[IC] Tribal Matters [Hibbie x Partisan]

[Partisan]

Snow fell as snow does in these mountains - slow but a lot at the same time. The cold north had tormented the northlands as it does every winter, but this winter had been an unusual long one. There was talk amongst the Bear tribe that something, somewhere had angered the Kaúdi, the gods in the sky. And rumors spread fast among the tribes, especially around the yearly meeting of the tribes. Due to the high level of traffic in the area - messengers had to trot around between the tribes almost constantly - these rumors spread easily. From the bear tribe, to the wolf tribe and the seal tribe, and from there to the deer tribe and salmon tribe. Soon the tribes would meet, and they would speak of the hunt, the fishing and the foraging. They would discuss hunting territory, treaties of access and permissions and use diplomacy.

But they would also sacrifice their own blood for the Kaúdi in order to please them, slicing in their arm with a bone knive, dripping the blood of the elders onto a ceremonial stone encarved with runes. And if the Kaúdi were not pleased.. they would pray to the spirit animals for protection and strength during the oncoming hardships. The meeting was merely a few days away, and scouts from all sides had reported spotting travelling parties of the leaders moving towards the meeting place. Normally these scouts would be considered an act of aggressiveness towards the scouted party, but during these times it was well known that all leaders employed them. That, as well as the fact that there were many travelling free men, exiled men and women and hunters travelling, trotting about in the snow covered wildtrails, or the dirt trails in the heath and forests. It would be impossible to check who was who, and therefore most leaders chose to not act upon any of these things and let it be what it was.

Audrun's shoulder brushed on a pinetree, the needles shaking the snow off of them as if they were dogs shaking the wetness out of their fur. He sighed in annoyance and brushed the snow off of his shoulder, uncovering his bear pelt patch on the right shoulder. As his fingers went over the patch he bowed his head down and mouthed a silent prayer to the Bear. Audrun believed the rumours, something had angered the Kaúdri, and struggle would be upon them soon. He could only hope the crime against the gods wasn't commited by someone wearing their patch. That would mean the Bear would forsake them until the criminal had been caught and offered to the Bear as a sacrifice. But, everyone in these lands knows that when you are forsaken by your spirit animal, you are as good as dead. Strength and power siphons from your body until you are a mere husk of a human, walking around thinking of only survival. There would be no spirit present, no thought, no social interaction.. no tribe. Just husks.

He shook his head. It could never be someone from the Bear tribe. They were all good people.. he had met most of them at the tribe meetings, and even though there were a few weird ones out there, they would never commit a crime against the Kaúdi. It was bad to have such thoughts, Audrun's father always said. A strong man has a positive mind and a strong heart. “Audrun, or Slow-one we should call you! Hurry, you are falling behind.” Audrun looked up and spotted the black haired man with the rugged beard and ponytail. He was waving at Audrun making wide motions with his hands. Audrun smiled and started walking through the thick snow again, trying to catch up.

At the pace they were going they would arrive to the meeting place in a day or two, but Jogdeir halted the travelling party. Jogdeir was the current tribe leader, chosen by the tribe itself. As Audrun caught up to the party he noticed a newcomer - a man with short blonde hair. Across his eye ran the scar he had gotten in a fight against the Seal Tribe. This man was a bear tribe hero, and even Jogdeir treated him with respect. “Augir One Eye..” Jogdeir spoke. “.. please, join the party and tell me what you have seen.”
However Augir bowed his head and touched the bear patch on his shoulder, then straightened his head and spoke softly and quickly, so only Jogdeir would hear.

Jogdeir nodded a few times as Augir spoke, leaning close to Augir to hear what he whispered to him. Once Augir was finished he backed off again, and as Jogdeir turned around as well towards the party, Augir dissapeared into the snow covered pine trees, which slowly started making way for different kinds of trees that Audrun had never seen before. And they weren't even covered in snow.. “Men!” Jogdeir opened, then looked at Audrun and continued. “.. and boy. I am afraid we have an issue, Augir One Eye has spotted the Wolf tribe pack ahead of us, and they are armed as we are. Now.. we are on good terms with the Wolf Tribe. But I would prefer to avoid any issues that may arise. I say we have a vote.”

The men gathered around and sat down in the snow, ice cold to the touch, but true bear tribe men don't flinch from cold. Audrun had trouble, but he managed to sit down and act natural. He sat straight across Jogdeir, being the youngest member of the group and only being allowed to come because Audrun's father asked Jogdeir personally after a four day trek to Jogdeirs camp. Jogdeir opened the vote by saying that he was against meeting the Wolf pack and motivated the choice by saying that he wishes for a peaceful, quiet journey, and that problems might arise during the confrontation of the two tribes. He passed the word of vote to another man by saying his name, and so on and every man said their choice in the manner and their motivation. Some said they had a certain feeling, others based their choice off of the fact that they were allied, or that they were armed.
Before Audrun got to vote, Jogdeir stood up and declared that they were at a tie. Audrun, not wishing to disrespect the bear tribe leader, held his tongue and said nothing. “And since we are at a tie, I get to declare what happens, and speak for Medved. It is as I say.”

But right then, the man with the black ponytail and rugged beard stood up, pointing his spear at Jogdeir. “Jogdeir! I am sure you had forgotten about it, as we are Bears, but only in our own form. It seems you forgot Audrun had come of age last winter, when the snow was heavy, and as such he earned his vote in the matter.” Jogdeir looked at the man and was clearly angry. But he extended his hand and agreed. “You are right. I forgot, Ren. Audrun, speak.”
Audrun tried to clear his throat and spoke to the group in a soft voice. “I-I say we go an-..” Before he could finish the man with black hair shoved him in the back, and laughed as he spoke to Audrun. “Stand boy. You are not a child, so stand and speak like a bear. You are a son of Medved, not some deer-tribe sissy.” The other men laughed with him as did Audrun. Audrun stood up and spoke loudly this time, his voice ringing between the trees. “I say we meet the Wolf pack. The bear doesn't hide from the wolf, and neither shall we. I break the tie, so as I say it is.” Some of the men got up, and started moving towards the Wolf pack, others slapped Audrun on the back and congratulated him with his coming of age. All Jogdeir did was look angrily at Audrun and his black haired friend before moving on towards the pack. The black haired man slapped Audrun on the back again. “Spoken like a true bear, kid.” Together the last bits of the party moved towards the pack and waiting to see how they would react.

[HiddenBeauty13]

Accalia hated the colder months.

She hated how the pack had to leave the warmth of their caves everyday to hunt for food that had become scare. She hated how the chilly air killed off the berries that she loved to eat and prevented them from coming back until much, much later. She hated how the pack had to travel what seemed like halfway across the world just to attend the biannual meeting that occurred between all the tribes. While the trip itself wasn't too bad as long as they did not run into some sort of altercation with an enemy tribe or some type of natural dilemma that slowed them down, Accalia did not like having to haul around their flimsy, makeshift homes that they used whenever they left their caves for a lengthy period of time. Everything was packed up and moved out and the only indication that someone had been in their caves was the embers of the leftover fires that were dying rather quickly in the frigid temperatures.

However, Accalia never voiced her true feelings about these things to anyone. If it got cold, the woman made sure that she picked extra berries right before they were all gone so she could enjoy them in the colder months and to make clothing that would keep her warm. In fact, she was wearing a warm jacket made of deer hide and stuffed with bird feathers at this very moment. It fit tight to her slim body, though it was not so tight that she could not move around freely in; although It didn't compare to sitting in front of a nice, toasty fire, it was better than nothing. A wolf never, ever complained; complaining showed weakness and weakness was not something Accalia wanted others to see when they looked at her. Plus, when you lived alone, you tended to keep your opinions to yourself.

Accalia was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts as her foot caught one of the many exposed tree roots that grew along the ground and she yelped in surprise, nearly falling in the process. She quickly recovered from her unexpected display of clumsiness and silently prayed to the Gods that it had gone unnoticed, but the woman soon heard someone snicker behind her, much to her dismay. "Accailia you'll never make it to the top hunters if you can barely walk without nearly falling on your face with every step." A dark haired male by the name of Ulric stated with an air of arrogance that made Accailia want to hurl a branch at him. He usually walked near the front with his father--who just happened to be the Alpha Wolf--so she assumed that he had purposely come back here just to mess with her. "I'll make it to the top hunters way before you or your poor attitude will." She replied, not bothering to even turn around and look at him, knowing that she had hit him where it hurt. Her statement was true, though. The only reason that Ulric had to hunt with others that were in the same ranking as Accailia was because of his all mighty attitude and arrogance. It was bound to get someone killed at the rate that he was going so his father had banned him from the top hunters until he got his act straight. Accailia has yet to see some improvement.

"You know, that's a low blow, even coming from you." Ulric practically snarled, though his facial expression held its usual over-confident smirk. "I don't know why since you're aware that its the--" Accailia sudden fell silent as a distinctive howl cut through the trees. Recognizing the signal, she stopped in her tracks and, in one fluent motion, she dropped her items into a neat pile and unsheathe her daggers from her belt before adopting a defensive stance. Everyone else around her was doing the same--dropping their bags, pulling out weapons, forming circles around the young and elderly-- until the area became deathly silent as the Wolf tribe waited anxiously for the 'unknown tribe' to approach. The Alpha Wolf is not able to tell who is approaching through his wolf calls but he can definitely let everyone know that someone was coming towards the pack.

At first, Accalia could see nothing in the area around her, nothing but bare trees and bushes along with a strange fog that clung low to the ground. Maybe it was a false alarm... the woman thought to herself though it was very rare that their leader was wrong. One minute passed by, then two, and she could hear the others shift impatiently in their area but their never broke their stance. They couldn't let down their guard until their leader told them it was okay to do so. Rustling could be heard in front of her and Accailia's eyes snapped in that direction while her body prepared to attack if needed. The rustling become louder until, finally, someone appeared. It was only then that the woman realized that they had managed to run into the Bear Tribe. Accalia knew that the pack was on good terms with the Bear tribe and did not feel particularly threatened. She assumed that her fellow tribe members felt the same way as they relaxed slightly, though they did not hide the fact that they had their weapons. They would not move until told so by their leader.

Meanwhile, Bleddyn the Alpha Wolf had approached the Bear Tribe's leader, though stopping a few feet away from in respect, while the rest of the pack stayed behind him on guard. He did not want to seem like a threat to their leader as Bleddyn was sure that they, too, were armed like his own tribe. "Jogdeir, old friend, it's been a while since we've spoken." He stated with a friendly smile and then gestured to his pack behind him. "They are armed, though they will not attack unless I instruct them to, but I do not intend on doing so. We have always been on good terms with your people and I do not want to sever that bond. This will be a peaceful gathering." Bleddyn announced loud enough for both tribes to here before holding out his hand to Jodgdeir. Shaking hands was a definite way of showing that what someone said was the truth and they would not go back on their word, especially when it involves two different tribes. If they do, they are considered liars and will be shunned by both their own and the opposing tribe as well. However, if he did not shake his hand, then that would be a different story...

[Partisan]

As the bear tribe marched in like a rag tag warband of grown men armed with spears and rough bows, it became apparent that the Wolf tribe had brought along the elders for the trek as well. A bit strange, considering the long trek, but it was also known the Wolf tribe lived like a true pack of sorts so naturally they wouldn't leave anyone behind. Admireable but strange, in the eyes of Audrun atleast. When Audrun came to see the tribe, Jogdeir was already talking to the Wolf Alpha male. Or atleast, the alpha wolf seemed to be doing a lot of talking and Jogdeir listened closely. “Bleddyn, old, old, older friend...” Jogdeir stressed the part about Bleddyn being old, whether or not it was true, but atleast Jogdeir said it with a smile. “Your pack has grown.” he stated, simply looking at the Wolf pack behind Bleddyn. Rearing around and facing his own warband, then back towards Bleddyn, he continued. “.. some of these men are Wolf exiles.” The men he was talking about were exiled for killing a man in the Wolf tribe without adhering to the proper rules to do so, namely that they must be killed in honorable combat, but many tribes had their own set of rules for this, and the bear tribe leader wasn't familiar with those of the Wolf pack, so he didn't know how big the offense had been.

The men he was talking about seemed a bit more restless than the other bear tribe members. In comparison, the exiles seemed nervous and had their weapons more ready than those other members, some of which were actually smiling and greeting the people they knew from the Wolf pack from afar, waiting for the final handshake. An obvious difference, as even Audrun noticed, and it made him a bit uneasy. These exiles were always the hardened battle ready side of the tribe that his father had always warned him to stay away from, and many others felt the same way Audrun did - they may be part of the tribe, but they were weird and often stayed far away.

“Are you at ease with them staying here, too?” Jogdeir extended his hand to that of Bleddyn and shook it, bowing his head in the process. He was certain the exiles had no ill intent whatsoever as he had taken them in himself, an act of forgiveness to the exiles, who are now bound by honor to follow him to death. Ofcourse, they were also bound by honor to adhere to the rules of proper combat, and they hadn't followed them then either. But the handshake said enough - the Bear tribe would keep an eye on the exiles as would the Wolf pack, they had no chance to try anything. And with the handshake, the members of the bear tribe walked towards their Wolf brethren and greeted them, lowering their weapons as would the wolf pack. Audrun didn't really know anyone, so he followed some other members of the bear tribe who would start working on the fire, which would be a grand one as tonight they would eat together with the Wolves, and thus they would stay up late.

Together with them he started work on the fire, being put on wood gathering duty, something generally done to younger members of the warband or tribe as it was an easy task fit for anyone no matter what age. He grumbled. He had come of age, and joined the warband at such a young age as normally most men had to wait until they were 20 to even be considered. He was a man.. not a boy. Why was he sent to collect wood and not some girl? That Jogdeir.. Audrun was willing to bet that it was him that set him up with this lousy job as revenge for speaking on the matter before. He bended over and grabbed another stick, adding it to the pile he was already carrying. He stepped forward and grabbed another stick, mumbling to himself. “Jogdeir the strongest man.. ha! My father can sling a rock twice as far as him..” Audrun stepped forward a few steps again and grabbed another stick. “And his breath smells of deer shit..”

Audrun turned his head around as he heard excited yells and screams behind him of men laughing and conversating. In this moment of carelessness, he stumbled over what he assumed to be a loose root or stick, “Deer shit!” was exclaimed as he fell over a boulder and dropped his pile of sticks over the boulder. He managed to catch himself with his hands planted firmly in the snow, but realized the sticks he had gathered were now wet from the snow. Audrun got up slowly, then turned around, only to find himself stunned with another realization. The boulder was not actually a boulder, it had been a girl from the Wolf tribe that had been out here as well. As Audrun stepped forwards to help her he almost fell again, stumbling just to stay standing up. “M-medveds apologies, I hadn't seen you!” he managed to blurt out, trying to help her up by supporting her or giving her a hand. Secretly he was hoping she hadn't heard him mumbling earlier. “I swear I didn't see you! Um, my name is Audrun, son of Frej so I'm sometimes called Frejson.”

Soon after however, Jogdeir and Bleddyn showed up, each with their own little group of warriors, come to inspect the exclamation of deer shit Audrun accidentally let out. “Accalia, are you okay? What happened?” Bleddyn asked, but Jogdeir wasn't having any of it and walked closer, grabbing Audrun by the arm and quickly taking him back to the large fire. As he passed Bleddyn, Jogdeir spoke to him quickly. “Sorry for this one, he has just turned into a man but has yet to learn proper manners it seems. Sit with me at the fire, so we can talk more.” After that he dragged Audrun back towards the fire, the warriors in tow, laughing and being amused by Audrun's situation. Audrun wasn't laughing, though. Jogdeir dragged him back to the man with the black hair and dumped him there. “Ulvar, you like this boy so much, you keep him in check.” Ulvar nodded and looked at Audrun, then as soon as Jogdeir left to sit somewhere else at the fire, he spoke to Audrun. “Audrun.. hehe.. what did you do this time. Did you pull Medved's tail?” Audrun didn't answer and looked down at his hands, then pulled them into his cloak. This day.. it had been deer shit.

[HiddenBeauty13]

Accalica only caught bits and pieces of Bleddyn's exchange with the Bear Tribe's leader, though she figured that their talk went well as the two finally shook hands and the two tribes began to merge together. It was only then that the woman returned her knives to her belt and proceeded to retrieve her items from the ground with a slight grunt. "Well, this should be interesting." Accalia mumbled softly to herself. They rarely met up with the Bear Tribe outside of the biannual meetings but, when they did, the two tribes always had a pleasant time in each other's companies. With a soft sigh, the woman adjusted her bag on her shoulders before heading in the opposite direction, knowing that sticks would be needed for the big campfire that the others were probably tending to at the moment. That, and she did not know many of the members of the bear tribe that had come along this time and the woman was not keen to meeting new people.

Taking care not to stray too far from everyone else, Accalia eventually found a spot that she thought would be great for finding dry branches and got to work. The woman fell deep into her own thoughts as she worked and ended up going unnoticed by those in both the Wolf and Bear Tribes. Not that it mattered. Accalia was one of the few Wolves that chose to work alone whether than with others so it wasn't hard to simply empty her mind of unnecessary thoughts and focus on the task at hand; it as that skill that made her one of the best animal trackers in the Wolf Tribe. Instead, she was hunting for dry sticks instead of deer tracks this time. After a few minutes of intense stick tracking, Accalia managed to collect a small armful of sticks that were perfect for maintaining a nice, warm fire. Smiling proudly to herself, the woman crouched down and reached for another stick that caught her eye, though she was too engrossed in her own thoughts to hear the nearby Bear Tribe member. In fact, she didn't even notice him until he ended up falling on her, pinning her to the cold, snowy ground.

"Ah man..." The woman muttered to herself after the guy had finally gotten off of her and, although she wasn't hurt, her clothes were now slightly damp due to the snow. “M-medveds apologies, I hadn't seen you!” the man exclaimed and Accalia gratefully accepted his hand as she wanted nothing more but to get off the ground. Normally she would've been rather heated over the fact that someone had knocked her over into the snow but the guy, who introduced himself as Audrun, seemed to be very apologetic about the whole situation. Then, to top it off, both of their tribes' leaders and a few others appeared seemingly out of thin air and Jogdeir proceeded to whisk Audurn away as if he had offended her in the worst way possible. There was no way that Accalia would add to his misery, especially when she heard some of his own tribe member snickering at the situation.

"I-I'm f-fine. I wasn't paying a-attention and ended up-p bumping into him-m." The woman explained through chattering teeth; her wet clothing was already affecting her body and, upon seeing this, Bleddyn wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a fatherly way. "Come, let's get you into some dry clothes or you will become sick." He stated and Accalia didn't refuse. After all, Bleddyn has been like a father to Accalia ever since he decided to take her under his paws after her parents died and she would obey him as such. The trip back to the large campfire was a silent one and the woman assumed that he had believed her little fib since he had not ask her anymore questions about the incident.

As soon as they made it back to camp, Accalia was guided over to where the Alpha Female was conversing with another member of the tribe and, after seeing her shivering in the cold, she was swept away into Bleddyn's large tent. "How did you end up getting your clothes wet, Accalia?" The woman inquired as she handed a change of clothing to the shivering woman. "I wasn't p-paying attention a-and bumped into s-somebody." She replied while she shimmied out of her current clothing. Accalia then watched as the Alpha Female hum in response; apparently she seemed to accept her response just as her husband did. "Well, make sure you're more careful next time. We wouldn't want you getting sick." The two soon fell into a comfortable silence which was only broken as Accalia handed her wet clothing to her. "Do you know where Jogdeir is sitting?"

While the Alpha Female was not completely sure of the Bear Tribe leader's whereabouts, she was able to direct Accalia in the general direction in which he should be. Though she was actually looking for Audrun, not Jodgeir. After all, it is impolite to have someone introduce themselves without returning the gesture. Finding him was no easy task. Accalia had to dodge the Wolf Tribe children as they chased after each other without really paying attention to where they were going and avoid getting pulled into boring conversations by the elderly. Not only that, but she also had to maneuver around Ulric and his ever growing crowd of female admirers. Tsk, they just want to earn the title of Alpha Female once Ulric becomes our leader. Accalia would rather leave her tribe than to be guided by someone as dimwitted as him.

Finally, after searching around for a little bit, the woman found him sitting next to another member of the Bear Tribe on a large, fallen tree trunk and he looked far from happy. "Hey, I never got to introduce myself: I'm Accalia, daughter of the late Otsanda and Rezso." She stated, taking care to include both of her parents in her introduction. There was a small moment of silence as Accalia thought of what to say next. Usually she would have simply taken her leave and never looked back but Audurn intrigued her, though she wasn't exactly sure why. "Since we both failed to get any firewood for the bonfire, would you like to help me collect some now?" It was something that still needed to be done, whether they liked it or not. Plus it was starting to get later in the day and collecting good, dry firewood was much easier when done during the day not the night.

[Partisan]

Unlike the deer tribe kids, or any deer tribe member, most of the bear tribe members that weren't engaging in conversations with the deer tribesmen and women were sitting silently, staring into the fire or doing some woodcrafting. As was Audrun, busy cutting the edge from a few thicker, stronger branches into sharp stakes. They could serve multiple purposes, such as a makeshift spear, but mostly they were used for traps. As Audrun had no real knowledge of trapping other than ''catch the animal, kill it and eat it'' he would likely give the stakes to a trapper. Usually, at home, he'd give them to his father so he could use them. Besides the practical use, it was just nice to have something simple to do. Ulvar was doing the same, making a wooden cup for himself.

Caught in focus on the sticks, Audrun didn't see Accalia approaching him and was slightly startled when she suddenly stood in front of him. When she introduced herself, Audrun put his stakes aside and stood up straight, to see eye to eye with the woman, or atleast somewhat the same, as he was obviously a bit taller. When she was done there fell an awkward silence. He quickly tried to say something, fumbling his words a bit. “U-uh, I'm Audrun, son of Beresford and Micha. Nice to meet you, Accalia of late Otsanda and Rezso.” He smiled at her and then listened when she continued.

“Um, yeah, I guess we should find some firewood.” He turned around and grabbed his spear, which was laying on the treetrunk. While it wasn't dark enough to get caught by surprise yet, it was slowly getting more dark and he'd rather take no risks. And for that reason he grabbed the knife he was using to cut stakes, as well, sticking it between the belt on his bear fur cloak. “Alright, I'm ready.” he said as he smiled at Accalia, stepping forward through the soft, thin layer of snow, crisping underneath his boots. He set foot into the forests, Accalia no doubt following him, and started looking for sticks which wouldn't be too wet.

After about an hour or two, he bent for the last time, grabbing a stick and putting it on his pile. He turned around and looked for Accalia, finally spottng her a little bit away. “I think this is enough, no doubt some men have started splitting actual wood, so I guess this'll be kindling. Think that people have went to sleep yet? Maybe the kids.. why do you guys bring your entire group with you to these meetings anyway? You're just bringing them to danger, I think.” He started walking towards Accalia, but froze dead in his tracks when he noticed an arctic fox sitting not far away from them, closely watching both Accalia and Audrun.

Without telling Accalia, he suddenly dropped the pile of sticks and then grabbed the spear with both his hands. “Fox.” he said, softly, so he wouldn't alarm the fox and make it run. Slowly he raised the spear above his head with one hand, making ready to throw the spear at the fox in an attempt to kill it. “Maybe if I kill the fox and give its fur to Jogdeir he will respect me more...” he spoke, more to himself than to Accalia. The fox seemed to get a bit more alert now that suddenly the two humans had stopped moving, but Audrun didn't notice that. He pulled back his arm, then swung it forward, throwing the spear towards the fox. Any experienced hunter could tell you it was ineffective to throw spears at small animals like these, but Audrun hadn't really been on any major hunts yet.

The spear flew true, but the fox was gone by the time the spear hit the ground, impaled in the snow. Audrun quickly sprung into action. “Come! Lets catch it!” he yelled, with a childish undertone in his voice. As he ran past the spear, he plucked it from the ground, after that he quickly ran after the fox, following it's tracks which were easily visible in the snow. The chase lasted for about half an hour to 3 quarters of an hour, but time wasn't important when you were hunting. Besides, if they got lost they could follow their tracks back to the camp easily.

But at long last, Audrun had trapped the fox against a dirt mound that the fox couldn't climb. Every time the fox tried he'd slide back down and try again, giving Audrun a chance to quickly get closer.. slowly he raised the spear above his head as he heard the fox yelp and scream. It somewhat resembled the cry for mercy a human would give. When he was about to give the death stab to the poor fox, both Accalia and Audrun could hear sounds of battle and death far, far away in the direction the camp was in. Audrun looked around in confusion, then looked at Accalia. The fox took it's chance and escaped between Audruns legs, past Accalia and into the forest again. “Accalia.. do you think that .. we should go back now?” He slowly walked back towards Accalia, who had fallen behind a bit during the chase as she had to account for Audruns unexpected movement trails while chasing the fox. Once he got to Accalia and could clearly see her face again, the sounds of battle and death stopped, with a final death cry.

Slowly they started to make their way back to the camp, following the direction the cries were coming from before to save valuable time they would've lost tracking their own footsteps back. However, the more silent it became, the more worried they got, and they quickly picked up the pace and soon enough were running back to the camp. When they got there.. bodies littered the floor, some of them burnt from being thrown through the fire during the battle, others having stab wounds in the stomache.. neck, anywhere. Others had bruises from warclubs being slammed against them, mostly in the vital areas like the head. The amount of bodies laying around was close to twenty.. twenty five, maybe. Way less dead than there were alive before they left.

Audrun started scanning the dead from the bear tribe to see if any of them had made it, but as far as he could see every single bear tribe member had died, including Jogdeir, Alvar, Naga.. From the deer tribe, it seemed many of the dead were the warriors, but Audrun wasn't sure as he didn't really know these people. A quick look at the tracks left by the humans implied that many of the people that were here had fled to the north west, back to the living areas of the two tribes. But there was something peculiar.. some footsteps came from the south west or the north east, totally out of the way from any of the tribes travelling directions. Audrun looked at Accalia with a look that was questioning what they should do now, as it was clear that he hadn't expected this.. on the other hand, Accalia probably hadn't either.

[HiddenBeauty13]

Accalia was glad that Audurn decided to help her gather more dry sticks for the ever growing fire. After all, collecting sticks in the dark by yourself was not the smartest or safest thing to do. Two was always better than one. With that thought in mind, the woman followed after Audurn, her shoes crunching lightly in the snow that sprinkled the ground. Eventually, the pair found an area that was abundant in dry firewood and it didn't take them long to acquire a large amount of the stuff. "Yes, this should be enough." The woman replied to Audrun and turned her back to him as she straightened her pile of sticks, listening to him as she did so. "Well, it's easier to protect everyone when we're all together like this, to be honest, and we're a pack. We never leave another behind, even if they are old and slow or weak and young." When her statement was only met with silence, Accalia stopped what she was doing and turned to Audurn, who looked like he was going to attack something. Raising an eyebrow, the woman pulled her dagger and walked over to him slowly, taking care to keep her feet from crunching so loudly. However, as she got closer to Audurn and could finally see what he was planning on killing, she relaxed her stance slightly. That spear isn't even going to touch that fox... Her predict proved to be true only moments later and before the woman could return to what they had been doing before, Audurn took off after the fox. "Hey, wait!"

Accalia ended up following the man on his wild good chase after the fox but it eventually paid off since he ended up cornering it. Though, just before he could deliver the killing blow, the distinctive sound of battle could be heard coming from the direction that their tribes had been in. A feeling of dread and fear rendered her speechless and all she could do was nod as Audurn's suggestion. Time seemed to stop when they finally arrived back at camp, only to find it coated in dead bodies and blood. The sight drew a pained cry from Accalia and she gripped her chest tightly, her eyes watering slightly as she spied the body of baby buried face down in the mud. This was the second time that someone from her tribe had died and she was the one that survived. Not wanting to have a break down when she needed to be strong, the woman straightened and inhaled deeply before blowing it out. "We can't stay here. Whoever attacked might come back to either cover their tracks or make sure no one survived. Even if they don't come back, we can't take that chance. Let's get some supplies and find some place safe to stay in for the night. Traveling at night light this is way too dangerous, especially with killers on the loose."

And with that, Accalia slipped her dagger into its sheath and jogged over to the nearest tent, which was splattered with blood and slightly torn in some spots. When she went inside, the woman quickly got to work with searching through the original owner's things to find some food and water that they could take along with them. After looking around for a bit, she stumbled across a small knapsack that had a few pieces of dried meat and a half a thing of water. She even added a few extra things that she figured they would need to the little bag as well. "This should do." The woman muttered to herself but, just as she was about to leave, she heard a sound behind her. With narrowed eyes, Accalia dropped the bag and pulled out her dagger in one swipe, her brown eyes scanning the are around her. "Who's there?" She demanded and, to her surprise, received a soft wail in response. Recognizing that it was simply a scared child, the woman quickly put away her dagger and made her way over to his hiding spot. It was only then that she realized that it was the Alpha Female's youngest son, Weylyn.

"Weylyn..!" Accalia exclaimed softly as she gently picked the child up in her arms; He was only about four years old and was practically shaking in fear. "W-where's mommy?" He inquired, sniffling slightly as he did so. "I'm not sure at the moment." Acalia lied, not wanting to tell the boy that his mother was dead with her throat slit open near the bonfire. "We'll look for her later but, for now, we must leave." The child sniffled again and nodded reluctantly. "O-Okay..."

"Audurn! Audurn! Did you find anything?" The woman called as she walked out the tent, Weylyn in one arm and the bag in the other. "If not, I did but we should probably get going before it gets too dark..Audurn? Can you hear me?" She still hadn't heard him respond yet, nor could she see him. Not only that, Weylyn was getting restless after she had told him to close his eyes and don't open them until she told him too.

[Partisan]

Audrun heard his name a few times in the distance, looked at the ground and realized he had covered some distance while trying to figure out who these attackers were. He stood up straight again and started jogging back, calling out to Accalia. “Yeah, I'm here, be right there!” His mind was still foggy with the information he had been trying to decypher. According to the tracks, a group of about thirty people had attacked the groups, but it was quite unclear who they were. He came back to the former camp, and saw Accalia standing with a young boy on her arm. “Huh? Did you have a child while I was gone?” He walked closer and inspected the kid, pinching his cheeks a bit and then feeling his arms to see how strong the kid was. “Well fed?” Why did the Wolf tribe feed their children so well? That was no way to teach a kid the hardships of an empty stomach.

“Ahh. We should probably go, they might come back to take some spoils of the deceased.” Audrun bowed down slightly and grabbed a bloodied stone axe, wiping it clean on the dead Wolf tribesmen's clothes. Then he tucked it between his coat and belt, before grabbing his spear again and trudging through the snow again. He was remarkably calm about the deaths of his tribesmen, something that could be accounted to the fact that he hardly knew any of them - they just lived in the area and some lived far away. It wasn't a big deal to him either way.

He set off towards the way the tracks had ran in, in case they might find some survivors. “Oh, sorry for your tribe. I guess you were close with them.” He drew to this conclusion because of the way she acted - a bear tribesman might have just left the child behind. Atleast, Audrun would've considered it. Besides that.. she told him that they all take care of eachother. Guess that means they were close. “But don't fear,” he said, turning his head back looking at her, “the dead rest with the spirits of the world now.” He faced forwards again, unsure if saying that would calm her or only make her more sad. Besides that.. he didn't really know what to say. She seemed to care too much for the dead. Why would you care that much if you knew that you couldn't change much about the situation. All that mattered was revenge, really.

“Where do you think we should stay? I can make a leanto for us, but I'm not sure that'd shelter us from arrows very well. Unless you wanna split up and go your own way?” He stopped and turned around so they could discuss the course of action from now on.

[HiddenBeauty13]

"Of course I didn't have a child, I found him while I was searching for supplies." Accalia stated with a slight eye roll and gently gave the child a pat on his back, reassuring him that everything was okay. She then began to follow after Audurn, though she stayed a few paces behind him, focusing on the little patches of snow that weren't bathed in the blood of their fellow tribesman. Eventually she saw the decapitated head of a bear tribes man, whose face was forever contorted in a look of terror. Accalia thought it was funny how, only a few hours before, this man probably had a smile on his face while he conversed with others around the bonfire. "Oh, sorry for your tribe. Audurn's voice pulled the woman from her thoughts and she stared intensely at his back as he continued to speak. He did not sound like he was affected in any way by the deaths of his tribesman but it did seem like he was attempting to comfort her. She took his words in and took a moment to recollect herself before continuing on.

"There's this small cave system that we usually stay in for the night whenever we travel through this way that would definitely shield us from arrows. In fact, we could make a fire and it would not be seen from the outside. Come, I'll show you where it is." Accalia adjusted the child on her hip before moving in the direction in which she knew the caves were in. When they got further from the demolished camp, Weylyn finally spoke up for the first time since she told him not to lift his head from her shoulder. "Accalia, can I look now?" The woman remained quiet for a moment as she scanned the surrounding area to make sure that the demolished campsite was not in view. "Yes. You may look now." She replied and the child slowly lifted his head and was surprised to see someone else behind them. "Accalia, Accalia, there's someone following us!" He nearly shrieked and the woman had to hold him a bit tighter to keep him from jumping out of her arms. "Shh, its okay, he's an ally of ours. Don't worry." Her voice was kind and patient as she soothe the child and, eventually, he calmed down, though his curiosity was still peaked about the mysterious man that had tagged along.

"What's your name and what tribe are you from?" Weylyn asked the question he had heard his father ask other people multiple times before to see if they were a possible enemy or not.

[Partisan]

Audrun grinned at the boy as he carried on through the snow, flashing his teeth at the boy. “I'm Audrun, from the Bear tribe. Guess you can call me an old friend of your clan, though I'm not so sure now.” He trudged on through the snow thinking of whether he should try and find whoever was behind this or just return home to his parents. Surely the latter was safer, but now that he was here with this girl, and two dead clans at their feet, it felt like they were meant for something greater. “My daddy says the bear tribe is strong like bears but are not as smart as the wolves. Is that true?” Audrun flexed his muscles for the boy, but it wasn't much to show. Needless to say the boy wasn't impressed. “That's not strong! My mom has bigger muscles than you!!” he yelled out at Audrun.

“Real strength isn't in muscles though.” Audrun retorted. He knew it was true to a degree. For a weapon like a spear, it was more about momentum or the right angle or spot, but strength definetely played a role. A club however needed both speed and strength in equal measure. So he was sort of right. “Besides, I'm only just of age. I had my first hunting trip this year and it went well. I caught a beaver.” Now this caught the boy's attention. “A beaver! We don't see many of those around our caves!! How did you catch it!” Audrun laughed out loud and then looked around as if he was gonna tell a secret, checking the environment for people listening in. “Well first of all.. I used a kid like you as bait.” Now Weylyn seemed more shocked than interested and hid himself closer to Accalia, but Audrun continued. “.. sadly the kid got eaten by the big beaver. Then I killed it with my spear. The end.” Audrun grinned and scouted around the environment some more, waiting for the inevitable shitstorm Accalia would release on him.

[HiddenBeauty13]

At first, Accalia had not paid any attention to the conversation between the two males--she was still leading the to the area where she assumed they would be safe at--but, upon hearing Audurn's last remark, she paused for a moment so she could turn back and glare at the older male. "Really? He's just a little boy. There's no need to add on to this already traumatic experience of his." The woman stated in a disapproving tone as she gave the boy a few comforting pats on the back. "D-Does he really use little kids as bait for beavers?" Accalia shook her head in response. "Of course not, he was just teasing you Weylyn." "That wasn't a very nice joke..." The child retorted in a pouty tone as he peaked his head over the woman's shoulder so her could poke his tongue out at Audurn. "You're a meanie!"

Eventually, Accalia was able to locate the seemingly abandoned cave system and led the trio inside, shivering slightly in the cooler air. "We've got to get some firewood." She stated more to herself than to anyone as she gently set the child and her belongings down, though Weylyn ended up clinging to her leg in his own attempt to get warm. "A-Audurn, would you like t-to get the firewood and I'll w-watch Weylyn, or would you r-r-rather me find t-the firewood?" The woman inquired, slightly annoyed at the fact that the cold was finally getting to her and making her teeth chatter when she spoke. Her main concern was Weylyn, though, as he could not survive as long as she could in cold weather like this without a fire.

[Partisan]

Audrun grinned at Accalia, and then at Waylyn. Maybe she didn't find the joke funny but Audrun did. He inspected the scene when they arrived, which wasn't much more than an old, cold cave. It didn't seem like much, but it'd beat sleeping in the remains of their former tribes. “Um, I guess I'll get some firewood.” He raised an eyebrow at her when she shivered, not understanding how she could shiver at this little. He then chuckled as he envisioned a cold, shivering Accalia trekking up north to the Bear tribe. On second thought, he realized her clothing was hardly fit for temperatures like those. A heavy thud market the drop of Audruns stuff at the edge of one of the cave walls. It was a sack that was filled with some leftover meat, a fur that he'd had been sleeping on for the trek south and some basic tools.

He couldn't really take his spear with him when grabbing wood, though, so he walked over to Weylyn and handed the spear, which was way too big, over to him. “Weylyn, make sure to protect Accalia, yeah?” He'd raise from his squatting position again and put a hand on Weylyns head while taking one arm out of his coat before releasing his hand and doing the same for the other arm. Grabbing Accalia's arm with his free hand, he'd shove the coat into her hands. “Maybe winter is over, but us Bears see snow during the summer too.” Well, it was true. Winter might've been over but it was still cold. Besides, Audrun wore a large tunic and an overshirt over it, so he'd be fine for now. Just had to get a fire going to be sure. On the other hand Accalia was just wearing a simple chestpiece and some pants. Let alone Weylyn, who must've been freezing the entire trip. Oh well, Audrun was a pretty tall guy so even if Accalia wore the coat Weylyn would probably still fit in there.

He got outside and started looking around for some wood, taking in the surroundings as he did so. Collecting branches and larger pieces of fallen trunk left and right, he'd notice a pattern of tracks leading through the general area of the cave. It was somewhat frightening to see, because they were quite big paws of a Lynx. It seemed to avoid the area of the cave though, which could be either good or bad. Good, because it'd mean the Lynx wouldn't pass the cave looking for human food.. bad because there must be a reason it didn't go into the cave.. namely some bigger animal living deeper in the cave. Audrun just hoped there wasn't a bear in there or he'd have to make a new coat. He grinned at his joke. “As if I can kill a bear alone.” he mumbled, grabbing another piece of wood as he stepped through a small steam of water, spots of red moving through it. Fish, maybe? Perhaps Accalia knew how to catch fish, because Audrun had never been quite efficient at spearfishing. He could try, though. It'd likely be humorous for Accalia and Weylyn to see that attempt.

After about two hours of looking for wood that was suitable enough to burn, Audrun headed back tracing his own tracks back to the cave. Somehow it seemed he had walked further than he had initially thought -- it took about 15 minutes to get back. Luckily the snow was helpful in recovering the way. Audrun thought the snow would melt soon, within a week or so. That would once again be a good or a bad thing. For one it would make it harder to track animals, or to hide in plain sight by covering yourself with snow. On the other hand, there'd be berries and edible grasses and roots to be found. And Audrun longed for something other than deer meat.

As he arrived back at the cave he dropped the firewood on the ground and started working on a fire using a fire bowdrill. “Accalia, there's a stream not far from here. You can walk there in about 5 minutes, and it has fish in it. Big, red fish. And I also found some Lynx tracks but he seems to avoid this cave. Maybe he goes to the stream to fish? Either way, I thought you should know.” He'd smile at her as he'd collect burning embers from the fire plank he'd be using with the bowdrill. Once he figured he had enough he'd place them on some of the firemaking materials and start the fire, placing himself down next to it to enjoy the fire.

[HiddenBeauty13]

"I promise I'll protect her!" Weylyn exclaimed bravely as he struggled to hold the long spear upright. If Audurn could kill a beaver, then he could protect Accalia while he was gone, even if he could barely hold the spear. "Be careful Weylyn." The woman told the child as he wandered off a bit, dragging the spear behind him; Accalia assumed that he was going to try practicing his spear skills. She then turned her attention to Audurn, who had taken off his jacket and given it to her without her even asking. "I understand, thank you." As she slipped her arms into the furry coat, Accalia was bathed in a flood of warmth that nearly took out her shivering instantly. While it was warm and rather heavy, the woman was definitely grateful for the extra article of clothing. Once Audurn was out of view, she turned to Weylyn, who was still trying to get the spear to stand upright, and beckoned him over. "Come, it's cold and it would be bad if you got sick." After giving the spear a look that said that he would master its ways, the child ran over to Accalia, who took a seat on the cool cave floor before wrapping him inside the coat as well. She was surprised at how cold he felt, his little fingers were as chilled as the snow that lay on the ground outside.

"Accalia? I'm sleepy..." He mumbled out eventually, his eyes already half close. After all that happened today, Accalia was tired too but she knew that they weren't exactly safe just because they were in a familiar cave. Anything could come and attack them at any moment, so she would have to remain awake and keep watch. "Go on, sleep..." She said softly to Weylyn, watching as his eyes finally closed all the way and he fell asleep with a peaceful look on his face. The boy had gone through so much that day and Accalia only hoped that his dreams would grant him anything other than nightmares.

The woman continued to sit quietly inside the cave until she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She tensed slightly, ready to move Weylyn out the way and pounce on the person if necessary but, soon she realized that it simply Audurn and Accalia relaxed a bit. "I'll see if I can catch some fish for us to eat then." She said in response to the information about the stream. She shifted the sleeping child in her lap so that she could slip her arms out of the coat, immediately missing the warmth it provided, and wrapped Weylyn in it before gently setting him down near the fire. "As much as I would love to keep that coat on, I can't hunt with it. I'll be back soon." And, with that, the woman headed out into the cold with her dagger in hand.

She followed Audurn's footsteps back to the stream, which was quite active with fish. Upon seeing this, Accalia immediately went down into a crouch by the edge of the stream. Her right hand was positioned in a way that she could easily strike out at the water when needed and she held her body completely still, knowing that she would scare away the fish with any unnecessary movement. Silent and motionlessly she waited, her brown eyes watching sharply to see if a fish would be careless enough to cross her path. Surely enough, a particularly large fish swam a little too close to the shore and, before it move a fin, it was impaled on the blade of Accalia's dagger. After placing the fish off to the side, the woman got back into her previous position once more, waiting once again for another fish to swim by. She repeated this process multiple times until she had five fish of various sizes lying on the ground beside her. "I might as well skin them now..." Descaling fish was a messy job and it was something she would rather do outside and, thankfully, it didn't take more than half an hour since she descaled fish often. Figuring that she might as well finish the job, Accalia went on and beheaded the fish and gutted them, leaving just the smooth skin on the outside and the fresh meat on the inside. She then washed her hands and knife off in the stream before heading back to the cave; she had only been gone for an hour and a half.

Once inside, she held up the fish proudly to Audurn. "Looks like we'll have fish for dinner today." She settled on the ground by the fire, taking care not to disturb the sleeping child. "If we do end up cooking this, though, we should be careful. That lynx you were talking about earlier might swing by for a piece too." Accalia really wasn't in the mood or in the best shape to deal with such an animal but she would fight her hardest if it came down to it.

[Partisan]

Audrun frowned at the speed at which she had managed to catch those fish. Was there anything Accalia wasn't good at? Audrun had barely gotten the fire started yet when she held the fish in front of his face. On of the fish was particularily large. “How about we cook one or two? We can cook the largest ones and then leave the other three for tomorrow.” He didn't wait for her opinion on things and grabbed the two largest fish, took a stick and poked it through the fishes remains. He placed the stick into the fire, supporting it's end on a rock so that the fish wouldn't be directly in the fire but rather over it. Burnt fish was terrible after all, and Weylyn would probably complain about it. Maybe Audrun wasn't a good fisherman but he was a pretty good cook. Or atleast.. that's what he thought.

An hour later or so the fishes were ready. Well, they were sort of really hot and they didn't taste too good due to lack of any kinds of nice seasonings, but it was food. Audrun ate it with much pleasure as the recent events of their tribes being slaughtered, having to trek around with a little kid and looking for firewood tired him down quite a bit. “So this Lynx, eh. I'd like a Lynx fur.. I need a new hood. And they say a Lynx tooth talisman gives you a stronger body. Wouldn't that be useful for little Weylyn here? He looks so weak.. you Deer tribe people pamper your kids too much. He's like.. a lot of fat and no muscle.” Likely he'd anger Accalia again but it was pretty much true, though Audrun didn't know this was the Deer tribes leaders' son, so he didn't know the reason of him being so pampered and fat.

“Then again you're not that muscled either. Must be a deer tribe thingie.” he said, grinning as he took another bite of his fish. Audrun tried his best to get her agitated and it was showing, but the real question was would Accalia notice too? Regardless he'd scoot back a bit, grabbing his coat in the process. Leaning against the walls of the cave he'd put the coat over his pulled up legs and lean his head back. “I wonder who did this. The whole attac-” he said silently, looking at Weylyn. “I mean.. who found our people and lead them to the meeting place.” He couldn't help but wonder if it'd been the other tribes.