The First Year of Varruk, The Thirty-Sixth Year of Wrath
Varruk stares into the fire before him and his two remaining companions. Varlok, son of Vartuk, Varruk’s father, is dead. Though this world is brutal, Varlok was a commanding figure. Though under his stony grip the number of the Varruk grew, with his death their people shattered. Where once there was a dozen, there are now only three who tend to the pyre within which his father rests. This shattering was a personal insult to Varruk: the others did not think that he could lead them to a new prosperity like his father. Where his father had broken the beasts that they now used to carry their goods and their person, he had proven himself as a hunter. Where his father was cunning, he was blunt. Where his father was stoic, he was passionate. He would not succumb to the expectations set by his father.
His mother had long since passed, ten winters ago while his father was mastering the great beasts. He was now the oldest of those who remained, though his blood was still young. Varruk is now left with a train of the beasts for which his kin are famed, and two of his closest friends. Omya was a fellow huntress, who he worked and trained with in his youth. Though she was his younger, she was often more conservative in her actions, taking her time to corner the kill. She knew he would be able to provide for those who remained, and her trust was reassuring to the new leader. Finally, there was Salaya, daughter of Koraya and Heiva. She was a wise woman, more cunning than either of the other two who remained. While she likely has led the easiest life of any among the tribe even before her parents left with the others, she has accepted that these coming moons will be hard with so few of them left. Mercifully her new work of minding the camp is limited, as almost all the material was taken with those who left Varruk’s protection.
Now Varruk stood with his life, the lives of those still loyal to him, and the future of his band before him. They were blessed with strong leaders before, including his still-burning father, and Varruk would be no exception. He mounts his father’s Var bareback for the first time and he would ride out, looking for a beast to secure for his remaining companions, to demonstrate his skill and rightfulness of succession. He would ride into the open plains, confidence being almost foolhardy as his beast shudders beneath a new rider, but its somewhat-broken demeanor prevents it from flinging its rider to the ground. The beast would pick up speed, the last of the Var taking up his birthright as he scatters the ashes of his father into the plains and open sky.
Omya was not as certain of her convictions as her new leader. She had little option, as she had few friends among the rest of the tribe, and figured she would quickly be removed from them if she had left Varruk. Nonetheless, she was a huntress, and while her new leader was the stronger of the two by far, she had slain beasts as well. She knew food supplies were low, but there were only three of them now, and she would need to make sure that the sanguine Varruk did not go hunting some predator without proper equipment. While she had a love of him, she was truly frustrated with the lot that he had left them all with. While his own delusions of grandeur could likely result in his own death, she would do her best to make sure that does not happen, for all their sakes.
Salaya was taking the situation much more jubilantly than her compatriots. Her parents were finally gone, and while she would never wish death upon them, she was glad that she was now free to do what she wanted. She was resentful of the regular berry picking her parents made her do, and while she knew such things would likely be needed in the future, she felt that her skills were going underused. She had always had a fascination with the Var, those massive creatures who had hauled the tribe’s tents and food before those cowards ran off with most of the latter. While the secrets of taming them were Varruk’s alone, she would always come over to them, offering morsels of berries and plants to them. She had befriended most of them, other than Varlok’s horse. Now she was able to be open and honest in her pursuit of trying to train them, her ambitions being made clear to Varruk, who approved of the idea as it would make migration much easier through the golden fields that surround them.
