<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffffff">The villagers' visits slowed down and then stopped as night fell. None of them would be so rude as to disturb the healer past the acceptable hours of calling; none of them except for the Chieftain. She came after the sun had set, when the moon was mid rise, and the tell tale sound of the stone beaded cowl and cloak that she wore gave her arrival away. A spearman traveled with her, he was one of the dozen or so elite warriors of the tribe that protected her and did her bidding, and he approached to knock softly on the door post of Arjan's home. <br/>
<br/>
"Healer," he announced. "The Chieftain wishes to speak with you. Come out." He commended respectfully, but insistently none-the-less.<br/>
<br/>
The Chieftain took a seat by the glowing embers of Arjan's fire ring and stoked them to bring them back to life enough for her to have her conversation with the outsider who called their lands home.<br/>
<br/>
_______<br/>
<br/>
Orri continued on a short while before coming to a stop at the foot of  a sharp, but short ridge of rock that stood only about thirty feet tall but ran far across the length of the jutting mountains. He looked up at it, scanning the surface of its' craggy face as he considered his next move. He didn't need to look back to know that Rhiak was doing the same thing, seeing the world through his hunter's eyes and knowing this climb was not made for horses and that this terrain was made for the likes of Sansura. They had arrived in her domain and now tread on the lands of an honored predator. Inside he felt a sense of exhilaration and trepidation to be on that sacred ground.<br/>
<br/>
"Rhiak, we are here!" He announced even though he knew the hunter was well aware. "I will climb this and you will take the animals around to the east and double back west when the ridge offers a path to its rise." He hopped off his mount, gathered the hem of his long skirt to tuck it securely in his belt in effort to avoid missteps do to the length of it, and then hopped up and onto a low hanging branch of a nearby evergreen tree. His intent was clear though his path was not necessarily a recommended one; he would climb the tree until he was high enough to jump across to the top of the ridge. He was certainly light and nimble enough to ascend the tree with no danger of breaking boughs, but for a creature like himself who made habit of wearing next to nothing, the landing on the rocky surface of the ridge posed no small amount of potential injury. <br/>
<br/>
He crouched on the branch looking down to the hunter with a sweet endeared smile. "You will do this for me, yes? You will meet me there on top of the ridge?" He nodded as though Rhiak had answered. </span></span>