Kilil 24, 5676

Without horses, travel will be slower. We continued south along the river a few more days, but now we’re traveling west across the land. Rather than continue far enough south to cross back into the Toram River drainage basin, I want to explore the areas just south and west of the jungle first. Krista’Mil, however, thinks we should turn back and return to Sehol immediately. I think she’s anxious to report the loss of Tora’Sor. When we have arguments like this, I used to rely heavily on the opinions of Tora’Sor. Without her, all I can do is wonder what she would do, and hope I make the right decision. Elendra’Tel is less concerned with making an immediate return, probably with the idea that my travels will sometime take us back in that direction anyway.

The wildlife in this hilly savannah is a mix of those found in the jungle and those found in the Toram River area. Since it’s midwinter down here in the southern hemisphere, many of the animals normally living in the Toram River region migrate toward the jungle. We’ll need to be careful not to get stuck in a stampede of migrating etagas. We’ve seen quite a few of them lately, along with the telefs we heard in the jungle. Telef skin is brown and hairless, and they have two massive tusks curling up to the sky from the corners of their mouths. The massive beasts can easily knock down or pick up trees in their tusks. Rar impressed us by approaching one of the beasts that was sitting nearby, and patting it on the nose. Apparently, they’re rather docile as long as you don’t startle them.

Pelmarco wants to know if it’s possible to ride a telef. I can only imagine how far we could travel each day on a telef, and riding one into any large city would draw a massive crowd of sightseers. Elendra’Tel says none of us would be able to tame one of the beasts and ride it, but some of the older Sisterhood operatives back in Atalan might be able to do it, much as they claim to be able to tame dragons. I guess it’s a secret they don’t share with their younger members who are assigned petty missions like my expedition.