Chapter 2 - The Visitors

As the evening sun began to make it's decent into the western horizon a few days later, Hiro sat alone enjoying his peace and quiet near the main cave. Everyone else was busy and thus, he found a few moments of tranquility as he worked on his herbs and plants. Medicinal herbs and plants, offerings from the gods, which had special powers to heal—Hiro had learned curative from his mother. Sure he was a hunter as well, just like all males in their clan, but he was also considered very smart. That intelligence was not wasted on just minimal tasks; it was used to make people better as well. Often the Uesugi tribe would come, calling for his or his mothers' assistance, since they did not have a healer among them. Instead they depended solely on prayer, which in his opinion didn't always seem to work.

Hiro lifted a bladder full of hamaboufuu root, a decoction with hot water and drank. It was a tuberous plant that also aided in joint pain and arthritis, but it served well as a tea too. He also tested some of the stuff himself, seeing what kind of reaction they would have on his body…sometimes the results made him sick for days. But as his mother told him, it was part of the art of healing. Often he gave the substance to Yuuji to test, because he was usually more than willing to participate. Besides, Hiro thought it made up for Yuuji's lack of assistance, his slothfulness.

Hiro smirked at his thoughts of his brother as a sloth and looked around. He squinted as he spotted a few new faces approaching their camp, south from the plains. The front-man strode tall, with a youthful, yet halcyon gait. From where he sat Hiro noticed the mass of coal black hair, kept short. By the talisman he wore (which swung back and forth around his waist and the beads around his neck), he could tell that he was a spiritual man. Hiro also knew that the talisman was a carving of a coyote, for this man was indeed full of devilment. It was told that the coyotes howled while his mother gave birth to him, or at least that was what Hiro's mother had told him. But even though this was a dynamic man, he was also respected because he was the youngest son of the Uesugi's clan chief…Papa as he was called. Hiro paused in his task and watched as Tatsuha's long swaying robes of weaved material dusted off the moist ground. A product made by his sister Mika, who was a clothes maker.

Tatsuha though, did not come alone. With him were two others, one which Hiro recognized as Tatsuha's older brother, Eiri. The other he recognized as Tohma a man of counsel, all from the Uesugi clan. Hiro thought at times Tohma resembled a female. But he had been proven wrong when he'd gone to his first ceremony gathering, in which the man had his rites with Mika—both being naked at the time of vows.

But these men had blond hair which varied in hue. Eiri's was three dimensional like a golden swaying field of wheat, with eyes to match—which was rare in this region. And Tohma's was a muted blond, more like soft platinum. Both also wore travelling robes of dark bead-hemmed cloth and animal skin. Hiro concluded they looked tired from a long journey, quite the contrast from Tatsuha's zealous stride.

By now a messenger had run to inform his father, Hikaru, the Nakano Clan chief. As the trio entered the rocky camp, Hiro quickly filled a leather pouch full ashitaba and tied it closed. It seemed as though Tatsuha had spotted him in his tranquil working spot, because they headed his way. Hiro stuffed the ashitaba into a small pouch with other medicines and stood.

Hiro placed his hands together and bowed, as was the custom. "I am one of Gaia's humble servants," he said, holding his stance.

The others bowed back in the same fashion and all said, "May Gaia bless us."

All straightened and Tohma was first to speak, "We've come as messengers of the Uesugi clan, as children of Kiyoshi—"

"—since when are you only messengers? You are our beloved guests!"

The group all looked over to see Hikaru and his wife Cho, Hiroshi's parents. Somewhere behind them Hiro noticed his older brother curiously following them, along with many other people.

His parents stood both bundled up well in skin and furs. Cho wore something more like a skirt with leggings underneath, feet completely wrapped in soft hide but her long dark hair flowed behind her. Hikaru, with greying short hair, wasn't a tall man but what he lacked in height he made up for in dedicated leadership. Both of his parents also wore their totems proudly, Hikaru the red-eyed crane of independence and Cho the otter, which ultimately meant the healer. As with all people, a spirit animal was thought to guide them throughout a life cycle. Sometimes it was gods that told them what spirit animal guided them, and sometimes they got selected by that animal themselves. For Hikaru and Cho they wore their totems painted on the back of their hands, and on their clothes from the dye of a red figwort plant.

Tatsuha smiled at the joviality of the Nakano chief and said, "Just as you are our guests within the Uesugi camp, but today I am your servant. Please take this..." He looked over at Eiri. "Brother?"

Eiri, who didn't seem happy to be here, untied a leather pouch from his waist, "Compliments of our father…it's full of soyo."

"Oh, the mulberry trees in the south are already producing their precious leaves I see," exclaimed Hikaru. Soyo came from the leaves of these trees and could be steeped with boiling water. It made a tea that was a symbol for aiding thirst and over all well-being for the body, but it had tons of medicinal purposes too. Right now though, it was peace offering as well as gesture of long life.

"We thank you," said Cho pleasantly.

As Eiri began to hand it over to the chief, a short male with a frock of brown hair appeared before Hikaru as if he'd emerged out of thin air. This man had from the recesses of the camp, unbeknownst to anyone else; ran with the stealth of a panther. Although he was fast he had appeared quietly to accept the gift. "Yuki," he breathed almost dreamily, slightly out of breath.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Tohma and Cho at the same time, both being surprised by the sudden appearance of this boy.

"Shuichi…" Hiroshi groaned. "That gift is not for you." He gave his father a sympathetic look. Actually he knew why Shuichi had come flying out of the cave, it was Eiri. Or as Shuichi called him, Yuki, which was a nickname Eiri had given himself. The first time his best friend had laid eyes on Eiri was a moment similar to this one. About ten years ago, Eiri and his father had come to greet and guide them on a journey for his first ceremony gathering. He had only been a child at the time, but after that gathering Shuichi talked of nothing else except Yuki. And for the last ten years, both grown up…Shuichi developed more than just fascination for the man. Only it was hard to tell if Yuki carried out the same feelings for Shuichi. But none of the less, Shuichi was direly persistent and he made himself known in Eiri's presence.

"I know that Hirooo," Shuichi sang. "I just wanted to be the one to hand it to the chief," he lied and passed the offering to the leader. But he turned back blinking with big eyes and grinning goofily at Yuki. "I bet you're extremely tired from your journey. Did you see any bears? I heard they migrated south because their land is being swamped with water. The glacier to the north is melting, did you know that? If it floods out our cave, can I come live with you—"

"—please be quiet." Eiri stopped the boy, looking quite flummoxed.

Hiro choked on a snicker along with Tatsuha, Tohma cleaned under a nail and pursed his lips.

"You all must be tired. Come along and eat something. Someone will set up a cot for you to sleep, since you'll be staying with us until we leave for the ceremony," the chief told the group.

"Yes…father insisted we escort like usual," Tatsuha offered and turned to face Hiro, "Ayaka sends you Kiyoshi's wish."

Feeling his stomach flop, Hiro blushed a little and thanked Tatsuha for relaying the message. Kiyoshi was Uesugi's family god, the god of purity in which they believed existed in a spring near their home. And its wish was unity among the people. This is what Hiro had come to learn growing up. But it was odd, everytime people mentioned this ceremony he felt a wave of knots in his stomach or like he'd eaten a dozen live butterflies. But as Yuuji had mentioned, the ceremony wasn't for another two moon cycles…which meant this Uesugi bunch would be here for quite awhile. That ought to make Shuichi happy, Hiro thought amusedly for a moment. He would have Yuki to torture until the next full moon.

Scooping up a handful of snow K ate it to hydrate himself, slowly letting it melt on his tongue before swallowing. He was so tired and weary, so was the rest of the group that no one wished to rise yet from their tents. But he was the first one up and packing up his weapons and tools for another long day of walking. K was determined to find warmer land, which he was positive was getting closer. Five days of travel, proved to show more life the farther they went. He was confident they were descending the glacier! But it was not easy to find a way down without killing yourself, they had to watch out and be careful. So K decided to follow a path, a path he didn't realize a river ran through under the ice.

As he wandered off to relieve himself, he stood looking over in the distance. From here he saw land and he was so eager to plant his feet on its soil! He didn't see the brightness of snow or ice in the distance anymore…it was a tremendously hopeful sight. But it was a few miles down at least, maybe another whole day, he thought as he headed back to get people moving. When he got there it seemed Judy was already up and backing out of Ark's tent, her hands clutching an herb pouch.

"Oh, Claude…you're up early," she said surprised.

"I want to get moving," K said firmly and asked, "Is Ark awake?" He looked on curiously. This wasn't what he thought it was, was it? Even if it was Judy belonged to Aurora first, he really didn't have a say. Still there were social standards.

"Why?" she wondered quickly.

K gave her a puzzled look, "So I can see if he's ready to get going."

"Yes, he's awake…I just gave him a drink with some cranesbill—"

"—is he unwell?" K injected worriedly.

"It was a stomach ache…nothing to worry about I don't think," Judy assured and stood up coolly. She came over and pulled him down for a quick kiss and hug. "I should go help my parents get ready…let's make it to the bottom today shall we?"

K noted Judy's tender mouth. "I intend to my sweet blossom."

"Good, I want our ceremony as soon as possible," she replied eagerly and walked off.

Later that day the tribe meandered their way down the cliffs of ice and rock that seemed to go on forever. They made use of sharp sticks and their backsides to get through some slippery areas. On the last mile as they walked ahead of everyone else, K looked over at Ark to see how he was doing. He seemed alright to him he didn't look peaked or anything, K thought and asked, "Feeling better?"

His long time friend blinked and cast his eyes at K, "Was I sick?"

"Stomach trouble? I bet you just need to eat…look down there." K pointed with his gloved hand, puffing with exertion, "Trees."

Ark nodded and smiled at K, "Should be some food in there."

"Do you think we finally found land without the ice?" K wondered hopefully.

"It sure looks that way, but let's not get too confident," Ark advised, eyes lingering on K for a moment. It seemed as if he wanted to say more but didn't.

K gazed at Ark back for a moment too. "What is it? Does Reiji have a plan to murder me or something?" He could always tell when something was bothering Ark.

"Have I ever told you that…that I always wanted to be just like you." Ark said mysteriously, looking back to make sure no one over heard them.

Surprised, K laughed. "Ha! Yeah, you tell me that everytime I land the final blow in a hunt," he clamoured with amusement. Even though he was good at hunting, Ark surpassed him in all ways when it came to fishing, although he would never admit that. But Ark wasn't laughing along with his usual banter, K looked away feeling uneasy. He wondered what Ark's problem was and slung an arm over his friends' shoulder, "You don't want to be like me, trust me. I like you just the way you are."

Although it was normal, today Ark shied away out from K's predilection and looked behind him. "Soon, you'll be mated...it's like only yesterday we were boys. And you have…you have the one thing…" That I don't, Ark thought bitterly. "Forget I said anything Claude."

Yeah, no kiddingK thought and looked back to see what Ark was looking at. He spotted Judy watching them closely and waved to her cheerfully. But his smile vanished when he turned back to see where he was going. K frowned, something wasn't right…

A/N: Even with all the added info I just want to say I'm no expert and I only write for fun as a hobby. Story telling is the best, I hope to entertain with this, even tho there may be times it's too graphic or characters seem weird XD...I'm such a worry wort I swear. But I get nervous posting any fics that I write up lol. So keep an open mind I'll post some sites I've been using as reference...they have been so useful for ideas etc.

Reviewer:

Niyari - Thank you SO much for your lovely comment! I do hope to keep up the tone of and feel of the story. It can be trying at times, writing something were I have to pretend everyone is primal again lol. So yup all this primal talk is on purpose XD I got the whole thing plotted and lots written. I hope you continue to enjoy, even tho often the characters might seem strange lol. Thanks again!