“Some people often say that the difference between people and animals is that people can show gratitude. That could not be more wrong. I have most definitely seen animals who repay kindness with gratitude in their own, simple ways, and even more often seen so-called people who had not even a shred of gratitude in their souls, those who repay kindness with evil.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
“Many thanks, Milady. May the spirits bless your kind heart,” said one of the caravan guards after Aideen healed his injuries with a casual touch. Around two-thirds of the guards had injuries of varying severity after the Snow Raptor attack, but none of them received life-threatening injuries, and Aideen healed what wounds they had within moments once the battle ended.
Much of the credit for their state of survival went to her charges, as they definitely blunted the charge of the Raptors with their actions. Eilonwy’s undead constructs did the most since there were many of them, but Kino also did plenty, as her side had the fewest injuries by far. Rhys was the only one of the four who took any wounds from the fighting, mostly to his rather torn-up clothes, since any wounds to his body were healed instantly by his own Life affinity magic.
“We were traveling together, my good man,” replied Aideen nonchalantly after she double checked to make sure she did not miss any wound or the like. She had finished healing all the injured in a matter of minutes, which was something that definitely raised some eyebrows, if her charges had not already done that with their performance during the fight. “We all do our part while we share the road.”
“It is refreshing to travel with someone who is still familiar with the courtesy of fellow travelers like that,” said the head of the convoy, an older woman who had some orcish and elven features plainly visible, hinting at her mixed heritage. “Far too many youngsters outside our lands nowadays just take those for granted yet balk at doing their part when it’s their turn. I swear, most of those foreigners don’t know how to raise their children!”
The so-called “courtesy of fellow travelers” mentioned by the woman was an old custom amongst people who travel a lot. It was a simple thing, more like a pledge between fellow travelers that while they shared the same roads and traveled together, each would do their best with whatever they could help the others with. A promise where they shared the burdens and joys of travel while people traveled with one another.
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It was typical for the better-guarded convoys to help defend the others, while those with an abundance of rations – or just had better cooks – would treat the others to some good food at meals. Such small courtesies slowly died out of late, however, as less scrupulous individuals took them for granted and abused them without contributing their share at all.
As a result of such actions, people often became more wary about offering the courtesies to others, out of fear that it would be an unreciprocated, one-sided thing. In the harsher lands where such actions were far less tolerable, the courtesies still held strong, but ironically, in the more “civilized” lands where life was easier, it mostly died out.
The convoy had stopped a short distance away from where the fighting happened while they tended to the wounded. At the same time, they also released the large, tamed wolves that pulled the wagons instead of horses or cattle and allowed them to feast on the carcass of the Snow Raptors that piled up. After a few more hours, the scent of the blood would likely draw other predators to the pile of corpses, but they should be safe for the time being as those same predators usually avoided Snow Raptor territory for the most part, and thus would be further away.
As if to further cement their status as worthless pests, the flesh of Snow Raptors was not something people eat. It was edible for the races with the hardier stomachs, but every one of them described the meat as vile and rancid. Something they might eat if they were starving and there was nothing else to eat, but otherwise mostly used as fertilizer or fodder for their carnivorous tamed beasts.
Fortunately, in the cold eastern region, they favored hardy beasts like large goats and wolves to pull their caravans and sleds, and those beasts were all too happy to dispose of any killed Snow Raptors by eating them.
While the group rested – mostly to allow their wolves to eat their fill, as well as to relieve some of the built-up tension from the brief fighting – they boiled water to make their traditional tea analogue, which was made from some hardy herbs that grew well in the frosted land. It was something Aideen had encountered and drank before, but was new to her charges.
She allowed them to try it straight like how the locals enjoyed it while hiding her smirk all the time and only burst out in laughter when Áine and Eilonwy spat out the tea they drank after they got a taste of it. Rhys and Kino managed to keep it down, but had thoroughly amusing faces by the time they swallowed their drink.
Fortunately the eastern locals took to their reaction the way Aideen remembered them from all those years ago, namely with uproarious laughter and good humor. The strong, astringent, bitter tea they drank was most definitely an acquired taste, and just about any foreigner reacted the same way on their first taste. Usually the locals pranked them by pretending that it was an insult to their hospitality or the like, but since Aideen and her charges had helped them so much, they skipped that step and went straight to the merrymaking instead.
“Try it with some honey and milk,” said Aideen as she tossed a waterskin and a small clay jar to her charges containing the ingredients she mentioned. From her own experience centuries in the past she knew that milk made the strong bitter astringency much milder on the tongue, and a bit of honey on top of that made it far, far more palatable even to people unused to the drink. “It’ll taste much better that way.”