It was about an hour later that the caravan headed out. Each large herdbeast, besides its load of supplies, was capable of bearing up to three men, and so two dozen men were able to comfortably mount on ten herdbeasts. Strong River was invited to ride with Blue Ripple, an arrangement that garnered a couple appraising looks from among the other warriors and a sour glare from Soaring Wave.

River was secured in a seat behind Blue Ripple, who sat just behind the herdbeast's head and held the reins, leisurely directing the beast while continuing to chatter. The caravan headed out of a back entrance of the clan's compound, altogether bypassing the village and entering the verdant grasslands on a dirt path formed by numberless years of similar caravans of the heavy herdbeasts crushing every stray weed flat.

"First time on a beast?" Blue Ripple queried, to which River nodded. "Hope you didn't have too much to eat, it takes a bit getting used to."

This, of course, led into Blue Ripple recounting a series of anecdotes starting with his own first time on a beast and then covering the various upsets and accidents he'd seen in his time as a warrior. It was hardly reassuring, given the position River was in at that very moment.

"So, why are we leaving so late? Aren't we only going to have a few hours before we have to make camp?" River took a moment's break in Blue Ripple's monologue to change the subject and satisfy his own curiosity.

"Yeah, it kinda sucks, but it's how we have to do it to keep the porters happy. They stay back at the clan, and if we make them wake up too early they screw up all the loading and we have to redo it all over ourselves," Blue Ripple observed. "It's not all that much of an inconvenience since we're going to reach the forest's edge around then and we'll want to stop before going too far in there anyway. Staying in the forest at night is... unpleasant, to say the least. You ever been there?"

"Um, no." River had only known him for a couple hours and was already astounded by Blue Ripple's propensity for aiming past the obvious, usually when trying to engage River in the conversation more.

"Oh. Yeah, of course," Blue Ripple caught on to his error. "The Primeval Forest is a special place. Besides it having all kinds of stuff you can't find out in the plains, it seems to somehow rearrange its insides so that it's different every time you go there, not like out here where you can find landmarks wherever you go. Even the Dragon's Den don't do more than forage there, because you can't really set down roots there."

"The world outside the clan is surely an amazing place," River observed. Mister Black had recounted tales to him of immortal scenery, of places where animals took human form and cultivated, and humans were mere draft animals and livestock themselves. Scenes of wonder, awe, and terror, all decoration along the path of the cultivator.

"Isn't it? Once we camp, we're set to work the forest for a week and then come back. I wonder what we'll run into this go-round," Blue Ripple mused out loud.

"So how strong will the beasts be where we're headed, then?" River asked.

"Peak fourth-grade, if that. Deeper in you'd run into worse, but they don't come out to the edge for whatever reason. Once a year we have a bigger party go in a bit deeper and hunt some of the fifth-grade beasts so we can use and sell the parts. It's an awful bother to go beyond that since we'd have to leave the clan undefended and have the elders come help if we went any further."

Blue Ripple described some of the various beasts to expect in the area as River half-listened, the other half of his attention spent on having an inner conversation.

"So we're going to have to find an excuse to go deeper if I want to temper myself better, aren't we, Mister Black."

"The first few days should be fine, but you will want to find time to go deeper, yes." Mister Black replied. "The real worry is that you can't practice the Blood Devouring Palm with witnesses. The issues with someone wanting to know where you learned it from aside, the effects are very... pronounced, and not exactly optimal for something to bring back to the clan."

"Yes. Do you have any thoughts on how to manage that?"

"My ability to do things is very limited," Mister Black reminded River, "but I do have some tricks available. I could lure a peak fifth grade or lesser sixth-grade beast near enough to divert the main warriors and let you slip out for a while. You can make your excuses about getting lost in the confusion afterward."

River smiled inwardly. "Whether Soaring Wave is planning for an unfortunate accident, I think that would be a good time to give it to him, wouldn't you say?"

"My," Mister Black seemed taken a bit aback at the directness, "are you that eager to get to killing?"

"No, but it's not like they're going to wait for me. The Wave family are working with Brave Dragon's bandits, you heard it too; the ally of my enemy is also my enemy. Since I'm going to have to deal with them sooner or later, why not sooner?"

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Mister Black laughed. "So decisive and so certain. You're sure you'll be able to handle this?"

"Actually," River calculated, "I'm more certain doing it this way than waiting for him to try and arrange it. I don't know everybody in this caravan, and so I don't know how many potential accomplices Soaring Wave has. But if the camp is threatened by an initial sixth-grade beast, the strongest warriors will have to deal with it. I lose one ally, but Soaring Wave loses any allies that might be of use."

"And you think none of them will suspect you after the deed is done?" Mister Black seemed skeptical.

"I'll leave them no room to. At best, even Blue Ripple only thinks I'm fourth grade. I'll just have to make it clear that our accident is beyond that level. As a poor newbie who hasn't even earned his first skin, how could anybody blame me for hiding and then running and getting lost in such a circumstance?"

"Fine," Mister Black conceded, "you'll have your diversion."

The caravan lumbered onward through the afternoon, the periphery of the Primeval Forest coming into view as they did. River had expected the forest to be vast, but he wasn't quite prepared to see so many trees, like an army, stretching across the horizon.

"Impressive, ain't it?" Blue Ripple said, mirthful dimples visible on his cheeks.

"Yeah." River's first encounter with immensity left him with genuine awe.

The caravan kept riding for another hour, the sun nearing its point of entering the earth's embrace. Blue Ripple seemed to sense River's new mood and remained quiet for most of the remaining trip as they approached a flat and empty clearing in the middle of the tall grass with a small log stockade built around it.

"This is the campsite," Blue Ripple announced. "It ain't much, but it's ours."

The herdbeasts lumbered up to the edges of the campsite, where the warriors dismounted, tethering them at stakes hammered into the ground at regularly distanced points. Blue Ripple talked River through the process of dismounting, something he hoped he didn't disgrace himself on, and then began to shuffle through the packs on the beast.

"I've got a pretty big tent, so we can share this time, but you're going to have to help me out with it," Blue Ripple mentioned, locating the kit and pulling it from the pack.

"Oh, it won't be too cramped, will it?"

"Nah, as I said, it's big. Plus, I've got the first watch while you're excused from night watch for this outing, so you'll have some extra space for at least part of the night," Blue Ripple explained. "Now here, help me out with this big ol' thing."

Together they hauled Blue Ripple's equipment over to a site inside the stockade that he led River to, and with Blue Ripple's instruction, they assembled the tent, a hide monstrosity with more interior space than River's hovel.

"Now taking it down and stuffing it all back in, that's the fun part," Blue Ripple noted while dusting off his hands. "Someone should have dinner going at this point, so let's go deal with that before you eat one of the herdbeasts," Blue Ripple quipped, his own stomach growling in punctuation.

Dinner was a piquant meat stew warmed in a cauldron over a simple fire. Along with Blue Ripple and River were a half dozen other warriors at this particular campfire gathering, with Soaring Wave and others eating at a couple other separate campfires that had gone up. Blue Ripple and the warriors at this fire took some amusement in River's watery-eyed, gasping, reaching-for-a-waterskin reaction to his first bite. Fed on the clan's vegetable gruel all his life, the stew was definitely a new experience all its own.

Laughing, Blue Ripple clapped River on the back as he caught his breath. "Just wait until it goes all the way through, Brother River," Blue Ripple chuckled wickedly, obviously amused.

The gathered warriors ate around the fires, Blue Ripple making introductions to each of the men with them and in turn introducing River to them. While nobody came out and said it, River ascertained that the evening dinner arrangements were factional, with Blue Ripple and Soaring Wave each eating with their loyalists while the neutrals maintained a fire of their own.

Sunset gave way to twilight, and twilight to dusk, as the sun fell and the pinpoint lights of the stars appeared in the sky. The warriors parted, some to catch some sleep before their own turn at the night shift, while others prepared for the first shift. Blue Ripple walked River back to their tent.

"Okay, I'm going to be off for a few hours. You know where everything in camp is now, just don't wander beyond the perimeter. If you're already sleeping I'll try not to--" Blue Ripple broke off as River laid out the cloth that had packed his satchel as a blanket.

"That's your blanket." Blue Ripple said this with a flat monotone, at this point no longer surprised at the extreme poverty River lived in.

"Um, yeah? It's not really a problem, I'm just going to meditate a little and--"

Blue Ripple motioned him silent. "No. No. You're not doing this," he said, exasperated. Then he took a large deep breath before blowing the air out in a burst. "When we get back to the clan, I'm going to see to some things being fixed." He rummaged through his packs, procuring a large woolen blanket. "This, this is your blanket now, until we get back." He threw the blanket at River, who caught the soft heap in a way that draped it over his arms. "If you protest at all, I'll wrap you in it, and you can stay there all night."

"Sure thing." River replied in a rather quiet tone.

"Okay then. Well, I'm off. Sleep well, Brother River." Blue Ripple pushed aside the tent flap and left, the supple hide snapping back closed behind him.

River bundled his makeshift knapsack back up -- he was rather glad he wouldn't have to juggle his clothing in Blue Ripple's view to continue hiding some of the articles currently wrapped inside each piece -- and then laid down the large, soft new blanket and sat down on it in a meditative pose.

"Mister Black, he should okay against an initial sixth-grade beast, right?"

"Having second thoughts already, young man?" Mister Black replied.

River considered. "No. Maybe. I don't know."

Mister Black chuckled. "He'll be fine, he has a strong cornerstone to his physique. Speaking of that, though, I'll be occupied for a while; I need to go find your beast and get it moving now."

River felt something like a gust of air as Mister Black's presence withdrew, his attention going elsewhere. He shrugged and began circulating the Passion Sublimation Technique. As he tossed in the various ingredients from his psyche, as usual, River found something new, though, a bundle of warmth. He frowned as he considered whether to throw that into the black hole vortex, but before he made a decision, he heard the sound of the tent flap snapping open.

"Brother Ripple, back already?" he asked, his eyes snapping open. It was not Blue Ripple that he saw, though.

Standing over him, with a twisted grin on his face, was Soaring Wave.