That night, Bosir brought the news to the clan. There were many voices of concern, but those that could not be convinced by the reliability of Bosir and their loyalty, were quickly swayed by the promise of riches and wielding royal influence. Only the old man Sirgut seemed to be reluctant to the end. He has been extremely careful the last half year, and I get the feeling that he just wants to retire from troublesome things already.

As I lay in my bed thinking about how absurd this really is, I hear a knock on the door. When I open it, Atna rushes in, into my chest.

“What’s the matter, sister Atna” I ask.

“Drop the sister, Yos, we are going to get married” she says, as she looks up at me with a beaming smile. She is only a little shorter than me, but she was taller when I first arrived here. Reminds me that this body is merely that of a 14-year old.

“It could very well be dangerous… So in case something happened… I wanted to… at least…” She slowly forms a sentence, but I am a little confused.

“What do you want?” I ask

“Just, shut up” she says, and kisses me, pushing me down on the bed.

The next day we barely talk but look at each other only at fleeting glances. I am leaving today with Kamas, so just before we depart I muster up a “goodbye”.

I started to feel somewhat guilty, but the age of consent is 15 in some European countries, so I did nothing wrong, right? I convince myself that between many parts of my old world and it being normal for even younger girls in the new one, I have done nothing wrong. I still feel a little scummy though.

Cospia is huge. The distance from Brahms to Roxburgh, the capital in the heart of the country seems to be some 500 miles, and even then, Brahms is nowhere near the border of the country, though that is both loosely defined and not all that important. There are tons of unused land everywhere, since all can resources come from the dungeons. It is a little mind-boggling how little land is used, as it is basically only people living there, and no one has a field or something.

Kamas is leading the way. According to himself, he once lived in a tribe, but it ran afoul of a lord who resented them for travelling through, and so it was slaughtered. The tribe mother, the primary caretaker of all children in a tribe, escaped with the children to a city, where the children started to dive into the dungeon, which caused many casualties. Kamas broke off from that group and ended up as a hunter apprentice under a guy named Flut, who saw the boons of the strong physique of a Silvester in the dungeon.

One year later, Bosir came as a junior apprentice, even though he was much older. They constantly argued who was supposed to be the senior one, but in the end they formed a life-long friendship. They both recognize Kamas as the strong one, and Bosir as the smart one.

That story and many other filled our time, as we ran for most of the day to get to our first tribe. Kamas knows their locations, since he has some grasp of how they move. He apparently got this grasp, since human women generally aren’t interesting to him. They all seem so weak and fragile, he says. Well, apparently except for Mynie, but she has no interest in and old man like him.

The morning of the second day, Kamas starts talking once again. “We’re almost where we should be, guess I should prepare you a little for Silvestri culture” he says. “Just, don’t avert your eyes to much or you may give them the notion that you are offended or something”.

“Why would I avert my eyes?” I ask.

“Well, Silvestri don’t really hold breasts to be in any way indecent, so they are often just… out there, you know?” Huh, I suddenly felt myself lose some confidence that I could.

“And don’t pay any compliments to appearances of any sort. For a Silvester, that is a sign of submission and everyone will think one strange for doing so without being confronted and bested. Strength is king among Silvestri, everyone fights and it is considered cowardly to try and talk your way out of things.” The thought crosses me, that it really seems like a barbarian culture.

As we approach the area, we enter some woods. Apparently Silvestri much prefer camping in woods to open fields. Kamas slows down to a walking tempo. As we enter the camp, I immediately notice some bare-chested Silvestri women, but that is not what takes my attention. I had assumed that they would mostly look like a slimmer, curvier form of the Silvestri men I have seen in the past but that is not correct. They are practically as large as the men, with the only difference, except for the obvious one, being their hair.

The Silvestri men have manes, looking much like those of lions. By comparison the females appear to have something resembling a horse’s. They all seem to have short normal hair on their heads, but down their back it continues to grow from the skin, but less and less, sharpening and shrinking slowly down to around the middle of their backs. It looks bizarre.

Kamas nudges me slightly harshly. “Don’t stare, either” he tells me. As we walk past some of the women, they start harassing Kamas.

“Haha, wart a puny one, I pet he hides from danger!”

“So weak! No stronk feelin come from him at all!”

“And ugly too! None will look at dat face”.

I look slightly judging at Kamas. None of the things they say are true of course. Kamas is large, even by comparison to the other Silvestri, at a guesstimated 9 feet tall. And while I haven’t seen other Silvestri fight, I get the distinct feeling that he is very strong too. So I leap to a conclusion “Just what horrible thing did you do to these women the last time you were here?”

Kamas laughs dryly. “It’s not like that. That is the way Silvestri women find their mates. They goad them into a fight, and should the male win, he is free to make her carry his children. You’re lucky you don’t look as strong as you are, or they would come for you too”

Silvestri are weird.