The K’iorn stood proud and stately on the upper deck of the armored caravan. His golden skin and the highlights in his hair showed he had been long out under the sun. His almond eyes never rested long on any one object. A leftover effect of the traumas he endured during the Border Wars. But despite his hidden pain, the smile never left his face.
Gar’aa, son of K’or had wandered Refuge for thousands of years. Every aeon he would start a new study or a new pursuit hoping it would allow him to step from his father’s shadow and achieve greatness on his own. Yet each time as he would reach mastery, he would find himself feeling homesick, give up his studies and return to the Wartribe to see how it had changed while he was away.
This last time though, he had experienced something he had never witnessed before, and it had shaken him.
As the Mal’ie pulling the caravan were signalled to stop, the vehicle rolled into the stable for the merchants and traders. Gar’aa gave a gracious smile and a wave to the Dra’koonis Guild Caravan Master and took off on foot to the center of the treetop settlement of the Shattered Horn.
The hidden treetop city went on for miles and miles, and Gar’aa just walked and watched. He saw the traditional K’iorn styles of dress and fashion were still in vogue. In fact it seemed only in the Caravan parking area that any real influx of Earther goods had even made headway here.
Most of the K’iorn here were doing things in the traditional way, whether that was making Gru’ie grain bread, or mashing Binber fruit to make wine. But it was one K’iorn, a female dressed in the living Khaz’gha armor, who took actual interest in Gar’aa as he walked by.
She immediately approached him with a harsh smile.
“Gao,” she said using the traditional high falos term for foreigner, “You are far from the Caravan district.”
“I am neither Gao nor Nngao,” replied Gar’aa, “I am Gar’aa, son of K’or. And I have returned home!”
“I do not remember you Gar’aa, son of K’or, but I have heard of your travels. I was elevated to the rank of Dra’koon centuries ago, and I do not know you,” she said suspiciously.
“I have traveled far and wide. And my travels took me to the Court of I’tash in the Northern Kingdoms. Though kept me there less than willingly…”