Session 44. (5/3/10)

The explorers have landed their boat at the Ainu village of Taisei. They walk into the town and are met by about a dozen locals who ask what they want. Haku's explanation is a miracle of brevity:

"We've travelled from the south; we've moved villages many times to avoid the expanding Wajin, then our village was cursed and this is the first bay we've come to."

His rhetorical powers sway the natives. "You're welcome to settle in our village and join us. You will have to follow our ways, though."

"What do you mean by 'your ways'?" asks Miyoshi, suspiciously.

"Well, we work very hard for the life we have."

Mineo casts an eye over the headman's house. It is much more plush than the rest of the village. Mineo wonders if he is modelling himself after a samurai warlord, but the house style is definitely Ainu.

Kachamaru breaks in, "We can offer many things - squid boats, hunting skills, a totem bear, culture, magic, Mrs Kokuma..."

"How many people do you have?"

"Oh, about 20 to 30 families... it's hard to keep count. We come from Miyoshiville"

"Never heard of it."

"Where's the nearest village?"

"A few hours up the coast."

"So, what's the hard work around here?"

"We farm the barley, maintain the fish ponds, fish in the sea, do a little hunting..."

Kokuma pipes up, "How about we go hunting for food, have a feast?" Mineo and Miyoshi agree enthusiastically. Kachamaru and Haku agree eventually.

A villager asks if they would like to borrow a pair of their dogs. "Huh?" responds Kokuma.

"For hunting. You know, to find the game, chase it, kill it?"

"We not know how to hunt with dogs."

Kokuma feels the temperature drop a few degrees. "You don't know how to hunt?" a villager asks incredulously.

"Oh we can hunt. We not have any dogs. We do all hunting ourselves." He adds in a low, sad voice, "Squirrels killed all the dogs."

The Ainu villagers nod their heads sympathetically. Miyoshi, Kokuma, Kachamaru, Mineo and Haku get ready to go hunting. Mineo asks conversationally if the village has a totem bear.

"No, we don't hunt bear every year, only if the barley harvest has been bad." The Ainu watches Mineo pull on light armour and ready his swords. He looks suspicious. Kokuma realises that the Ainu villager was one of those that he saw in the trade delegation to Kumaishi, so he probably recognises Wajin armour and weapons. He hurries the hunting party to leave before suspicion turns to questioning.

The five set off, leaving Yoshi, Koshamain and the sailors to sail back south and fetch the rest of the village. Kachamaru is excited. "We can stay here until the curse wears off then move back to Miyoshiville," he exclaims. It is quite a long way to find good hunting grounds, much of the wide valley of Taisei being cleared for agriculture, aquaculture or the village, and the rest being scrub or only lightly wooded. Once into the thick forest, however, Kokuma soon picks up the trail of some hares. They find a small group of four hares. Kachamaru looks as them suspiciously, waiting for them to turn into Moon Hares, and this probably causes him to miss his first shot. Miyoshi also misses but Kokuma and Mineo both get kills. Haku tries two Arrows of Soil but misses with both. As the hares scamper away, Kachamaru misses the fleeting target but Kokuma and Miyoshi hit and kill one and Mineo and Haku combine to fell the last one.

Pleased with their haul, but knowing they need much more for a village feast, the hunters press on. Kokuma finds another likely spot and discovers a group of five hares. The five hunters fire their favourite ranged weapons, and in a rare show of unanimity, all five hit and kill their targets. Budo, on and high fives all round!

Buoyed by this success, Kokuma starts looking for tracks of large game. His eye is in today as he finds the tracks of a reindeer. "Shall we put out the nets?" asks Kachamaru.

Mineo explains it to him in simple terms: "We didn't bring the nets. They are too heavy, and a deer could probably jump over them. We didn't even bring them on the boat. The holes are too big for fish, and the weight of wet nets would have capsized the boat." "Duh!" he adds, mentally. Kachamaru is shamed into missing the reindeer, but the others hit it with their arrows and Arrows.

On their return to Taisei, the villagers are very impressed with the hunters' abilities and the weight of their meat. As dusk falls, a great feast is held with roast reindeer, hare, salmon, barley flatbreads, barley beer and other local delicacies. Haku seeks out the village shaman, who turns out to be a young woman called Etunrachich, to ask about the village. Kokuma finds a hunter called Pahlyonna to ask about hunting dogs. The others try to gather information during the dancing. However, the Ainu are having too good a time and don't want to talk shop. Their accent is noticeably different from the Ainu to the east of the mountains, but there is no difficulty in understanding. Haku, Kachamaru and Miyoshi begin dancing in the Nipponese court style that is the only kind they have learned. This drives the Ainu away, who don't like the formal style. Kokuma, on the other hand, dances in the Ainu style and the villagers flock to him. One Ainu asks Mineo, who is watching the proceeding with amusement, "What's up with those smooth-skinned squares?!"

In the morning the visitors have slight hangovers, but not too bad because the barley beer was not nearly as plentiful as the food, and there was no sign at all of the liquor that Miyoshi, Kachamaru, Kokuma and Yoshi Yeesu saw being traded at Kumaishi. By now Kokuma has made friends with everyone in the village except the Headman's family, who haven't been seen. Kachamaru had been hoping for a "lad's night out", but apparently only three of the village women are unmarried, and he didn't get lucky. One of the older men in the village advises Miyoshi to start building new huts for their families, starting at the edge of the village. Miyoshi, his rebelliousness already pushing to the surface, wants to build huts right next to the Headman's house, but the others dissuade him. Mineo starts laying out sites for the new huts and working out how much wood they will need, following the same rectangular design as the existing huts, much to Kachamaru's disappointment as he has always admired more rounded forms. With an idea of what they need, the five newcomers head up to the woods to cut trees.

It takes quite a while to get enough wood, as only Mineo is feeling particularly strong this morning. They trim off branches and cut lengths and carry or drag them back to the village. As they are laying the rough timbers out on the plan of the first hut, a figure comes down the steps from the Headman's house and yells, "Hurry up!! How long does it take you to cut down a few trees?!!"

Miyoshi is about to reply with some well-chosen imprecations, but Kachamaru is, for once, the diplomat: "We shall redouble our efforts!"

"I hope so, visitor, for your sakes. The Headman is not as forgiving as I am." He goes back in.

Discreet enquiries reveal that the haranguer is Yeiresp, the Headman's eldest son and notoriously arrogant. Miyoshi is sullen, but the intercession seems to have had an effect as the workers' strength returns and building proceeds smoothly through the afternoon, Mineo coordinating as the others labour. However, even this doesn't seem to satisfy Yeiresp as he leans out of a window and shouts at Mineo, "Stop standing around and get that hut built!!" Mineo, Kokuma and Miyoshi raise the timbers into place and start work on thatching the walls and roof. By sunset the hut is complete, and the five visitors decide to sleep in it overnight.

The following day sees more of the same. The morning is spent cutting down trees in the nearby woods, and the afternoon is spent trimming the beams, making joints, putting the frames together and thatching. There is no interference from the other villagers, who are busy in the fields, fishing, doing maintenance jobs around the village, making furs and so on. No-one appears to be idle. Some of the women make food for the village, and they provide some for the hut builders. It is a bit spartan, consisting mainly of porridge, but it is adequate. During the afternoon a shout is heard from the Headman's house, seemingly aimed in their direction: "You slow bunch of workers!!" Miyoshi is outraged again, and says that someone should go and speak to the Headman. Then realising that he is the senior tribesman present, he stomps off to the Headman's house. On the way he is intercepted by one of the local men, working in the village.

"Please don't disturb the Headman. Or his son," he pleads.

"But he's being very rude."

"He's the commander of the village. He'll go into a terrible rage if you upset him. We'll all suffer."

"He sounds like a tyrant and a bully."

Kokuma joins in. "When was the Headman last seen?"

"Lunchtime. Ipokash took his lunch."

"Did she see him?"

"She would have."

"Yes, but did she?"

"Go and ask her."

They go to find her hut. Miyoshi stops on the way to pick up his spear and strap on some armour. He knocks on the door. "May we have an audience."

"You what?"

"Can we come in?"

"Whatever." They find Ipokash inside, stretching a hare pelt. With her teeth.

"When did you last see the Headman?"

"Lunchtime."

"How was he?"

"Grumpy as usual."

"And his son?"

"Arrogant as usual."

"Are they bullies."

"What are bullies?"

They leave. Miyoshi calls the others for a confab. Kachamaru summarises the options: knuckle under or overthrow. Mineo points out that boatloads of men, women, children and bears are about to start arriving. In fact, he starts worrying why the first ones aren't here yet. He surmises that they must have a lot to pack. Miyoshi decides to desist from confronting the Headman; although he is itching for a fight, he doesn't want to jeopardise the rest of the tribe at this crucial time. He resolves to keep his spear close at all times, though. With the delays and the lower work rate, the second hut takes two hours longer to build.

In the evening Miyoshi goes to see the village shaman, who he assumes will have the most thoughtful perspective on the village situation. He asks her about the Headman and his son and whether they treat the villagers as slaves.

"Kuteashguru and his family rule this village. The Headman can fly into rages at the least provocation. His eldest son acts like he owns the place. But they keep the village going. They are responsible for the trade with the Wajin town."

"Have they always been like this?" asks Miyoshi.

"As long as I can remember." Miyoshi notes that she is in her early twenties.

"What does Kuteashguru do in his rages?"

"He sometimes beats people up, sometimes he'll punish them by kicking in the walls of their hut. He's quite unpredictable."

"Why don't you team up and overthrow him?"

"Team up? What does that mean?"

"Maybe I'll show you sometime. You know, replace him."

"But how would the village manage?" Miyoshi says nothing, but in his mind he can see a job vacancy opening up in the future, with his name virtually written on it.

The boats still haven't arrived from Miyoshiville, and everyone is getting concerned. Kachamaru points out, though, that the boats could only set off at night and while the moon is below the horizon, so they would only arrive in the early morning. Hoping they turn up in the morning, everyone retires for the night.

In the morning, the five newcomers set out and chop down trees for the third hut. When they return with the lumber they find that a squid boat has landed, bringing their wives, children and belongings. Each of the wives wants to know why their hut hasn't been built yet. Koshamain has been sailing the boat, as he is a good sailor as well as master sailmaker. Miyoshi explains the political situation to him. Koshamain comments, "We don't want to rock the boat here - at the moment."

"But we're not used to this kind of treatment," protests Miyoshi. "Sooner or later something is going to flare up."

"Then it's up to me - and to you - to stop it."

Miyoshi agrees, but secretly he is thinking, "If I subtly provoke the Headman, he'll start something and I'll be the innocent party. Maybe if I just work less hard than the others. That won't be easy..." Then Miyoshi notices that Koshamain is looking a bit ill. He calls Mineo over to look at him.

"It's just his age, I think. At least, it's not anything I can fix with the herbs I have here." Turesh also looks at Koshamain and concurs. His illness is not curable with magic.

In the afternoon, Mineo, Haku and Miyoshi start constructing the third hut. Several of the wives work on the thatch, but Kuchiki and some of the older children go to cut down more trees. Kokuma and Kachamaru have other work: Pahlyonna has approached Kokuma to see if he wants to learn how to hunt with dogs. He is keen to do so. Kachamaru asks if he can tag along. They go out and see immediately both the great training and instincts the dogs have to hunt, and the control that Pahlyonna has over them. First they see the dogs scent, chase and bring down a young deer. Then they are even more impressed when they chase and kill a full-grown stag. Kokuma and Kachamaru try their hand at controlling the dogs, and although they fail, they learn much.

When they return at the end of the day there are two more huts, courtesy of the increased manpower. There has been no sign of the Headman's family all day. At dusk, Koshamain and the sailors set off back south on the boat, to get another batch of families and relieve Yoshi who is supervising the packing.

Also that evening, a young woman named Hotene comes to see Kokuma. She says that the village has a pair of dogs that they can't train to hunt. They are different from the other hunting dogs because they came from the mainland. She asks if Kokuma or the other newcomers would like to look after them. Kokuma accepts enthusiastically. Meanwhile, Miyoshi is thinking of experimenting on them with his Control Wolf skill.

Ainu dogs

"Kokuma-ken"

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