Chapter XCV (95) - The Ilaanquciq Tribe
Anata’s drink, as it turned out, was a thick, liquid chocolate. Something Jay brought back from his most recent trip to Hon. It was a new trend among the rich and nobility. Kizu learned all about how the man’s wife was addicted to the stuff. When Kizu voiced his surprise that Anata didn’t just gulp the drink down instantly, the Kemon man laughed and told him she had indeed tried that exact thing at first and not only burned her mouth, but also accidentally spilled half a cup in the snow as a result. Which was why she drank with a great deal more care.
They left their little camp as soon as Nanook awoke. Anata rode with Nanook on the back of the dog sled with Professor Grove hovering beside them. Meanwhile, Kizu ended up on the back of the massive moose. With Jay, who continued to go on about his children. The man was unrelenting as he regaled him with tales of his son and daughter doing mundane things. Like his daughter combing her hair with a chestnut shell or his son loudly burping at inopportune moments.
Thankfully, the moose appeared to be magically enhanced so it kept pace with the dog sled. When the cabins of the camp came into view, Kizu let out a sign of relief. Jay was extremely kind, but he was at his limit.
As they approached, students took notice and swarmed the moose and dog sled. Kizu swung himself down from the moose and helped Anata disembark the dog sled. Allik, at the head of the crowd, began quietly discussing something with Nanook and Jay. Whatever news he brought them, it soured their moods as they both scowled. The three of them departed without any further words, leaving Kizu with Anata, his classmates, and Professor Grove.
“You’re alive?” Harumi said, looking up at him in awe.
“What happened?” another student asked.
“Did you lose any toes or fingers? Show us!”
“Was it really you that messed up Ulric?”
“No way. There’s barely a scratch on him. You saw what happened last time they fought.”
“While your concern for your peer’s wellbeing is admirable,” Professor Grove said, her form bobbing up to block Kizu’s line of sight. “Please return to your lessons. The good people of the Akaq Tribe are wise and have much more knowledge to still bestow on you. Open your ears to them.”
The students grumbled and slowly dispersed. All except for Harvey, who remained, eyes locked to the snow covered ground.
“Mr. Hugo, that includes you.”
“I’m sorry, Kizu,” Harvey said, completely ignoring Professor Grove. “It’s my fault you were attacked.”
“What are you talking about, Harvey?” Kizu asked, confused.
“I got distracted. I should have known when your cabin was moved that Ulric would come find you. I should have realized. But, well, out of sight out of mind.” He looked near tears. The juxtaposition between his miserable face and his new hair and vicious tattoos felt off. Like a puma eating a carrot.
Professor Grove wobbled in the air, a gesture Kizu now recognized as her expressing irritation. He decided to cut in before Harvey got in trouble.
“It’s not a big deal. I took care of Ulric. Go join the other classmates.”
“It is a big deal!” Harvey insisted. “One reason I joined up with Ulric’s group was because he wanted you dead! I thought I was helping you by holding him back!”
Kizu blinked. That made sense actually. It had been strange that Ulric never directly confronted him after their fight. His friends had approached Kizu, but never Ulric himself. That revelation felt like stepping into a warm bath. The last month Kizu had filled his schedule to the brim, never allowing himself to dwell on Harvey for too long. The fact the Tainted boy hadn’t just abandoned him – no, hadn’t just not abandoned him, but had been actively looking out for him – that healed a hole in him.
“Professor Grove, can Harvey please accompany me back to my cabin? I still feel pretty light-headed.”
The wisp grumbled, but permitted it. Kizu knew she wanted a full account of what had happened to him, but she didn’t want to discuss it in front of Harvey. She had previously wasted her time before returning to camp lecturing him instead of asking him questions. And since she couldn’t physically help him if he fell over, Harvey now had a legitimate excuse for walking with them.
“Tell me the other reasons,” Kizu said as they walked.
Harvey bit his lip and looked away for a moment. “There was an…incident back home. I have no chance of continuing after this year. Next semester will be my last. But if I manage to get far enough in the combat rankings….”
“Then you can join up with a mercenary group,” Kizu finished, remembering what Emilia had said. Mercenary work was Ulric’s best odds of success after flunking the academy next semester. His friend had tried to talk Kizu into reinstating Ulric in the combat contests for that exact reason.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me this? Why hide all this from me?”
Another stretch of silence as they marched through the snow. Professor Grove pretended to not be listening, but Anata looked wide-eyed up at the miserable Tainted boy.
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He said nothing.
Then Kizu understood. If Harvey spent time with him, Ulric might withdraw his training. It was one or the other. Then not only would Harvey have no future, but Kizu would be back in Ulric’s line of sight without Harvey there as a buffer between them. And trying to explain that would be…messy. Harvey should have told him about this earlier. It would have saved him a lot of worry and stress. Not knowing had been the worst of it.
But, as he thought about it, he realized that he was currently doing something very similar with Emilia. He was avoiding talking to her because it was an uncomfortable conversation. He needed to actually talk to her. He couldn’t keep stringing her along.
“It’s fine,” Kizu lied as they approached the cabin. “Don’t worry about it.”
Kizu sat down on the cabin’s steps, the snow cushioning his seat. Anata looked at him, then sat in the snow next to him. He still felt utterly exhausted. Someone had replaced the cabin’s door. There was still an outline around the doorway from where it had been torn off its hinges, but he had to look closely to notice it.
Harvey looked relieved, but he didn’t say anything more on the topic. Instead, as he shuffled his feet in the snow.
“Who’s the girl?” Harvey asked after a minute. He glanced at Anata. “Your sister?”
“If that’s all,” Professor Grove interjected. “Then Mr. Hugo you should return to your studies. Kaga Kizu is perfectly safe here.”
Harvey muttered something incoherent then retreated. Leaving Kizu with the wisp.
Kizu spent the next couple hours telling a very fractured version of his last two days. He left the Kitsune out completely. Along with his journey into the World Dungeon. And the seal. Really, very little of the true story remained. He told Professor Grove about the yetis taking Anata and Mort, but made it sound like they went to the glacier. He tracked them there using his familiar bond and fought off the yetis and polar bears. Then he stumbled on an artifact in the ice tunnels that accidentally split the entire glacier in two. While the cobbled together story left some holes, Professor Grove showed no sign of skepticism. Though, that was difficult to gauge when speaking to a soul condensed into a floating ball of light.
Before anything else could be said, the door jolted open and Allik staggered in, looking even more haggard than Kizu felt. He rubbed his furry face.
“Grove. Now that you’re finally back, can you help my wife deal with the pinheads? They arrived yesterday and I haven’t slept since.”
The wisp’s attention turned to him. “They’re here?”
“Yes. They say they won’t leave without the Alito girl. We barely managed to extract her last night.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Grove said tersely. “Watch these two, make certain they don’t run off into another blizzard.”
Professor Grove bobbed out of the room, phasing straight through the door. The room dimmed with her departure, the only light now from the moon shining through a cracked window. Kizu noted the aurora had finally faded away, leaving a starry sky in its place.
Allik sighed and sat on his bed. It sagged with his weight.
“Did I hear you mention yetis as I entered? By any chance, were you able to scavenge any parts from them?”
Kizu hesitated. He wanted to seize the opportunity to ask about the dire bear parts he’d harvested and put in his bag, but that would directly go against the story with the yetis he’d just told Professor Grove. After a second, he just shook his head.
“Pity. That yeti hair you used to brew potions the other day is just sheddings found caught in trees. We haven’t been able to kill one in a while. A restock would be helpful.”
“Sorry. I think the bodies will be buried in the snow by now,” he lied.
“Still, give me a rough idea where to look and I’ll send out word to the tribe to keep an eye out for bones or anything else left behind by the scavengers.”
“The large glacier off the coast.”
“Ancestors knot me,” he groaned. “Polar Glacier? Nevermind. We won’t find anything. You’re lucky to still have a head attached after visiting there.”
Kizu grunted in agreement. He didn’t want to lie to Allik anymore, so he shifted the topic.
“Who are the pinheads?”
Allik closed his eyes and sighed. “That’s not their real name, I shouldn’t have said that. I just…get a bit exasperated sometimes. I don’t like conflict. Not with people, at least. And those folk tend to attract drama wherever they go. I was referring to the Ilaanquciq Tribe.”
“Ilaan…sorry, can you repeat that?”
“Which is why I referred to them as pinheads earlier. The Ilaanquciq Tribe is the group of Kemon that your classmate Evie Alito is from. They don’t care much for the occupancy of Southern Tross. And they don’t like that your classmate is attending your academy. Even if she is only half-Kemon, they think it looks bad for their tribe’s reputation. And they believe they should have authority over her.”
“What do they want?”
He waved a hand. “They wanted to remove Evie Alito from the academy. At first, they sent her a letter and convinced her to travel across that blizzard to them. Before you told me about the yetis, I was certain the storm was their doing. Anyway, it took a lot of resources yesterday to finally get Alito back from them. They’re crafty and devious. Thankfully, now that Nanook is back, she’ll handle them.”
“They want Evie to stay with them?”
“No. Well, yes. They don’t want her here. They deeply resent her. But they do want her natural talent. You see, she has, ah, a special sort of magic. One they don’t want the academy to have access to. It’s complicated and if I try to explain, my wife will flay me for revealing tribe secrets.”
Kizu nodded slowly. That meant it likely had to do with the shamanism Jay had mentioned. A special type of magic linked to Kemon ancestors.
“Suffice it to say,” Allik continued, “I’m not fond of the Ilaanquciq Tribe. They’re part of an alliance of the northern tribes along with us, which is how the girl gained sponsorship to the academy. But frequently their stances conflict with the Akaq Tribe. Recently, almost always.”
“I see.” Kizu thought about Roba’s request to keep an eye on Evie. It was interesting. She knew something like this might happen.
Allik shook his head. “I apologize. I shouldn’t unload these politics on an academy student. It’s probably not professional.” Then he hesitated. “But between you and me, they’re selfish hypocrites. Don’t trust them. They try to present themselves as a peaceful people, but violence isn’t the only way to hurt others. They lace their quills with poison.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kizu said. “But I doubt I’ll ever see any others besides Evie.”
“There’s another one or two like her in your academy. But your point stands. It’s unlikely you’ll meet any others from the actual tribe. Still, keep that in mind with any people you might meet. Sometimes the outward face of a person isn’t an accurate depiction of who they actually are. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.”