“… That was the first time I met Zekra.” Kae’lo wore a small smile, the type of nostalgic smile one holds when thinking of memories that feel like a quiet sunset: warm and vivid. He hadn’t reminisced of those days in quite a long time, perhaps too long for memories so deserving of honor.

The cart still bumped down the worn road. The cobblestones that paved the city streets had long since transitioned into an earthen path worn by years of use. In the distance, birds chirped, but the noise was hardly noticeable over the much louder and steady clopping of the horses’ hooves upon the ground. It was beginning to get late into the afternoon, and the occasional breeze carried with it the scent of distant cook fires.

Brandus allowed his friend a moment of silent reflection. It doesn’t pay to rush the caress of nostalgia, or you risk diminishing the weaver’s tale. It was apparent to Brandus, from the years of reservation that had preceded this recounting, that this particular tale was one that had helped to shape the essence of his friend’s nature.

After a few minutes of silence, Kae’lo gave a thoughtful sigh, “Zekra was an interesting individual. Amongst the Caldorean, white scales are considered a fatal flaw. Even more than that, they are considered to be a curse- a sign of their god’s disfavor. Scales of earth tone colors be the way of nature, a sign that they will be strong in battle. Caldoreans view their scales as one of the determining factors of cast and rank. The most important of the practices that determine this, other than armed combat in battle, is the practice they call uhsa’ta. In common tongue, this literally means “the counting” or possibly “the reckoning”. At the age of maturity, immediately after their first molting, they are sent from their people into the wild alone. Sometimes they are given a specific task. Other times, they are simply told to bring home trophies to prove they have defeated their enemies. Either way, the greater the trophy, the greater the warrior is determined to be in the eyes of his people.

“It is also important to note at this point that amongst the Caldoreans there is no greater thing than honorable conduct. Their concepts of debt, trade, battle, and everyday life are all influenced by this simple fact: honor is the scales of the life. They believe that honor is the cloak that all life wears. Now don’t be confused, in battle they hold to none of the silly honor codes that human knights like to embrace. They will do whatever is necessary to win a fight, but the goal is always honor. In victory or defeat, the outcome binds their course of action.”

Brandus, always interested in learning about other cultures, found this to be fascinating. He ventured a question, “… so where does this come into your story?”

Kae’lo smiled, “Zekra was white-scaled, and had just reached the age of maturity. As such he felt he had to make a statement to his people, or he would never achieve and semblance of rank amongst them.

“Unbeknown to myself, Zekra followed me through the jungle at a distance. I had bested him in combat and then saved his life… or so he saw it- I just saw it as tearing a tree from the ground…”

---

Zekra sighed and wiped his claws on some moss, cleaning the ichor from them again. The stubborn dwarf, though he’d obviously underestimated the dwarf’s strength, had no idea of the creatures that infested this edge of the jungle. It wasn’t just the insignificant insects that one had to worry about, or the water. In the canopy overhead, dwelt large carnivorous beetles, they were the size of a small pony and did not like being disturbed. His people called them “m’ra”, but the humans that knew these swamps called them panther beetles. This was the third one that he had killed in the last two days. One of the unique bugs to this region, each one had a small dark blue gem inside its head. The gems weren’t particularly useful, but they were pretty to look at and valuable in trade with some of the races that had a penchant for shiny trinkets. They’d be valuable as part of the count during his journey as well. Thankfully, though strong and well armored, panther beetles weren’t quick enough to dodge his claws as he slashed at the weak places between their thick chitinous plates. He’d be too exhausted keep watch tonight if that dwarf obliviously stumbled into the territory of another giant bug.

He stood and listened for a moment, nothing indicated that there was anything else to be concerned about. In the distance he heard Kae’lo shout a curse of some sort. Unintelligible through the foliage, it was still obvious that the dwarf was unhappy about something. He couldn’t contain a chuckle. The little bearded one was amusing at least, if nothing else.

Now that he had rested for a moment, he ran silently and swiftly to catch up to the dwarf. He stopped every now and then to listen; he couldn’t help but hope the dwarf had decided to stop for the night. It was early yet, but there was no noise from the dwarf, which was promising.

He heard the sounds of the dwarf just ahead and slowed. Climbing into the canopy, he crossed from tree to tree until he was over the spot. As he had hoped, the dwarf was making camp and a fire was already beginning to burn.

Zekra raised an eyebrow, off to the side lay another panther beetle, apparently the last one he’d killed had a mate. The two-inch thick chitinous armor over the creature’s head had been split in two by a dwarfish axe. Kae’lo sat next to the fire and whistled a tune while he sharpened his axe.

After a few moments, Kae’lo stood and held the axe in front of him. He looked expertly down the edge of the weapon, inspecting it for nicks or other such flaws that would need to be touched up. Apparently satisfied by what he saw, he nodded to himself and leaned it against a log.

He turned to consider the beetle, “Now then, you big brute, let’s see if there is anything of use about you.”

He walked over to the beetle and leaned in to inspect the creature. As insects are prone to do after death, one of the creature’s legs twitched. Kae’lo let out a startled yelp and jumped away. He eyeballed the creature for a few moments, distrustful of the dead beast. Finally he snorted satisfied and approached again. Wandering around the creature, at a larger distance, he inspected it carefully. Finally, he noticed the gem inside the gash in the bug’s head and grimaced, “You would have something inside your head, now wouldn’t you… bugs, I hate bugs.”

With a somewhat disgusted look, he reached inside the wound and grasped the gem and pulled. With a splorching sound, like the sound of something being pulled from thick mud, the gem came free. Kae’lo shuddered and looked at the ichor dripping down his arm onto the ground. He shook his arm and tried to get the slime off of it. Finally, he spotted some moss on a nearby rock and wiped his arm off on it. Free of the goop, he took a moment to inspect the gem in the failing light before wrapping it in a large leaf and shoving it into his pack.

He fed the fire a few more logs, and unrolled his sleeping mat on the ground near the fire. After a moment he raised his voice and spoke loudly, “You may as well come down from there and enjoy the fire. If we’re travelling the same direction, there’s no need to sleep in trees away from the fire… safer down here too.”

Zekra raised his brow. He was a surprising dwarf indeed. Deciding to accept the invitation, a fire sounded quite nice, he climbed down the tree and walked into the clearing. He crouched opposite the fire, “How long have you known I was following you?”

Kae’lo grinned, “Only about a day, I heard something early this morning, but didn’t see anything. I wanted to wait and be certain. Then I heard something again just before being set upon by yon beastie, and decided that I’d wait for you to catch up and perhaps share a fire…” He hesitated a moment, “… I don’t suppose you know if there are any more of those great big bugs around, do you?” He grimaced.

Zekra laughed boisterously, “Haha! No, my friend. These particular creatures are territorial. We’ve nothing to fear tonight… at least from them.”