I'd spent the morning in the trenches. Digging. Shoveling dirt. Working at a pace that seemed tireless. But all too soon I was told that I was done. Go clean up. Go. I didn't bother to argue and try to keep working. I grabbed my jerkin and made my way towards the stream to clean up.
As I approached I saw figures sitting on the bank. And a couple of others standing nearby. As we came within sight of one another I noticed how the two men tensed and suddenly moved closer to one of the women. When I looked, I saw who it was. Yamka and the Ghost-Woman. Then I realized that the men were there to... protect her? I felt my mouth begin to move, taking on the shape of a smile and merely shook my head.
I could only image what degrading a post it must be to be assigned as a guard to a woman who betrayed her Tribe. To follow that woman around and ensure her safety among a Tribe that she thought so little of as to throw away for the sake of... love? Lust? Selfishness? I could only shake my head.
Yamka raised other questions, though. I noticed, as I passed them, that she had stepped in front of the Ghost-Woman in some sort of defensive gesture. I haven't put myself around the Tribe much of late. I haven't bothered to pay any attention to the gossip. But I find myself wondering how far the traditions and beliefs of the Tuchuks have fallen. Perhaps it is nothing more than my own anger distorting my perceptions. But the closer I look, the more I see just a pale, civilized shadow of the great Tuckuks I was so proud to call my own.
Were these the same Peoples who were known, like the other three Tribes, to slay strangers at a whim? Were these the same Tuchuks that Kamchak led to Turia's gates and siezed that city for himself?
I find that lately, I can't answer these questions...
As I approached I saw figures sitting on the bank. And a couple of others standing nearby. As we came within sight of one another I noticed how the two men tensed and suddenly moved closer to one of the women. When I looked, I saw who it was. Yamka and the Ghost-Woman. Then I realized that the men were there to... protect her? I felt my mouth begin to move, taking on the shape of a smile and merely shook my head.
I could only image what degrading a post it must be to be assigned as a guard to a woman who betrayed her Tribe. To follow that woman around and ensure her safety among a Tribe that she thought so little of as to throw away for the sake of... love? Lust? Selfishness? I could only shake my head.
Yamka raised other questions, though. I noticed, as I passed them, that she had stepped in front of the Ghost-Woman in some sort of defensive gesture. I haven't put myself around the Tribe much of late. I haven't bothered to pay any attention to the gossip. But I find myself wondering how far the traditions and beliefs of the Tuchuks have fallen. Perhaps it is nothing more than my own anger distorting my perceptions. But the closer I look, the more I see just a pale, civilized shadow of the great Tuckuks I was so proud to call my own.
Were these the same Peoples who were known, like the other three Tribes, to slay strangers at a whim? Were these the same Tuchuks that Kamchak led to Turia's gates and siezed that city for himself?
I find that lately, I can't answer these questions...
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