Vath spun, drawing his spear and pointing it at the stranger, while sidestepping quickly to interpose himself between the man and his injured brother, settling into a stance that made it clear he wouldn’t let him pass. The man’s eyebrows rose, and his hands raised in a gesture of peace. “I intend you no harm.” he said.
“That’s what you’d say even if you did. Who are you? What are you doing here?” Vath demanded. The man nodded his head in acknowledgment of the point.
“I was drawn in by your fire,” he answered.
“Our fire?” Vath was confused. They’d dug a proper fire pit long ago. The fire wasn’t visible for more than a few feet, and the smoke was minimal. Had the man smelled the Beast meat?
The man nodded again, “You’re cooking Beast meat. It releases much of the essence in it when you do so. There is a wide plume of it rising into the air, easily sensed by those who know how, and the two of you have neglected the basic shieldings for such things, likely because you don’t know how, if my guess is right.” Vath thought furiously. Was he telling the truth? He couldn’t think of a reason for him to lie, and it made sense. No one had ever taught them, because they’d never been near strong enough to hunt Beasts in the village. They hadn’t needed to know yet. He had heard stories that in addition to the meat itself, cooking it made an environment that was better for cultivating. Maybe the essence released was responsible. Ancestors, maybe the shielding the man had mentioned even helped by keeping the essence around to be cultivated instead of releasing it into the air for all to see. When he asked to confirm his suspicion, the man seemed both surprised and impressed he’d worked that out on his own, and confirmed that those were the two reasons to use the shielding.
“Can you put it up? I’ll be watching you, but I would rather no other cultivators or Beasts wander in this direction if we can avoid it.” Vath requested. The man agreed, and walked in a half circle, dropping some plates carved with symbols he’d pulled from somewhere. Vath had stopped pointing the spear directly at the man, but he still turned and watched his every move. He wasn’t kidding himself. He knew even a low tier cultivator at a sect could likely kill them both without effort, but the vigilance made him feel better. When they were all placed, and he’d made a few adjustments for unknown reasons, he went back over each one and touched it while concentrating for but a moment. They began to softly glow, and once they were all lit, Vath felt a strange sensation. It was as if the air was slowly thickening. He assumed that was the slight build up of essence. “Ok. Assuming I believe you, I know how you found us, but you still haven’t given me your name. Or what you want.” Vath didn’t expect an attack at this point. The man’s body language was all wrong for aggression. But he wasn’t going to let his guard down completely around a stranger. Especially this far from civilization.
“Oh, my apologies. I forgot to introduce myself completely in my haste. My name is Wald, and I am an inner sect disciple at the Sect of the Shining Void. I was in the forest looking for Beasts or herbs when I saw the essence.” Wald straightened and then replied politely, with a small bow.
Vath didn’t return the bow, but it would be in bad taste not to at least reply in kind, “My name is Vath, and that is my brother Kaser.” He didn’t volunteer any other information, but he wasn’t sure where to take the conversation from here. The man wasn’t hostile, but he didn’t want him to stick around either.
The man nodded in acknowledgement, “A pleasure to meet you. Forgive me for saying, but… you seem to have been out here a long time, and without the knowledge I would expect even for trainee hunters of a village. Are you boys alright?”
“We’re fine. No need to stay on our account.” Vath replied.
Just then, Kaser cut in, “Vath…” he said weakly. He shifted as he did, exposing his leg without seeming to notice, but Vath still stood in Wald’s sightline between them.
Vath shifted to a side profile, so that he could speak to his brother while still keeping the disciple in view. “We’re fine, Kaser.We don’t need the help of a strange man with unknown intentions.” he said.
Wald’s brows furrowed, “I’ve said I mean you no harm, and done nothing to provoke you, why would you…” His voice trailed off and his eyes widened as they shifted to the side and caught sight of Kaser’s leg, burnt and bleeding through his makeshift herb and fur bandages. “Your leg! You’re wounded, let me help!”
Vath rounded on the disciple, pulling his spear back up, and all but growled, “You’re not getting anywhere near him.” He was angry that the injury had been exposed. He’d been hoping to keep that weakness a secret until the man left. He didn’t like how vulnerable that knowledge made them, and he certainly wasn’t going to let Wald any closer now that he knew.
Wald took a step backward, not running, but clearly trying to show his lack of hostility. He pulled a pill from somewhere in his robes, and held it up, “I have essence medicine. It will help him.”
“It could be poison, I’m not letting you near him!” Vath all but shouted. He knew he was being irrational. This man could likely kill them both with his bare hands. But his brother was injured, and this stranger showed up out of nowhere to help? He didn’t trust it, it was too good to be true. And he wouldn’t risk his brother’s life on something that smelled this bad.
Wald looked surprised and perhaps a bit disbelieving, “Poison? No, please, I just want to help. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t help children in need?”
Vath rankled a bit at the “children” description, but he didn’t dignify such a stupid question with a response. Kaser, on the other hand, sounding delirious, and seemingly unaware that his whispers to himself were loud enough to be heard by both others in the clearing, quietly answered, “Like every man we’ve ever known.”
The disciple looked shocked at first, and then every part of him softened, and a look of such pity crossed his face that Vath nearly shook in anger. “I am so very very sorry to hear that. Truly. I have nothing but my word, but I promise you that this is medicine and nothing more. Here, I’ll leave it on the ground and back away. You can feed it to your brother, and I will not come closer until you say I can.” Wald tossed the pill a few feet towards Vath, and then did as he said he would. Vath thought furiously, at war with himself. It was a good sign that Wald was willing to do what he could to make them feel safe, but it could just as easily be a lie. He couldn't think of a reason for the man to go this far to trick them, but that didn't mean there wasn't a reason. He looked back at Kaser. He'd been sure that with the herbs and cultivation, his brother would heal fine, but looking at him now, he'd lost his confidence. His brother looked too delirious to cultivate, and the herbs wouldn't be enough on their own. He sighed. He would have to take the chance. He bent down for the pill, and then walked backwards towards Kaser, eyes never leaving the disciple. Wald seemed content to wait right where he was. Vath put the pill in Kaser's mouth, and used his waterskin to wash it down. Then he waited. Whether it was medicine or poison, if it was essence enhanced, it would only take a minute or two to find out.
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Vath heard a gasp, and when he whirled to check, he saw his brother was improving. Color was returning to his skin, and the wound was closing. Not immediately, but quickly enough to see it happening. His eyes widened. He knew essence medicine could do wondrous things, but for this level of healing, it must have been an expensive pill. He turned to Wald, still kneeling next to Kaser, a question in his eyes. Almost disbelief.
Wald smiled, but it was a sad smile. "I just wanted to help. I wasn't lying." he said.
Vath paused, and then almost choked out," Thank you."
The disciple smiled wider, more genuinely this time, and replied, "You're very welcome. May I sit at your fire, now? I just want to talk, but I'll leave if you still want me to." Vath hesitated, and then nodded sharply once. "Thank you." Wald said, and then slowly walked to the fire, opposite the two, before sitting, crossing his legs as he did so. He rested his arms on his knees, and then spoke again, "I have an offer for you. Three options, technically. I won't ask anything about you that you aren't willing to share; I'll just lay them out, and let you decide. Is that ok?" Both brothers nodded, and Wald continued, "Option one is that I leave right now. I don't want to do that, but I want to be clear that I won't force either of you into anything. If you want me to go, I'll go." Vath was sorely tempted to agree, but he knew that was his paranoia talking. He let Wald keep speaking. "Option two is that I spend the night here or nearby, and tomorrow I start training you in the basics of cultivation and any other skills I can impart, only leaving when I have no more to teach, or if you ask me to. I'm only an inner disciple, and even an elder couldn't teach you everything, but given your circumstances, it should help keep you much safer. Option three, and this is the one I hope you'll pick, is that I bring you back with me to the sect. I can't promise that you'll be allowed to join, given your lack of accomplishments in cultivation. But given how long the two of you have managed to survive out here on your own, the fact that you've taken down at least one Beast, and the sponsorship of an inner disciple, I believe you'll get in. It's entirely up to you, but I hope you'll come back with me. I have a feeling the two of you could go far with some proper training and resources. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves, I'll leave you to it."
He backed away to his previous spot, and Vath moved to help Kaser into the cave, but Kaser got up on his own, his leg seeming to barely bother him after just a few minutes. They went to the back of what had been their home for the last six years, and one look at his brother's face told Vath that they'd soon be leaving it. Kaser had always wanted to get stronger. He'd been the driving force in their plan to leave once he turned sixteen. Vath had had to compromise with joining the army to convince him not to run off to the nearest sect and beg to join. Now that joining was being offered to them directly, and by an inner disciple no less, he knew he wouldn't dissuade him. But he felt like he had to try anyway.
Kaser opened his mouth to speak, but Vath raised a hand to stop him. "I know what you're going to say. And yes, this is a tremendous opportunity. If it works. Wald seems like a decent man, unless he's a much better liar than I think he is, but he's one man. A sect will be full of people. People we don't know. People we can't trust. We'd be surrounded by potential danger at all times."
Kaser let him finish, and then nodded. "You're right, Vath. We would be. But look around you. We're living in the wilds. There are Beasts everywhere. We are lucky we run into them as rarely as we do, and we still almost died to one today. Sure, we could have been smarter about that one. Avoided it entirely, even. But what happens when the next one sees us before we see it? Or ambushes us while we're fighting something else? We're surrounded by danger now, Vath. The only difference is that Beast behavior is usually more predictable. Wouldn't you rather be surrounded by danger in a home more comfortable than a cave? In a place where we can actually learn how to grow? The sect might be every bit as dangerous as here, maybe even more so, but Wald himself is proof that there will also be opportunities, help, that we would never get out here."
Vath sighed, but he knew he'd lost. He couldn't even disagree. His brother made good points, and the churning in his gut wasn't enough to make him say no. "Alright, Kaser, we'll go. But if we're going to do this, we're going to make the most of it. Both of us are going to work as hard as we can until we both feel safe."
Kaser agreed, and they went out to tell Wald of their decision. He smiled brightly, and suggested that they set out tomorrow after a night of sleep, given how late it was getting. The boys retreated to the cave, and Wald settled down near the fire, apparently content to sleep there. The next morning, the brothers awoke to the smell of Wald cooking some Beast meat for breakfast, and all three went through several rounds of cooking and eating before they were full. The disciple was ready to go, so the boys quickly gathered up their few possessions. They left most of it, bringing only their weapons, water skins, and all of the Beast meat and hide in their old bag. Wald assured them that better bedding and clothes would be available at the sect, and neither brother was naïve enough to think that anyone would buy their poor craftsmanship. So there was no reason to bring it.
Wald walked ahead, and Vath moved to follow him, but Kaser held him back. "Not to talk you out of this, I still want to go, but I was thinking a lot last night, and… what do we do if you're right about the people there. We should at least have a plan, no?" he asked.
Vath had spent last night and this morning thinking too, and the thought that just wouldn't leave him alone was that he was tired of running and hiding. Of having no one to trust because everyone was a danger. He wasn't going to just drop his guard completely, but he was going to try to work on his paranoia, and work until he became strong enough that he didn't need to worry for himself or his brother. Because no one was a threat.
He answered, with a low growl in his throat, "We're going there to become strong. Anyone messes with us, and we'll deal with them the same as we would here with any other Beast. We'll keep our heads down as much as possible while we're too weak to handle them, and then, when we can? We hunt."