THORB Case 021 The Vulture at the Threshold

Yom Shalot.

23rd of Adar.

9.78 Shinhei.

8.01 AM.

Ian's condition has not improved as rapidly as I had hoped.

Clusters of colonization have broken out, requiring inoculation with additional benign bacteria.

The growth accelerator has led to a thickening of scar tissue, limiting his range of motion, as I had feared.

And while he is not showing signs of internal colonization, that is to say a full-blown bacterial infection, he has maintained a low-grade fever as a result of constant strain on his immune system.

In sterile conditions, I would give him immune suppressors and focus on combating the infection through antibiotics.

But I cannot risk an errant bloom of a wild bacterium.

The nature of biotic treatment is complex, even bordering on the artistic.

I'm afraid I don't have the touch.

But it was this or play at dice with his health as I cut into his flesh in the back of a caravan with little between him and infection but hope.

This way I have bought him time.

He is also well enough to travel now.

Just over a week has passed since his initial injury.

During that time I have been keeping a steady flame of living Beyaz Yaprak, also known as White Palm.

The pale fronds contain boric acid, which cause flames to turn green when burned fresh.

The whiteness of the frond also emits a consistent stream of smoke.

This is a common signal in the desert to indicate the need for assistance.

I am unsure as to who travels these dunes, as Sothiri migratory patterns change year to year and with each meeting of the tribes.

But I would gladly brave the hooked spears of the life merchants, if it meant saving Ian.

And They could make great use of my body of knowledge.

They do get something of a bad reputation due to their cultural practices, but they are not a violent people.

The Yashum Tujaliri believe that social contracts serve as more than simply a means of maintaining a functional society.

Their culture sees currency, especially as payment for labor, to be a great offense.

Wages to compensate time suggest that the human soul has a value that can be measured in productive hours, and therefore silver.

Instead, their society and economy revolve largely around promises of servitude.

That only time and labor can pay for time and labor, or it must be freely given as a means of bettering the whole.

Many acts are performed simply because they will improve one's reputations.

and, because, at least within their own community, will certainly be repaid many times over.

Socially, they are encouraged from a young age to be as generous with their efforts as possible to ensure a healthy flow of the economics of spirit.

When one serves only themselves with their actions, they are seen as accumulating a spiritual and cultural debt, which will inevitably be collected.

The challenge with this worldview is that outsiders are rarely aware of these practices and their nuance.

And so, when they come across the Yashumla, it is not uncommon for them to welcome the efforts and labours of the tribe, seeing it merely as hospitality.

However, when these guests do not return this effort in a manner that the Yashumla find agreeable, they are treated much like a thief in the bazaars of the High Road.

though rather than branding, tattooing, or amputation, they become indentured.

Taking on the title of Borchlu, these are debtors or obligors to the tribe who have been detained to serve out a sentence of communal effort without recompense.

These individuals are expected to acquire their own food, repair their own clothing, and in every other way fend for themselves, but in each of these labors are also expected to carry the burdens of others.

If they should find berries, they must ensure there are enough to share.

If they kill a boar, it must be made into a stew and passed to the ishamlah first, with the bochloo only receiving the remains.

Most debts can be paid with less than a day of labour, but the problem emerges when the bochloo does not accept or understand the nature of their debt and begins to lash out.

If they should destroy communal property, incur the labors of warriors required to subdue them, or demand explanation and debate from a community leader, these are all additional debts.

Attempts to escape incur a debt of hunter's labor, not tires, food consumed while restrained, and the work and time of those who had to feed you.

In this way, many outsiders become deeply and permanently indebted.

It is because of this that the Yashumla have been branded as slavers.

Their hooked spears are a symbol of human servitude.

In reality, the spears are used for bird-catching, probing warrens, and other hunting and gathering practices.

They are also used for a rather interesting, if dangerous, sport called Tumkesme, which, roughly translated, means not-cutting.

Among children, a cachet is tied to a post, and a child must find a single segment of the knot to cut that will unravel the knot in its entirety.

But adults use the practice to settle feuds and practice precision in battle.

The premise is generally the same, however.

The cachet that is tied is usually a curse, and instead of a post, it is tied to your opponent.

Add to that the fact that each cut issued to your opponent, while attempting to cut the knot, is one they get to return, and what you have is a very dangerous game indeed.

That said, I do not anticipate any of this being relevant, as the Ashumla dwell largely in the northeast of Sylthar, and prefer to avoid the dunes.

Regardless, I will give the signal one more night, and if no one comes to our aid, I will need to press on.

Thankfully, the caravan being on runners rather than wheels was useful in the early desert, when the sands were flat.

But as we move into the dunes proper, we may need to switch to our wide desert wheels.

That said, axle grease is running low, and the heat and sand will dramatically increase its use.

It does not help that we have only two dromedaries remaining to us, and their gait is not nearly so smooth as that of horses'.

Ian is in for a bumpy and awkward ride.

There is a very real possibility that we will need to leave Ian's caravan behind, along with whatever non-essentials with which we can bear to part.

I do hope it does not come to that.

I am only grateful that the early heat wave has passed, and our days are now relatively cool at 24 degrees.

If this weather holds out, Our journey to the next oasis should be rather manageable.

If not, and should we need to abandon some of our barrels to conserve space, we will be in for a dry and miserable trek across the dunes.