“How the various races dealt with winter was always a matter of introspection for scholars. Most races who lived in permanent settlements stockpiled foodstuffs and typically spent the winter months in a sedentary lifestyle. Nomads like most Orcs simply moved on to more temperate pastures for the winter. Merfolk are as best as anyone can tell, utterly unaffected by the winter other than a decrease in trade volume, for the winter’s bite simply does not penetrate that deep into the oceans where they live. The Unliving? Many of them simply chose to adopt a more skeletal soul-form during winter months for convenience.” - Garth Wainwrought, Professor of socioeconomics in the Levain Institute of Higher Learning.

The main event of the grand gathering itself was reserved for the chieftains that had attended, where they discussed the potential issues the orcish clans as a whole faced, and any potential ways those issues could be dealt with. Cal naturally did not participate in that, but as the senior shamans and warriors of each clan also got to take part in the talks, Khal-Est relayed the general gist of it after the talks wound down - it was still the evening of the day, as the orcs were not inclined to bother to spend much time on politics as a whole. In general, other than distribution of the more temperate areas of the plains for the nomadic clans to spend winter on - for which they paid tithe to the few non-nomadic clans that made their homes in that area -, the main topic of discussion was the civil unrest in Ezram, where rumors said the gods had appointed a champion, and the human supremacist Theodian cult claimed that said champion - and by extension, the gods - stood with them, which led to their recent rise.

Several incidents caused by said cult had already happened when the orcs last visited Ezram for trade, though the cult’s influence in the northern part of the country that bordered the Xewaur Plains were dismal at best, which led to the incidents being minor at worst. Worries of a potential civil war that might lead to an unfriendly neighbor were valid, however, and the orcish tribes had decided to prepare more weapons and train their warriors harder this winter.

A traditional feast was soon distributed for the spectators, while the chieftains and their retinue also partook of the same meals as a symbol of solidarity between all clans. A relatively simple feast of roasted meats and thick stew full of root vegetables and meat trimmings, with a form of hard flatbread that were made by baking the dough made using the salted, buttered tea and the nut-and-barley flour. What caught Cal’s attention however, was a local delicacy of the Greentusks, which were made from dried corn kernels, cooked in a close stone pot until they literally popped open, then served simply drenched with molten butter. It made for an amazing snack that kept her occupied for a good while to Lorna’s amusement - apparently her reaction was common for those who first tried it.

Another sight that fascinated her was when the gathered chieftains and their retinue performed a ceremonial war dance together, a dance full of forceful, strong movements and shouts that echoed through the fields, as if they were soldiers in the midst of preparation before battle with a strong enemy. The sight of some of the larger orcs whilst they performed the dance was quite an awe-inspiring one, whereas others, like the mostly goblin chieftain of the Grandtower with his massive ceremonial codpiece, evoked a sense of hilarity, yet even the diminutive chieftain managed to project a fierce aura despite his comical outfit.

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Cal bid her farewell to her half-brother and sister-in-law when she left Gal-Morogh a week later, as she had chosen to spend the winter with the Beastfangs as they migrated towards the more temperate north-eastern regions of the plains, near the coastal settlement of Ur-Ank. She did promise them to visit again on her way back since she planned to depart the plains in the spring of the next year.

Once the month-long journey to the land they borrowed from the Hardscale clan - Orcs rarely used currency like gold and silver amongst the more nomadic tribes, as they often preferred to trade by barter, in this case the loan of the land for the winter paid for in an amount of spearhead and arrowheads made from thunder lizard bones and a good portion of preserved foods - ended, Cal got a good look at what sort of settlement the nomadic clans used when they settled on a place for extended periods of time. The majority of the tribe built simple tents, using three or four long sticks of wood as support and leather to create a conical tent, with flaps at the top that allowed smoke to escape and air to circulate, the opening it had on one side draped over with an embroidered piece of fabric that served as the doorway.

On the other hand, shamans and the chieftain were housed in larger tents, with embroidered fabric draped around a ring-like lattice structure of wood that could fold itself in an ingenious manner for storage on the go, with a central pillar to create a large, circular domed tent easily large enough to accommodate twenty or more orcs at the same time. The grand tent the clan planned to craft out of the rib bones of the thunder lizard was also of this type, the curved rib bones directly attached to the fabric to create a large, easily collapsible and foldable structure.

The Beastfangs occupied themselves in the winter mostly by craft, as many of the tribe busied themselves with the creation of large quantities of spears and arrows, and other forms of weaponry as the warriors requested them. The warriors themselves spent much of their free time in spars with one another, or otherwise exercised in the cold - the more temperate regions of the plains did not see any snowfall, but the temperature still dipped quite low, although Cal personally found it a comfortable temperature - until they were slathered with sweat and went to the nearby stream to cool themselves with a cold dip in the water.

One similarity Cal found between the orcs and the empire was that they too, had little taboo when it came to nudity, as the nomadic clans were simply accustomed to baths taken in the rivers and lakes they came across, which were often done en masse together. For her part, Cal quite enjoyed the fact that none of the orcs even bothered to give her a second glance when she joined several of the young warriors who were bathing in the river. The lecherous looks made by quite a few people when she passed through the city-states were, after all, somewhat of an annoyance, so the lack of care displayed by the orcs when she bathed along with a group of them reminded her of back home and pleased her.

She also paid a visit to the Ur-Ank when she had time, where clan Hardscale made their home. The clan itself was one that was quite intermixed, with merfolk in their case, a distinction owed by their residence in a coastal settlement, and thrived mostly by being the middleman for trades between the merfolk and the other orcish clans, as well as rent out their pastures for other clans who wished to weather the cold winters there. They had several delicacies that reminded her of the merfolk delicacies back home, though the way they spiced their food were more orcish and spice-heavy, but the taste of a fresh, chopped up sea snail that had been cooked inside its own shell and left to stew in its own juices still brought pleasant nostalgia to her mind.

The winter itself proved to be three uneventful months, in which Cal’s favorite ways to pass the time were to either spar with some of the young orcs - and teach them some tricks on how to handle foes who were of superior physicality, as she easily schooled most of them even without magic by dint of her far more extensive experience. Davor in particular learned a lot from her, being a fellow Blood mage, and even Bogdan dropped by to trade pointers with her from time to time. Otherwise, she also enjoyed taking dives in the shallower regions of the sea, where she collected shellfish from the bottom of the ocean floor and fished with a barbed spear, only to have them prepared and cooked promptly the moment she returned to shore. She particularly loved the way the Hardscales cooked very fresh fish by slathering it with mud after it was cleaned, then roasted the mud cocoon on the fire directly. When they yanked the tail of the fish out of the cocoon, the majority of its bones came with it, and the flesh left in the mud cocoon would be so tender it would melt in one’s mouth.

It was an enjoyable time, and it was with some reluctance that Cal prepared to depart when spring came the next year.