[Veltzeh]: 39.The Heritage of Humankind.Tales from Kyerrion.29

Krezagon's investigation team had traveled for nearly a frindo by now, and they had not run across many creatures. They had seen some garandals and nacrans, but had not bothered them. Two femehan mountain climbers were overly cautious about winter and gave them extensive and excessive descriptions about the dangers of winter in the mountains.

One night Krezagon and Riyhneon were by themselves in the thin forest, kissing each other. The other soldiers liked it better if they did not hear Krezagon shouting. Krezagon had an annoying feeling that they were being watched, but figured it was just due to eir mental link with Taikehel. However, after ey and Riyhneon were done and had started pulling on their clothes, ey spotted a faint glow of light blue on a rock, between the trees and behind some branches. Ey stared in the direction and in a blink, made out the surprised face of a galanfetzcan.

The galanfetzcan smiled, got up and stepped into view. Ey was wearing a headpiece of some sort, light clothing and some pads that vaguely resembled armor. Ey seemed somewhat more curvy and muscular than the femehans would have expected. A couple of small weapons were hanging from eir belt, and eir backpack seemed to be rather full. Ey spoke in common Gomanian: "Greetings to you. I thought too highly of myself, being too certain that you would not be able to see me. My apologies for intruding your privacy." Krezagon and Riyhneon just stared at em with their eyes and mouths wide open. The galanfetzcan sensed their astonishment and merely waited for them to get over it.

Eventually Krezagon spoke, uncharacteristically choppily: "Uh... eh, who are you?" Ey of course knew common Gomanian, but ey had some trouble speaking it for one reason or another.

"My name is Vaalejo Vannteliki. I am a hunter." Ey made a greeting gesture used among galanfetzcans, but the femehans recognized it as well.

"Ehh... I... I'm Krezagon. Sergeant... Krezagon... Korielter."

"I-I'm Riyhneon C-Crelthenier."

Vaalejo was a little amused but more inconvenienced by the manner in which the femehans seemed to treat em, so ey jumped down from eir rock and walked up to them. Ey was considerably shorter than they and seemed quite a lot like a child now. Krezagon and Riyhneon seemed rather confused. Vaalejo decided to drop eir official manner of speech as well. "Well, good to meet you. I see you've never met a galanfetzcan before, have you? Have you even seen one before?"

Riyhneon shook eir head, but Krezagon replied: "Um, a long time ago... I think um... at least over ten years ago. I can't remember..."

"Ah, good. Well, would you like to tell me what brings you into these areas? I haven't seen much femehans here before."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to intrude or anything..."

"You aren't."

"...Oh? Um, okay. Eh, sorry, I just... um. Erh, we're just um... looking for a... a person? You know, another femehan. A wacod. Limping one."

"Really? Anyone else?" Vaalejo of course sensed that they were also looking for a galanfetzcan.

"Um, yes... one galanfetzcan who was with em..."

"Can't say I'd have seen them specifically. Are you planning to continue searching here?" Krezagon thought so, but did not say it. "Well, if you are, I suppose I could bring your message to the council that handles the issues brought to them by you other people. That was a circular description!" Riyhneon kept eir confusedly scared expression, but Krezagon flashed a rather furtive smile. Vaalejo smiled back. "Heh! See, we galanfetzcans don't really buy that 'nation' thing. The only reason there's supposedly a nation of us in here is because the leaders of your nations requested it. We have no leaders, but we do have a council that looks into 'foreign' affairs. That council is just the right place to ask."

"Thank you." Vaalejo was surprised, even if unnoticeably so, that Krezagon had managed to talk so clearly. "Do you... um, do you require that we do something for you in exchange for this information?"

Vaalejo had not expected such a statement, but produced a reply quickly: "No. However, I am on the hunt right now and have not yet found my prey. If you wish, you may assist me and then I will personally guide you to the council."

"We would be glad to do that."

"Good. Am I right if I assume that you're about to go to sleep? If it doesn't bother you, I can come and sleep near to wherever it is that you sleep."

"Um, yes. Uh, you can sleep there with us if you wish..." Krezagon went quiet and they all waited for a moment; the two that Vaalejo would start moving and Vaalejo that the two would actually dress up. Vaalejo looked down and the femehans almost automatically followed eir line of sight and finally realized that they should put the rest of their clothes on as well. After they were done, Vaalejo smiled.

"After you, please." Vaalejo waited until ey actually saw to which direction they were going and started then following the femehans.

They came to the campsite very soon, and Leitsel, Sorifel, Pouttel and Freppet started gawking pretty much exactly like Krezagon and Riyhneon had done. Taikehel's eyes were also quite firmly fixed on the galanfetzcan, but ey managed to not look like a simpleton while staring.

Krezagon started talking, first to Vaalejo: "Uh, this is my squad... or the rest of it, I mean. Leitsel, Pouttel, Freppet and Sorifel. And Taikehel just travels with us." Ey turned at the other femehans and continued: "This is Vaalejo... um... ey's a galanfetzcan."

Vaalejo smiled and felt quite embarrassed for emself. "Greetings. I'll guide you to the galanfetzcan council that handles the issues of other races. I'm hunting right now and Krezagon—" Vaalejo actually felt a surge of joy of being recognized from Krezagon, and thought how useless it was. "—suggested that you could help me before I take you to the council."

Freppet bounced up. "Yeah! Uh, we can do that!" The others nodded without questioning. Taikehel did not react; ey could not really contribute to it either way.

"We're having some night snack before going to sleep... do you want some, too?" asked Krezagon from Vaalejo.

"Yes, please." Vaalejo was rather certain that the femehans' food would be of obviously inferior quality compared to eir food, but ey was hungry enough not to care, and wanted to make the femehans feel better. While the femehans prepared the food, Vaalejo read their minds.

Riyhneon felt somewhat down. Ey had not approved of being watched while having sex and was now embarrassed as well, though ey thought that ey should feel better since Vaalejo had already apologized fairly profoundly. Ey also felt mentally inferior to Vaalejo, and it annoyed em because ey knew ey was intelligent and happened to not consider that Vaalejo was probably even older than Krezagon.

Freppet was rather hyper and eyed Vaalejo fairly intently, trying to take in every physical detail and occasionally becoming annoyingly aware that the galanfetzcan might be reading eir mind. Ey also felt inferior, but to em it was the natural order of things.

Pouttel struggled with the fact that ey thought Vaalejo looked pretty but was an accod.

Sorifel was somewhat angry that a little child-like thing like em was a hunter and an otherwise powerful person. Nevertheless, Sorifel thought Vaalejo was pretty as well.

Leitsel stared at Vaalejo and pretty much just felt astonished at the fact that a galanfetzcan had even bothered acknowledging their existence.

Krezagon wondered if ey had really seemed that stupid while talking; even though Femen and common Gomanian had nearly similar pronunciation and writing style, the differences were big enough—or too small—to confuse em. Ey was also worried whether Vaalejo would respect em as a person and the leader of the group. Ey did not know how galanfetzcans would treat a person incapable of reproducing, but thought that they would not really respect a trait like that either. Ey thought it was frustrating.

Vaalejo even read Taikehel's mind—eir quick surface thought scan was inconspicuous enough to go unnoticed even by far-walkers. Taikehel felt annoyed that the others were so taken by the galanfetzcan, even though ey too was exercising eir eyes and staring excessively. Ey did not like that Vaalejo was probably a better far-walker than ey was.

Vaalejo was not very pleased, but ey had promised the femehans ey would take them to the council. With that thought in mind, ey set up eir tent some distance away from the femehans and slept when they did.



In the morning Vaalejo got up and performed eir morning routine before going to the femehans' camp. Krezagon was there waiting, since ey had wanted the last watch turn. Vaalejo walked gracefully among and over the rocks and between the trees and bushes. This time ey was wearing just eir undergarment, having declared it unnecessary to wear anything else for the moment. Krezagon stared at the small figure as it came towards em, wondering how a person of a different race could look so attractive. The galanfetzcan had breasts, and even though they were small, they were obvious. Eir hips seemed to be wider than Krezagon's, despite the fact that ey was otherwise considerably smaller. Krezagon had never heard that galanfetzcans might have breasts.

During the time that it took for Vaalejo to walk to Krezagon, the ancod never turned eir eyes away from the galanfetzcan. Vaalejo said nothing, even though ey found Krezagon's thoughts slightly disturbing, though flattering. Ey sat around the fireplace with Krezagon, not right next to em but not opposite from em either.

"Good morning."

Krezagon took a little time to answer. "Good morning." They sat quietly for a while. "Um... I thought... an' um, I'm sorry if this sounds intruding or something... it's personal, I guess, maybe... but... I thought galanfetzcans didn't have breasts?"

"Oh, they only swell while we're breastfeeding. I have three one-month-old babies at home to be fed."

Krezagon gawked even worse than before. "Oh... but um... you don't look like... did you really give birth a month ago? An-an' you're so young..."

Vaalejo took a moment to reply. "I'm forty years old. My oldest child is twelve years old." Krezagon continued gawking. "My parents said it was about time I gave birth to triplets."

"Errrh... um, how many children have you had?"

"Seven. Two of them have died."

Krezagon went suddenly even paler. "Oh— I-I'm sorry, I uh... I'm sorry." Ey buried eir head in eir hands and was so upset ey could have cried.

"Krezagon, don't mind it. Babies are frail and the cold climate tends to get to them. I don't mind. It is sad, but it is a fact we have to live with."

"O-oh. Uh." Krezagon took a while to calm down.

Vaalejo figured ey could ask a similar question and make Krezagon think about children a bit as well. "I know you can't have children of your own, but did you ever plan raising some?" Of course Vaalejo sensed immediately from Krezagon's mind that raising children was out of the question as well, but ey waited for Krezagon to say it. Ey had wanted to make the ancod a bit squirmy, but ey saw now that the question had been more insensitive than ey had intended.

"They wouldn't let me. I can't even bring up kids." Krezagon did not really want to think about it. "Except... except maybe if... if I lived in some town and someone gave birth to an ancod and would want to kill em... maybe then they could allow me to raise em... but I couldn't feed em. Ey'd just die anyway."

Vaalejo was quiet for a moment. "...I'm sorry, I didn't know femehans are like that. Are all femehans like that?"

"I heard that in the north all ancods are either slaves or in prisons. A least I can be a soldier or a gardener..." Krezagon wallowed in self-pity and started feeling very upset.

Vaalejo knew ey had picked the wrong topic to talk about and thought that it would have been better if ey had not pursued it, but ey also did not see it bad enough to make Krezagon forget it altogether. Eventually ey just sincerely stated: "I'm sorry." Krezagon acknowledged it but did not reply. Ey was quiet for a while and then got up and walked away.

Vaalejo waited for someone else to wake up. After Sorifel and Pouttel had gotten out of their tent, ey went after Krezagon. Ey found Krezagon weeping at the edge of some small cliff. Ey was leaning on a tree and occasionally looked at the small view that lay out in front of em. Ey glanced at the galanfetzcan but turned quickly away, thinking very contradictorily about what ey wanted Vaalejo to do, what ey wanted to feel, what ey was feeling in the first place and how awkward it was that Vaalejo knew what ey was thinking. Vaalejo just walked next to em and touched eir hair, and after Krezagon got over the shock of the galanfetzcan actually touching em, Vaalejo petted eir hair for some time. Then ey crouched down and turned toward Krezagon, took eir face in eir hands and looked into the ancod's eyes, though Krezagon had not wanted to face em.

"Krezagon, I am sorry. Even though I'm a far-walker, I did not know that the topic would be so insensitive. I can understand your situation and I apologize for everything that I said that hurt you."

Krezagon had no idea how to react to the apology, since ey had very rarely if ever faced them. The first thing ey thought of was to question it. "How could you understand it? You've never... you've never been through all this injustice."

"I understand that I hurt you unjustly and wish I would not have done that. Well, if you like, I can just erase it from your mind. Would you want that?"

Krezagon thought "no" for a while before saying it: "No. I don't want far-walkers messing with my mind."

"Well, is there anything else I could do to make you feel better?"

Krezagon turned eir head away. "I don't know."

Vaalejo was a little surprised. Ey had not thought Krezagon would not even know what ey would want. Ey went silent, and even Krezagon noticed that ey was speechless. "Um... did you ever want to see a galanfetzcan community? We don't usually let any femehans in, and even garandals or nacrans in very small groups. I could take you around, but your squad would need to wait elsewhere." Krezagon did want to see other galanfetzcans, but did not want to leave eir squad behind, but could perhaps trust the galanfetzcans enough. Ey was unsure, sighed and said nothing. Vaalejo was quiet for a while, waiting for Krezagon to say something, but when ey did not, the galanfetzcan continued: "Well, please tell me if there is something you would want."

"Well, maybe you could brainwash all the femehans to not think that ancods are crazy and useless..." Of course Krezagon knew it was too much to ask.

"I'm sorry." Vaalejo hugged Krezagon for a moment and very discreetly made em feel a little better. Krezagon felt up the galanfetzcan's back with eir left hand since ey did not have anything else to do.

"Should we go hunting now?"

"Yes. Let's do that." They got up and walked to the camp.



The group ate breakfast and then started moving, searching for tracks. A little before the night, they found some and decided that they would sleep a bit further and follow the trail more closely tomorrow.

The next day, they saw the creature that Vaalejo was after. The femehans had never heard of it and had this far just listened to whatever Vaalejo had told about it without processing the information much. The galanfetzcan was after its fur, which was a beautiful thing and intended to make a bed out of it for eir babies. Ey also wanted a few bones so that they could be made into tools or other utensils. The animal was not that big, but it was easily the size of two femehans and very strong.

Soon after they had seen the creature, it ran away into a cave, pushed a large boulder in front of the entrance and Vaalejo was very disappointed. Ey explained that the animal dug a cave for a home and specifically kept a boulder near it for this purpose. Now it would make a new tunnel within a day or two, emerge who knows where and it would be lost.

The femehans did not understand eir frustration.

"What is the problem? Is it a faster digger than normal?" asked Krezagon.

"No, but what does it matter? This one's lost to us."

"How? We can just move the boulder."

Vaalejo laughed bitterly and mockingly, making Krezagon feel insulted. Then ey gradually stopped, starting to realize that ey was in the company of six strong femehans. Ey seemed honestly flabbergasted. "Are... are you serious? Are you able to move that thing?"

"Seems doable." Krezagon sounded irritated.

"Sorry. Krezagon, I'm sorry I laughed. I —acted stupidly. I would be so grateful if you could try moving that boulder."

Taikehel, who was idling around further away since ey could contribute nothing to the hunting, made an uplifting remark to Krezagon. "Whoa, you totally caught that galanfetzcan with eir pants down. I wish I could feel eir mind more clearly. I bet ey's embarrassed as heck."

Krezagon grinned triumphantly and then started issuing orders: "Freppet and Riyhneon, go take down two trees we can use as levers. The rest, go find some rocks for support points." Ey then went to examine the boulder, trying to find out where they should try to push it. Vaalejo stood around, fidgeting with eir bow.

It took barely an hour for the femehans to move the boulder. Taikehel joined them but mostly spent eir time bragging to Vaalejo. They then went into the cave. The entrance was small, but deeper it was big enough for Krezagon and Vaalejo to walk side by side. They walked first with their bows ready, since they were easily the best archers of the group. Leitsel was behind them with another bow, and Freppet walked close to em, carrying a torch. They advanced slowly, but reached the creature soon enough. Indeed, it was digging a new tunnel, but turned around and attacked once it noticed it had been followed. Vaalejo and Krezagon immediately shot at it, hit it in the head and made it fall down, dead.

"Haivalofier skiitze!" shouted Vaalejo, completely exhilarated. Ey nearly jumped up and down and spoke some more: "Thank you, all of you!" The femehans' sense of accomplishment grew even bigger when Vaalejo's feelings got to them, and they too felt fairly awesome. They dragged the animal's body out of the cave.

Vaalejo was preparing to skin the animal when Krezagon had a new idea. "How far is your home, exactly?"

"Not very far... why?"

"If there are no difficult cliffs to climb, we could just as well bring the whole thing with us. I bet you hadn't thought about that either!"

Vaalejo definitely stared at em in astonishment, and then bounced up. "You are right! Oh, koorhumo! Thank you!" Ey was quiet for a while and then said a little amusedly: "I'm not as dim as I seem, really... I just have trouble remembering that I'm not the strongest person around now." Ey grinned a bit. "I'm most likely one of the strongest galanfetzcans in my community."

Krezagon smiled at em and then asked eir squad: "Can we use the levers we just used on that boulder to carry that thing?" After a short inspection, they decided to cut a few more branches and constructed a carrying device. In the meantime, Vaalejo let the blood out of the animal's corpse to make it lighter and removed some unneeded internal organs as well. They left soon, heading for Vaalejo's home.



The group reached their destination in the evening. The femehans had already before that seen some galanfetzcan buildings and a few of their inhabitants staring at them. Now they faced a rather large building that did not look much like the other galanfetzcan buildings; it was bulky, sturdy and simple while the others had been fairly lithe and intricate. Vaalejo and two people from the bulky building asked them to place the carcass of the creature on a strange moving platform, and after they had done so, they pushed the thing inside the building and were gone.

While a few galanfetzcans were staring at the femehans from afar, one solitary figure appeared walking on a path and headed straight for them. Krezagon focused eir attention on that one, and the galanfetzcan soon made eir way to them. Ey was considerably smaller and thinner than Vaalejo and had more clothes on as well. Ey positioned emself in front of Krezagon and greeted them.

"Greetings, femehans. I am Afaihel Nevelhieli, a member of the council who handles 'foreign affairs'. Vaalejo explained to me that you are looking for someone and wish to receive more information. I will thus take one or two of you to the council to present your issue. We can go there now, but you are probably tired; it is quite fine if you rest for the night first."

Krezagon was a little speechless first, but then managed to say: "Um, well met. We are in fact tired, so if we could meet the council tomorrow, it'd be great. Where could we sleep?"

"There is a zaila a short distance from here. I can take you there." Afaihel sensed that the femehans did not know the word, so ey continued and explained: "Zaila is a kind of common building complex where travelers can sleep and receive food. Many also live there while for example waiting for their houses to be built, or otherwise spend time there. It is sort of like a common marketplace of yours, I suppose, expect that most people are not selling anything." The femehans were satisfied with the explanation, but Afaihel happened to think of yet another thing. "However... the zaila, like everything else here, is the proper size for galanfetzcans, but not you. I am fairly sure that even the tallest of you can fit in without feeling too uncomfortable, but we have no beds that would be fit."

Krezagon had an immediate solution to that: "We do have our own bedrolls... I'm sure it'll be fine if there is space on which to spread them."

"Excellent. Follow me, please. Vaalejo will most likely come see you after ey has finished." The femehans followed.

The zaila was fairly typical galanfetzcan architecture, but the femehans still thought it was fairly exquisite. The whole thing was built into a cliff like many other buildings, and the complex consisted of many interconnected houses of several stories. The houses were mostly built out of wood, but some metal, clay, stone and even string had been used. They were painted green, violet and blue, though some decorations of magenta and red were visible. The roofs of the houses were very tilted and sturdy. Trees grew on the yards as well, and the femehans did not know that trees that large would not normally have grown in conditions such as these. It was still obvious that some gardening had been performed here even though not nearly as orderly as femehans usually did.

Afaihel did not walk far, but guided the femehans into one of the nearest houses. There they were shown a few rooms in which they could sleep, the dining hall and other things worth seeing. They slept the night warily but soundly.