Whether or not Mikh might have wanted to find some company doesn't really matter. He goes home to his apartment, because if he spends the night before going off on an adventure not with his little sister she will pout about it. Particularly when she's apparently made him a nice dinner as consolation for the day's bad news.

He gets a good night's sleep, and in the morning arrives at the stables by the Gate of Nald with his saddlebags in hand, saddling and packing up with the efficiency of long experience, and then proceeds to the gates themselves to meet T'shhim.

"Good morning!" He calls once he's in earshot, over the bustle of the morning crowd. He flicks his scarf over his shoulder as he comes to a stop at the other miqo'te's side, revealing more of his vest's embroidery - Oschon, this time, rather than Menphina - and regards him with unsightly cheeriness for a Keeper this early in the morning, "All set?"

"Morning," he agrees. He looks—not as bright and awake as Mikh, he did not go to bed immediately and it shows, but riding a chocobo doesn't need him to be the awakest he can possibly be. "Ready whenever you are."

"Great- oh, I forgot to ask last night - to Camp Drybone and back?" He asks, taking a pause to mount his bird before he continues, "Or would you be up to making a round of some of the smaller settlements nearby with me? It would mean another day and night out in the wilds, though I'm sure we could find lodgings for the night." It would give him a stronger reason to be out there - Camp Drybone's prices are lower than Sapphire Avenue, but the excuse of the rare treasures of remote settlements is stronger, and it doesn't hurt to load one's dice. Also, he does actually want to take a look around Golden Bazaar- he's curious about the ruins the Calamity had revealed there.

"I'm up for it," he says, shrugging agreeably. More opportunity for finding interesting stuff to do. "You look to have more ideas of what you'd wanna do, so lead on."

"Right," he tugs on the bow on his back and the wand at his hip to check that they're secure, and then turns Camylle towards the gate, pacing T'shhim to the steps outside and down to the road below.

It's just hitting midmorning, and the sun is high enough in the sky now that the temperatures have risen from warm to hot. Mikh pulls his scarf over his head and wraps it securely before they set off down the road, squinting over the baked earth, scrub, and stone around them. It's a few hours' travel to Black Brush Station, where they should be able to pick up a little something to eat and hide away from the sun at its peak.

While he can enjoy a few hours' ride in silent company, he decides to try striking up conversation, first.

"So you're Condor tribe? Assuming I remember the corresponding animals right."

"You know, I'm told the letters correspond to the names of the animals in some old language, but no one at the tribe spoke it so I find it real sus that there happened to be exactly one letter per tribe.

"...but yes. The T tribe is named after the Condor in whatever language that is."

"One of my aunts told me once that huntspeak and our names are all that's left of the old Keeper tongue, but I couldn't tell you how she learned that. I've no idea what my name means, though; for all I know it could mean 'dull' or something. I just think it sounds nice."

"I've no idea if my name has a meaning, either," agrees the Seeker. "—though I'm guilty of the same crime. I named my chocobo T'leea, and it was not due to any particular meanings, either."

T'leea Shhim, he sometimes thinks of her as, even though it is kind of weird as fuck to treat your chocobo as if she were your daughter. Also he's a tia with no plans to even try at becoming nunh, he's never going to sire any kittens in his tribe and if he does sire them elsewhere he has no reason to keep the Seeker naming traditions.

But he kinda misses his family anyway and naming his chocobo that helps a little bit.

He directs his smile at her, "She's a lovely girl," he says, petting his own chocobo's crest as he speaks. Camylle gives a pleased little chrr and shake of the head.

"Camylle came already named," he adds, "Her mother was my mother's bird, stabled with a friend of hers for breeding when she... I hesitate to say 'settled down', cause she never really did, but when she had my sister and ended up staying with the clowder on a more long-term basis, anyway."

"Right, you said you're half? I'da thought that'd be 'cause you're from the city." An alley cat, so to speak.

"No," he huffs, more rueful than annoyed, "Might've been an easier path for me if I had been. My aunties were never cruel to me, but they weren't exactly happy with her choices, either." He shrugs, "My father was a Seeker. A'rohja Tia. He was a champion of the Coliseum for a few years around when I was born, til another Seeker showed up, kicked him off his throne, and then vanished with him the next day. 'Course my mother was already gone with me by then," he adds, "She wanted to raise me a Keeper, even when she'd left the Shroud when she was young, herself."

"'Vanished with him'? Sounds like something out of a bard's ballad."

He snickers, "You said it. It was the talk of the city for ages, to hear people tell it. 'Famous coliseum champion elopes with the challenger who defeated him'. Funny, though, no one I asked has any idea where they supposedly eloped to. All anyone can tell me is her name - T'laana Ywan," he tilts his head at T'shhim.

"Oh so that's where she went," T'shhim says, in tones of someone hearing some particularly juicy and also hilarious piece of gossip that makes a lot of sense of other past gossip.

He sits up in the saddle, eyes lighting up with curiosity, "You know something!" He accuses playfully.

"Well it was when I was very small so not really but it was a really big deal and gossip for several years," he starts. But then he straightens up a bit in the saddle and assumes a Storytelling Tone.

"T'ywan Nunh was the predecessor of—well, my father, the current nunh, T'zhesha. People at the tribe still tell stories about him. He was very efficient as a leader, is one way to put it. Ruthless is another. Tyrannical is perhaps a third. He was brilliant with the sword and the bow and the daggers, of course, but his head for politics was nearly unparalleled." Clearly he's having a lot of fun telling this story. "The tribe expanded its territory to over twice its previous size, under him, and everything was great for everyone except anyone who lived wherever he wanted to go. Or anyone who was unhappy with the precedent he was setting.

"Don't know how much you know about Seeker organisation, but it is actually not very common for the nunh to really have such an active hand in controlling everything. They're, ah..." He coughs a bit. "Glorified breeding studs. Usually. But not him.

"Well he had these twins, you see, my half-aunts: T'laana and T'ryse. Laana was a prodigy on the battlefield, Ryse was unmatched in social manipulation. They were rising stars, and any who would challenge Ywan as nunh would most certainly need to win their loyalty if they wanted to have a chance."

Now's a good moment to pause for audience reactions.

Mikh cannot sink his chin into his palms to listen enraptured on chocobo-back, but he somehow still manages to give the impression that he is. Camylle must be well-trained, because she is getting exactly zero input from him right now.

"But one of them vanished," he prompts, intrigued.

"Nope! Both did," he says, cheerfully.

"No!" He laughs, "Why'd they do that? No good prospects? But your father took over," he counters his own theory.

"Here's where the story becomes more speculative. I don't really know what Ywan did, the stories diverge and one's wilder than the other. Maybe no one knows but the twins, now, and everyone was just making it all up.

"But Ryse made a point of letting everyone know that she was unhappy with Ywan, and she and Laana were thick as thieves, even if Laana vanished to go do who knows what every now and then. But one day while Laana was away Ryse vanished, too, and no one knew where to.

"That was sort of a huge blow, I hear, as at that point Ywan was growing old and there were many people who were unhappy with his, shall we call them methods? Their leaving tipped the balance, and my father challenged Ywan and won.

"And... killed him. Because Ywan refused to yield even when it was clear he had lost, he just refused to permit anyone else to have the power for as long as he was alive. It was the first time in a long time that the displaced nunh was killed at the tribe, too. But he died, the twins were gone, and I do remember how hectic everything was for a couple of years afterwards."

"...wow," he says, shaking his head. "And you called my story a bard's tale. Then again, it had that same person involved. Maybe T'laana just trails these kinds of dramatics wherever she goes!"

He sits back in his saddle, considering what he's learned.

"So, T'laana leaves your tribe, defeats my father in the coliseum, and then vanishes along with him. Maybe they didn't go to the same place," he considers, "But she's still a good lead to follow, if there's anything to follow. It's probably safe to assume that T'ryse went with her, wherever she's gone. Maybe three Seekers traveling together will stick in peoples' minds better," he shakes his head, somehow not believing it.

He huffs a dramatic sigh, "I suppose I ought to just suck it up and go visit the Antelopes, if I can't find anything else here."

"I was gonna say, my best guess just from hearing the whole story now that I have your bit of it is that the twins said 'fuck it' and decided to try their luck at some other tribe. So they might in fact be with the Antelopes."

"-with my father as the nunh? Huh." He thinks about this, attaching it to the opinion his mother had of the man, which she'd made very clear whenever he'd asked about him growing up. "A glorified breeding stud, you said?" He can't help but snicker a little, "Well, considering how my mom insisted he was fucking half the city, I doubt he'd find the role a hardship. And he's certainly fertile enough!" He waves at himself. "You know my mom only let him convince her to sleep with him one time? She was bitter about it til she died, too. She told me just to make sure I knew that I should never assume that just once won't be enough."

"My father did end up having more power than I hear my great-grandfather did, and some tribes vary in that. But yeah as a rule, the point of them is making sure the next generation has good genes."

"Well," he eyes T'shhim, blatantly appreciative for the first time since meeting him, "Mission accomplished."