[center][h2]Ya-Shuur[/h2][/center]

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Ya-Shuur spoke softly to the pregnant goat as she bleated. He rubbed her back and massaged her stomach as slowly her baby emerged into the world. He gripped the small creature's head and guided its passage into the world. This had been weird for him to do the first few times, but he had grown used to it now. In fact he was proud of every time he helped a goat give birth with success. He was able to take care of his flock and protect them.

In his travels around Li'Kalla's island he had discoverd that he occupied the south. This area was full of cold forest and was where Li'Kalla's manor was. It was also where he had run away from when he got out of her sphere. So there was a lot of forest in this area. The goats liked the abundance of food here and the easy shelter from the rain. They didn't like the abundance of predators though and Ya-Shuur had to keep running bears and other predators off so that they didn't eat any of his flock.  As he travelled with his flock to the east he found that the forest disappeared. They gave way to huge spires made of clay and mud that left small valleys between each other. This area was damp and muddy but there was plenty of grass for his goats to graze in the valleys. The rain was unceasing and they could not find any shelter from it. The goats looked miserable and wet despite all the fresh grass. So he took them back to the forest where they stayed for some time and were safe from the rain. 

After that Ya-Shuur wished to explore more so they headed west. Here there were ponds covered in beautiful strange flowers and moss. The area was inhabited by frogs, ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies, and other seemingly harmless insects. The goats seemed to enjoy the new place bereft of dangerous predators and full of greenery and water. But like the east there was nowhere to take shelter from the rain here either and after some time Ya-Shuur led them back to the forests where they wandered around for some time and Ya-Shuur chased off some bears that took an interest in the goats. 
By this time there were now many goats and Ya-Shuur noticed with worry that they were eating everything. Because he kept them safe none were being eaten. But they were eating everything. There was now an imbalance. This worried Ya-Shuur but he put off thinking about it too much for now. He took the herd north this time. Here they found a mix of snowy forest and a sprawling network of canyons filled with seawater. The goats took to the snow very happily. They ran here and there and played with one another and seemed very happy that they had found a place without rain. Ya-Shuur found it very cold though with nothing but his poor excuse for a loincloth.

He sat thinking one day as he watched the goats prancing in the snow chasing strange butterflies that had wings that were one foot in length. One such butterfly flew right up to him and observed him. He was hunched up with a frown on his face because of all of his thinking and the cold. The herd had now gotten enormous and he knew that the bigger it became the worse things would be for the environment here. He had to find a way to balance things out. Many animals needed goats to survive. Him protecting them meant those animals had lost their food. This saddened Ya-Shuur especially because he knew that the goats were not in danger of being killed completely if some of them were eaten. And it would be better for the balance of the island overall. 

He thought about this. His goats were alive. They desired to continue living. There was no reason to take away their lives. His maxim covered this: “Hurting others for no good reason is evil.” This raised the question of what was good reason when it came to hurting his goats. The first was the reason the bear had. The bear hunted goats to subsist. The bear also desired to live, just like the goat. To live it had to eat. To eat it had to kill. If it did not do so it would die. So subsistence seemed like a good reason that was covered by the maxim to Ya-Shuur. In the same way the goat had to eat. To eat it destroyed plants. If it kept eating without anyone to hunt it then it could destroy life on the island entirely. So there had to be a balance. The bear ate the goat to live, so he hurt it with good reason. Then the goat ate the plant so it could live, hurting it within reason for good reason. That made sense to Ya-Shuur. 

There was also another reason in his mind why hurting a goat could be considered to be for good reason. Too many goats could end up eating too much and destroying what Li'Kalla had created on the island. So it would be justice for him to kill some goats to prevent them from destroying life on the island. This destruction would even affect the goats eventually if no one intervened to create a balance. So it was right for the bear to kill so it could eat. And it was also right that the bear should kill to preserve the natural balance of the island.

Ya-Shuur held his stick and placed it in the snow. How could he word these into a maxim?  “The desire for subsistence is natural. Those who hurt within reason so as to subsist do no wrong. Those who transgress beyond necessity have done evil. They must undo what they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt. This is Justice.” He looked at this maxim and was satisfied. Then he placed the butt of his stick elsewhere and wrote another maxim. “The maintenance of harmony is good. Intentionally hurting some to preserve the well-being of the whole is a necessary evil. It leads to good for all. It is to be done. This is Justice.” He looked at this third maxim for a long time. He knew that he would have to return to it and think about it more. For now though he would hold to it.

The next day Ya-Shuur gathered ten of his goats and led them to the forest. He left them there for the bear and the wolf.

[hider=Summary]Ya-Shuur explores Li'Kalla's island. In the north there is snow and the goats seem to like this place best of all. There are now many goats and this worries Ya-Shuur because it has created an imbalance. He sees some winter-spirits and one of them comes near him and watches him as thinks. He thinks a great deal and comes out with two new maxims:
“The desire for subsistence is natural. Those who hurt within reason so as to subsist do no wrong. Those who transgress beyond necessity have done evil. They must undo what they have done. If they do not do this then they are to be hurt. This is Justice.” 
“The maintenance of harmony is good. Intentionally hurting some to preserve the well-being of the whole is a necessary evil. It leads to good for all. It is to be done. This is Justice.”[/hider]