[Kohana] The Most Dangerous Game

With a grunt at the casual title that River used to speak to him, the Templar turned slightly to look over his shoulder.

"I have told you before, I do not know why it is that you are being summoned, young River. All I know is what I have been told, that the tribes of magii are being brought together again for a great purpose that could mean the beginning of a new life for our kind. That I must go out and attend to the speakers of the Wild, and find among them all who wish to aid in that new genesis. That is all I have been told, and all I know. If you or your companion have any other questions, upon any other subject, I would welcome the change of topic."

Odom walked quickly to keep up with the much taller Kohanians. "It's a good question, sir. As you probably know, most of the major space-faring powers in our region of space could all be considered 'humans', genetic offshoots of the Nepleslian species. The appearances of the various non-human species in this sector of space vary wildly, and we Phods have not come across any alien species that even remotely resembles us, until we were told of, well, your species."

As befitting a military Phod, his stride was efficient, confident, and almost free of the side-to-side waddle that characterizes the common Phodian walking posture. "Please realize that we only learned of your people recently. Our Yamataian benefactors have been very exhaustive in their humanitarian missions, but they have not been as forthcoming with information as we would have liked."

Odom's fingers unconsciously played with his necklace. "When we first saw photographs of members of your species, we were astonished by how physically similar we looked." Odom looked up at Night Watches Over, who towered over him. The statement sounded kind of silly now that he had said it. "Well… if you ignore the height difference. In any case, my people would like to establish diplomatic contact, and investigate this matter further during future diplomatic missions and cultural exchanges. Does this answer your question, sir?"

"My apologies," the fox replied giving a sigh, and continued onward quietly. He could only think of questions because of his nervousness, and looking ahead did not help either. The Avatar, what could he have done to deserve a fate he has? What kind of story one such as him have? Is he really a hero or a villan? During his thought Swift River looked up at the sky, What lies in the great starlight? Heh, that question is probably more for a Shaman than a lowly hunter like myself.

"You know, this kind of reminds me of the Running Rat Run," commented Swift River after his few minutes of thought, "It was one of my first hunts you see, that is before I lost my ability to run. A rat this big was invading a small village's food supply," he began while his hands facing each other at his shoulders to show how big the rat was.

The station's administrator turned slowly as Odom made his final comments thinking them over as his ears slowly folded back, a sure sign he was in deep thought.

"We, the Kohanians, have had run ins with your benefactors as you call them. They have never gone over well, and I hesitate to immediately open the doors fully to you, Master Odom. I almost see it as their attempt to again get a foodhold within our territories." Hesitating slightly to let his words sink, he started walking again to a large conference room and ushered the Phodian ambassador in. Once both had entered, he closed the doors and began to pour himself a tumbler of Kohanian alcohol, sipping it slowly.

"But that does not mean that I am going to hold that against you. I must admit, I like you, Sir." The grin that spread across Night's muzzle made that fairly obvious. "So you just tell me what you need, and I will work to facilitate it."

"The Rat was probably fat from eating the supplies, but he was still pretty fast," continued Swift, "It wasn't easy to track it down, especially since it began to rain. I had almost lost all hope before I found a trail leading towards the in the Whispering Woods.

"Even as I found him as he was chewing on some left over food, he still managed to continue to evade me. Finally however he lead me to his nest which he had grown too big to enter, and felt the pain of my arrow.

"He still persisted to escape me, and even after I used all my arrows, he kept eluding me. I had to climb a tree and attack from above before it finally fell to my spear. I finally returned home with the rat, and a friend made the skin into this vest."

The tunic Swift River wore was a dark shade of brown with a little red which the blood stain was too great. It was made to be bigger than he was so he could grow into it, so even today it fits him just fine. "Well time sure flies when telling a good story!" he yelled out to the decending sun, giving also a yip and a howl.

Turning with a smile away from the softening light of the horizon, the templar regarded the wolf.

"A good hunt indeed. Perhaps that is why The Avatar wishes to speak with you. your tenacity and strategic mind will serve any mission well. I am sure that we will be able to make the Holy City tomorrow if your friend doesn't mind another day of strong pacing. And once there, you can ask Him yourself why you were chosen."

Finishing that thought, the tents were broken out, and the guard wandered away from camp a small distance to find some firewood. Upon returning, he snapped his fingers and a small spark flared to life within the small stack of wood. Even such a small showing of magical ability caused the male to fall back a little against his pack with a pained expression.

"Gods it's been too long since I practiced my Art. You would think that being a Templar we would have to keep all of our skills in top shape, but the amount of true magi that Gnarlpaw keeps in his entourage could be counted on one hand. I don't know if that is a good thing, or a bad. Some of the guards talk about the reason being that he doesn't want any competition, but anyone who's seen the Avatar use his skills in the magical arts knows that there isn't another spell slinger, storm caller, druid, or healer anywhere that could match him. Unless of course you are going to count She of the Shadows, or the Star Walker that is..."

It seemed that with the setting sun, the Templar was not quite as guarded as during the day. The flickering of the flames reflected in his eyes, showing fierce determination to protect against Mo'Koi, but the conversation was a lot more free flowing.

Swift River had pulled out a circle shaped blanket for himself to sit on, and later to sleep on. He sat in front of the fire while rummaging one of his packs that he removed from Blue Moon (who probably was hunting game as they speak) and pulled out his flute. "Relax old man, it's not like we expect you to slay great evils by noon of each day. Maybe some music could help ease our spirits before this journey ends," the fox said before putting his flute in his mouth and began to play.

At first the song was slow if not a little awful, but it got better as the fox remembered the tune. His paws began moving about the flute with a hint of elegance as he played toward the fire. As time continued it could be noticed that it was more than a song, but a calling. The wind blew with a hint of a voice calling out to something, whispering for it to come hither.

He began to lose himself, his body swaying in front of the fire but keeping up with the song's speed. Soon blinking lights descended upon them as fire flies began to dance around the fire. These creatures did not go about this randomly however, in fact it seemed like it was mimicking a ritual dance of some kind. The number arriving began to dwindle after some time, showing the range of his song had reached it's maximum distance.

The fox was lost in a trance like state, with only the fire consuming his vision. Then suddenly he saw a vision in the fire and heard a loud sound that came from no where, and missed a note. The fireflies suddenly launched away from their coordinated dance and dashed away, leaving only a couple staying near the fire.

It took a second before he could recover, breathing a little hard from both the vision and the music playing. "Ah, sorry, I think that's all the song I can remember," Swift River said with a little unease, trying to make sense of what he saw and heard while trying to act like it was nothing.

With a sigh, the templar lost himself to the melody of the music, shutting his eyes and letting his head slowly tilt backwards.

"Aha, the Song of the Night, very impressive for someone as young as you to be so close to mastering it. But the question remains, do you know what the song signifies?"

Opening one eye slightly and giving a little smirk, he waited for the student of the Wilds to answer him. Very few students he had met, even in his time in the temples, cared at all about the stories and symbolism behind the lessons. They just wanted to advance quickly through them so that they might gain ultimate power...Very few even made it through their training because of this.

But then again, Swift River just kept surprising him, time after time.

Swift River scratched the back of his neck still trying to make out whatever he just heard and saw, but managed to respond, "The meaning? I don't think I remember I'm sorry, I just like the song." The fox then poked at the fire with a stick, noting the few fireflies that stuck around.

The templar nodded his head and looked into the flames, sort of just letting his mind wander off to wherever it wanted.

"A shame. Even I don't remember the meaning. I was just hoping that your masters ingrained it more into you than mine did to me. After all, you are the acolyte of the Wilds. Oh well."

With a shrug, he would lay back fully and stared into the sky. His thoughts drifted a moment to the mission that he had been sent on, and wondered if there was a deeper reason behind the Avatar assigning him to the trek to the Wild Temple.

It always seemed that the Avatar taught lessons without even saying a thing, just by what he did. Could this be one of those times, or was he just overthinking things? He would have to ask his Master when they got to the Temple.