Koronos first tries communicating in the Old Tongue with the ape-tribe chieftain, the chieftain seems to recognize the words, but makes hand gestures in response and the Kazarian doesn’t understand. The ape-tribe denizens might have enough animal nature in them for Kornos to use his special powers to communicate empathically, so he makes an attempt. Between the Everliving link and his special powers, he does manage to convey his intentions well enough to put the chieftain at ease.

“I am Soulseeker, these are my people, we are the Meibon, people of the forest.” Soulseeker conveys this through their empathic bond.

“And I am Koronos Thunderfel of Kazar, this is my animal friend named Shelove,” conveys in return.

By now, a young woman emerges from inside, she is very dark-skinned, with wooly blond hair in many long braids, with eyes colored like the pale stormy sky. Soulseeker makes a series of hand gestures to her, then she speaks in the Old Tongue, it’s a heavily accented version and difficult to understand, however, Koronos can still make out eighty percent of her words. “I am Nombi. Are you a human, we have never seen your like before?”

“I am not a human man, but I am a man, of the people of Kazar,” the young woman is translating for the chieftain, so Koronos maintains eye contact with Soulseeker and addresses him directly. “We were on a boat at sea and caught in a storm, the boat was lost, we swam ashore here, wherever here is.”

After a series of hand gestures, Nombi says, “the humans… I mean, my people call this White Bay Island, it’s the southernmost island in a long chain of islands spanning across the sea. The Meibon have no measurement for such distances, but humans would say it’s many thousands of leagues, it loosely connects Titans with Runheim. Runheim is where my people are from, it is known.”

Koronos makes a note of her adornments, it’s an assortment of the Meibon style beads mixed with bronze and silver jewelry with engravings of interwoven knotworks and patterns. The latter must be metalworks from her people. None of the Meibon have metalworks of any kind, save the headdress of Soulseeker; their spearheads, knives and arrowheads are made with black volcanic glass. She is also wearing woolen clothing, the Meibon only wear many layers of draped beads, not for warmth because they have white fur to stay off the chill of the mountain air.

Soulseeker makes more hand gestures, then she speaks once more, “come in, rest, warm yourself by our fires, we do not eat meats, but we have bread, nuts and berries.”

Later, after Koronos has rested and fed, Soulseeker approaches, sits across from the Kazarian, and communicates through the Bond, “why are you so different, I sense some halo orlight around you, are you a forest god? And how can we talk like this, I can’t do this with anyone else?”

“We are the same, or similar in the part of being Everliving, and it also has to do with my special powers, I can communicate with animals, I think somehow this Bond is being amplified because of you being an Everliving, or perhaps it’s because you are more intelligent than most animals, or maybe it’s a combination of all of these elements,” Koronos says thoughtfully through the mental bond as he pets a sleeping Shelove lying next to him, she’s exhausted and hungry. She can’t eat bread to sustain herself, she requires meat. She will need to hunt soon.

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Soulseeker looks at Shelove with concern, but Koronos responds, “I told her that she mustn’t eat any of your people, and she won’t; besides, she is particular about what she likes. She likes deer and things like that, however, tell your younglings to not touch her, it would be unwise. I enjoy meats, but not as much as I used to, not since my special powers manifested. Unlike Shelove, I can survive off the foods your people eat.”

“We are not hunters of meat, we use weapons to defend ourselves from humans and beasts in the forest, so I am sorry we have no meat for your animal friend,” Soulseeker conveys. “What are we, this Everliving, do we live forever?”

Koronos looks pensive for a few moments, then replies, “I do not know if we live forever, we do live a very long time, many lifetimes of men. We can die, I can personally attest to this. I believe we are born with a special purpose that only the gods understand. The longer we live, the more powerful we become. It seems that we each have different abilities, but it’s possible for some of us to have more than one ability. I have seen this with my own eyes, so it’s possible, I believe, that some of us may have the abilities of another Everliving. Being Everliving does not automatically imply greatness though, from what I have seen.”

Soulseeker, thinks for a few moments, “I do not seek greatness, I only wish to protect my people and keep them safe.”

“And that, Soulseeker, is what makes you great, in my opinion,” Koronos conveys as he grabs another piece of bread to eat.

Then Nombi joins them and finds a comfortable seating position, “you have questions about the men of this land?”

“I do, but you are human, how did you come to be here?”

She looks at Koronos but her eyes are not focused on him, they see past him into memories, “sometimes after the spring thaw, the people of Little Rock Island, that’s the small island in the bay here, they come to the main part of the island to collect mushrooms and springtime foods, setup traps to catch game for furs and the like. It’s not uncommon for the women to bring their little ones on their backs. I was very young, and I don’t remember much, but something caused me to become separated from my family, I was lost in the forest. And I would have certainly perished had a small group of Meibon not found me. They brought me back here and raised me for some years. This is how I learned their way of hand gestures. Finally, it was decided they should try to return me to my people. It was spring gathering time for my people, the Meibon brought me close to the human camp, and sent me to them. Doing this without making contact with them, the humans and Meibon do not have a very good relationship.”

Listening with mild interest while snacking on the bread and popping berries in his mouth, the bread is tasty and more interesting to the Kazarian, his eyes begin to get heavy and start to close and he yawns. “Okay, that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here.” Yawning once more as he says the word ‘here,’ leaning back on some large woven baskets.

She starts to continue the explanation in her calm, monotone fashion, “After more years came to pass, until finally when I came of age, my father promised me to a wealthy merchant. I was to be his third wife, and…” but soon realizes that the Kazarian guest is fast asleep.