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Tolon	The morning has brought with it a much calmer Tolon. He's been up a while before eating, if one was watching, they'd have seen the man talking with several small groups of his riders in a very business like fashion. They'd have seen him go for a ride, where in he showed a formidable apptitude at archery and then finally, he'd have arrived for breakfast. Dawn hasn't long passed, yet the camp is busy, the food seems to be communal, a table set up in a central tent being where most eat. Tolon finds a tray already set aside for him. The fare is light, mostly whatever fruits, berries and nuts can be gathered in the area, though there's a bowl of thick porridge. Tolon seems to have an appetite, having a fairly large share of everything. He moves to sit at one of the tables with a glance at those present, who don't stop their friendly bantering on his account.
Wind	Wind enters the tent carrying a brace of six pheasent, she makes her way deftly picking through the crowd ignoring any lingering gazes watching her, stopping at the kitchen to hand over the birds before collecting a mug of tea and a bowl, filling it with porridge and berries. Then with she makes her way across to the table Tolon is sat at and sitting down, "Morning."
Tolon	"Morning." Tolon smiles faintly. "You hunt well it would seem." He settles back in his seat. He's still got his sword with him and his saddlebags. It seems he's rarely without either. Otherwise he's dressed casually, sans armour he wears a simple cotton shirt and trousers. The group at the table and most of the camp seem to have a mixed air of amusement and trepidation about Wind. On the one hand she was seen leaving Tolon's tent and has since been set up as a guest for reasons unknown. Yet no one is quite sure when she arrived, or with whom. The jokes and questions begin quickly, many crude, many poking fun at Tolon, he seems to fall into the banter quickly. "Tolon, if you continue like this you'll never find time to make the gathering, let alone make your case." The man making the jibe is just short of his middle years and grinning like a teenager. "You will use up all your energy." For his part Tolon only grins. "You are old and forget what it is to have energy Jedin, you should speak of things you are familiar with, like falling asleep in the saddle." This gets chuckles from those around the table as Tolon looks to Wind. "I believe you may have become part of another story about me. It is all the gossip." He then shrugs. "I will admit, I am still surprised you chose to visit my tent last night myself, it seemed to offer little gain."
Wind	Wind shrugs, she's been a soldier long enough not to let gossip get under her skin, "I go where I will, there's people worth knowing and I sense you might be one of them. " Wind tucks into the porridge before gesturing with the spoon to the room, "you care about your people that much is clear and in that we're alike so I want to see what else we might have in common and maybe work together."
Tolon	Tolon studies Wind, his good humour falling behind deep thought. "I see, I still find it strange you didn't come in a more conventional fashion." Tolon shrugs a shoulder. "I cannot say I had considered much working outside my people." He eats a few mouthfuls of his porridge. "You speak as though caring for your people is uncommon. I do no more than I should for them and would be nothing without them." He lounges in his seat as he talks. "I suspect we are alike in some ways, but I also suspect we are different in many ways. Do you not worry the dreaded Kete raiders will disturb your sensabilites. We are a harsh people." He stirs some of his berries into his porridge, pausing to pop one small berry into his mouth. "The other question is, what would we be working towards? What common vision do we have to unite us?"
Wind	Wind assumes an easy smile "This is the age of sorrows Tolon, creation grows darker by the day and nothing should be taken for granted." Wind gives a thoughtful pause before continuing, "The east grows more dangerous, wild tribes, the mask of winters, bandits, the Realm, fae and more. I have a plan to start trying to start answering these threats but I suppose the first question is, do you care?"
Tolon	Tolon considers Wind's words. "Creation grows darker and Kete ride." He speaks softly, thoughtfully. "Creation will fall to Darkness and the Kete will ride." Tolon smiles grimly. "A pessemistic saying I've always thought." He studies Wind for a long time. "The worlds growing darkness has weighed on me for some time." He digs around in his bowl as he speaks. "When I was a boy I trained as children do, I trained in the bow, the spear and the sword. In the last of these I had an instructor named Jochi, a sadistic old bastard who beat me from head to toe for an hour each day." He shakes his head. "Much of what I do is in hopes of helping creation. Rot infests many places, yet it is a rot easily missed. Creation is full of the fat and greedy, it is full of people who give up freedom for security and when a problem arises they cower while their masters protect them." He shakes his head. "The world we live in needs to be made stronger. Yet as Jochi taught me, the strong cannot encourage strength, they cannot guide or lead people to it. The strong must goad, they must drive. The weak will follow them without hardship, but they will only become strong when all other options are exhausted to them." Tolon frowns. "I prepare for messy work here, tell me; Do you believe there is away other than driving Creation to be strong?"
Wind	Wind's expression shifts a bit taking on a more serious aspect, "I do believe there is a way, tell me do you demand your children to carry as much as an adult? do you put them on the frontline of combat? It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak. Not everyone can be a warrior what's more not everyone should be a warrior, life is more than survival. that is the luxury afforded to those I fought and killed for that they can live in peace, that they wouldn't have to see friends die or find themselves staring into the river not able to recognise themselves through the blood of those they'd killed." As she continues Winds voice hardens and a steel comes into her gaze that was absent before. "I fight so they don't have to."
Tolon	Tolon smiles as he looks at Wind. "And there is where we differ. Your analogy to children is weak. we goad our children, we encourage them, but we also drive them. They learn to fight, they learn to hunt and to kill, no one over the age of ten would fear to be apart from the camp, they would know how to survive, they would know how to find their way home." He shrugs a shoulder. "And they would know we would find them." Tolon smiles. "Every one here can depend on every single member of our tribe when the time comes. We can know that the rider beside us will fight, we can know that the children are prepared to protect themselves and the infants if necessary. We value our luxuries. I read, I appriciate fine wine and rare food, but my life gives places them clearly in my list of priorities. I have burned books when winter was hard. I have left wine because a horse was lamed." He shrugs a shoulder. "When a tribe camps for a long time, when food is plentiful and easily captured many grow fat and tired. When the lean times come, as they always do, when they have hunted too much, when the game has become wise to the traps they set, then the lean times come. The times when you must shed the excess weight, stretch the muscles and hunt again. Creation is leading towards the lean times. I will do what I can to help, but those who are weak and fat, those who cannot become lean and strong, they will drag us all down."
Wind	Wind smiles the steel gone "yet you still place lower expectations on those children than you would an adult, which is my point. who writes the books, makes the wine, grows the grapes, prepares the fine food? those things require people who are able to develop skills other than war and survival. Oh there are those who've managed to accrue more than their fair share and they'll pay for that largess. I plan on pacifying a region, establishing an area where people can live and travel in relative safety. from there we can raise an army to work on answering the larger threats." wind lrts the spoon fall into the empty bowl before continuing. "People will need to stand together in the days to come that goes for let's say "noteworthy" individuals as much as tribes."
Tolon	Tolon sighs. "You do my people a disservice. You assume all we do is fight. All we do is hunt. We craft, we forge, we make our own spirits. There are even those amongst us who write." He smiles brightly. "I do place lower expectations on the towns and cities of Creation, I understand that they lack the training of my people. That is why I propose goading them. Those places the Kete have raided routinely are strong, they have learned to respond quickly and effectively to threats. They haven't stopped working the vineyards or making pots or books, but they have become lean." He smiles. "My vision isn't so different from your own. The Kete would ride among the nations. They would aid any community that faced risks it couldn't handle and an army would form, made from the strength of the cities that had learned war fighting some of Creations finest warriors and then learned from them. The Kete would be better outfitted and equipped, because the cities would pay tribute in the form of arms, armour and supplies. Peace would come from the Kete." He shrugs. "We differ mostly in what would be needed for this. I see this as being forged at the end of a sword, born of pain and violence." He smiles. "I dream of uniting the Kete. It is said that once we were a single people, then the tribes split, Tribe Tolon is unqiue in that we did not split from a single tribe, we formed from those that chose to follow me when I decided to act against the enemies of our people, to rescue those who had been taken captive and to ensure that none would ever again dare to attack the Kete in such a fashion, let alone try to make slaves of us." He finishes his breakfast. "Whatever differences in our methods, you can count that I will not stand by and watch the darkness consume us. I and my tribe will ride to fight it where ever possible." He makes to rise. "I must leave, I have work to see to in Nexus, you company has been interesting. Please, feel free to remain among the tents, you are a welcome guest as long as you wish to remain."
Wind	Wind seems thoughtful fot a moment, "I agree our aims are similar though our methods differ. we agree that threats need answered so if the Kete find themselves facing such a foe you can call upon my banner. though I would rather avoid conflict between us so I would ask you not "goad" any territories I have claimed." Wind stands and holds her arm out towards Tolon.
Tolon	Tolon seems to consider the agreement for a moment. "If you will agree to avoid taking those places we have grievances to settle. We will need to agree on the size pf this territory and the areas the Kete will have rein. We require room to travel." He tales the hand. "If that is agreeable then we have the beginnings of a deal." With that he turns to leave.
Wind	"then we have the beginnings of a deal, we can go over maps and details later."