Narsi hardly had time to take a step before Lorag grabbed a hold of the collar of her shirt. "Hold on there, girl. You can choose to leave once you've seen everything I've got to show you. Not before."

Lorag took a hold of Narsi's shoulder and turned her around to face him. "Sure, you can walk yourself up that mountain if you want, but as soon as you do, your mother's just gonna kick your hide right back down it 'till you go where I'm takin' you. Don't even try to pretend you don't know that's true. So, you can spend all day walkin' up and down this mountain, or you can get this over with quicker, so let's not waste both of our time and just get goin'." 

[hr]

As was often the case when he was prompted to speak with the adults his parents dealt with, Julan kept his answer short and quick. [i]"I'm Kaj-Julan. I'm, um, their son."[/i]

The leader, and most of the others, just looked surprised at Janius' and Julan's stated relationships with Kaleeth, though one in the back gave a visible sneer towards them. Regardless, Xurkith accepted their answers enough to lead them into the camp. They spoke no further on the way, though the moment they entered the village, they could hear the whispers among onlookers, particularly once they noticed Janius. Many were just surprised that the village had visitors at all, but there were perhaps a few who recognized Kaleeth's return. In any case, the village was a small enough place that it hardly took any time at all for them to reach a small, nondescript mud hut on the very edge of the village. Xurkith pulled aside the hanging cloth that served as the doorway and motioned for the trio to follow him inside. 

The hut was small and, naturally, had only a single room. There was a small firepit in the center that Kaleeth noticed immediately, due to the aroma of the soup that was cooking on top of it, which filled the entirety of the hut. There was no furniture only cloth mats on which to sit and a single hammock in the far corner. Kaleeth could see what looked like a few hunting trophies nearby to it, but it appeared that no one had bothered to actually display them properly. That, or they had already been taken down in preparation for their impending migration. Regardless, there was only one other person in the hut aside from them, and Kaleeth could hardly bring herself to breathe when she saw him. It was her father, sitting in front of the firepit, looking up at his guests. His dark green scales had lightened a shade or so since they had last seen him, but his tattoos looked like they had maintained their color. He had on only his loincloth, and not the usual adornments of a ranking hunter in the village. 

[i]"Zharan, you have...visitors."[/i] Xurkith announced, though Zharanthixil was hardly even paying attention to him. His eyes were unmoving from Kaleeth, who was filled with more fear and nervousness the longer he looked at her. [i]"Father, I..."[/i] She started, unable to come up with any conclusion to the thought. 

In contrast to Kaleeth, Zharan's words were soft, perhaps even carrying some sadness to his tone. [i]"My little girl...after all this time."[/i] He began; however, his gaze focused more sharply onto Janius once he took notice of him. [i]"I see you brought [b]him[/b] here again."[/i]