"Mmm, good idea, I'll try that." Sigh. "I really wish we could go ask the other clans too, if they've got Gifted kids. Without them just trying to murder us."

"I don't suppose there's a way to approach them without. Like, can clans - warn each other of fire, or combine into one if they're both hit really hard by something and have gotten very small, or..."

"- You know, I'm not sure. It'd make a lot of sense if there were. Maybe we could ask Ta'ana?" 

"Well, you can, at any rate."

He gets up and goes to ask her. 

She seems to find the question confusing and irritating, and shakes her head at him, but answers tersely, and then says a few more things in response to repeated prodding. 

Ma'ar comes back over. 

"There's - an old tradition," he says slowly. "If you approach another camp and slaughter a cow in front of them and say you're offering a feast and tonight all men are brothers. ...Apparently my father came from another clan, from one of those nights. He never said." 

"Ah. It... doesn't really look like there are cows to spare."

"...I could Gate to a town and buy one? Or, I mean, I don't actually have enough money, but - maybe I could do mage-work for some townspeople and barter it?" 

"I don't know that we need it as urgently as that."

They're my people, he's about to say, I want to help. But...it's not like they're more deserving of help than the entire rest of Predain. Or even necessarily that they need it more. They seem to be managing, mostly; glancing around at the people present, it seems like only a handful of the young children and one of the adult men have died since he left. 

He shrugs and stares at the horizon. 

"I mean, if you have something in mind to say to them..."

"I have to think about it." 

"I wonder how much Predain is... a... country? Like, do people show up and track down clans and collect taxes. If you went to somebody and were like 'they stole my cow' would they... care. For that matter if you went 'hey some foreign soldiers have been seen in our area' would they listen."

"I think - some? But it'd depend where. I guess you could argue the Plains aren't really part of the country Predain, even though they're in the middle; I don't think anyone ever tried to collect taxes from us, let alone enforce the law." 

"So it's kind of like a country with a hole in it."

"Right. And then it's not like the rest is that much more cohesive. I remember when I was travelling and, uh, reading people's minds a lot so I wouldn't get caught by surprise by anything. The common folk were scared to go to the Guard for anything, because - maybe they'd help but maybe they'd just laugh and demand bribes." Or rape you, but he doesn't say that out loud. 

"They like, thought of going to the Guard, sounds like? And had an idea of what would happen if they did. So that's still basically a country just not a good one."

"I think that's right. And - hmm, I should maybe ask Ta'ana if they used to send tax collectors here. I think it's not just the Plains that got hit by the last few decades being bad. Maybe the King used to have the resources to send armed escorts with the tax collectors - it's not like you need much to hold off a clan, we - they - barely have weapons, and the King has trained mages..." 

"Sounds worth asking."

He will go ask! 

Ta'ana seems increasingly irritated by all his questions, and this time whacks at him with her stick - not very hard, though - and barks something that's probably rude after she answers. 

"She said a taxman would come when she was a young woman. And also she said can I please go away." 

"Do they not want us to visit? We could go home tomorrow after making it rain."

"I think they - don't really know what to do with having us here? And - I haven't checked or anything, but - I think they're kind of scared of us. Especially Skan, but you and me too. And then Ta'ana seems to deal with that by being rude."