Gerald was unsure how he felt about his mission. It would be risky at best, but at least he had Rinoa, and her 3 friends. He had started calling the large one Handsome, and the other growler. The little creature, which Rinoa would often hold like a dog, was apparently called Baji, but if the others had names Rinoa did not mention them.
They had only just gotten back together, and now they were separating again. The reasoning that they would need more allies made sense, and as much as he disliked it, he had to admit that he was a natural choice of emissary. So here he was, once again going into the badlands, this time to try and enlist the help of monsters, while the others went to the land of the enemy to try and save Madge, Ayave, and Silas.
That is what he had always been told the creatures in the badlands were, and he'd believed it. But now he'd fought with them, and he knew there was more to it. They were something else. Perhaps not people, but certainly not mindless beasts.
They'd made their way through the sewers and exited them in Tyros, by which time nightfall was approaching. They slipped unseen out of the city, past the firewalker guardian, and into the badlands once again.
Rinoa led the way once they left the city, which was a good thing because Gerald would have been lost without her. They moved through a slowly darkening landscape of red stone and dead grasses, until at last they saw the mouth of the cave where Gerald and Rinoa first met.
Handsome, Growler and Rinoa walked ahead so they would be seen first. After only one visit, Gerald was not fully sure of his welcome. Sure enough, as he approached behind them, he saw several of the creatures gathered around the cave entrance tense, as if readying to attack. The one he called growler raised his hands and seemed to be bidding them to calm themselves. He made a series of quick gestures with his hands that seemed to be some form of sign language, though not like any he'd seen.
A tall, lithe, long eared creature with short claws at the tips of their long fingers and long horns like an ibex responded in kind, and a quick, silent conversation began. Gerald watched with fascination, wishing he could understand what was said. Before long, Rinoa came up beside him and pulled his sleeve gently.
“He is asking why you’re with us,” the girl said. “The others are afraid. They don't want to help people who hate them.” The girl spoke softly, and her voice showed that she was afraid too. The girl stepped away from him and went to stand by Growler, and began to use the same sort of hand talk to add her voice to Growler's.
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After a while, the tall creature that seemed to be the leader, if they had such things, turned to Handsome to ask his thoughts on the matter. His response was quick, and Gerald took it as agreement with the others, and little more. After a few more minutes of the same, the tall, lithe creature walked forward, and soon stood before him.
Gerald had to look up, and up quite a way, to see the creature's face. It looked back down at him with bright, intelligent eyes, craning its long neck. There was a question in those eyes, but he had no idea what it might be. After several minutes of what felt like a deep, item by item inspection of the deepest part of his soul, the creature laid one hand gently on his shoulder and gave him a small nod, before turning to the other assembled creatures, and flashing more of the strange sign language.
There was more hand signs, from various creatures in the crowd, and Gerald
Felt like he was witnessing a furious debate. The talk went on that way for some time, and more than once the energy was such that he feared it might come to blows. He was happy that it never did.
After a time, Rinoa came back to him, smiling wide. “Yes,” was all she said and all he needed to hear. Slowly, he watched as the Matriarch, as he had come to think of them, came to stand by his side, with others one by one following. He understood that these were the ones who would help him. Before long, the ones standing with him outnumbered the ones who did not.
After some time, no more joined the group standing with him, and he understood that this was his army. The Matriarch raised a hand, and several of those assembled stood, and went to grab large flat rocks piled high with what he took to be food. He could not identify much of it, but there seemed to be fried cave dwelling bugs, a reddish colored mashed root vegetable, and some sort of hard flatbread. Gerald took a long while working up his courage to try it, to be polite. To his surprise it was all quite good. He tried not to think too much about what he was eating.
The celebration, which is what he assumed this was, continued with several of the creatures going deeper into the cave and coming out with simple drums made of wood and stretched animal hide, and flutes carved from bone. As afternoon faded to night, a fire was built, and they began to play strange, rhythmic music. All stood to dance, and Rinoa all but dragged Gerald to his feet to join in the jubilation.
The night wore on, and soon pipes with some strange herb Gerald did not recognize were shared, and Gerald almost choked when he took an experimental puff when offered. It made his head swim, and suddenly the music felt different, and he felt it moving him to his soul in new ways. He did not know how he imagined the creatures of the badlands lived, but it certainly wasn't this. Soon he was dancing, swaying to the beat of the alien music.
Deep into the night this continued, and Gerald lost himself to the music, food, smoke, and wonder of the night. He felt the joy of the night fill him up, and let his worries fade away for a time. Tomorrow they would fight, and many of them would die. So tonight, within that cave in the red wastes he had feared all his life, with those he once called monsters, he resolved to be as truly alive as he'd ever been.