I never liked the smell of the ocean. The salt and the fish, all stirred by the harsh sea breezes. It was too thick, too pungent. I wasn't meant for the ocean. Trolls weren't meant for the ocean. But boat travel was faster than most and one of the easiest options for communication with other various tribes, whether they were other sea based groups, or inland based, it was always faster to travel with the waves below and wind carrying you than on the back of a beast of burden. How ever I had no use for travel in such ways. I disliked Revantusk village because of its untamed rolling blue neighbor, I had no wish to move to a seaside village just like it. I longed for smaller spaces and fresher air. I longed for endless inland nights. I longed for the forest. I was after all a forest troll.
Revantusk was my birth home and I had lived there all my life. My Father had been one of the first trolls to live on the hinterland shores as a young mateless and as more vagrants entered the area a new tribe was born, my own father, the first of the Revantusk. After year of growing and expanding Revantusk became a permanent village and a known tribe among the hills and branches of the Hinterlands and North. With the village itself established my father soon found himself a mate and willing settled his life as a leader of the Revantusk. Many years after the founding of Revantusk my brother, Zutrkk'Voorn, was born and given my own fathers name as a title and birthright, as he was the first child born to the Revantusk. I was born not ten four-season after and was given no birthright or honor of being first or even second child to the tribe. I was simply given the name and spirit of my mother, who had died during my birth. Tief, the lost child of the forgotten Voorn, father of the Revantusk. My bitterness to Revantusk and the ocean defining it born the same day as I.
My life growing up was simple. My brother and other trolls born near me kept me company. My father kept Zutrkk and I in line, and every other troll in the village taught us something that we'd need to survive in life. I rarely saw any other troll, or living humanoid creature, except for the twenty or so of us that were part of the tribe. I can recall a few times as a young child when a troll I couldn't recognize would come through the village and speak with my father. I, along all with the other younger trolls were herded into our homes and kept inside until the outsider left, giving us only small glances at the one who always looked so much like us, but so different. I remember one time one of these trolls managed to just appear on our shores catching us all unaware. I had been watching my father work at the dock and when he saw the strangers figure he quickly pushed my to my brother who held me still behind him. I watched pass him as my father slowly walked up to the troll. The rest of our village at a stop, all glaring at this unwelcomed guest.
He was smaller than the other trolls who I had ever seen come onto our shores. However he had an intimidating look to him which made up for his lack of muscle. His tusks were thin and long, meticulously pointed at the tips, adding to the menacing look of him. Few trolls rarely took the time to sharpen their tusks, and those who did so, did it not to look good, but to fight. However the oddest and most unnerving piece of his appearance was the violet scarf that draped around his shoulders. cloth was hard to come by in troll society, most of what was had were old scraps that had been scavenged after raids and traded to various tribes over the years. However the piece that this troll wore was large and in immaculate condition. The color shone brightly through the ocean haze. This troll was either the leader of a great empire, or had somehow managed to kill an entire non-troll settlement by himself. Neither of which made him any more welcome.
My father talked with him for many minutes. All of which I stared from behind my brothers legs and observed this stranger. He may have looked intimidating but he also had feature that interesting me. His skin or the thin moss that grew on it was thick and bright, unlike the washed out pigments created by constant sea weather and clouds of my Revantusk family. Nor was his hair in the matted dread locks that most trolls I lived with had, his was presented in various braids in the back connected to a large Mohawk. All smooth with various bits and bobbles holding it all together. Most of all were his eyes, they shown with a golden intensity that contrasted greatly with the pale stare of most other trolls. This troll had seen many things and been to many places and I envied him so much.
When the troll finally left I watched him not walk away down the shore, but watched in awe as he leaped into the air and began climbing up the cliff that lead inland. That had been how he had managed to come so close to our home without any of knowing. My father paid no attention to this and simply walked over to Zutrkk and me. His face was expressionless as he ordered everyone to go back to their business. I looked up at him wide eyed yet he would not meet my gaze.
"Take her to Asaayo, and then come meet me at the dock." I loathed the thought of being left out of hearing about the stranger, as I knew that was what my father planned to discuss with Zutrkk, but I knew better than to struggle as my brother pushed me off to the tribe care takers hut. I did not want to anger my father at this time, and I knew that my brother would find a time to tell me about what my father had to say. However my brother never would have a chance to tell me about it as I would not see him again for a very long time. Of that day, my wish to leave the village would be stranger than ever.
My father never spoke of my brother disappearance to me, and no matter how much I begged or threatened no one else would tell me about it either. Most of them claimed they knew just as little as I did. All I knew was once my father came to Asaayo's tent to take me home my brother was gone, no where in the village, no where on the shore, my father too seemed colder and more hardened than ever. I could only assume that my father had made Zutrkk leave and that it all had something to do with that stranger. Needless to say in the following years, my father and I rarely ever talked and I ended up growing up with what seemed like no real family.
Many years after my brother's disappearance, as I was just on the verge of adulthood, I still had the untamable urge to leave the village. I had long ago given up my questions about what had happened to Zutrkk and had also given up on ever connecting with my father again. I simply wanted to leave the Revantusk behind and search for a brighter future, as most trolls my age would. Days were long, but season seemed short. The shore line seemed to shrink each day as the outside grew in my mind at exponential rates. I stayed away from my father as much as I could and would spend much of my time with Asaayo, who taught me how to be a good female troll. Her withered fingers would weave various plant stalks or mix arranged soils or spices in front of me, her gray hair falling out of its one thick braid and falling into her eyes. She was old, and while her knowledge of village history was immense, she had never left its bounds, so she soon bored me as all the other trolls did.
I could have run away at anytime I wanted. No one really paid attention to who was or wasn't at the village except for when a baby managed to find its way down the shore. I couldn't bring myself to leave though. In a way the village was mine, and once my father passed the people would be my duty. They bored me but they still were family. However had I been given the excuse to leave, a mission or assignment from my father, then I would have left. Of course I knew that my father, while he may not have thought much of me as troll, would not let the only heir to the Revantusk seat of power get into danger. Of course not all excursions out of the village were dangerous ones.
As I grew older I knew that the only way I'd ever get a chance to leave the village was to accompany my father to one of the large troll festivals. That was why I had stopped pestering my father as I grew older. He would never take an annoying bothersome daughter to a gathering of all the forest troll tribesmen. And it would seem that all my estrangement from my father would pay off. On the day of my 24th year my father requested my presence within his own tent. It had been 12 years since my brother disappears and not once had my father directly talked to me since it. I was still young for a troll, a few more years till I'd be considered an actual adult, and it surprised me that now would be the time for my father to call to me. There were no known holidays or festivities in the coming months and from what I had known the tribes were at piece. Still my hope was high and in my blood I knew that this was my chance to leave my home and take the opportunity to find out what happened to my father. I Entered my fathers private hut with quick steps and found him crouched by the fire in the center, his faces shadows deformed by the erratic light of the flames.
He looked up at me, and nodded with his creased face for me to sit. I kneeled down, as Asaayo had taught me to do in the presence of authority, I knew that I would have to impress him still, lest he change his mind as to what he wanted to talk to me about.
"Teif" I had to keep myself from cringing as he spoke my name. As a child he had rarely ever addressed me with it and now, to hear it said in his graveled voice with such malice and distaste, it struck me and all the hatred I had ever held for him. But I held myself, he was my only chance.
"I don't like you." His voice was as flat as it could be and each syllable cut into me. I had known this fact all my life but hearing him say it, it made me want to through him into the fire right there, but I kept still.
"I never have or will like you, you are my daughter only in the sense that you came from my mate, whom you killed. You are a poor excuse for a Revantusk troll and are a scar upon this shore." I realized then, that whether he meant any of this or not, he was trying to get my angry, and while in a way he was succeeding, I wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing so. I kept my face straight and even nodded to his accusations.
"I don't want the rule of the revantusk to land on you, it was supposed to go to Zutrkk'Voorn" He intentionally emphasized the second half of the name. I sat there still with as much indifference on my face as I possibly could. "That is why you are here. I know you have always hated this village as I have hated you so I am giving you a chance to fulfill your dreams. Leave" I couldn't help but sneer at him.
"Yes I assumed you'd be pleased with that" He sounded disgusted "but there is a catch" I waited silently as he got up to his full height. He was not a large troll but nor was he small or average. He walked to the back of his tent and picked up a piece of old brown cloth and returner to the fire.
"You must find your brother and bring him back here, lest you die with no honor at the mercy of the gods." He threw the cloth at me and I realized it was map of all the forest troll lands.
"But where is-" I was not allowed to finish my question as I was cut off by a harsh bark from my father.
"I will not tell you. You must simply find him and bring him back to me. If you do that I will allow you to live out the rest of your pathetic life as you please. But if you never return with him then think it your own fault that the Revantusk will die after only a generation and if you even dare to return to me without him, you will die as the most lowly piece of troll filth that ever live or died."
I looked up at him "Why? Why threaten me, I could just refuse and stay here" I questioned him even though I already knew the answer. "Because I know you cannot resist" he sat back down and stared at me through the flames "Because since that day you've wanted to go after him, and no matter what I threaten you with if you fail, you'll still go. You cannot resist the chance to leave" And with that I picked up the piece of cloth and ran out of the hut, out of the village, and out of the Revantusk history, to find my brother and realize my life as a true troll.