Back at the fairgrounds in town, everyone is in full party mode. A young man is being paraded around on everyone's shoulders, face painted and the biggest grin I might have ever seen on his face.
"He got first blood today. A monstrous boar came out of the grass not long after the search started and he got a shot off before anyone else had noticed." It's the old tracker talking softly over my shoulder.
"Looks like everyone takes pride in your warriors. That's a good thing."
"Yes, it's good to have pride back in our people. We needed it pretty badly. Too many hard years with no work and not much hope took a toll on us. But now that the portals have come, we have purpose again. Protecting our people and the land. Don't forget to stay tomorrow for the dancing and rodeo. You'll enjoy it for sure."
He's absolutely right, this is amazing. The dancing, the outfits, the thumping of the drum that seems to just naturally set your heartbeat to its rhythm. Everything is great. A collection of food stands and a few vendors have been set up at the fairgrounds, it looks like they've done this many times before. Not only the whole town seems to be here, I'm still seeing vehicles, almost all pickup trucks, some with trailers attached, coming down the road from every direction.
The old tracker is sitting on the railing around what will soon be the rodeo grounds, but is now the dance floor, smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, how big is this rodeo expected to be?" I ask him.
"Well I'm not sure, but we took up a collection yesterday, half to the one who got first blood and the other half is going to the rodeo winners, along with a bit extra from the band council that we always set aside for rodeo prizes. There's a prize for best dancer too."
There really should be, they're pouring their hearts out on that dirt dance floor.
The dance ends and the crowd goes insane cheering them. Once the furor dies down a bit, the announcer comes to a stand beside the ring and declares the prizes for the rodeo.
Top in each of the 4 categories today is 5 thousand dollars. Just how much did these guys put into that first blood draw?
The old tracker, who I hear someone call out as White Bear leans over my way once the prizes are announced. "Everyone was so sure they'd get lucky and find the first beast that nobody didn't get into the wager for the 20 bucks. The band fund matched the money left for the rodeo."
Now I understand why the prize for a rodeo announced only one day in advance and not part of any regular schedule is so big. It seems today we'll have barrel racing, which I'd never seen before. Saddled and bareback bronc riding and steer roping, which I've also never seen. This is a week of firsts for me.
First Troll, First powwow, first live rodeo, first time leading a search party.
A few riders in comes the first of the warriors who I taught the meditation technique to. That horse is not happy with him, but he's stable on it like it's a walk in the park. They score him an 89, which going by the crowd's response is pretty darned good I guess.
White Bear, whose first name I've learned is Evan, has been trying to teach me how the scoring works, but since I know nothing of the technicalities, and I'm going for pure entertainment, I'm not really getting it. This sure is a fun event to watch though.
By the time the rodeo is over and the winners are announced, it's getting dark again. I really should get back to base and submit my reports, Lala will be getting lonely by now with everyone gone in different directions.
They draw me up on stage to announce the prizes, calling me a special guest, like I did more than just tag along and kill a couple monsters. But it's a kind gesture, and announcing prizes is actually pretty fun. All the winners get belt buckles and cash. The second place gets a less fancy belt buckle.
The chief says they're made right here in town by their resident Earth Mage. She was too weak in skill to join the corps and flunked out of school, but making silver and gold belt buckles has paid her way through life. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
The winners announced and buckles handed out, I head back to the sidelines and the night starts to wind down. Saying my goodbyes and leaving my contact information at the Safe House with the chief and White Bear I hop in my car for the long drive back.
Sneaking quietly into my room, already starting to strip my gear off as I walk through the dark, not wanting to turn the light on and wake Lala I notice she's not in bed.
That's odd, she always wakes up on top of me, why wouldn't she be in bed.
Then I see her, stretched out on the cushion in her cage, door securely latched and blankets piled on top of her like it's mid winter in the castle and not a temperature controlled underground bunker.
She was definitely lonely.
I'm glad we brought her on the botanical garden mission, 10 days alone might have broken her. Maybe I can teach her to cultivate and fight so she can come along?
That thought circulating in my brain I slip into my comfiest flannel pajamas and unlatch the cage to bring Lala into bed with me.
What? She's cuddly.
It seems I'm the first one back. Karl is bouncing all around, taking a helicopter from location to location closing portals. Juan will be back tomorrow he said, Manuel about the same. Mary pulled a chunk of nothing but badlands and it's taking longer than expected, so did Jake. Jurgen lost radio contact this afternoon, but that's pretty common lately, with the surge in mana messing up communications. They talked to his team on a land line and things are progressing at a decent pace.
I fall asleep, mind full of thoughts about my team. It's such a strange feeling, we've not even all known each other for a month yet, and we're practically one pack.
What I awaken to is chaos. There's shouting and the sound of pounding feet in the hallways, the tingle of Karl's magic intermittently along my skin.
If I can feel his spell casting from here, either he's doing something big, or he's really close by.
"Come peacefully and we promise you'll receive fair treatment"
"You have no right to judge me" That's Karl's voice. What on Earth happened?