In their early ga’as in Aomry, the trio were graciously guided and aided by Lyndorin and many others.

  Lyndorin was an ownan’e, a female of her kind, still only a quarter of the way through a typical ownan’s lifespan. She had recently succeeded an aging Gogin, a role traditionally held by women. A Gogin serves as the steward of a Tribe, entrusted with the care and governance of its inner affairs.

  Beyond the kind-hearted Lyndorin, there was also Krutas, who often came to visit and share his knowledge of the geography and terrain of Ao’Mahgar. Before long, the trio came to realize something: Krutas was not calling on them for their sake, but for Lyndorin’s.

  By order of the agud’Aga Voznugaid, all warriors were bound to remain upon the Kocurang Steppe for the duration of their training. Whenever Krutas returned to the Tribe, he would bring with him a shard of gemstone, carefully carved and polished by his own hand, and quietly present it to Lyndorin. Such gems, often worn at the necks of ownan'e, served as both ornaments and talismans, meant to steady the soul. Each time Krutas parted from Lyndorin to rejoin the Warhost, Katuo noticed a strangely sorrowful look upon his face.

  “Pfft, pray spare me!” Hudyn would smirk each time Krutas came by. “And here I thought he cared about us. Behold—he has his own motives after all. I used to think this sort of thing only happened back in Diang. Me? I don’t trust romance anymore. Women. No matter how it begins, it always ends in trouble.”

  “And another thing,” Hudyn went on, “I cannot fathom why someone like Lyndorin would take a liking to this Krutas. She’s bright—likable beyond measure. But that fellow? He’s gloomier than old Skichip. Always wandering about with a face like a shriveled tomato.”

  “Don’t say that,” Katuo protested. “Lyndorin said Krutas wasn’t always like this. He only changed after his father died. I heard the Goyk tortured him to death. Lyndorin and Krutas have been close since they were little. No matter how he is now, she still cares for him and has not abandoned him. Not like someone I know.” She cast Hudyn a knowing glance.

  “Well, on matters like this, I’ll trust your expertise, Hudyn,” Ramii said with a smirk. “I remember a certain lad who used to loiter around the church school. There was this girl two years older than him. Her twin braids had him losing sleep for months.”

  “And that time he had Ramii write a love letter for him,” Katuo added. “With an orchid tucked inside, no less. Truly touching. Too bad she wouldn’t even take the letter or the flower.”

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  “Remember when he tried to woo her with a lute, Katuo? It sounded like someone was flogging the poor thing for its sins.”

  Ramii and Katuo went on dredging up one tale after another from Hudyn’s past. At last, unable to hold it in any longer, they both collapsed into fits of laughter. Their shrill cackles grated on Hudyn’s ears, turning his face bright red. He squirmed and sputtered out denials to everything.

  “Sick goblins! Liars, the pair of you! I won’t waste another word on you!” Hudyn roared, then hurried off in a huff.

  ~~~

  Not long after, the trio also learned to ride k'houku beasts to forage for food in the forest alongside the ownan’e.

  The ownan’s sustenance came from the soft, nutrient-rich partds of plants—or, more precisely, from living things with faint souls. The ownan did not eat on red-ga’as; they ate only on blue-ga’as, when the sky shone azure. After each meal, they would raise both palms to the sky in a gesture of gratitude.

  They also required sleep, yet they slept standing upright, lying down only when in need of rest or healing. In this regard, the three henans could never follow suit.

  To the ownan, the notions of “eating” and “sleeping” were not distinct, but intimately complementary. “Eating” encompassed two aspects: the lesser being the borrowing of nourishment from nature to sustain the body; the greater, the feeding of the soul. “Sleeping,” likewise, was regarded as a vital element in the soul’s sustenance.

  On red-ga’as, those in need of sleep would stand motionless beneath the ancient trees, hands laid upon their chests. Vines would rise from the earth, climbing and winding about their forms from foot to crown. Their Trueye remained half-open, while the other two eyes were closed. In that state, they became one with the earth, the air, and the light.

  The ownan held the life of the spirit in high esteem. Such practices as sleep while standing, silence in stillness, and the working of magic were but a single facet of their discipline. Everyday acts—the gathering of food, the tending of fields, conversation and song, the honing of the arts of combat, and whatever task lay before them—were likewise seen as expressions of spirituality, so long as they were performed with love and wholehearted attention.

  The majority of the ownan lived in p’moopos, gathered into communities known as Tribes. Each Tribe was named by its first Gogin chieftain. The K’houko Tribe, for instance, took its name from the long-necked, three-legged beasts that the ownan’e often rode when foraging in the forest.

  Some Tribes chose to live in symbiosis with the b’aobas, dwelling high among the forest canopies. These creatures could fly, though but slowly, and possessed long, supple limbs by which they clung to the branches. Other, smaller Tribes made their homes in caves nestled in the highlands.

  During the era when the Goyk ruled the Grandcrystals, many of the ownan a great number of the ownan were compelled to withdraw underground. There they hid to escape slaughter or bondage.

  A small minority chose lives of solitude, or dwelt with only a handful of companions. They secluded themselves in tree hollows or rocky niches upon remote, lofty mountains.

  ~~~