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Encounter on the Ice – Miks the Tent Owner

The Pantokrator has given us His command. As such, I must do my part. Which is why I traveled out of Atlantis, once more. To a camp consisting of seal hunters under my command, I went. And there, I found my hunters, maintaining their spears and harpoons.

"Hunters!" I called, grabbing their attention. "We have been tasked by the Pantokrator himself! It is time for us to hunt!"

I raised my spear up high and proclaimed, "For the Pantokrator and Atlantis!'

After mirroring my actions in unison, all of us set out to look for our usual prey. We took down my tent, and before we truly began, we took a detour. As per tradition, we would get blessed by a Tungalik before the hunt begins.

And so, we met with Shila, one of the many Tungalik that minister to us Seal Hunters.

"Shila," I greeted. With a bow.

The Tungalik reciprocated the greeting and said, "Miks, here to request a ritual, I presume?"

"Yes," I replied. "As per the command of our Lord, we shall embark to find food for our people."

He nodded, and soon began to order his guard detail to prepare for a ritual. It began with a song. Then, the instruments shortly followed. And finally, the dance.

Although I have seen it countless times, I still could not help but feel amazed. The song stirs the soul, and the percussive sounds of the drums reverberate throughout my entire being. And as the Tungalik continues his hypnotic dance, the bone charms sway and strike each other, adding onto the harmonic music of the ceremony.

Soon enough, it ends, and I could feel the Pantokrator's presence. With the ceremony over, we bid our farewells, and went on our way. Knowing what our usual prey are, we started moving North.

Of course, the territory influenced by our Lord has nothing. Only corpses. And so, we have to go farther away from the territory. Soon enough, we reached the sea and immediately dived into it.

The frigid waters did nothing but encourage us. This is where we truly excel. We swam unimpeded through the waters and saw the bounty of the sea. Much of it was in the form of fish, some of which we speared with little to no difficulty.

At some point, however, we saw it. Gracefully swimming underwater and preying upon fish are seals, our primary prey. Knowing that they would simply flee if we attacked now, I stealthy commanded my group to descend to the seafloor.

We observed herd as they ate their fill, and closely followed their movements. Soon enough, they had finished feeding and headed up to a nearby shore to rest. It was time to begin the hunt.

We surfaced a bit away from the seals' resting site. Slowly, we approached them, with harpoons in hand. We targeted six seals in all, with me taking on one, while the hunters under my command paired up with each other to take on the other five.

I raised up a hand to tell all of them to ready their spears.

"Wait for it," I thought. Moments later, I chopped my hand down, indicating that it was time to strike and threw my harpoon almost immediately after.

The harpoon struck true, going through a seal's head—killing it almost instantly. The others were not as precise, but none of them failed in killing their prey. However, our actions had startled the herd, and some of them began to flee.

"Dammit!" a stranger shouted in common, followed by a spear flying through the air and killing a seal.

"A seal?" I thought, as a strange figure came out from behind a nearby outcropping. "Wait, no, that's a... female triton wearing seal fur? And yet, her outfit does not fully cover her torso. How strange."

After checking on her prey, she immediately started approaching us. Angrily, she pointed her spear at us.

"YOU! What's the—" she started shouting. However, upon getting closer, she became shocked, and asked, "Wait, what are you?"

I sighed and handed my seal to Tuktu before approaching the stranger. Upon closer inspection, she seemed less like a female triton and more of a female human. Still, she did not attack first, so that's something.

"You rather rude, aren't you?" I said in common. It wasn't my best language, but I knew enough to converse with it. "We Atlantians. Me, Miks, Tent Owner."

My response had taken her out of her shock, and her anger has now been replaced by curiosity. She looked at me closely and seemed to size me up.

"Are you a monster?" she asked. But then she murmured to herself, "But wait, he's a male, right? Male monsters don't exist."

"Monster?" I asked in reply. "No, we Atlantians. We not wild beast."

That had taken her aback. "No, I meant like me!"

I did not reply verbally, and instead looked down at myself before looking back at her.

"Point taken," she replied, exasperated. She then sighed and bowed her head, saying, "I'm Deirdre, and I'm sorry about my outburst earlier. It's just that I was still setting up when you suddenly attacked."

"No problem," I replied. "You just want successful hunt, yes? We understand."

"Nice meeting you," I said, looking at the sky and noting the sun's position. "But we go now. Goodbye."

"Wait!' she called. "Can I go with you? I-I'm curious about you Atlantians."

I tilted my head in thought. "She does not seem hostile, snd tere has been no restrictions regarding foreigners. I suppose, it could not hurt."

I nodded and said, "Alright, you come."

And with that, my team and I, plus a follower, began going back to Atlantian territory. The trip back was uneventful, and when we arrive from the hunt, we were celebrated as usual.

Deidre was unable to stop herself from gawking at my kind, but we didn't mind. It was the same with foreigners in the old world, after all. Still, I couldn't help but feel that the gazes she gives me are more... special, in a way.

"Well, as long as she does not bother me during hunts, it would not be a problem."