[center][color=green][h3]Lewa[/h3][/color][/center]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lewa’s advocacy for a non-violent solution concerning the reported beast failed to get any appreciable groundswell, either among the villagers or his fellow fish out of water. In fact, the hunters regarded him with a mixture of muted bewilderment and astonishment, clearly intending to give no offense but unable to suppress their awe at such a wild, naive notion. Meanwhile, amongst the otherworlders, only Remilia dignified his suggestion with a response, though her choice of words did suggest that even she didn’t take his idea too seriously. Well, no matter. While he wasn’t going to summarily discard his preferred plan of action, Lewa didn’t plan to insist on it. Even now he had a very poor grasp of how things worked in this alien world, but given the vast differences he’d observed already he knew it would be nothing short of hubris to blindly apply his own way of doing things to this new reality. Maybe the rahi of this world couldn’t be befriended no matter what, or maybe these ‘monsters’ had more in common with the Bohrok than Mata Nui’s own wildlife. Rahi had every right to try and live their lives that matoran did, but the Bohrok Swarm was a mindless force of annihilation, killing and destroying not to survive but out of some inexplicable mechanical malice. With the Bohrok, there was only kill or be killed, and maybe it was the same here. Still, Lewa wanted to hold out hope that if the team ran into some majestic animal, no matter how ill-tempered, that he could be the one to hold out the carrot instead of the stick.

Anne volunteered to stay behind and keep the villagers safe from any possible threats in the others’ absence. Though Lewa wanted nothing more than to help guarantee the safety of the poor folks who’d already suffered so much, others would be better suited to guard duty, while comparatively few would be better suited to a forest expedition other than himself. With the composition of the two teams decided, no further deliberation remained, so with the hunter named Derek in the lead Lewa and the others got underway.

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Bolstered by a troop of capable combatants at his back, Derek could retrace his steps through the forest with renewed confidence. After saving his village from the Raven Heralds, surely these people could handle a rogue beast or two. The further he and the others delved into the trees, however, the more ominous the traces of unnatural activity became. As they appeared, Lewa studied the tracks with an interest that bordered on enthusiasm. “Bigger than an Ash Bear,” he remarked, his tone surprisingly chipper. He knew the creatures of Le-wahi, and to a lesser extent those of Mata Nui’s other regions, like the back of his hand. The same couldn’t be said for the rahi of this world by any means, but his experience meant that he could see certain commonalities. The scarred tree trunks suggested that this beast was marking its territory. In turn, the fact that it was claiming new territory to begin with suggested a disturbance in its ecological niche, maybe an emigration from its usual habitat. However, the decimated underbrush filled Lewa with bemusement. What purpose could that serve? Rahi didn’t destroy just for destruction’s sake. With that in mind, the sheer size of this creature’s tracks became more worrisome. If amicable solutions were off the table, this makeshift team could be in for quite the fight.

Some of the others came to their own conclusions. All could agree, though, that the sheer amount of traces could only be explained by the existence of multiple culprits, possibly all of a similarly gargantuan stature. Their expedition came to a momentary half as the subject of ‘youkai’ sidetracked the conversation. Lewa could only assume that the completely unfamiliar word represented something unique to a particular foreign world. Half-listening, the toa of air continued to examine the area, crouching down by tracks to try and get a better idea of the mammoth feet that made them, or climbing up to inspect damaged tree trunks. While doing so he realized that Remilia was talking about the organics’ species. [i]Human, hmm?[/i] When she mentioned rahi, he decided to chime in. “In truth, ‘rahi’ means ‘not us’. Meaning any living thing other than matoran, which would technically include all of you. But yes, ‘wildlife’ would be more appropriate.”

After another moment, Lewa stood from the set of tracks he’d been looking at. “This is quite the mess. But if we want to hunt-track down the source of this disturbance, I think we should hurry-go this way.”