather vest always had been a bit over-sized. "Well, that seems as good a place to start as anywhere." He said simply. Just what he needed to buy there was unclear, but something might jump out at him. Should he have made a shopping list? "Is he the friend you were coming to visit?" Since the man's stories of the outside world did not sound particularly pleasant for him, Jarhal decided to just let the topic go. He'd find out what it was all like soon enough anyhow.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Utine Redpelt," he corrected, "she is my teacher, I suppose. And yes, she does some of the best work in her pavilion. I was just there, but I'm sure I would be welcomed back if I bring custom their way." He smiled cheerfully enough; his past was dark, but his outlook was remarkably bright. Had Jarhal shared his thoughts on redheads, Sama'el certainly had one that he was courting, but there were some milestones he had to pass before her father would allow him to marry her, and some other milestones that he had to pass before he would trust himself to take a wife. Though he loved her rather madly, he wanted to do right by her and raise up a proper pavilion over her head if she was going to leave that of her family for him.

[Jarhal Treeshadow]

"Utine Redpelt. That's an interesting name." He made an upward flicking motion to his hound, who sprang to his feet immediately. "I would be grateful if you could direct me to your friend, then. I don't want to take up too much of your time." Had the crowds grown thinner since they'd been talking? Not really, but there wasn't any point crying about it. He was just grateful that the great Tent City was unlike the sedentary stone cities elsewhere, rife with thieves and worse. Or so he had heard, anyway. Actually, no one had said that, but he'd surmised as much. There didn't seem to be any connection in those places, the people came and went like buzzards feasting on a corpse. They took what they could then left, but in Drykas doing such a thing was forbidden. "Allow me to ask you something though, have you ever been to Wind Reach?" He asked and observed, before adding. "My friend is half-inartan, and I find it fun to surprise people with knowledge they don't think I could have. The only thing she has told me has been something terrible about a caste system, but I didn't quite understand." Well, it was more accurate to say he understood the general notion, but not the reason. What was the point? All he had grown up with was the utilitarian logic that each job was important to the race, and that the only division in Drykas society was between those that had Windmarks and those that did not. But even that was not normally something Jarhal put much thought toward.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el smiled and began to lead the way toward the Redpelt pavilion, much respected by the others of the Ruby Clan. It was a good policy to be helpful to his brethren as they were all connected by the Web, by culture, and by honor. The reason they thrived in the Sea of Grass was because they shared their strength and knowledge. "I haven never traveled that far," he admitted. "Only within Cyphrus, Sylira, and Taldera. But I have met some Inarta. You can meet anyone in Syliras or Sunberth." Not that he ever wanted to return to Sunberth. "What sort of things did you want to know? I might have heard something."