Pelthe 23, 5679

We reached the river we plan to follow to Razhinoch, arriving at approximately the same point on the savannah where we found it the first time we entered the jungle several years ago. We’re also starting to see some of the wildlife we’ll encounter while in the jungle, such as brightly colored birds. Dawn managed to catch several different types of birds, and made herself a colorful headdress. It’s an interesting accent to her grayish skin and hair. The Red Exemplars are also catching birds, but are a bit more discriminating. They only want red feathers, which they will use as fletching on their arrows.

I gave Dawn a few pieces of parchment today. I have plenty, but she’s running low after drawing so many pictures in the past few months. I made sure to restock while in Kaluna since I can’t say how long it will be until we return to a place to replenish our supplies. I also considered how much she tends to use, and ended up purchasing much more than normal. Fortunate for me, I can have one of the horses carry the bundle.

One of the older Red Exemplars told an amusing tale tonight. About ten years ago, the Red Exemplars were camped somewhere between Sehol and Nazada, when they suddenly realized one Red Exemplar was missing. The captain at the time organized a search, and sent out other Red Exemplars in teams of two to find their missing comrade. This time, one of the teams failed to return. The captain was disturbed. Red Exemplars don’t just disappear, and adversaries strong enough to threaten two Red Exemplars aren’t very common. If two Red Exemplars failed, three must succeed. More search parties went out, and as before, one of the teams failed to return. Most intriguing, they disappeared in the same direction as the first search party. The remaining Red Exemplars gathered, and went to search. It wasn’t long before they found the missing Red Exemplars. A Barbidon caravan passing through the area was entertaining the Red Exemplars with drinks. The captain laughed at the discovery, and the rest of the Red Exemplars joined their comrades in the merriment. Since then, no Red Exemplar disappears without bringing back several bottles.