Just Another Day

"Hilael, you once asked that if I were to ever take off again that I would take you with me," Shanku said warmly and extended a hand. "Do you want to come?"

Hilael hesitated and eyed his sister cautiously as he thought over his answer. Things were a bit better now with the tribes at peace with each other, and Jagan had finally matured a little more and come to accept Hilael enough not to physically torment him anymore. Yet those scars, physically and emotionally, still remained. With a nod, he shook his sister's hand. "Let's go." Shanku nodded once enthusiastically and began to prepare for the next journey.

Shanku was now twenty years old, and it was customary for kurach upon reaching adulthood to take off into the forest alone or in small groups for five years as part of a coming-of-age tradition called the Foterutu. It was a grand ceremony held two weeks after the beginning of spring where all the cubs that had turned twenty years during the past year were blessed by their families and the village elders before setting off to test their survival skills. Although Hilael was only eighteen, his willingness to travel to and communicate with the hostile Fernwick marked him as mature enough to take off with his sister if she had asked.

Their family was reluctant to let them go after having had Shanku back home for such a short time since the end of her exile, but with loving and confident reassurances, and a private promise to her mother to sneak messages through the fae lines, they gave the cubs their blessing.

The clan was buzzing with preparations for the annual spring festival marking the beginning of season, but the eldest of the cubs were all focused on their upcoming trial. Some never came back from the Foterutu and the more unfortunate and clumsy cubs were nervous about their odds, and seeking alliances with more capable cubs to increase their chances of survival. When the day came, all the cubs that were to leave were lined up in the central chamber where the Elders, priestesses, and their families had gathered.

"You will be gone for a length of five years, where your skills will be tested. If you return home early," Niranjan paused and glared briefly at Shanku, "you will be shamed and never be truly part of Scissortail society. Whereas those of you who manage the whole five years will be granted full rights and honors. Your places among the clan should be decided by now, and you shall enter that line of work when you return." Niranjan stepped back and allowed the priestesses to come up and bless the cubs, smacking them green branches to imbue them with the health and vitality of the tree the branches were taken from and to grant them luck, and praying over them.

How strange that getting a swatted with a switch as a cub was a thing we all dreaded, but now have to enjoy it as an adult, Shanku mused. She was a little nervous and felt she was almost reliving the day she was banished as a cub, but when she looked over to her family they were all grinning proudly to see their two oldest going away on this revered trip. Shanku took a breath to steady her nerves.

The cubs were then told to exit the cave. The warriors had lined up along the entrance to slap the cubs as they passed, to grant them their strength. Shanku thought her father hit her on the head much harder than he did the other cubs, and given that he was grinning as devilishly as she normally did, she was convinced of it. I think I preferred the send off when I was a wee cub!

Nari watched sadly as her two oldest cubs disappeared into the forest. "We've lost her again, Zanzen, and this time, Hilael, too."

"But this time is much different. This time, she's supposed to go, and who better to watch after Hilael on the Foterutu?" Zanzen said proudly.

"Oh, I know," Nari replied with a sigh. "At least I'll have them all home for a few years again before it's Muso and Banhi's turns."

Zanzen gave his mate's shoulder a reasurring squeaze before returning to his duties.