At long last, Tane decided that he was not overly fond of the mainland. He didn't mind being in different surrounding in the least, indeed he'd led many boat raids against other islands just to see what the landscape was like, but this place was both just different enough to unnerve him with its strangeness and not different enough that he could be constantly marvelling at it. He'd seen beaches, but he had plenty of those back at home. The forest was different, but they'd moved through it too fast for him to take in [i]how[/i] different. The bark of the trees was paler, and the canopy thinned as they went to the north, the trees getting shorter, the undergrowth thinner. He would have liked to actually walk in the forest, but they had stuck to the great roads the Sentyurums had made. He'd gotten bored of the road after a few days. One can only wonder at such a spectacular piece of earthwork for so long, although he'd certainly decided that when he got back home, he'd have to build some. Plenty of stone on the islands, especially on Raute Nui. 

Horses, he thought, were still fairly interesting. So unlike anything he'd ever seen before! Feet and skin like the island pigs that rooted for mushrooms in the forest but legs and neck like some kind of strange moa. And you could ride them! The children sometimes sat on the backs of the pigs that foraged around the town, and and his friend Aurapa had once tried to ride a moa and as such sat legless in a bowl as a storyteller and teacher. He'd heard tales that the little men of the forest rode on the backs of staugoda - what did the centurion call them? Little Elephants? - but such a beast that men could ride into battle, bring messages across vast distances in no time at all and use to pull carts was amazing to him. 
Dogs had intrigued him as well. They had dogs back home, singing dogs that acted as sentries and howled melodiously at the moon and spirit dogs that watched the children and made for a good meal at feast days. But the vicious hounds owned by the Sentyurums were more like one of the mekoasi crocodiles that ran through the forest in the sunlight or even the great varau lizards than any mutt he had known. 

One of the men near him - by north and south, they made people so [i]small[/i] here, even the women of his island were taller - spoke, knocking him out of reflection
"[b]It appears that the decision is close at hand. I heard a friend once say 'may you live interesting times' I feel that thing are about to get interesting for us.[/b]"

Tane gave gave a slight chuckle of agreement.
"This has interesting for long time, friend! I have seen lot, all new to me, yes? This land is strange to me, so dry and cold!"

He understood Sentyurum a lot better than he spoke it. Tane let loose a deep, rolling belly laugh before continuing.
"I am Tane of Anoa, little one. What is your calling?"

He briefly regretted how the chains prevented him from greeting the man properly. Hopefully it would not lead to too much poor fortune.