Chapter Text
He walked into camp behind Caudata where immediately he felt all eyes fall on him. It was a feeling unlike anything he'd ever felt, that feeling of everyone watching his every move. He moved closer to Caudata. Walking through the camp he heard people whispering into other ears.
‘Who's that with Caudata?’ one said
‘I don’t know but they look unusual.’ one more proclaimed
‘What's on that kid's mask?’ another asked
Looking through the eye slots he saw they were nearly at what seemed like a massive reddish tent, and he got somehow closer to Caudata's back and looking down to the sea green, grassy ground.
‘Faust, are you okay?’ Caudata asks him, turning around to look at him.
‘Huh?’ He looked up from the floor and looked at Caudata’s golden eyes.
‘I’m asking if you're okay. you’re pretty much on my back.’ she laughed a bit
‘I’m sorry I'll move back.’ he shuffled backwards and looked back to the ground.
‘Faust, you don’t have to do that I'm just asking because your acting uncomfortable. Anyone can see that. Come on we’re almost there.’
‘Okay Cau’
They continued walking to the tent and they finally arrived, it was only 3 minutes, but it felt like half an hour. Standing at the cusp of the entrance Caudata said.
‘Faust, wait here, I'm going to go get someone. Caudata said and Faust nodded a reply
Caudata grabbed the cloth at the front it had marks similar to that of her markings just a deep red with a trim of yellow. Faust stood, waiting, at the entrance until Caudata came back with a tall man who looked so much like Caudata; except with long braided hair and a darker shade of the tattoos Caudata had.
‘Hello, Faust.’ The man said, his voice was deep and slightly gravely.
‘Hello.’ Faust spoke quickly
‘Calm down Faust. I mean you no harm, would you like to come inside?’ The Stranger asked.
‘Yes sir!’
All three of them went inside the large tent, inside it was pleasant with a small flame in the center with colorful mats and rugs with such color and different markings. Pillars held up the tent with a chimney at the pole hub held up by stilts jutting diagonally, letting the smoke out. One other person was inside the tent smoking a rabbit over the flame. The Person was sat on the ground around the flame. The person had short-cut black hair, with red markings like Faust. He wore dark brown clothes with an emblem of a sun held on his shoulder by belts. The symbol reminded Faust of someone though it seemed like a lifetime ago. Faust thought the person had an air of mystery about them.
Faust whispered to Caudata though it seemed to fall on deaf ears ‘Who's that?’
‘ANWIR!’ she nearly screamed.
They looked at Caudata ‘Caudata?’
Caudata ran up to the person in the tent and tackle-hugged them.
‘Um can someone please explain who these people are?’ Faust said even more confused
‘Oh right' Caudata said remembering that they hadn't been introduced
Caudata stood up and walked over to Faust. She stood next to Faust and pointed at the tall dark man
‘Faust, this is my father, Newt. Father this is Faust, I found him in the woods in the middle of the night.’
Newt extended his hand to Faust though he stood rather tall over the young boy.
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Faust, though may I ask. What were you doing in the middle of the night.’ Newt said puzzled
‘Well,’ he paused ‘I would rather not discuss it.’ he said finally
‘That is alright Faust I understand.’
She grabbed Faust’s hand and pointed to the person on the mats and rugs.
‘And this is Anwir. Anwir, this is Faust.’
‘Hey Faust.’ he waved over to him looking at him, flashing a smile at him, before quickly returning to smoking the rabbit. ‘I'll be done soon just give me a few minutes.’
‘So Caudata, how did your scouting go?’ Newt looked at Caudata
‘It didn’t go well I couldn’t find any trace of void clan.’ Caudata relayed the information to him
‘No matter we should still-’ Newt was cut off by Faust
‘Who’s void clan?’
Caudata and Newt both looked at him.
‘Sorry I'll be quiet.’ he said meekly
‘No Faust it's just, how do you not know who they are. Would you be able to tell me who your father is, what is his name?’ Newt said worried
‘Yeah, I can do that.’ he took a breath and looked in the eyes of Newt ‘My father is Neander Idris.’
He feels everyone’s eyes on him as he says the name, he looks in their eyes, they’re unusual; No, they're not, they’re scared. Caudata's mouth is slightly agape.
‘Faust do you, know what your father has done in the past; the evil he brought upon the world.' Newt said he looked into his eyes almost tearing apart his mind to see if he was, evil.
‘No, what has he done?’ Faust questioned.
‘Horrible, horrible things Faust.’ Caudata remarked
‘What did he do?’
‘He, He killed people Faust. He tried to end a spirit's life, he tried to do that multiple times.' Caudata said, shocked
‘W-what? But he couldn’t have, he always taught me that spirits are something to be respected. And he never tried to kill one of them... right?’
‘He did Faust.’ Newt spoke gravely
Tears welled up in his eyes as he thought. “He wouldn’t have done that; I know my own father he wouldn’t have done that.” he blinked the tears away letting them fall to the floor before continuing the conversation ‘okay, that’s all I wanted to know. You two can continue your conversation.’ He slightly backed away from the two of them.
‘Faust, are you sure?’ Newt asked
‘Yeah’ he lied ‘I'm fine don’t worry about me.’ He gave them a smile and they looked at him quickly then returned to the conversation.
‘We should still go to Sunniva, even if you didn’t see any trace of them. That’s where they’re going next. I already know Anwir is going with you and, this is nothing against Anwir he’s a capable young man, but please take someone else with you. I'm certain any of our clan siblings and allies would be happy to accompany you to Sunniva.’
‘I know I'm just having difficulty choosing who should go with me, unless...’
Faust watched their conversation and how Caudata leaned into her father’s ear to whisper something to him.
‘Well, that is an idea, I mean we would need to ask if he would want to accompany you and Anwir to the Sun Clans, but I can ask him, if you want me to.’
‘No, I’ll do it’ she said firmly. Caudata took a few steps towards Faust and began to ask him ‘Faust, would you like to accompany me and Anwir to go make a deal with the Sunnivans?’
It took Faust a few seconds to absorb the information.
‘Wait, WHAT? You want ME to go with you to the other side of the shard?’ Faust questioned loudly.
‘Faust maybe not so loud but, Yes’
‘I’m fine with it, just to let you know.’ Anwir shouted to them from his spot on the mats. The rabbit had finished smoking a few minutes ago and now he was cutting the rabbit into smaller pieces to store in his pouch.
‘Faust, you’ve never seen the other places, I presume because I think a boy with antlers would be talked about often and, you freaked out when you saw me. So based on that you’ve never seen another person, am I right?’ Caudata said, her confidence dwindling leading to her uncertainty. Faust just shook his head up and down.
‘So, Faust do you accept this, it will be a heavy burden I can assure you.’
‘Yeah. Yeah, I'll do it!’ He brought his hands up to his stomach level, keeping his hands at his sides and clenched them in an act of excitement.
‘Perfect!’ Newt said
Caudata brought him into a tight hug and brought him off the ground ‘Yes!’ She exclaimed. Putting him down on the ground Anwir walked over to him and said, ‘Happy to have you on the team Faust.’
‘Okay you three you all need to prepare for the journey. At least a week or two’s worth of food, Faust do you have a knife or a blade?’ Faust brought up his stygian obsidian blade. ‘Okay that will be fine, I can make some food for all of you to take, we should bring gifts and offerings to the Sunnivans and-’ Newt continued to speak listing of things they would need
‘Sorry about my dad,’ Caudata whispered ‘he can be a lot sometimes.’
Faust let out a small chuckle ‘No kidding.’
Some time passed before Newt finished droning.
‘So did all of you get that?’ He questioned. To nearly asleep Faust and Caudata, and Anwir had already gone.
‘Hey, where did Anwir go?’ He asked both of them.
‘Well soon after you started droning Anwir said he’ll start hunting some animals to take with us.' Faust informed him
‘We wanted to join him honestly’ Caudata said under her breath
Newt sighed before speaking ‘Alright well in short. You’ll be needing a few bags and pouches and Faust,’ He turned his attention to the auburn-haired boy ‘We’ll get you some new clothes since those ones aren't in, the best quality.’ he said to try and spare his feelings.
‘Yeah, I know so what's the procedure for getting the clothes.' he questioned, under his breath, warily.
‘I’ll start making Faust some new bags, I’m sure I have some spare hide, Caudata I need to you accompany Faust for the time being, see him too the Palliumhood they’ll get you situated.’
‘Yes father.’ With that Faust and Caudata left the large tent at the center of the encampment
‘So, who or what is “the Palliumhood”?’ Faust questioned Cau at the outside entrance of the tent
‘they're an independent group who make clothes they’re particularly good. Their kind of like the Sunnivans in that sense.’
‘Oh well then that’s okay.’
They both picked up their feet and began walking with Cau leading the two of them. The grass crunched under their feet as they walked through the encampment. Faust let his eyes wander aimlessly around the camp, trees were all around and there were some places where the camp would rise a bit moving with the hills in the forest. Actually, he thought, it looked more like a forest with people living entwined with the forest than a camp. Midday sunlight sent its beams through the trees splashing across the ground, where children played chasing one another around. Adults did work around it, fixing small holes in the tents, (which had so many colors it reminds him of salamanders; Admittedly all of them were much smaller than the tent he was in moments prior.) Cooking food over a great flame where many tents were and searching for fish in the stream that snaked through the camp. He could also see small bridges, where the stream gets much wider, made of woven materials and stuck to the ground with stakes of wood.
‘It's beautiful, isn't it?’ she asked Faust looking over her shoulder
‘Yeah, it is!’ He said firmly
He continued gawking at the scenery with humans because although he was used to wonderful views growing up in the forest seeing them with humans in them was something wildly new. They continued walking in contented silence, with Caudata occasionally glancing over her shoulder to see if Faust was still following. It made Faust upset when they eventually had to leave to go to the forest where the Palliumhood were, but he continued to look around at the scenery though now instead of humans it was birds and rabbits, foxes and deer, the bugs and wolves.
After walking for a while, he accidentally bumped into the back of Caudata ‘Huh? Oh, Cau why did you stop?’ Caudata turned around
‘Well, we’re here obviously.’ She told Faust like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Faust looked behind her and found a large tent with some smaller tents around it, many mats, clothes and hides hung from the branches of the trees and mats lying on the floor. The colors were plentiful. Some people emerged from the central and largest tent talking to one another, both were dressed in brown and red casual drapery. One had black hair pouring over their shoulders and the other had their medium-length dark brown hair in a loose bun at the back. Both of them also had grey and white hairs, respectfully, sprouting. They both quickly noticed the two teenagers standing nearby and they both noticed Caudata very quickly.
‘Hi Caudata!’ the brown-haired one screamed and the black-haired covered their ears and looked at them.
‘Hi Auncle Sorrel!’ She shouted back
‘Caudata dear, could you come over here instead of shouting’ the black-haired projected their voice.
‘Oka-’ Cau started to shout before realizing her mistake. Caudata dragged Faust over to the two people.
‘Hello dear. How are you?’ The black-haired asked Caudata with a small smile on her face. ‘And who is this may I ask?’
‘Hi, Aunt Nox I'm fine and this person’ she points to him’ Is Faust. I found him in the woods last night.’
‘And may I ask why you’re here, oh my you haven't run out of your clothes have you, I knew I should've made more I'll get on it right away.’ Nox began to quickly walk away before Sorrel stopped them
‘Dear why don’t we let our niece finish?’ Sorrel asked her.
‘You’re right. Caudata why are you here?’ She asked her.
‘Well, you’ve seen my friend, Faust.’
‘Sure, we have, is this about him?’ Sorrel asked.
‘Yes, see we’re going to the Sunnivans, in the south near the Meridionali Mountains. Wait, I should probably clarify. Me Anwir and Faust are going to the Sunnivans to make a deal. And we need new clothes for Faust because,’ She looked to Faust in his Dark and tattered cloak with even worse condition clothes underneath ‘... of course he does.’
‘Well, we better get to work then.’ Sorrel said
‘Caudata dear, come back in the morning this might take a while.’ Nox told her.
Caudata walked away not to return until tomorrow morning.