A new place to call home...

[Tanavar]

In the peak of the morning... 55th of Winter, 509 AV


"So here I am..."

Standing in between a small clearing between Taloba and the Jungle Wilds... Between his old life, and a new one he is about to embrace. Once he steps inside the Jungle, Tanavar knew there was no going back. Glaring into the jungle ahead, and with his back turned to Taloba, the only home he ever knew, but the home he was never safe, he knew that this act is a point of no return.

He never had any friends. Never had anyone to share his feelings with. Tanavar was cursed to the life of solitude ever since the day he was born. Even being a true Myrian, he was never accepted by his own race.

"I will not be pushed around any longer. Even if it means... even if I find this jungle to be judge and jury..."

He kneel and had his gear checked. His longbow is going to become his only reliable friend now, alongside his own guts and bravery and cunning. After double checking his backpack, Tanavar stood up, and with determination in his eyes, he made his first step into the Jungle. As he walked forward, the overwhelming jungle spread around him, and he was walking forward without paying much attention to anything but his primary starting goals.

"Allright, I need to find a shelter, a place to hide, before the dusk, otherwise the jungle will consume me... I have enough food for a week, but consumable water only for one day..."

Since Tanavar was alone through whole his life, he never had a friend to talk to, so he made a habit to talk to himself while thinking. Although it was a daybreak, and the deadliest predators around are not active, not all of them were waiting for night to became hungry. Thirty chimes have passed, and he run into a small pond dead ahead of him. He was going straight forward since he entered the jungle, so he could easily go back and find Taloba... but he knew he was lost. He observed carefully the pond and got his longbow ready if anything hostile comes his way... But not a single being was thirsty right now. He approached carefully to the edge of the small pond, and kneel. He saw markings of the tigers in the ground, which Tanavar recognized due to his Myrian tracking skill. Myrian tigers are not the ones to play with and should be avoided at this point. He needs to make his hideout, and near the water supply in the jungle, it would not be the safest place.

"I need to press forward..." He said as he stood up and placed his longbow around his right shoulder.

A few more hours had passed, and he was just starting to feel lucky for not encountering any hostile animals... and somewhere around the noon, he started to consider himself very lucky. While he still lived in Taloba, there was a hollow tree that he considered sanctuary and a place to run away when he was tired... This tree... Was one of the biggest he had seen in his life... Well, it's a jungle, and Caiyha's playground, so he was fully aware of his not knowing what to expect. But this was a chance that he found what he was looking for, for the tree's inner core was hallow, and accessible from outside, and maybe this could be a place where he can hide during the night time?

"Maybe I could make this my hiding place during the night, I need to inspect it... but not on empty stomach..."

Tavavar was surounded by jungle, and had a hard time for appetite right now. He knows that soon, in a few hours, the night will come, and this was maybe his best chance to survive his first day in his second life that he chose to live. While sitting on a log and eating his rations, he was mostly wondering if anything else has his exact thoughts and proclaimed this hollow tree it's home?

oocI'm leaving the progress in the storytellers capable hands. Will I get attacked by a savage animal that will spring out of the tree to defend it's home? Will it be empty? Or something else...?

[Cayenne]

The jungle cooled down only slightly at night, cast in an eerie pallor by Leth. Not that Syna's light penetrated through the thick canopy overmuch, but you could still see quite well. The random rays that penetrated the trees danced and illuminated, display the greens and browns of the jungle to a high sheen. But Leth's light was different, pale and wan, washing out the colours that Syna made brighter. So far, the ghostly moon had not risen yet, and Syna's orb was fast disappearing into the sea. Falyndar was cloaked in twilight, the ethereal time when the lovers came close but never quite touched. It sometimes seemed like the worst time to be in the region. The nocturnal beasts were coming out, and the last of the day-hunters were looking for their last chance at a meal before the sun gave out entirely.

So far, Tanavar had had a rather peaceful day. Nothing seemed to have bothered him unduly, though the darkness was coming, and the dark brought a whole new host of challenges. The dark was when you were most likely to spot a Dhani, and for a single Myrian with few armaments, a Dhani meant trouble. Experienced Myrians rarely worried about the dark - they prepared, readied themselves, and slept lightly. He had been able to eat and drink in peace - there were many tributaries that flowed into the Kandukta basin that he could get water from, or even from some of the plants of he desired to. He would not run out of drinking water in what was arguably the wettest region of Mizahar.

"Well, well, well," he heard a deep voice overhead. "What have we here?" If Tanavar choice to look up, he would see that a gorilla's head had emerged from the canopy, looking down at him. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female, but... a talking gorilla. A Jamoura, weren't they? They came by Taloba, sometimes, allowed as Caiyha's children... and often as marked druids. The Myrians didn't often kill Jamoura, but the aggressive ones reaped what they sowed, and as strong as they were... the Myrians were far too many, and when they worked as a cohesive unit as they often did...

Well, their Queen was the Goddess of War and Battle for a reason.

"Why are you out and alone by yourself?" the ape asked curiously. "Leaving on a journey?" It didn't show itself just yet, as if it was waiting to see if Tanavar would attack. It seemed content to just watch him from its odd vantage point above.

[Tanavar]

Besides feeling quite lucky that he had possibility found a shelter from the dark and still unknown dangers of the forest, Tanavar was feeling so hungry, that it dulled his common senses and relaxed him a lot. He sat down on one big chunk of wood and pulled out of his backpack an apple that he started to peel, when he heard a brooming, dark voice above his head, "Well, well, well, what have we here?".

Tanavar was so surprised and caught flat-footed, that he dropped both his apple, his eating knife, and himself down on his back from the wood he was sitting on... While laying on his back for a split second, a million thoughts came on his mind, but none did relax him one bit... His longbow was a few meters away, together with the rest of his backpack. He started to search the space above him, and through the thick canopy he could take a glance of the giant gorilla head... "A Jamoura??" Tanavar heard a few tales about them, about their strength and wisdom... "Why are you out and alone by yourself? Leaving on a journey?"

Tanavar knew that he would have to encounter a denizen of the forest... He relaxed a bit that it was not a hungry Myrian tiger, of Dhani, or even something worse... He stood up, with his legs still a bit shaking, and cough a few times, then, he figured, it would be fine to introduce himself.

"I am Tanavar Marouch, born Myrian, and since today, a renegade from my people. Never in my life I fit inside the Taloba city walls, and thus I run away, looking for a new home, even perhaps in the jungle..." Tanavar took a better look on his location, and with the corner of his eye he saw a longbow... out of his reach. He would have to talk his way out of the harm's way, maybe he is on Jamoura's territory, and they didn't wanna accept a visitors... Dusk was already at hand, and the lights in the jungle were fading fast, since not much of it could penetrate the thick jungle. "The truth is, I am lost and alone in this part of the jungle, since I never actually left city walls, and I am seeking to follow the path of Caiyha. I would seek your guidance and wisdom, mighty Jamoura," -in this part, Tanavar took a polite bow, like one would do in the pressence of the royalty, "and where could I find a place to sleep tonight?"

Tanavar was a bit nervous, he spoke twice that he never left city walls, and he hoped that he would not show the gorilla that he was stunned by his presence... Only thing that is left for Tanavar is to hope that this Jamoura is not aggressive, hungry, or any other mood that would rather rip his head off, then help him out...

[Cayenne]

"What sort of problems are you trying to run from, then? You seem physically capable to me," the big ape inquired. "The path of Caiyha isn't peace, if that is what you are seeking to find. Caiyha is never peaceful. It may seem that way... but only because you do not see everything going on. You see the smoothness of a still lake... but not the fight amongst the fish in the depths." The Jamoura spoke slowly, weighting each syllable, as if giving each word its own type of respect. "Predator and prey. Kill and be killed. All of it is a circle, a cycle of life, interwoven of life and death. This is nature at its very core."

"You would become lost in here, going around in circles... and you expect to survive," there was almost a tinge of wonder in the ape's deep voice. "For one like yourself who has never been out here... do you really think Caiyha will spare you, if one of her hungry children comes around?" it asked him logically. "This is nature at its fullest... its most primal... here in Falyndar," the Jamoura looked about, an expression of contented wonder on its face. "Survival isn't something you can learn from books," it shook its head, regarding Tanavar once more. "A smooth sea does not an experienced mariner make. The Myrians understand this. Do you?"

"As for where you would sleep tonight... please yourself, young runaway. My own comforts differ greatly from your own - what I consider a bedding place is likely substantially different from your own," the Jamoura grinned toothily. In the distance, Tanavar could hear the dying flock calls of the night - the birds were settling in. "But since you introduced yourself, I suppose it would be quite rude of me not to do the same. My name is Bansh."