Even though Janius had seen his fair share of stomach churning sights in his life, he had to admit that a mental image of a creature dissolving its prey in its spat out bile was a repulsive one indeed. The other things that Kaleeth described were more or less known to Janius, except lamias. "I had only heard myths about lamias. Very old myths. I didn't even know that they existed. You say they are intelligent? Has anyone in your tribe tried to reason with them before?" Janius asked.

Hearing a telltale distant call over the chirping of insects and frogs around them, Janius looked up and spotted a small flock of hackwings up in the air in the distance. They were too far away to catch, but it was a reminder to keep an eye out. He felt a twitch in his mind from his beast spirit now that he was in the mindset to hunt, but it was not a problem. [i]Sorry wolfy, this isn't your show.[/i]

---

Sabine didn't show any clear reaction, but she was slightly annoyed at Shaleer-Za's answer. It was to be expected. Perhaps it would become more clear when she arrived at the fork in the road. She didn't like going into the trial so blind, but Meesei's encouragement helped.

With nothing else for it, Sabine stepped up to the starting line. The only belongings she carried were a few skins for clothing. Everything else was back at the common hut. Sabine glanced up at Shaleer-Za's light, then ahead. She could see a few of the ribbons already. The path was clear. A moment passed where she started to breathe faster, but not in panic, in anticipation. She knew things would only get worse if she stalled, so she bolted off from the spot with haste before she could get any more anxious. She ran at such a speed that belied her slight figure, but she wasn't worried about disguising herself if it meant some extra time. However, she stopped short of transforming; she would need all her judgement and a clear mind.

The cloths continued through scrub and low branches, across small bodies of water that were swum. Apart from keeping track of where she was and finding the next cloth down the path, it didn't seem too hard. Sabine was making good time before the second half, whatever that entailed.