Gharna got back to the village, Rok being the one to greet her at the gate along with Runhar, which made her let a slight oink of surprise. "Well, I am glad you are fine, den brother." She said as she entered. She was holding the fish they gathered, strung up using part of Michael's fishing wire.

"As good as I can be. Urla has done a lot and the ointments hopefully will mend things with time." Runhar said as he ran his tongue to where his broken tusk was, flinching slightly when he touched the part of his lip that was busted. "Well... where is the pink one, Mich-...ael. When I asked about it-... ahem... him. Sorry. I heard you, him and Azhul went to the river?" He asked curios while peeking behind her. " I-... see you even caught fish. Quite the bounty. I presume spear fishing was exhausting?"

"Oh- a bit, but most of it is from... Michael. He made a tool, with a string and hook and using Vurms as bait, he would pull them out of the water right from the shaded plants." Gharna said with a bit of enthusiams at sharing this idea as she then remembered the whole ordeal with Woh. "Also uhm... we met with Woh, the one poisonous amphoran? We bought poison from her before to use in making cures... uhm... I have quite a bit to tell on that. Best you come as well, I need to discuss with Urla about some things too." The sow added as she first unloaded the fish in the market area, where several Tuskir already began to tend to them and prepare them.

'Huh... wonder what is it that he did regarding that Death's Lover amphoran? Well it can't be too bad, maybe he began making suggestions on additional uses of her poison? Still, more importantly... he made a tool to hook fish out of the water... and the Vurms... used as bait. It is... unique. I wonder if he knows anything that could strengthen our ability to defend ourselves... I still need to talk with him once I am given the chance, but... he is so unusual, I can't help but feel uneasy...' Runhar thought as flashes from the fight came back to his mind. There was no way he was going to be comfortable with him around any time soon, but he had to make peace, even if it might start as a superficial one. 'Hopefully it was just my ego before that was disliking him and that I won't actually have reason to distrust him...' Runhar pondered. He followed right behind Gharna, the two heading towards Urla's home.

The two young Tuskir then reached Urla's and Runhar's home, whereupon the young Tuskir man himself took lead as he knocked on the door. "Mother, may we enter? Gharna arrived and she wished to speak with you?"

"Come in." Was heard muffled from inside. The two would then enter, seeing now in front of them Urla as she seemed to be mixing a small wooden spoon into a steaming wood mug. "Welcome back, Gharna. I am guessing our guest has been doing better?"

"Thank you, Den Mother. Uhm... yes? I think so. After Azhul got him out of the tool shack, we escorted him, we went to the river, he showed us a tool his people use for fishing and... We have been learning quite a bit about his biology and uhm... about his home." The young sow said as she did a light bow when she first greeted Urla.

"Oh? I am curious. Please do tell. We have already seen a bit of what it is capable of and I felt a bit of a dread washing over me, especially after the fight with my son. Still... I find myself doubting my own thoughts... he fought my son more like a beast than any person, yet... the moment I asked him to spare Runhar... he apologized and I could see sadness in his eyes. Although I was glad he accepted my plea, it left me confused." Urla said with a hum in her throat as she sipped her tea.

"Huh... I thought you might have exagerated, but then... we are talking about our Den Mother. I wouldn't imagine bardic theatrics to be of interest to you." Runhar said with a small chuckle, which managed to get a small smile out of his mother, which just as quickly dissapeared as she looked at Gharna.

"So that was all, huh? I was wondering myself if you did anything to get such a reaction out of him." Gharna would say as she took a seat upon an empty stool. "Well... I feel it is best you know a bit of what he told us. But... take it with a grain of salt, the way he behaved was sincere, or at least it seemed so, yet, we can't say for sure." Gharna added, as she would then recount what Michael told her and Azhul, about his home, about his people, the good and the bad about them, as well as Michael's intent on what he wishes to do while he is here. Eventually, she would mention his wish to eventually return home, as well. During this time Gharna and Runhar would listen intently, making sure to pay attention with a morbid curiosity.

++++

The moment Michael began collapsing, Azhul caught him, dropping her halberd in the process. "Gods... this should not have went this way." She mumbled to herself as she then lifted him, making sure to keep the wound above his heart and putting pressure on it.

The sow began moving him closer to the river side and once the bleeding seemed to stop she began gathering his belongings afterwards, as well as reclaiming her halberd. Before taking a moment to breath and calm down she took a deep sniff of the air. 'Hmm... I can only smell the corpse here... the two remaining backed up... the smell is faint so they are either leaving or going to get reinforcements to finish us.'

The Tuskir woman gave herself a moment to breath, letting out a small huff at the pain of the wound on her inner thigh. 'Gah... if only I didn't get cut... this would be much easier.' She groaned as she could still feel, blood trickle down her leg. The Tuskir woman then ripped part of her under shirt in a long strip and she began tightly wrapping her wound. Once done she snorted at the air again and felt confident enough to seat herself down on the dirt, next to Michael, who she semi propped on his belly on a rock to keep the wound elevated.

"Sigh... if anyone told me a few days ago our days to come will happen like this... by the Hunt Father... I would call them crazy and ask them what manner of herbs did they consume to think up the existence of such a creature." She said in a joking tone as she then spotted Michael's bottle, hanging from his rucksack, taking it out, she would struggle a moment to open it before chugging part of the water.

"W-well. I am ugh-... sorry for the chaos." As Azhul heard Michael talk, she looked over to him wide eyed. The young man's head was slightly lulling as he looked at her with the corner of his eye.

"I- thought you passed out from blood loss... I stopped it for now, but ye better not move. The dagger is still in." She said as she now turned towards him entirely.

"I figure it might have been fainting from fear... I don't taste blood in my mouth and I am still able to breath somewhat fine, although my back burns... looks like I got lucky. F-for now... What happened with our attackers?" He asked after a short pause to catch his breath while getting used to a slight pressure on the underside of his lung when he fully inhaled. He could feel his heart pounding still with vigor,

"They left. For now. They might call for reinforcements, send others to finish us off." Azhul answered plainly as she keept snorting at the air, her expression still keeping calm, if possibly a bit nervous about the human's state. "H-how are you calm right now? By the Hunt Father you have a dagger in your back, the bleeding has stopped, but if you move it might start again. I-... I really want to move you out of here, back to the village, but knowing we might have help coming... I am afraid to move you more and make it worse"

"Oh- no no. I am quite, as my people say "scared shitless", but I think I have panicked so much in such a... short amount of time and so quickly... I think I exhausted myself of that specific emotion, for the moment at least. Like when you are angry and just eventually relent, you know?" Michael said in a tired voice as he reached to his backpack, that was just a finger's tip out of his grasp.

Azhul gently nudged it towards him, as her worry turned to confusion. At this point the young man opened it and reached into a hidden inner pocket, from which he pulled his phone, an old Sansumg 8. He would run his fingers across the worn case, with coloring scraped all over, as he would then turn it on and go for his gallery. He exhaled relaxing slightly as his eye light up a bit while looking at the last picture he took. There it was him, his mother, sister and grandparents, right in front of the cave they were visiting.

Azhul's eyes stared on curiously at this and she even slightly recoiled as the weird metal rectangle light up on one side. The big sow even got slightly startled once she saw what looked like people and even Michael inside it. "Whoa! Is this one of them artifacts, Gharna told me about. She said you had one on which you could draw images. What is this one for? Does it let you look into the past? Future?" She asked curious.

"It is a tool. It can do quite a few things, some of which are useless here, sadly, but it still has plenty other uses and no. It is hard to explain, but best way to put it, what you see here is a "photo". A picture taken of something that happened. If you want, for a lack of better terms... it captures memories, so you may look at them when you wish." He said plainly and with a solemn voice.

"That does sound quite nice, but why now of all times? I am at a bit of a loss for solutions besides wait to see if we get saved or die." Azhul said truthfully as she could feel a bit of anxiety creeping in her tone.

"I wanted to remind myself the faces of my family, in case of anything... You know, you can still make it home somewhat easily? I know, I am dragging you down, but I won't make the foolish suggestion to leave me here or to hide me somewhere while you go get help, because I have a feeling you won't." Michael said with a small smile as he looked to the big Tuskir woman. 'And because those furred asshole would most likely sniff me out eventually, if I did hide.' He thought to himself.

"You are right, but not because of the goodness of my soul. I just wouldn't want to be the one to have killed our strange vagabond guest. And because I am certain Urla would be quite mad at me." Azhul said in light tone with an awkward chuckle following, which Michael responded to in kind, followed by a groan of discomfort. The air of tensness seemed to ease, yet Azhul kept her snout on the wind, still.

"Well. Since I was afraid you'd say that... I have been raking my head on what to do. I've got an idea for defenses, to buy us time, while we wait for help. We still have that fishing wire I used for the rod, right?" Michael asked as he looked about with his limited range of movement.

The big sow reached down behind the backpack and pulled up the roll showing it to him, at which the human smirked. "Good. There should be a second roll in my bag. Hopefully none of it rips afterwards, but for now I have the best use for it in my mind. See if there are some decent clusters of trees at the edge of the grove that can make a perimeter around a center. if there is enough space for one or two people to pass inbetween, it should be enough, with some decent space in the middle of them. We're going to employ some human ingenuity." The young man said with a mischevious grin.