By: Common Cirathan Tale

Date: Sometime after 8 AP

Context: The following is an oft told story of why cirathans and peldaks hunt together.

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A young man went into the forests of Ciratha with his bow.

It was made of strong, sturdy wood and a flexible string, with a quiver full of arrows hanging off his back.

He stalked the forests until midday, but found no luck.

All the animals were either too big for his bow, or too skittish to let him get in range.

On his hunt, however, he came across a peldak. He too carried a bow, but it seemed more like the peldak was strolling peacefully through the forest. Was he a hunter too?

The young cirathan heard of the kindness and hospitality of the peldaks, so he straightened his back and walked closer.

“Howdy there!” The cirathan said with the wave of his arm, “any luck out here?”

The peldak’s ears perked, and the giant turned to the cirathan. “No, I-“ but suddenly, the peldak’s eyes widened, and his ears flapped with delight. “Haha! What’s that supposed to be?” The peldak marched over and swiped the bow from the cirathan’s hand, “is this a toy?”

The cirathan tried to hide his embarrassment, yet still blushed. “It is not. I’m trying to catch dinner for my family, and sell the furs.”

“Fair enough, but with this? No wonder you haven’t caught anything.”

“It doesn’t look like you’ve shot anything either.”

The peldak waved his hand dismissively as he inspected the bow, “there’s nothing out here, these forests are dead.”

That gave the cirathan a moment of pause. Nothing out here? But on his trip thus far, he had seen all sorts of critters and game scurrying about. As the young cirathan was lost in thought, he didn’t notice the peldak take an arrow from the quiver which hung on his waist.

The peldak’s arrow was thicker than the cirathan’s bow, and looked more like a wooden stake you’d hammer into the ground. If the arrow would even fit, it clearly wouldn’t go far with a bow that small.

“Hey, wait!” The cirathan cried when he finally noticed, “you can’t do that, you’re going to break my bow!” The man tried to take his weapon back, but the peldak, taller by a head and stronger by twenty times at least, had no issue keeping it.

“Relax,” the peldak said. “I’m not dumb enough to break something even this flimsy.”

The peldak put the back of the arrow against the string and pulled. The string went taught, the wood of the bow bent, and when the peldak was about halfway back, it cracked cleanly in half, sending wood chunks everywhere, with the string snapping together.

The two men looked at the broken halves for a moment, one in the peldak’s hand, the other dragging against the dirt. The cirathan was mortified that his prized bow was destroyed, while the peldak wiggled his ears in distress.

“Oops,” the peldak said.

“Ahh!” The cirathan cried, “why would you do that, what’s wrong with you?! I needed that!”

“S-sorry! I’ll make it up to you, here.” The peldak dropped the broken bow and pulled out his own, “here, you can have mine. Even trade, right?”

The peldak’s bow stood nearly as tall as the cirathan, and was built with stone and iron.

“I won’t embarrass myself by even trying to lift that.” The cirathan flicked the string and instantly knew that trying to fire it was impossible. “I guess my family will just have to go hungry for a few weeks, until I can get a new bow made…”

The peldak’s hearts ached with guilt, “N-now wait a minute,” he put a hand on the cirathan’s shoulder. “I’ll hunt you something! No need to worry.”

“But you haven’t caught anything either, and it’s already mid-day.”

The peldak’s ears tipped downwards, “yes, but that’s just because there’s nothing out here. Once I see something edible, I’ll shoot it. No doubt.”

The cirathan glanced to the side, then pointed. “How about that deer over there?”

The peldak squinted, then raised a hand above his eyes to block the suns. “Where?”

The cirathan raised an eyebrow, “right there. On the third hill, past the stream, between those trees and bushes. Even a novice hunter could see it.”

“…what?”

The cirathan eyed the bow and arrows, then muttered to himself “a bow like that, and those arrows… wind, gravity, travel time too. Hey, set up real quick, but don’t shoot yet.”

The peldak slotted an arrow into place. His muscles flexed as he managed to pull hundreds of pounds worth of force back. The thick veins bulged under the skin, and his jaw was tight.

The cirathan glanced to the deer, “aim a little higher. Left. Higher. Tad lower. No, not that low.” The cirathan put his hand on the bow to offer the smallest of corrections, never moving his golden eyes off the deer. “It’s moving a little now… loose!”

As a reflex, the peldak released the arrow and it went shooting off into the thick of the forest, sailing through the warm air, barely avoiding trees until punctured a whole straight through the deer’s flank.

“Ha!” The cirathan jumped, that’s incredible, you actually got it! You really can hit a target from this distance.”

The peldak raised an eyebrow, “what are you talking about? You still haven’t even showed me where the deer is. I hit it?”

The cirathan agreed to show him where the arrow landed, and escorted him a mile through the forest until they came across the deer’s corpse.

Seeing what a perfectly placed shot it was, both men came to the same conclusion.

The peldak had the range, while cirathans could direct him towards targets.

The peldak put a hand out, “we split all future hunts by 50/50?”

The cirathan put a chin up, “60/40.”

“Ha! No way, I’m the one-“

“62/38,” the cirathan asserted.

The peldak’s ears dipped and, worried of getting an even worse deal if he protested further, agreed. The two then shook hands, with the cirathan’s bones nearly snapping from the squeeze.