Heavenfall

Humans were known to enjoy poisoning themselves. Ik'tch'krit could only hope that that did not extend to fouler sicknesses. He made a mental note to come up with some sort of "Anti-Hangover" cure for humans.

He began crafting one of his memory sticks to remember a fond friend of his. Not that his friend was dead or anything but the sticks were helpful indeed!

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D1 EM Friend Stick Creation TN 20: 8d10o10k5 24

Friend Stick is Made-Made!

Chisei didn't have any sort of special fondness for alcoholic beverages. Certainly not enough fondness to sample them first thing in the morning. He was, however, interested in exploring; when in an unfamiliar city, one never knew what one might find.

Still, he hadn't been expecting to find a nearly man-sized rat.

"Goodness." Chisei murmured, his eyes widening as he spotted the creature. "That... is a very large rat." Surprised as he was, it took him a moment to connect the creature with the Nezumi he'd heard of.

"Ummm. Hello." He said, clearing his throat awkwardly. Did it understand his speech? Would he understand its speech?

Ik'tch'krit, before properly greeting the newcomer human, sniffed his stick a few times. He shook his head and declared, to himself, "I do say, this will not do. Improvements must be made swiftly."

Then he looked up to Chisei. "Greetings, man-thing! Morning is good-good?"

Chisei's jaw dropped. Then shut. "Yes. This morning is good." He cleared his throat. "Good." He added.

He gave a little bow. "My name is Chisei." He looked at the Nezumi curiously.

"Ik'tch'krit," he gave in turn. At least that came out a bit more naturally than the other words. He returned the bow, somewhat used to it already due to prior exposure to humans. "Does Chisei-sei have tribe?"

"Ik-tch-krit. Ik-tch-krit. Ik'tch'krit." Chisei sounded it out several times; his pronunciation was pretty good, if noticeably stilted. He bowed again. "It is nice to meet you, Ik'tch'krit."

Slowly, he nodded. "I do. I belong to the Seppun tribe. I used to belong to the Isawa tribe, but I married a Seppun woman, and joined her family. Do you have a tribe?"

"Man-thing know how to speak name-name," Ik'tch'krit confirmed with pleased nodding. He chewed on his stick a bit and once more shook his head. More work to be done.

"Seppun and Isawa... now Chisei-sei part of the Stag?" The Nezumi rubbed his chin. "You know Isawa smart-tech? Teach to Seppun or not good-good idea?"

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D1 EM Seppun Lore for Fluff: 4d10 21

D1 EM Isawa Lore for Fluff: 4d10 20

"That's right." Chisei said, his eyebrows going up. "You know rather a lot about our tribes already, I see. May I ask how you learned?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "To answer your question, the Seppun are quite quickly advancing to match the Isawa, thanks to the teachings of Hantei and his siblings. Except in magic; for that, I shall take a single pupil, as is the way of the Isawa, and is my responsibility regardless."

The thoughtful frown deepened. "Thus, the question is moot, the moral dilemma negated. Were it not, it would doubtless be a difficult question. I would have to balance my obligation to my old tribe with my new. Perhaps this is a question that needs examining, as more inter-tribe marriages happen."

"I met with Saru Family. Learn many things!" He poked his head. "I remember things good-good compared to most Nezumi."

Ik'tch'krit tilted his head. "There is moral bad-bad there-there? My people believe that smart-smarts are to be share-shared."

"I see." Chisei nodded acknowledgement.

"There can be." He said. "For instance, suppose someone tells you something in confidence? It is a piece of knowledge, but the sharing of it will cause harm to the teller, and lessen their trust in you. Or in some matters of justice, the identity of the parties should be concealed to prevent misunderstandings." He shrugged. "There are not always easy answers. One must consider all outcomes, all perspectives."

"You are think-thinker," the Nezumi commented, "Hard-hard for me-me to follow man-thing thoughts as I figure out what man-thing even say." He then offered a ratty smile. "Think-thinker means you smart-smart!"

"Oh, yes. Ummm, thank you." Chisei frowned thoughtfully. "Yes, I could see how language might make it more difficult. Would it help if I used simpler words?" He held up a hand. "This is not intended as an insult. I speak your language not at all. I only want to make talking easier for us."

"How did you learn our language, anyway?" He asked curiously.

"Yes-yes, please use less hard-hard words for me-me to follow," Ik'tch'krit confirmed with enthused nodding, "I learned man-thing language when my group met-met with man-things. I was first one to speak-speak due to my memory being good-good."

Chisei just nodded, smiling.

"Would you tell me about this meeting, with the man-things? Who were they? The Seidou?" It seemed like the most likely possibility; their lands were close to each other.

The Nezumi shook his head. "No-no, it was with Saru of the Dragon Clan... Clan," he said, trying to keep himself from repeating a word that time. He didn't linger on it for long, though. "My people needed to flee-flee from Heavenfall. Met with Saru, now friend-friends."

He looked down to his memory stick. Then he held it up for the human to see. "This will not do much-much for man-thing. However, it help Rememberer like me-me. This one make me think of friend-friend."

"Ah, yes. I understand now." So they hadn't just met the Saru, that's where they'd learned the language.

"Truly?" Frowning, Chisei leaned in, examining the stick. "How does it work? Do you... examine... look at the bite patterns?"

"No-no, I smelly-smell it to make me think-think of friend-friend." Ik'tch'krit sniffed the stick for a few moments and then shrugged. "Needs a little more work-work."

Then he nodded enthusiastically. "I share-share what I know-know with man-thing. Now man-thing share something with me-me."

"Hmmm..." Chisei considered this for a time. Then his eyebrows went up.

His hands went to his side, opening the scroll case that was there. He rummaged through it for a few moments before, ever so carefully, drawing out a scroll.

He turned it over in his hands, unraveling it. "This is how we remember and share knowledge." Chisei turned it around again, showing Ik'tch'krit the characters written on it. "Can you read our language, too?"

The Nezumi tried to get his nose close to the scroll. If allowed to, he would certainly sniff it. "I have not learned man-thing reading. I remember man-things not writing too much. Is that an Isawa man-thing practice?"

Chisei held very still, one eyebrow going up as Ik’tch'krit sniffed the paper.

"It is." Chisei said. "The making of this material, paper, is almost unknown outside of the Isawa. Other tribes write, but this is the best way we have found to store our writings."

He sighed. "Now that I am not in the Isawa, I have to be even more careful. Chances to replenish my supply are rare. Every sheet is precious."