The other Lost and I gathered next to the sanask chef, a burly fellow with dull green scales and a crest of horns lining his brow.

“My name Marazenathia.” The sanask rumbled. “You may call me Mara.”

Her, not him, I realized - if the name was anything to go by. The sanask species seemed to lack any sort of obvious sexual dimorphism to tell them apart. I made a mental note to ask later.

“Earth says you used to be humans.” She continued. “That true?”

We nodded.

“Then you know nothing about what your new fleshy puppets are supposed to eat, yes? Earth has tasked me with teaching what each of you can and cannot eat lest you poison yourselves or spend the night on the shitter. And I’ll warn you now that we’ve not dug a proper shitter yet.”

She pointed at Mirrin. “You there, elf, you can leave. Elves eat the same food as humans.”

“Yes ma’am.” Mirrin saluted and scurried off to join one of the lines.

“The rest of you are carnivores now. That means meat.” She waved her ladle at Karl. “For sanask like us, that means RAW meat, or meat stewed properly like that pot over there. Skin and organs are important too.”

“Sek’heli is similar. If the meat is fresh, eat it raw. Otherwise: cook it. Sanask stomachs can deal with parasites better than yours. Raw meat is best, or meat prepared properly.”

“Basically the same as a normal cat.” Kevin observed. Mara shrugged and turned to Sarah, Paul, and I.

“Vul’heli are the same as the sek’heli but you can stomach a bit of the rabbit food if you must: nuts and berries mostly. You will still need meat. ”

“Eggs?” I asked.

“Eggs are meat.”

We nodded and Mara pointed to the two tables. “Meat on the left, rabbit food on the right. This stew is meat, that stew is full of shit you don’t want. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am.” We said.

“Good. Grab a bowl, carve off a hunk, and go eat something.” She waved us away and we scattered off to join the back of the line.

We waited and chatted, the scent of meat and herbs teasing my senses and leaving me drooling in anticipation. The first deer carcass was scraped clean while we were still in line and Mara replaced it with a fresh animal. Soon it was our turn. I watched as a sek’heli in front of me pulled back the skin of the deer, and sliced off several hunks of raw venison into her bowl. Herbs had been slathered over the raw meat beneath the skin and infused through slices throughout the animal.

Only hours ago the sight would have disgusted me, but today it made me drool all the more. When my turn came I followed the sek’heli’s lead, carving off several slices and tossing it in my bowl. Next I dipped a ladle into the cauldron, bringing up a thick paste-like ‘stew’ of pulled pork and rendered fat.

Kevin and I retreated off to the fires to eat with the rest of the expedition. With a moan of bliss I tore into the venison. Incredible spices and flavors burst into my mouth, a testament to Mara’ skill and my entirely changed palate. In a matter of minutes I worked through my entire bowl of venison and switched to the thick stew, I immediately realized that eating anything runnier than the thick stew with a fox-shaped mouth would pose some difficulties. Speaking of which:

“How do we drink?” I wondered. “Lap up water like a dog?”

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Kevin shrugged, too engrossed in inhaling her own meal to answer. Instead, I glanced around to see most of the vul’heli and sek’heli carrying waterskins or flasks with long, flexible necks. They used them to bypass their snouts and swallow the water directly. It was certainly more civilized than a bowl.

“I’m going to try and get something to drink.” I said, grabbing my empty bowl and carrying it back towards the central tables for seconds.

A quick conversation and much rummaging later, Mara produced several spare waterskins that she tasked me with carrying to the others. Sara and Karl proved easy to find, Jennifer was nowhere to be found, and I spotted Paul off to one side where he glowered at a bowl of slimy yellow vegetables as if they had betrayed him. Then I returned to Kevin, eating and chatting until I was full and dozing on the snow-covered ground.

“We should meet the rest of the expedition before this ceremony.” Kevin said. “There can’t be many left.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I need a break from socializing.”

“In that case, want to help me bring some food for the sentries?” A voice said. “You’ve not met the ones on duty yet right?”

I opened my eyes and jumped at the sight of Hendric leaning over me. His leather armor and steel breastplate had been cleaned of the beetle innards.

“Uh. Sure.” I said once I collected myself. “K?”

“Yeah I don’t mind.” Kevin said.

“Come on then.” Hendric grinned.

The three of us walked out of the gathering, each of us balancing several plates of food and steaming mugs of some sort of pine tea. Kevin sniffed curiously at the tea and then one of the plates of ‘rabbit food’ in her arms only to turn up her nose in disgust.

“Ugh. Does this stuff smell good to you?” She asked Hendric.

“Yeah. I’m not a carnivore like you though.” He answered. “Rumor is getting around that you all used to be human. That true?”

“Yeah.”

“Must be strange having everything taste different all of a sudden. I heard that sek’heli can’t even taste sugar!”

“It’s not so bad. Just weird.” Kevin shook her head. “The rest of the body is so different that a different sense of taste seems like a non-issue.”

“Better you than me.” Hendric said. “I rather enjoy being human.”

“I don’t think being a sek’heli is so bad. It’ll just take some getting used to.”

We plodded through the near half-inch of snow now blanketing the ground, our paws and boots leaving distinctive tracks in our wake. It felt good to be free of the lights and boisterous expedition.

Our first stop was a vul’heli sentry stationed at the edge of the trees. He graciously accepted a bowl of food from me following a brief introduction, after which we continued along our round of the camp.

“What do you think about the tribe meeting?” I asked Hendric. “You think they’ll accept us?”

“Eh, accepting you is just a formality at this point.” Hendric answered. “You should take it seriously though. The ‘heli have a lot of traditions and joining a tribe is a big deal. Especially if you are a ‘heli rather than a human like me. You’ll be expected to take the name they give you.”

“Do other species not usually join these tribes?” I asked. “I’m still not entirely sure what the tribes are.”

“The more traditional tribes don’t allow other species, but the Shadowclaw are more progressive than most. The magic of the old rituals won’t allow us non-heli to be full members, but the tribe still treats us as such - albeit with a bit more freedom.”

“The rituals don’t allow other species? Can’t you just change them?” Kevin asked.

“It’s not so simple.” Hendric explained. “You need to understand that the tribes are a centerpiece of ‘heli culture stretching back before written records. Much of the identity of your people stems from them. The magic, which originates from long before the ‘heli or even the other races built their empires, is thought to be tied to the very gods who brought your species together in the first place. Non-’heli can still be accepted into the tribe of course, but we’re more like honorary members as far the magic is concerned. We’re not given names or expected to participate in every ceremony, but most of us do so anyways.”

“So you and your adventuring group are part of this Shadowclaw Tribe?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, every member of the expedition is.”

“It seems odd to send the entirety of a single tribe to a place like this if it’s as dangerous as you say.” I said.

“Entire tribe?” Hendric laughed. “The Shadowclaw is much more than just this scraggly bunch. There are many thousands of us. The expedition members were just selected as the ones most likely to succeed in our mission.”

“And why not members from more than one tribe?” I asked.

“Heli are a territorial bunch, so tribes can get a bit, erm, ‘competitive’ with each other to put it nicely. Not in the ‘war’ sense, but enough so that the Council of Tribes voted to send only one.”

My head spun with a thousand more questions, but we’d reached the second guard, the high elf Melwyn. A few words and a plate less we continued on our round. Hendric waved off my further questions after that, claiming that he wasn’t the best person to teach us about tribe politics. Instead he launched into an amusing tale of dashing heroics in which Hendric rescued Wind from the clutches of a lusty human barmaid and her strange obsession with other species.

By the time we returned to the party, the expedition members had set up a game resembling horseshoes with rocks and a stick. The expedition happily called us over to join them, although the difference between myself and the superhuman attributes of the rest became readily apparent. Despite losing horribly, I began to appreciate the kindness of these people who accepted complete strangers into their midst despite their own goals and struggles. With the so-called danger of the Heartwood remaining but words and tales to my ears, I looked forward to learning from them in the coming days.

The bonfires continued to burn throughout the afternoon until the sun dipped low into the sky and the gathering dimmed into twilight. By then the food had been eaten and the log tables lugged away from the central clearing. Yet instead of dying down, the energy of the expedition only seemed to grow with the dying light until I could taste a palpable excitement in the air.

Then the familiar gong of Mara’s ladle against her iron cauldron rang out, stilling us all into silence. We turned as one to see Earth and Rain standing beside the central fire.

Rain’s voice boomed out over the silence.

“Shadowclaw Tribe! Please gather for the Naming Ceremony!”