They rode for hours, pressing their mounts hard to gain as much distance between them and the hold in the shortest amount of time. Eventually, though, the animals' energy wore down and soon could barely move at even a meager walk. Still they did not stop, instead continuing through the early morning and on into daylight while cautiously looking around for signs of pursuit or ambush.
It was inevitable of course that they did have to stop as the day waned, in a way matching their declining strength. Our second day awake straight, Jacob thought tiredly as he climbed off the kodo with a groan. For a moment he had to steady himself against the massive reptile as his legs tried to give out, so tired was he from the long time without sleep, the fight to escape, and the long ride, but eventually the human remained standing through sheer force of will. "It's a good thing I fought Fairmount right away, rather than after that ride," Jacob grunted out.
"Oh? Tohopekaliga asked almost teasingly from where she was climbing – slowly – off of her ravasaur mount. "Afraid you'd lose after a tiny bit of sleep deprivation?"
"No," Jacob replied, deadpan. "I would have still beaten her. Only now I would have had to really work hard at trying to not run her through afterwards."
Toho chuckled a bit at that, though it was tempered by her own weariness. "Then we fortunate that no pursuit appeared."
Jacob tilted his head a bit at that, though he soon righted it when he felt the steel helm he wore pull at his tired neck muscles a bit too much for comfort. "Your language is slipping," he said carefully.
The tauren grunted at that and turned to take some things off of her mount. "I'm sorry, I do that sometimes when I am tired."
"No need to be sorry, Toho," Jacob said as he glanced around the small cul-de-sac in the side of a hill they'd taken refuge in. "Just letting you know, just in case," he added as he began to unceremoniously strip off his 'borrowed' armor.
"I appreciate it, I do," Toho replied. "For now, though, we should concentrate on setting up a decent camp and getting sleep."
"You don't need to tell me twice," Jacob grunted out. Then he took some furs from the kodo, unrolled them on the ground, and then fell down upon them. "There, camp's done," he said and then closed his eyes.
A brief silence met his proclamation, followed by the noise of Toho walking over to stand next to him. "You know, I only promised I would get you to Northwatch. I never said anything about keeping you alive after that," the tauren slyly spoke.
Jacob opened his eyes and smiled up at the huntress, who after a moment returned the smile. "You know you'd miss me," the human said.
"Only if my scope was misaligned," Toho retorted.
"Seems like it was last night," Jacob countered. "Or did you intend to miss the dear captain?"
Tohopekaliga snorted and turned to walk back to the ravasaur. "Omiya offered to take care of my gun, so I suspect she did something to the scope. I would never miss at that range otherwise!"
"I don't know," Jacob said teasingly from where he remained on the furs. "I've only seen you shoot maybe one thing in the time I've known you. And granted, it was a nice shot, but quilboar aren't exactly hard targets, being so ugly and all."
The click of a gun being readied startled the human, and Jacob turned his head to see Toho aiming her rifle in his direction. "Hey, look, I was just-" he began, but couldn't finish before the tauren fired.
The bullet whizzed past his head and filled his ears with a rush of noise almost as loud as the crack of the powder that propelled it. The crunch of the slug impacting ground to his right came soon after, though Jacob had barely recognized all three sounds together before it was all over. Blinking he looked up at Toho, who gestured with her head towards where she had fired. Slowly, Jacob turned his head around and saw not a few feet away from him a snake, or rather the remains of one that had the front part of its body blown apart by a heavy rifle slug.
"That," Toho said, walking back towards Jacob with her rifle casually held in one hand, "is why we take time to set up a proper camp, so as to not have nasty surprises creep up on us."
Jacob looked back to her. "I- I thought you said that Omiya messed with your rifle?"
Tohopekaliga brought her gun up in both hands and took a brief look at her scope. "Yes, apparently she did," the huntress said flatly.
The human frowned. "But, if she did, how did you aim that?" He asked, confused. "Wouldn't your shot have missed?"
"It would if I had aimed for the snake," Toho said, setting her rifle down. "But I aimed for your head instead."
No word spilled from Jacob's mouth for a moment before he finally remembered how to speak. "But, you didn't check your gun until just now. What if you had been wrong?"
Toho leaned over the human and smiled at him. "I wasn't wrong because I never," she inched lower and closer, "ever," and closer yet, "miss."
They both held still and silent for a time, Toho keeping an unnerving grin on her muzzle. Finally, she brought herself back upright and turned to retrieve her rifle. "Now help me set up camp properly."
"Yes ma'am," Jacob said quickly and despite his tired and aching body, jumped up to assist.
The next morning was already well underway by the time Jacob awoke. Light, I feel like a dragon landed on me, the human thought as he slowly sat upright. In spite of his long slumber, his muscles ached as if he hadn't slept a wink, and his head felt as if it would split open at the slightest touch. Isn't sleep supposed to be restful?
He looked around the campsite then, deciding to put off further thought until he found something to fill the hole where his stomach used to be. His eyes alighted upon a cooking fire still smoldering and a pan filled with some sort of vittles he couldn't immediately identify, though his nose said they were several orders above edible. He also saw Toho sitting on the ground, her rifle in her lap and a toolbox opened beside her. The tauren's attention was almost entirely focused on her firearm, though when Jacob started to get up, she glanced over and nodded to him. "Good morning," Toho said as she lifted up the goggles she wore and rested them above her eyes. "I already ate, so feel free to have whatever's left in the pan."
"Thank you," the human mumbled as courteously as he could manage while he staggered over to the fire from where he'd lain for the night. "Do you feel as bad as I do?" Jacob asked as he sat down and reached for the pan and utensils.
"Probably not," Toho answered, sympathy in her voice. "But then, I didn't have my body hammered in a melee fight. As well, tauren tend to have better stamina than other races so the long time without sleep didn't bother me as much, I would wager."
Jacob grumbled something unintelligible, wishing he could think of a suitable epithet for the occasion. Instead, he just dug into the food and the world disappeared from his awareness for a few minutes while he ate. When Jacob finished and came up for figurative air, he saw Toho putting her tools away. "Fixed your gun then, eh?" He asked.
Toho nodded. "Yes, that- woman misaligned my scope. It has been corrected now," the huntress said.
Despite never being what one would call a 'morning person', Jacob chuckled a bit. "You must be quite upset if you almost called a priestess a bad name," he observed wryly as he leaned back to reach for his canteen where it sat near his bedding.
The tauren blushed, and Jacob marveled a bit that he could see the reddening of her face through the fur. Good thing her ears turn down too, he thought, noticing Tohopekaliga's ears folding down to emphasis the emotion. "Yes, well," Toho began after clearing her throat. "A huntress tends to become attached to her weapon, seeing as it's her foremost means of combat. Anyone who damages or mishandles it, even a priestess, tends to make one feel threatened, no matter the reason for her intervention."
Jacob nodded and then took a long pull of water from his canteen. His mind clicked on something in the tauren's voice as he finished, and the human gave Toho an evaluating look. She noticed this, and turned away from Jacob as she reached into her shirt and pulled out her necklace. "I suppose you want to ask about this?"
He took a moment to think before he glanced down. "I don't want to pry," he began slowly.
"But you're curious," Toho stated, intending to finish Jacob's sentence as she looked back to him.
"I just want to understand," Jacob said earnestly, meeting her eyes. "Something about that, about you inspired Omiya to intercede on our behalves. If it had been any other symbol on that necklace, maybe I wouldn't care so much. But that's a symbol of the Church of the Light, something I was raised on, something that - despite my ignorance - I know isn't very popular amongst the Horde. It raises questions. Specifically, the kinds of questions one can't ignore about a traveling companion.
"At the same time," Jacob said, and then paused to gather his thoughts. "At the same time, those questions can be rather personal, and I don't want to upset you. Not just because I've been dependent on your help, but because…" He paused again, and then took in a breath and looked the tauren in the eyes. "Because you're my friend. That means a lot to me; in my life so far I've had precious few I could call friends, given my family's position, so every one I make is important to me. I don't want to risk that by offending you by prying too much."
Toho looked surprised at Jacob for a moment after he finished, and then slowly stood up. Briefly, Jacob worried that he had overstepped himself, but that worry disappeared as the tauren walked over to the fire and sat down on the opposite side of its smoldering coals from Jacob. "It warms my heart to hear you call me friend, Jacob," she began shyly. "I've thought of you as my friend as well. Not just acquaintance, not just ally, but friend," she added, and then paused to nod to the human. "And because of that, I will share with you the story of my tribe so that you may understand what Omiya was referring to back in the jail."
Jacob absorbed Toho's words for a moment and then smiled at her. "I would be honored to hear it," he said with a brief bow of his head.
Toho smiled back and then glanced up to the sky for a moment to compose her thoughts. Then she returned her gaze to Jacob and then took a breath and began to speak. "Unlike the other tribes of the shu'halo – that is what we call ourselves in our native language, by the way," she added the last for Jacob's sake, "the Starchaser tribe is relatively new to our people, and we trace our origins to one bull who lived many, many generations ago, named Soren. It is said that even when he was young, Soren was different from other shu'halo, that he often wandered away from camp alone to study the world around us. That, of course, wasn't unusual – our shamanistic teachings and connections with the spirits will often lead an individual out to commune with them in peace, or to observe and learn from nature. Soren, however, went further. While he shared in the ways all shu'halo had, he felt there was more to learn beyond the shamans' teachings, that there was a fundamental order to the world we were overlooking in our adherence to tradition. It was said he figured out how to find water when the spirits weren't cooperating, and that he always knew where to find the best flint for arrowheads and spear tips. But still he wanted to learn more, and he continued to spend time alone away from camp.
"It was during one of these times he stayed away late, until Mu'sha – the larger moon you humans call 'the White Lady' – had set and her companion, Lu'sha – what you call the Blue Child – was high in the sky. At this time, he saw a shooting star, but where those usually are but quick flashes across the heavens, Soren watched as this one grew bright and then fell to the earth close enough for him to hear a calamitous noise and to feel the ground shake. Knowing this was unheard of Soren ran to where he had watched the star fall, taking the rest of the night to do so. When he arrived he found a warm crater in the ground but oddly enough, no star. Curious, he climbed into the crater, and upon looking through it he found an odd rock that unlike the others looked partially melted and was quite heavy for its size.
"Now, as I said, Soren was no stranger to the old ways, either. He knew there was something special about the rock, and he dug it out from where it was half-buried and took it aside from the crater and used what he had learned about communing with the spirits to see if he could speak with the rock itself. At first it was hard as the spirit of the rock was almost incomprehensible, but Soren remained patient, and eventually he saw the rock's story. It had formed not out of the hot innards of the world, nor called into being by elementals or wizards or dragons or even titans. Instead, it had been born in the deep dark, the silent and empty space between worlds. Long had it existed, cold and alone, until Azeroth's gentle but unyielding grasp pulled it in, drawing it towards her welcoming embrace. The air burned it, so fast it had moved, and it had glowed until it hit the ground and in doing so, had created a mark upon the land greater than anything it had done previously in its existence.
"Because of this communing, Soren realized that shooting stars were not stars at all, but rocks formed in the deep dark. Excited by this, he took the rock and returned to his tribe, and told them all of what had happened, and what he had learned." Tohopekaliga paused for a moment then, her face showing that she was gathering her thoughts. "Sadly, many did not believe him, and others mocked him for 'chasing after stars.' Soren, though, knew he had the truth, and he indeed reveled in their nickname for him and took it as his own.
"The rest of his tale is more mundane but no less important as Soren found love in a woman who shared his curiosity, and they created the first Starchaser family. Eventually, the Starchasers grew not only through birth, but also as others from other tribes who felt much as Soren had gravitated towards his family, and within a few generations we had become a tribe in our own right, and have lived separately from the other tribes ever since." The huntress paused and then blushed slightly and grinned at Jacob. "Or, at least that's how the tribal elders tell the story."
Jacob smiled at her and nodded. "It's a good story, and I think you told it well," he said. Then his smile faded into a look of confusion. "But I must beg your pardon, as I am not sure how that relates to the matter at hand."
"I was getting to that," Toho replied with mock irritation. "I told you that story so I could tell you this one," she added, and then took a bit more time to compose her thoughts. "Unlike the story of my tribe's creation, this one is far more recent. It does, in fact, focus on my grandfather when he was a young bull, barely past the rites of the Earthmother. At that time the Starchaser tribe had been camped along the coast of the Barrens, very close to where we are now, actually," Toho added this last with a pensive look around, as if seeing the area for the first time. "Anyway, my grandfather Kissimmee had been walking along the shore, out on his own reclusive walk to meditate on his life, when he came across strange wooden debris he did not recognize. Curious, he searched through it, and found amongst the wreckage a being that was smaller than he, with furless, pale skin and adorned in clothing of an unrecognizable nature.
"This figure was alive but unconscious, and my grandfather had a worried feeling that the being would perish if left alone. So he picked up the odd creature and carried it back to camp, and explained to the other tauren what he had discovered. The tribal elders were unsure of what to make of the being, or of the situation, though like all tauren we could not just turn the creature away to almost certain death. So my grandfather was told to take care of it.
"Soon after, the being woke up, and promptly began to talk in a language unknown to my people at the time. Confused and unsure, my grandfather and his family did their best to try and understand the being, which drew pictures in the dirt in an attempt to communicate. Eventually, the being gave up, and started gesturing to objects until my grandfather realized he was trying to learn our language.
"This began an odd period, where the being was doing his best to learn our language, but still couldn't always make himself understood. Furthermore, he seemed insistent on joining in on any work the tribe would let him do. It was… embarrassing at first, as he did not understand the skills our people used. But he persisted, never got upset or angry even when some of the youths in the tribe made things hard for him, and continued to learn both language and skills.
"Eventually, he learned enough to communicate properly, and let my grandfather and the others know his name was Arthur. Arthur told his tale one night, first to my grandfather, then to his family and anyone else who wished to hear it; he told of coming across the sea in a sailing vessel that was wrecked by a storm. He came from a land to the east where his kind, called humans, lived, which he had willingly left the comfort and safety of to travel into the west on a rumor that the land of Kalimdor existed and upon it lived people who had not heard of the Light. It was hard for him to explain this, as Taur-ahe lacks words for some concepts, but in the end he made it clear he was charged with a sacred mission to spread the word to all who would hear."
Tohopekaliga paused and looked contemplative for a moment. During the silence, Jacob cleared his throat. "I suppose that did not go down well?"
"Somewhat," Toho admitted. "Naturally many thought this Arthur as arrogant, or even invidious, come to corrupt us with tales to draw us away from our traditions. However, Arthur was calm even in the face of their anger, and he simply stated he had come to show the path of the Light, and that any who would chose to walk it were welcome, and any who chose not to, he said were also welcomed, for the Light cared for all, even if their hearts turned away from the teachings. He asked that he simply be allowed to remain and live as he had with us, saying he felt the Light had saved him from the shipwreck and guided my grandfather to a place where he could render aid. Arthur felt he was where he needed to be, even if ultimately no one listened to him, for the Light knew what it was doing, and he would trust in it blindly.
"His firm faith, eagerness to work, and respect for those who did not wish to listen to his words of preaching ultimately made the elders agree to let him stay. It also helped that as time went on Arthur asked and learned about our shamanistic ways, and he himself witnessed the connections we are able to make with our ancestors and elements in visions and rituals. Surprise came to the tribe, though, when some of our ancestors' spirits sought Arthur out, and many spoke well of him. The spirits of the elements were more ambivalent, but they did not react strongly to the human, as one would expect them to do so if he had desired to break our connections with them. Because of this, some individuals in the tribe began to listen to Arthur's words with open minds and hearts.
"Yet, the greatest test would come much later. Arthur had been with the tribe for nearly two years, and he had made some headway, especially as he talked with the spirits of our ancestors and began to address how his Light could be the ultimate authority while the spirits still held sway over many more immediate concerns." Tohopekaliga paused and chewed on her lip for a moment. "I think I shall spare you the details, for now. Suffice it to say, Arthur was starting to make some converts, though most remained steadfast against it. My grandfather was not amongst those early converts, but he had become good friends with Arthur through mutual respect and of course his obligation to watch after the human.
"Then the day came during one of our tribe's moves where misfortune befell us; a tribe of Centaur attacked when we were vulnerable while crossing an open stretch of land. Their charge was quick, and my people barely had time to form a defensive circle around the vulnerable members, the young and the old, the weak and the sick. Yet these same hapless tauren seemed to be the objective of the centaur, and they threw the main thrust of their attacks at the weak over and over again, trying to break through the line. Why, you may wonder?" Toho asked, and then shrugged. "No one really knows, but the centaur are a hateful race who have used such tactics before in order to demoralize our warriors, to make them easier to hunt down and kill.
"Whatever their motivations, my people fought them hoof and nail. Our shamans called upon the spirits for aid, but the elements are somewhat fickle even on a good day, and on that day they seemed almost disinterested in our defense. They helped, of course, but so much less than they could have, and it didn't seem enough to stem the centaurs' attack.
"Then, as my grandfather described it, Arthur walked through the melee seemingly from nowhere. The tribe had seen him enveloped in the first wave and so had thought him dead. Yet there he was striding through the centaur, untouched and radiating a warm, golden glow that seemed to surround him like armor. In his hand he wielded a mace crafted for tauren hands, and he needed both of his to us it, but use it he did as he smashed a path through the centaur as if they were hares best by a lion. Grandfather Kissimmee said that the sight filled him and the other warriors with hope and strength, and they fought back with renewed vigor.
"The battle lasted the rest of the day, but Arthur did not tire. His mace crushed and broke the enemy, yet every chance he got he would pause and bend his head in prayer, and light would flow from him to a defending tauren, giving him or her strength and healing wounds. With his help the Starchasers fought with such force that the centaur finally broke and fled, but even then Arthur continued to astound. Grandfather told me that he was close enough to the human then to hear his prayers, and he heard him asking the Light for an opportunity to end the threat against his flock by slowing the centaur. Then he sprung forward in a blur and chased down as many centaur as he could reach, hitting them with enough light-reinforced strength to stun and slow them so that the pursuing warriors behind him could finish them off. When it was all over with, hundreds of centaur lay dead on the ground, but precious few tauren had succumbed.
"However, it seemed that there would be payment for our victory more dear than my grandfather had thought at first, for Arthur came back to the tribe dragging his feet. The last centaur he had chased down had managed to break through his tiring defense and speared him through the gut. Grandfather Kissimmee said that the warriors of the tribe were doubly shocked at Arthur's wound; firstly for the fact he had been hurt at all after the display of his prowess, and secondly for the fact that even with so terrible a wound on one so small he managed to return on his feet. When he succumbed to his wounds and fell to the ground my grandfather and others went to him and brought him with as the tribe resumed its migration.
"That night the shamans of the tribe did their best to help, but they could only soften Arthur's pain against the inevitable. Despite his strange appearance, customs and teachings, the time the human spent with my tribe had endeared him to them. His tireless and selfless defense of those who had reason to doubt and hate him and his ways while the traditional paths failed us put into the minds of many that perhaps he had the right ideas after all. He moved the hearts of many, including my grandfather who came to visit late that night."
Again, Tohopekaliga paused in her telling, this time to look down at the fire. Jacob waited patiently as she picked up a stick and rearranged some of the dying coals. "This is basically my grandfather's story," she said quietly, not looking up from the fire. "He tells this next part with such emotion that I feel almost embarrassed repeating it. I just feel it's not my place."
"Some stories are like that," Jacob gently interjected. "It's hard to tell one that belongs to someone else. But so far you've done a good job. I'm sure your grandfather would be proud."
Toho looked up and smiled at the human. "I'll be sure to ask him next time I see him," she said. "We tauren tend to live a long time, and he is still around. Stays in Thunder Bluff now, but that is a story for another time.
"Now, back to where I left off," Tohopekaliga continued. "My grandfather went and spoke to Arthur and asked him, if he could heal others in the midst of battle, could he not heal himself now? Arthur replied that he had tried, but the blessing had not come, so he figured it was simply his time. He said that the Light knew what it was doing and things would be fine." She paused again, briefly. "When my grandfather tells this story, at this time he recounts his memories of the brave human and all that impressed and amazed him. He speaks of how Arthur had come across the sea seeking to bring faith and hope to hostile strangers, of how he humbled himself to do menial tasks and labor, of how he endured the slings of anger and hatred towards himself and his faith and still extended the hand of friendship, and how at the end, he had fought more bravely than any tauren warrior for those same people who hated him. And after all of that, he would gladly meet his end with a stoic acceptance worthy of our people and in blind faith that everything would be all right. The sheer nobility of it all moved grandfather more than any battlefield prowess." Toho paused again, this time to reach up and wipe a hand against her eyes. "It still moves me as well.
"As for my grandfather, he told me of how so profoundly it affected him that he knelt down at the spot and prayed. Not to the ancestors, or to the spirits of the elements, but to the Light for the first time for intercession to save his dear and noble friend. He told me that the answer was immediate and overwhelming: his heart filled with fathomless warmth, and he could feel his very soul swell as the essence of the Light touched him. Grandfather said he was compelled to place his hands over Arthur's wound, and he stared in amazement as it healed within seconds and color returned to his friend's skin."
Silence fell over the two travelers then as yet again Toho took a break in her retelling. Jacob saw that she was wrestling with what to say next, and so waited patiently until the tauren huntress resumed. "Many witnessed this miracle, including Arthur himself as he remained conscious through the event. He stood up then in the silence that followed and laid his hands on my grandfather's shoulders and bid him to rise. Arthur then said that the Light clearly favored my grandfather to grant such a boon, that this proved that he- Arthur – was right in believing that the special connection we tauren shared with the spirits of the world by no means made us outcasts to the Light. He said nothing else to the crowd that had gathered, but simply asked to speak with my grandfather in privacy, where he told my ancestor about how a new path opened for him, and for all tauren. And that he would teach my grandfather and anyone else everything he knew, more than he had been willing to share until then lest he commit the error of giving live steel to children. He would share not only the teachings of the Light, but also the techniques and prayers and all the scripture he could remember. Of course, to help understand this he would also teach the Common tongue of humans to help understand concepts that Taur-ahe did not have.
"After that night, there was no shortage of converts, at least amongst the Starchasers." Tohopekaliga tilted her head in thought for a moment and then frowned. "The other tribes were less eager to hear of the new ways. As I told you, the Starchasers have always been just a bit different from the other tribes, a bit more open to new ideas, and this already marked us as strange. These new ways Arthur offered were so strange and alien that we were shunned by other tauren for a while, but it also served a greater purpose as well by encouraging almost my whole tribe to convert, as being ostracized merely for not hating the new teachings tended to make my fellow tribesmen question the old tenants of shamanism.
"After some time though, Arthur – who was getting old – advised caution, and even circumspection. He understood, as did our elders, that strange revelations have a tendency to frighten those who are not ready for them. He said that the best we could do was 'live by example' while remaining true to the teachings. 'The Light works over a period of time we cannot fathom', he told us. He also said, "the seed of faith has been planted in Kalimdor, in the hearts of the Starchasers. Like all seeds, it needs some time underground to grow strong before it reaches into the light of day to stand proud for all to see.'" Toho nodded to herself at that. "It was sage advice, as the other tribes were suspicious of our changes, and so we took the new lesson to heart, to wait until the time grew right to share our faith with the other tribes. When that would be, we did not know, but faith told us it would come.
"Sometimes I think that time might come soon," Toho added, her voice changing in such a manner that Jacob realized she was voicing her own thoughts now. "The arrival of the orcs and trolls and their reformed Horde brought all of our tribes together under one banner, and together we have faced great foes and won. Yet, the orcs remain suspicious of anything relating to humans. So we remain patient, trusting that when the time is right, we shall know."
Once more a lull fell over the camp as Jacob absorbed Toho's stories, and as the latter drank some water from her canteen. "Those are remarkable stories," Jacob said quietly to break the silence. "Especially that Arthur… He sounds like a paladin, but this would have been decades before their order was created in the Second War."
"Yes, but he never said he was a paladin," Toho replied. "Grandfather Kissimmee said that Arthur claimed to be a warrior in his youth, but had turned away from violence to join the Church of the Light. I suspect if there were any similarities between him and a 'real' paladin, it would be due to the fact that he came from the same martial and religious traditions, and so behaved similarly to the later order."
Jacob blinked at that. "That is, uh-"
"More studied than you expected from me?" Toho asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes signaling that she enjoyed surprising the human. "It was only natural that after contact was made with the orcs and later the Alliance that Starchasers like myself would seek out to learn more about our brothers and sisters of the Light, especially to fill out the missing scriptures. I've managed to acquire some human books on history in general and of the Order of the Silver Hand specifically, myself."
"Hence why you know so much about the similarities," Jacob added, smiling at the tauren and receiving one back in return. "But after all of that, you still haven't answered one question: what about your necklace?"
Tohopekaliga chuckled at that, though her expression saddened a bit. "After all of that, it's quite simple. Arthur passed on some years before the Third War came to Kalimdor, and as he lay on his deathbed he bequeathed the necklace to my grandfather. Later, when I was about to set out to Camp Narache for my initial training and rites, grandfather gave it to me and said he believed it would keep me safe." The huntress smiled and looked down as she picked the necklace up and held it out from her chest to study. "And I suppose it has, if it got Omiya to help us."
"Indeed," Jacob added. "Although she seemed rather-"
"Strange," Toho said, completing the human's sentence. Jacob nodded to her. "Aye. I don't suppose you have any stories about her?" He asked in a jovial tone.
Again, Toho chuckled. "I am afraid not. She is a mystery to me and mine, as well."
"Humph," Jacob grumbled. "Well, just one more in a world filled with them, I suppose," he added.
"It seems so," Toho said, and then slowly stood and stretched. "Anyway, now that story time is over, we should break camp and continue to Ratchet. We might just make it there by nightfall if we hurry."