A new friend

The copse of small trees was the best place she could find. Next to the rustling of leaves, only a bit of noise could be heard from the training grounds of the old swords master. She let Rata'nah graze in the shade and Sira'nah had already settled on one of the branches to clean her feathers. Dera'nah sat down, clasped her pendant firmly in her hand, and concentrated on the flow of energy all around her. A familiar calm washed over her. She felt deeper and reached out toward her mother, using the piece of wood in her hand as a focus.
Once she could feel the presence in her mind, she opened up to let her mother read her and her experiences of the last days. Most importantly, read her state of mind. "What are you afraid of, my young seedling?". The thought appeared in her head and with it a serenity only her mother could send her. They communed for almost an hour, and the obvious advice was clear: To cope with the confusion breaking in on her from all sides, a strong link to nature was important to focus and anchor her thoughts. "Carrying mother nature with you" as her mother always put it. She opened her eyes and looked at Rata'nah and Sira'nah in turn who regarded her with curiosity. "Maybe I don't have to carry Her if that part can walk, fly, or swim itself!". She smiled as she got up and saw the questioning looks both her friends gave each other. "Let's go and explore. After all, we've just arrived!"

"You useless piece of shit! Stay still so that I can kill you!!". The merchant hit the box where the small creature had just stood and a bunch of colourful feathers flew up in the air. A few colourful birds scrambled fearfully together on top of a bar. Dera'nah approached the spectacle slowly and saw the stick come down again almost seconds after the small cat had already vacated the space. "What is the matter honoured merchant, does the small cat trouble you?". "This pile of worg-dung has already killed three of the priceless birds I had brought from Ellenion together with this useless little bugger". The cat, still a red feather in his mouth, looked defiantly at the merchant who just prepared for the next swing. Dera'nah put her hand on his arm and extended her other towards the young creature. "Maybe I can help. Let's see!". Channelling some energy towards the creature while whispering some druidic words, she calmed the cat who appeared to have fun, not being scared at all. The cat quickly backed up towards her, letting go of the feather, not taking its eyes off the stick. "Now here, all is good. I can take the little mischief of you. How much do you want?". "You a druid, eh? I see! Well, I still suggest killing it, no worth in trying to train it. Can't take the wild out of some creatures, I say! But that's your problem now I guess! Let me make you an offer: If you can heal the other two birds it injured and calm the others so I can sell them, you can take the bugger. I'm glad to be rid of the beast!" Smiling towards the cat, which looked up at her, she accepted the offer and started to approach the birds. A few minutes later the merchant was happy again and Dera'nah was about to leave when the cub tried to climb up Rata'nahs hind leg with its small claws and flew off in an arc after the pain-induced kick of the pony. "Told ya!" came from the merchant as the small group set off, Dera'nah again holding the cup and healing its bruises. "You are something special, you little ferocious beast!"       

After buying a beautiful armour made from masterfully intertwined leaves, which the elf who sold them in front of a magnificently carved elven tall ship was even able to fit perfectly to her thin body, she approached her small family again, cat cub in hand. "It's time to get introduced and find a name for you!" Sira'nah, sitting on the pommel of Rata'na's saddle, looked angrily at the small creature. Dera'nah looked down at the cat for a while. "You two, meet Fastra'nah!" She held out the cat to the owl who eyed the cat with a clear challenge. "Fastra'nah, this is Sira'nah. I'm sure she'll teach you quickly what happens to small cats that try to touch her. Be gentle Sira'nah, looking at the build of her, in a few weeks you might have a powerful friend!" And turning to the pony that still looked angrily at the cat: "You've already met. Rata'nah, Fastra'nah is now family. Please take care of him. I'll fasten him to you for the time being until he learned how to behave and can be allowed to roam freely." She bent down and threw the cat gently towards the saddlebags on the pony's side. The claws caught the bag and the cat quickly scrambled upwards, staying at the back of the saddle, out of Sira'nah's reach. "This is how to get up for now, although, looking the claw marks, I might have to think of some reinforcements for the bags to make it easier for you. I also will craft some riding contraption for you since I'm sure Sira'nah won't vacate her pommel!" Grinning at the owl, she took the reins and led them away from the market. "So little family, let's see if we can find that group again to continue our learning. Knowling men, I guess the shady pub is a good place to start!"

The Brotherhood of the Shadow

The brotherhood of the shadow.

 We are everywhere and nowhere. We see. We listen. We know. We make the shadow, we are invisible.

 - Educate yourself. Knowledge is more important than money. Money facilitates your life, knowledge gives you power. Power gives you much more money.
- Create a network of knowledge connected through a strict and hidden chain of command.
 - Choose your commanders. They must be first loyal to you and second, to themselves. They must educate themselves and create their own command chains.
- We do not accept previously educated people. We educate them using our resources, and we train them to fit the brotherhood.
- Each commander only talks to you and to his/her own subordinated persons.
 - If someone leaves the brotherhood, this person leaves the brotherhood. No coercion or harm will be caused to the person. All the connections with this person will be ceased and he/she can never come back again.
- Communication is our most important goal. Create communication channels which are encrypted and anonymous for the observers.
- The communication happens in one stream direction: always towards you, and you report only to me. - Spread the shadow around your surroundings. Never reveal your intentions, be invisible.
 - Grow. Control all the information of your neighborhood, then the city, then your region.
 - Sell information to obtain profit, but never reveal too much. This will be an expensive operation, you will have to maintain it. Again: educate yourself.
- We are the hands behind the puppet. We are not the show, we make it happen. Never take protagonism but control everything and everyone.


 Each member of the brotherhood must be recognizable by us but anonymous to others. We use a simple bird figure engraved in our capes, trousers or shirts. The color of the bird indicates the command chain: as brighter, higher in the command chain. you use a white bird. I use a white bird, with red eyes:
 

A strange human world

While keeping a hand on Rata'nah for comfort, she closed her eyes and tried to sort her thoughts. She had only entered that strange city two days ago and immediately a 100 things happened at one fell swoop. Not only were, seemingly, all city customs alien to her, but also the behaviour of her companions and everybody around her was incomprehensible. Only the ranger seemed to act "normally" and reminded her of the more simple-minded men in her tribe, her brothers included. If he would be representative of humans, she would be home in no time with not much to learn. But it seemed far from it.
The other half-human in the group seemed to be a practitioner of the arcane and mostly after gold coins. He was difficult to anticipate and whenever she thought she finally understood his intentions, he surprised her by reacting differently. But he seemed to have a way with people and could manipulate them well. Whether this was only connected to his elven ancestry or his arcane powers, she could not guess, yet, without more insight into elves or the arcane; powers so different to hers. And speaking of elves, she only heard about them through stories of her granny. But the specimen standing in the middle of the small square now somehow managed to destroy the whole image of the noble, wood-loving creatures that once were so similar to her own kin in many respects. He also did not, in any way, resemble the diplomatic visitors she saw her grandmother receive in her function as the head of her tribe. Where they had been respectful, prudent, and well-studied, the elf at hand appeared sneaky, weasely, and most likely a felon in disguise. The only character that so far managed to fulfil her expectations in his caste, was the cleric. He was full of himself and self-righteous, traits that most clerics she had met on her way here had shown. That he prayed to Wee Jas did not help the matter, either.
She had followed the group because the thought she could see a good example of people in a city helping each other, learning about the positive sides of life in such a large and multi-faceted tribe: Many different people coming together to help one of their own. But she more and more got the impression that everybody's motivation was merely personal gain. Even the gnome, the person that had requested help, went against his sister to take the inheritance where he should have sought her wisdom on how to share it. But the sister was none the better, seemingly showing no wisdom at all, at least none that Dera'nah could comprehend. And instead of helping each other, because this is what a tribe does, all actions were bargained for with everybody aiming at maximizing their amount of gold. How a community can work on such basis was beyond her!

She needed time to think and get her thoughts straight again, before getting more impressions and even more confused. She remembered the park they had been to, where they had met with the old sword master. Trees unknown to her and beautiful flowering bushes had caught her attention at the time and she was sure to find a quiet place there to meditate and converse with her mother. This park was the closest she could get here to a forest in this monstrosity of stones, metal, and strangers. She would try and find some of the people from this group again to learn more since she was sure that those individuals would attract even more interesting encounters. And she was sure because of that, she would have no problem finding some of them again. But for now, she needed a break. Just as she silently rounded the corner, she could hear shouts and cheers from a large group of younglings coming up the other road. At least this sight her world and the strange city shared.....