Crossing of the Wagons

We as Tuchuk do not dig a lot of post holes. We are nomadic. We follow the grazing of the bosk as they move from grass to grass. Dwellers do not realize that we do not cut grass for a herd .. and a million bosk can eat a lot of grass. It is like a constant sort of walk .. with pauses here and there for sleep. That is why our homes are on wheels. We never stop long enough to pitch a tent even. A tent is too permanent. We pitch our leather tents on large square platforms with .. well ... wheels.

Our tents are just a little more permanent in structure because we do not have to put them up and take them down as long as they just move along with us. Slender pieces of tem are formed and tied together to make the supporting structure .. the leather is stitched and formed around the shell. An opening at the top relieves the inside of smoke when the fire is lit in the copper bowl. There is a type of wooden plug that seals the hole when it rains. Then we go to decorating it all with style and color. Wealthy Tuchuk have ornate wood carvings inside .. rich Turian furniture and thick deep carpets. Carved and decorated platforms and railings. The flat platform sits high enough off the ground that a man could walk beneath it. All the wood is varnished and sealed from water. Only a lazy Tuchuk would ever have water actually get into the wood itself. We care for wood .. it is expensive and valued because there are no trees on the plains save for sometimes near streams or permanent water. But it is very rare. That is why we burn bosk shit for fires and use bosk oil for lamps. The bosk will provide.

In the winter we roam around the Northern Grass Lands ... in the summer we roam around the Southern Grass Lands. There is a big move twice a year .. but during those half years in either North or South we are constantly .. moving. There is not enough grass in one spot to last more than a couple of hands. If we stayed more than a few hands in any one area we would destroy the land and the grass would not grow back for a long time.

Which is a long drawn out thought that went with the original reason for it .. we do not dig a lot of post holes. It is back breaking blistering work .. digging a post hole. I know .. I was doing it today. I do not mind it so much .. if I am putting up a thousand stakes for a love war. There just seems to be a good reason for that. A thousand women .. the idea is motivating. Sinking great posts in the bank on either side of the flooded valley for ferrying our wagons across .. was much less exciting ... and just plain work.

Up and down the entire sides of the valley we staked and ran lines across the water. Even with so many .. it was going to take a long time to ferry hundreds of wagons across. With the currents we could not rely on just floating them .. their great flat expanses would just go down river. But the current is slow enough that with the guidelines it was possible to ferry them with little trouble. Little trouble .. but an enormous amount of labor.

By some Sky decreed omen of goodness .. we were able to accomplish it. But everyone's nerves are frayed and tender. Especially mine. When I went to the First Fires tonight I was so tired. So tired and sore I just dropped like a sack of suls. Seveya seemed to understand and brought me some blackwine and stew. It was a pleasant thing .. to be thought of. To be thought of with something hot and filling.

Now I have not been around Ba'atar's slave much. I think that is a very good thing. Tonight .. if she were mine ... I would have notched her ear. Not only did she pointedly ignore me at the fires but she would not acknowledge a thing Cana said to her. It has been a long time since I was so rudely ignored .. I would have to say since I first came to the Main Fires back in the day when Trajen was Ubar. My freshly scarred cheeks did not impress the Ubar's slaves. I had a few things to say about it then .. tonight I let it go. Either I am more secure in my own identity as a man and as a Tuchuk warrior or I was just too tired to care. Either way .. the slave is safe enough as long as she stays away from me and chooses to ignore Cana when Ba'atar is there to protect her. Of course if he allows it enough times it will be obvious it is how he wishes it to be and at that point .. even I will not step in.

Seveya struck up another conversation with me .. which considering how tired I was .. was not colorful. When I left my lean against the wagon to go sit with her and everyone else though it seemed to cut the conversation off.

Ba'atar has called a halt for a few days .. to rest and dry out the wagons. I had to wonder why we would stop for a bunch of lazy Tuchuk .. but I am certainly not going to argue that we could all use some rest. There are many repairs needed after the mud. Axles that need to be greased again. Wheels that need their leather repaired .. broken spokes. I suppose my wagon could use another coat of varnish and the leather checked after the storm.

This break we are taking is starting to sound like .. more work.