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Lina followed nervously behind the group while watching Kion's tail sway in an effort to distract herself from her anxiety.

```

Wafit: So, Lina, I'm told you've never been to Ankarok before. What do you think of it, seeing as you walked through quite a lot of it to get here.

Lina: *sharp inhale* *long exhale* It's very vast... The farmlands are breathtaking, but I was starting to wonder if they were ever going to end.

Yineh: *bombastic laughter* At least now you know how much food everyone eats. So~ I'm assuming coming from Tarico and wearing that outfit you're probably not an outdoors type?

Lina: Nee, I'm certainly neet.

Yineh: *chuckle* Tarico accents crack me up, and I haven't heard one in a loo~ng time.

Wafit: Speaking of, if it's not too forward, why did you decide to join the Ankarok rammu?

Lina: *nervous utterance* I wanted to get away from my family... Which is why Cerina sent me here instead of accepting me as a Tarico rammu.

Yineh: So~ besides family issues, any other reason you wanted to become a rammu?

Lina: *nervous utterance*

Yineh: Have you ever even been out in the wild before?

Lina: W-why would you ask that?

Yineh: For one, your clothing and all your supplies are brand new. For two, you're looking pretty beat for someone who smells like they stayed at the Golden Gate Keepers in the village; which means all you did this morning was run through the farmlands and green trails.

Lina: All I did!? I've been running for the past three hours straight.

Yineh: That's literally going to be half your morning warmup until you become a rammu-jhu.

Lina: Neewha?!

Yineh: Yep, our normal morning regimen is to run from the gathering to the village and back.

Lina: *stunned daze*

Yineh: Wait, did you say three hours?

Lina: *affirmative nod*

Yineh: Are you sure you know what running is?

Wafit: A~nd we're here.

Lina: *bewildered* I don't see anything?

Wafit: *chuckle* You have to look up.

```

Lina looked up to see an extensive network of ornate and brightly colored interconnected tree top buildings.

```

Lina: Wow... *stunned* H-how do we get up to them?

Yineh: *bombastic laughter* We climb, of course, silly.

Lina: *hard gulp* C-Climb?

Yineh: *bemused stare* You do know how to climb a tree, don't you?

Lina: *nervous utterance*

Yineh: Wow ... okay... *awkward laughter* I'll go toss you down a ladder.

Lina: *relieved sigh*

```

Lina watched in awe as Yineh effortlessly climbed the massive central tree and dropped down a rope ladder.

```

Lina: *looking towards Kion* You wanna go first?

Kion: No thank you. I don't like rope ladders. I'll feel safer climbing the tree. *awkward chuckle*

```

Upon reaching the top of the ladder, Lina collapsed in exhaustion and stared up at the still mostly branch and needle covered sky.

```

Lina: *heavy breathing* Tha- that's going to take a lot of getting used to.

Yineh: So~ why did Cerina send you here instead of Raidico or Silaka? You kind of seem like you'd do the best as a Raidico rammu actually.

Lina: *awkward chuckle* She didn't give me an option... She said I could either come here or find a different path in life.

Yineh: *curious hum* Interesting... You going to be able to move anytime soon?

```

Lina drudgingly pulled herself off the ground and stood up on wobbly legs.

```

Lina: *heavy huff* I'm fine.

Yineh: *raised eyebrow* Let's just take a few extra moments to enjoy the view.

```

Lina watched as Yineh walked past her and rested her arms on the railing as she stared off into the distance. After a few moments, she looked towards Wafit who shrugged, then followed Yineh's suit.

Looking over the edge, Lina cringed at the idea of resting her weight on the railing and instead stood a few steps back as she looked out over the forest. As her eyes wandered across the details of the forest floor, she felt an eerie yet exciting feeling wash over her.

```

Yineh: What do you think? Does it look like home?

Lina: *somber hum*

Yineh: I'll take that as a, "nee". *chuckle* Sorry, not teasing, it's just a fun way to say no... So~ what made you want to get away from your family so badly?

Lina: Neething I ever did was good enough for them. Around them, the only thing I could ever be was a disappointment.

Yineh: What kind of things you do to prove them wrong?

Lina: Neething. All I ever did was prove them right.

Yineh: So~ then even this is just proving them right? Are you planning to go home with your tail between your legs before the end of the initiation moon?

Lina: *sharp* Nee. My sigh earlier was because the word "home" makes me feel sad. This place makes me feel excited. Home has always been a sour word for me.

Yineh: *intrigued hum* You know, Ankarok has the fewest rammu by a large margin and yet the vastest wildness to watch over. You're more likely to be killed here than in Silaka, despite the fact our borders are vastly less hostile.

Lina: *hard gulp* Jsha, I know.

Yineh: They say one in six trainees are killed here. With you and Kion joining, there's now seven of us at once.

Lina: W-why are you trying to scare me?

Yineh: I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to say, let's enjoy our moments together while they last. *big encouraging smile* *serious expression* Also, let's do our best to beat the odds. *bombastic laughter* Alright, let's get this tour going again.

```

Lina followed behind Yineh as Wafit began explaining each of the buildings they passed.

```

Wafit: Any questions?

Lina: Is it always this quiet? I haven't seen anyone other than us.

Wafit: Because there's so few of us, even during our major events, there are rarely more than a handful of people here at one time. Right now there's only the three of us, Bora, which is our leader in case you didn't know, probably someone or two on tower watch and of course Mirra since she's been watching over you.

Lina: *bewildered* Watching over me?

```

Hearing a deep female voice come from behind Lina turned to see a short youthful solid black girl wearing a pitch-black formal rammu uniform that matched so perfectly into her fur that she nearly appeared naked, standing less than an arm's length behind her.

```

Mirra: Indeed, I've been following you since you left Tarico.

Lina: A-A black uniform, wa-wait, since I left Tarico!?

Mirra: *affirmative nod* But don't worry about it too much. I enjoyed all the time you spent lollygagging. As for the uniform, you didn't think your safety would be left up to just anyone, did you? You weren't traveling through any place dangerous, but Cerina-su was quite worried about you making it here, regardless.

Lina: If you've been following me, who's been following Kion?

Mirra: Besides the obvious fact that he lives only a couple hours away at a leisurely run, Kion is comparable to a rammu-jhu or perhaps even a full fledge rammu in some regards, and has a great deal of experience in these wilds; therefore, no one was assigned to follow him.

Lina: R-really!?

Mirra: If you want to learn more, you should talk to him, not me.

Lina: *turning back towards Kion* You are?

Kion: I honestly couldn't judge my own skill level, but I have lived in this forest and been training under my elder father, who is a retired rammu, for much of my life.

Lina: Did you ever want to be something other than a rammu?

Kion: *somber stare* No.

Yineh: *curious hum*

Wafit: So, Mirra-vu, since you decided to show yourself, is there anything you wanted to talk about?

Mirra: Decided to? You forced me to. *raspberry* You can't introduce someone without expecting them to at least say hi, now, can you?

Wafit: *awkward chuckle* True.

Mirra: Anyway, since the other trainees are back from their morning regimen, I trust the five of you will be able to keep our two new members safe. Therefore, I'm going to report back to Bora-su and get my next assignment.

Wafit: In that case, take care Mirra-vu.

Mirra: *disapproving glare* I realize you're calling me that because of the new trainees, but once was sufficient.

Wafit: Understood, take care Mirra-su.

Mirra: *pleased smile* You as well, Wa-su.

```

Lina watched in awe as Mirra walked away from the group.

```

Yineh: I know, right?

Lina: Huh?

Yineh: You're checking her out, aren't you? I know I am. She rarely walks away this slowly. Normally, she just vanishes as soon as you blink or look away. *bombastic laughter*

Lina: A-are all the senior rammu here like her, or is she extra unique because she's a loravu?

Yineh: All Ankarok rammu all odd balls, but it's not surprising as there's so few of us, and you have to be pretty weird to want to be Ankarok rammu.

Lina: Is it just because of the danger that there's so few rammu in Ankarok?

Yineh: Nope. It's mostly the farmers. According to the history books, Ankarok used to have just as many rammu as the other villages, but over time as the farmlands grew and the farmers created their own coalition to handle their unique needs. The coalition takes care of the vast majority of everyday drudge work in the farmlands and the green zones. Which means unlike other rammu, we don't do much green zone maintenance, and we mostly just patrol the wild and rarely need to do anything in the farmlands. Which means our primary duties are deep wild land management, border watch, and escorts and not too many people are interested in spending phases or even moons at a time in the wild.

Wafit: On top of having few applicants, we have a high dropout rate during the initiation too. Which is why our initiation is so relaxed.

Yineh: Ye~ah, our last "not so new member" before you two dropped out after only one phase. Which I'm told is the normal for anyone who's going to dropout.

Lina: What was the reason?

Yineh: The thing about sleeping out here is that it's--much better if you do it with someone. *awkward chuckle*

Lina: Pretty scary? *hard gulp*

Wafit: To a degree, but what she's really hinting at is that if you can't connect with anyone on a deep enough level to be sleeping with them pretty quick your resolve to stay will dissolve rapidly.

Yineh: *affirmative nod* There's few of us here, and we don't get new members often. Put two and two together and you get some serious commitment anxiety. Especially since the farmer's coalition and village custodians are more than happy to accept any of our dropouts, and as part of either of them you're just a normal citizen, but you can still compete in the ramoil games, which happens a few days after the rammu games and have their own special rammani cards made of them too. Which is enough to satisfy most lime light seekers.

Lina: Ramoli games?

Wafit: They're unique to Ankarok. They mimic the Rammu games but instead of being based around rammu they're based around the Ankarok farmer's coalition, village custodian, and the Ankarok rammu under the green rank.

Lina*concerned* Aren't we under the green rank?

Yeah: Pretty exciting right? Instead of having to wait until we're actually full rammu you can start playing after our first year of being a trainee.

```

Hearing voices behind her Lina turned to see a tall dark brown female, with dark brown eyes, along with a shorter light-gray girl who appeared to be covered in black ink splotches with gray eyes, and a taller light-gray male all dressed in orange trainee uniforms.

```

Yineh: Allow me to introduce you to everyone. The tall shy girl is Reteh, the bookworm looking guy is Demoron, and finally the girl who looks like she's been in a fight with an inkwell is Vivica.

Vivica: And before you ask, yes, this is my natural fur color. *prideful smile*

Lina: Wow ... *nervous* uhm~ d-do your parents have a similar fur color?

Vivica: Don't know. I was raised by a family of all grays. Apparently, I was left on their doorstep so young I wasn't even weaned yet. My sister gives me slack for being the reason she's short, since I stole half her milk. *awkward chuckle* Speaking of orphans, Re-re here is also one. Though she knew her parents. They were killed in a freak accident, so everyone was afraid of her at the orphanage. *stunned*

```

Vivica turned to her side and bowed apologetically to Reteh.

```

Vivica: I'm so~ sorry Re-re, please don't hate me.

Reteh: It's fine Viv...

Yineh: *whispering to Lina* Viv's a bit of a blabbermouth. Great girl, love her to pieces, but seriously, never share a secret with her that you don't want everyone else to know.

Vivica: Ye~ah... I'm really bad about it... I'm trying to work on it, but it's not going well...

Yineh: *nearly inaudible whisper* She also has--really good hearing.

Vivica: *awkward chuckle* Not nearly as good as Mirra-vu, though.

Yineh: *affirmative nod* Ye~ah, it's a good idea to just assume Mirra-su knows everything. *awkward laughter* *shocked* Wait a tick, she said no one was assigned to follow Kion, but she usually gives flatter answers to that kind of question unless...

Wafit: You think someone was following him?

Yineh: Why else would she have worded it that way?

Wafit: I think you might be overthinking things, especially since Mirra-su was following Lina the whole time.

Yineh: *doubtful hum* I suppose.

Lina: How do the other black ranks compare to her?

Yineh: *clears throat* Since we lost Freone recently, we only have two other black ranked rammu. Moonica, who is Mirra-su's former primary mentor and Enkoro, who is ... a very serious guy. Mirra-su can be serious, but she has a playful side that she's not afraid to show often. Whereas Enky is just serious.

Vivica: Don't let Yineh scare you, Enky's a great guy. He's just like my elder father, firm but fair, and he doesn't care if you're silly with him, as long as you're serious about what matters. Which is why Yi-su has issues with him.

Yineh: Ye~ah, I'm pretty surprised he keeps putting me on mentor duty... Seems like I would be the last person he would want influencing new members. *bombastic laughter*

Wafit: Speaking of, we should get our new members to their rooms so they can put away their belongings.

```

Bonus - new squi words used in this chapter:

-jhu

Indicates an apprentice status. To become a rammu-jhu, means to become the apprentice of a rammu. If added to a persons name it indicates that they are formally training under a mentor.'

-vu

A particularly disguised and skilled person. Derived from, Loravu which roughly means a unknown.

Rammani

A collectible card game where the pieces are cards made of thinly sliced carved, painted, and lacquered wood depicting rammu at various times in their lives.

Ramolijo [Rammoli games]

A unique to Ankarok game event similar to Ramjo but done by the village custodians and farmers collation.

Ramjo [Rammu Games]

The honor games are a twice yearly comparative event where rammu compete in a variety of games against each other in order to progress through the ranks and take on more dangerous work.