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once scanning a crowd at the marketplace or along the sideline of the Order’s practice sessions. There was often a gathering of onlookers, family and such, when the Order was being put through their paces by Hannibol. As leader of the king’s army, the Trusted man allowed for civilians to watch the practices for two reasons. One, to entice young bucks into wanting to join the Order when they came of age, and two, to reassure the public that the Order was up to par and would always be able to protect them from enemies such as the Umam.
    Overall the Vena were a peaceful people. They were content with their lands and borders and saw no need to expand them into their neighbor’s territories. Would that their neighbors felt the same way. The Umam felt they had a right to the Vena land, their reasoning being that the Vena were nothing more than animals, and animals did not deserve to own such a prime gem of territory. Animals deserved to be hunted, and nothing more.
    They were not the only ones who saw the Vena as ‘less’ because of the differences they had from other beings in the lands. Oh, there were other settlements with Vena in them or other shapechangers such as the Gorrum, who could turn into majestic birds or there were the Juya, men who could turn into wild horses. Each of these tribes had strong cultures just like the Vena, and each of these tribes faced prejudice and danger from those who saw them as little more than animals.
    Jesso watched from the corner of the room he had retired to after the evening meal had been finished and because Killium had drawn him aside for conversation. A conversation he had begun to pay little attendance to.
    “You needn’t worry,” Killium said.
    “Hmm?” Jesso straightened and made himself pay attention to Killium. “I’m sorry, Kill. I was distracted. Forgive me. What were you saying?”
    “I was saying you needn’t worry about him,” Killium said, nodding toward the man who had preoccupied Jesso’s thoughts.
    “Why do you say that? It is clear he is not himself,” Jesso said with a deep frown.
    “I say it because he is Garrick…and Garrick is never kept down for long. Not even by so heavy a weight as losing a beloved cousin and friend.”
    “I am not so sure. I am not so sure about anything,” Jesso said grimly. “Ulric’s disappearance sits very ill on me.”
    “On us all,” Killium said.
    “Ah, but it comes to me to find out what happened to him. It is my responsibility to find a way to infiltrate the Umam and somehow discover what has happened to our man.”
    “And how do you do with that?”
    “It is as I said earlier this shona in our communal meeting. I am waiting for word from the spy I have buried deep on their side.”
    “He is a brave man,” Kill said. “I do not think I would have it in me to be surrounded by those bastards from every side, all the while knowing how much they hated me. Knowing that, were I to be discovered, any number of horrors would await me.”
    “I know. I offered to go myself,” Jesso said, “but Garrick would not hear of it.”
    “You are too publicly known, Jesso. You are the best friend of the king. Everyone knows this and everyone knows your face as well as they know the king’s.”
    “I know. But the thought of what they must have done to Ulric… Anyway, cooler heads prevailed in this case. I suppose Garrick was right to prevent me from going. I ended up choosing a man from absolute obscurity. His coloring was identical to the Umam as well.”
    “Another reason you could not have gone. There are very few blond Umam.”
    “Few, but not absolutely none,” he argued, as if he were back in the communal meeting trying to convince them to let him go all over again. Jesso had lost that argument, but he still kept trying to win it whenever the topic was brought up. “Anyway, I last heard from Mox and the man I sent with him several shona ago. I sent the man Hyax with him to act as his servant and to bring