The Captivity of Toklo Ikuma and Messouda Ziahni

Cultural event

Though no violence had occurred between them, the Sahahimu Peoples bring the captive expeditionary group ashore and take their weapons and disable their ships, effectively stranding them there. The captives are brought before the council to decide their fate where a heartfelt plea from the leaders of the expedition catches the Sahahimu off guard.

From the moment of their capture, the shrewdly intelligent Hiversteadian agent maintained a cool outward demeanor much to his credit, and due to Toklo Ikuma being quick on his feet violence was avoided. The capture and treatment of the remaining expeditionary force was civil but wary, and it was quickly apparent that no deviations from the wordless directions offered would be tolerated. The group was separated into two groups and brought along differing paths while blindfolded into the interior of the island forests where they were brought before the council of the confederation. The tension at this point was very high, and while Toklo did his best to try and communicate, the language barrier between himself and the Sahahimu was threatening to be the downfall of this initial meeting. He began working through his limited language skills in a desperate attempt to reach out and explain their presence, but nothing seemed to register. Messouda Ziahni , seeing this struggle stepped forward to offer her assistance, following Toklo's lead and when she attempted to speak Gauldowhynnian, the Sahahimu froze and suddenly became silently grim. Stunned, the captives feared the worst.   The silence carried on for a moment before one of the chieftains, Fala White Tree spoke up in broken Elvish, in a dialect that was vastly different but close enough that the needed point she was making came through. Her words were an accusation, claiming the captives were part of another people, ones she referred to as "They Who Dance Upon Bones". Confused, Messouda explained as best she could that they had no idea who they were referring to, and that they had come from far to the west in search of resources to help their people survive. Fala conveyed what she understood to the council who considered this. After some debate, it was decided that the captives would be allowed to survive, but they would not be allowed to leave until all the chieftains of the council agreed. The captives, released under the understanding that Toklo and Messouda would be held responsible for the actions of the people with them. They were free to wander the lands of the island at their leisure, and to go wherever they wished within the boundaries of the island provided the tribe that claimed the land did not tell them otherwise.   For five years the captives wandered and mingled with the varied and unique tribes of Sanctuary, learning of their culture and their ways, eventually learning a basic understanding of the language and customs as well. In this time, not a single trespass of etiquette was made and no incidents occured that could be viewed as negative. Having decided that the captives had proven themselves as friends of The People of Two Seasons, they were once more brought before the council and their future was discussed, this time as guests.   The discussion covered many things, and the five years they had been there had allowed them to offer a great deal of detail about the ways the world had changed, the Blight, and the other nations that remained. Toklo and Messouda both agreed that the neighbors of the Sahahimu needed to be investigated further, and that perhaps it was time for the Sahahimu to be introduced to the world. Both of these ideas were met with significant push back, but in the end, duty won the day, as the Sahahimu could not ignore their cultural predilection to present themselves as ambassadors of their people and ways, and to seek out solutions to the ever-growing plague of the Blight before it grew and destroyed them as well.   The first order of business was to initiate a dreaded line of communication with their neighbors and former enemies, the Bonedancers . While none of them looked forward to this, the Sahahimu agreed that even an enemy like they deserved to know the fate of the world upon which they lived. surprisingly, the Bonedancers seemed to barely recognize the Sahahimu, meetinig them at the edge of their churning mechanical city, Obficina with a small complement of armed Bonedancers. Their attitude was one of laissez-faire acceptance of what they were told, remaining unmoved and unconcerned visibly. They did however, offer to send an ambassador to the mainland as well to represent The Union in the diplomatic negotiations and to scout the situation themselves and bring back word. This was agreed to, albeit begrudgingly, and the return home was mounted, the original crafts arrived upon returned to the expeditionary team along with enough supplies to make it back easily as well as an entourage of representatives from each of the tribes and a small, strange craft that carried the three person representatives of the Union.