The Warrior And The Pacifist

Counterattack

Tamura had ridden all manner of creatures in his life, Ostrich Horses, Shirshu, Sky Bison... and now he could add Eel hounds to that ever growing list. As the stories he had heard said Eel hounds were fast and by Tamura's own account the beasts lived up to their name. He had tried to get Arin to tell him exactly how his order was able to afford not one but two such mounts.

Arin was tight lipped about it, saying that he couldn't talk about it without compromising his order which Tamura reluctantly took as an acceptable answer. In the grand scheme it didn't help him to know how they made their money though Tamura was getting the picture that they had some kind of small fortune to be able to own Eel hounds of all things.

The two of them traveled cross country, avoiding main roads in favor of trekking across wilderness. Currently they were in a green hilly region, a few small groves every so often, though they were by no means vast forest like he was used to seeing.

The late afternoon air here had a coolness to it, not to be compared even slightly to the snow covered poles but it was still cool, at least compared to other areas of the...Earth Kingdom. Tamura Didn't know if he would ever get used to calling this place by it's new name. How that formation played out left a bad taste in his mouth, and he had no doubt it would haunt him for many years to come. He'd always be wondering if he had paid closer attention to Gemeng could it have been prevented. That seemed to be a common occurrence for Tamura, wondering if things could have been prevented.

"My scouts should be up ahead." Arin spoke up loudly as to be heard over the thumping of the eel hounds feet as they moved at high speed, pulling Tamura back to the present which he was secretly thankful for.

Sure enough coming over a hill there was a small dip in the ground where three plain tents were erected in a triangle, three more eel hounds hitched to a stone post. In he center of this small camp a fire burned, three people sitting beside it, all of them men. As Tamura and Arin approached they stood up and he could see at least one with a sword and quiver reach down and pick up a bow as he stood . Though recognizing Arin they visually relaxed. As they quickly approached both Tamura and Arin pulled back on the reins slightly, turning the hounds full blown sprint into a light gallop and then a casual trot.

"You're late, we expect you yesterday." The one with the sword and bow said with a grumble. Something telling Tamura that these two had similar conversations like this in the past.

"Something came up." Arin replied. Pulling on the reins, the Eel hound letting out a sort of low growling sigh as it came to a stop. Clicking his tongue the Eel hound lowered its stomach to the ground allowing Arin to easily stepped down, Tamura doing the same. The three men turning their attention to Tamura.

The man with the Dao sword, a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows had sun tanned skinned, sharp features, his eyes a deep green. His brown hair pulled into a series of braids. The second man was pale skinned, his eyes golden raven hair void of a topknot, cut short. The third and final man had sapphire eyes, his dark brown hair pulled into a high ponytail. The most noticeable feature being the water skins of which there were two he wore on either side of his waist on either side of his belt.

Each wore indigo long sleeved tunics and pants tucked into knee high black boots, over that they wore blue painted metal armor with white trim made from a series of metal scales woven together. Just at a glance it looked close in quality that Tamura's own armor was. Designed to take a blow and keep the wearer breathing.

"Who is this?" The man with the Dao asked, crossing his arms and giving Tamura a look of suspicion.

Arin smirked proudly. "This is Avatar Tamura, he is going to be accompanying us." Arin looked to Tamura now. "These are Ha Xini, Irano, and Dekkur."