If anything, the Bear laughed even louder.<br/><br/>"Oh, well said!  Well said indeed...ah, such tales are for the young, or the young at heart, but we wise elders who have survived a season or two of heartbreak and loss besides might be forgiven for taking a hint of pleasure in the memory."  He wiped a tear or two from one eye, the fruit of his merriment.  "Although as a people we Returians are prone to more martial storytelling, with winsome lasses and handsome swains a distant third in importance.  It pleases the crowds and annoys the priests and there's the wisdom in it."<br/><br/>Tushar sniggered and leaned into her side as though she were a great sofa upon which he lounged at his whim.  From a certain perspective this was true.<br/><br/>"We're here to follow the gold, of course," Paz continued.  "Down your great and holy river, bearing gifts from our lands the better to line our pouches and purchase goods from your artisans to take home with us again.  There are bronzes worth barely a day's wages in your great cities that bring a prince's ransom from collectors in Returia.  Does this surprise you?  I might even beg and plead for a learned priest or two, an' one can be found with courage and fortitude for the trip.  There's a symposium would welcome learned folk from afar."<br/><br/>