As the council walked towards the meeting site, they passed many signs of the conflict. Stakes tainted red with blood, though the bodies had been taken down at some point. Patches of snow that still shimmered red through the fresh dusting covering them. Half dismembered boars, their hunters never able to finish their work. Collapsed pits in the drifts, stakes and splinter of night-stone promising a grisly end to the unwary. In the fervor of battle, fueled by the flames of hatred, the people had violated their home. It was no longer a lush valley promising life, but an endless reminder of the deaths that occurred in it.
When they reached the river, though, it seemed as if it could end. On the other side of the ice, they could see a small band of clans-folk waiting among the trees, among them two who wore headdresses that marked them as important. One was decorated with the carved horns of yak and goat while the other was the head of a great white wolf. So the council bade their escort to stay behind among the trees and walked out into the open. Crocus and Winter-Sun looked sullen, though Snow-Fox was fidgeting nervously. To walk towards their foes without a weapon had him worried. But no attack came, instead the two leaders of the White Clans stepped forward likewise and both groups met in the middle of the river.
For a long while no one spoke, silently taking in each other. The clan-folk had taken off their masks revealing an old man beneath the bones, the lines in his face carved deeply by age. His companion turned out to be a woman with red hair sticking out under the wolfs head. She might have been called fair, were it not for the four old scars running down her face on the left side, her eye milky and unseeing.
After a while, Winter-Sun took the lead. "We are the Great Matron Crocus, the Great Hunter Snow-Fox and the Great Elder Winter-Sun." He gestured in turn to everyone as he spoke their names, noting with some dismay the glare from the woman as he named Snow-Fox. "We have come to speak on the behalf of our village to end the slaughter."
The old man nodded and pointed to himself. "Named High-Peak. Chieftain of these clans. This." Then he pointed to his companion. "Is Skaog Red-Wolf. Have come to end defilement."
"It is heartening to know that you wish to end your disgusting deeds." As the council had set out, many in the village feared that Snow-Fox would offend the clansmen, thinking that blind rage had gripped him to order the acts he had his hunters perform. Though he always just thought about ending the conflict as fast as possible, growing bitter mostly over how it dragged on. Thus it was a surprise for Crocus and him both, that it was the ever so soft-spoken Winter-Sun that offered the first insult.
There was no surprise, though, that the fierce-looking clans-woman took offense. "Disgusting deeds? You burn dead. You destroy coats. You place both on stake to mock. We only acted in kind."
"And you wanted to eat our kin as if you were beasts!" Winter-Sun shook with rage and neither of the other councilors found a moment to get in a word before things deteriorated further.
The red-haired woman spat onto the ice. "You send men to food. We only defend as fitting."
As Winter-Sun geared up for what was undoubtedly another insult, Crocus gripped his arm to silence him. For a moment, she let their tempers cool, then turned to the clans chieftain. "What does she mean with we send men to food?"
The other elder opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and motioned to wait. After some deliberation, he spoke slowly, every word carefully picked. "We send food to cracks. Food for winter. Guards see people coming. Guards try to send people away. People attack. Guards say they food-takers and kill. Waiting for Skaog to decide on matter, when valley people come and burn food and people."
That gave the council pause. The whole time they thought that it was the White Clans had attacked them, but apparently they thought that the villagers had struck first. Snow-Fox tried to remember what had been said when his group had come to that cave and very carefully addressed what had fueled his hunters wrath. "They said they had hunted our people for food. We thought you wanted to eat our tribe."
"We not hunt people," Red-Wolf answered again, though this time the hotness with which she denied the accusation was more reassuring than alarming. "Only eat own dead to share spirit. And eat food-takers. When starving clan, you will feed clan. Guards mocked you for weak. Guards stupid for that." Then she made a face as if she would rather swallow a hand full of night-stone shards then spoke on. "You not weak."
For a moment, the council was taken aback by this. So these people were indeed cannibals, but they had never intended to hunt them down like deer. Then Tall-Peak coughed, to get their attention again. "Why you take and burn coats?"
Snow-Fox swallowed deeply. To explain his motives might offend them again, though he saw no real way to lie. It was pretty clear why they had done so and the chieftain probably just wanted confirmation. "They seemed useful, so we took them from your dead. We were impressed by how well you handled the weather and how swiftly your guards ran through the snow. As the fighting started, we burned them to spite you in the name of our dead kin."
If there was anger at this admission, the elder didn't show it, though the woman looked quite apoplectic yet again. In the same measured tones as before, he spoke. "Coat is important. Clan passes down coat to children. Destroying coat say, you want to destroy clan. When found dead without coat, food and bodies burned, we thought village want to kill all clans."
"So we both fought, thinking the others would kill us all if we did not." Nods all around confirmed the summation by the Great Matron. Then she pointedly looked around them. To the groups of hunters on both sides of the river, waiting for the moment were the negotiations broke down to kill each other. To the patches of red snow on its banks, both sides having learned it was easy to ambush each other when crossing the open ice. "We nearly succeeded." Again she was only greeted with sad nods.
"Three paths forward." The clan elder spoke at least. "We stop fight until white gone. Clans will leave then and seek other place for next white. If not find..." One could see the turmoil on his face as he paused. He clearly didn't wish to say it, though the council could at least understand that he had to think of his people. "If not find other, we come back. Will be more war. Other path would be to have war now. Name fighter to battle Skaog. If fighter win, we leave valley now and never return. If Skaog wins, village leaves valley now and never returns."
The eyes of Crocus and Winter-Sun immediately drew to Snow-Fox. He was a skilled fighter, though the woman looked not as if she would make this an easy battle. While the hunter in question seized up his opponent, Winter-Sun turned back to the chieftain. "And the third path?"
"Mix blood. Clans weak from fight. Village weak from fight. Have great warrior take Skaog for wife and have many great warriors. No more fight and share valley." The woman in question looked mutinous at the option even being presented, clearly itching to end this with the spear instead, though she also seemed resigned to accept this deal, should it be struck.
Snow-Fox on the other hand looked mortified at the thought. He had never bedded a woman before and seemed for once daunted at the challenge before him. "A marriage?"
"It would be far better than more bloodshed." While she tried to sound merely thoughtful, Crocus clearly was quite taken by the prospect and glared at the hunter. "We are sick of burying our husbands and children, especially since there rarely is anything to bury. And we could use some helping hands in the village come spring. You can still claim you bested her with your spear if that soothes your ego."
That comment offended both the Red-Wolf and the hunter in equal measure, though probably for quite different reasons, eliciting some grins from all other present. It was oddly comforting to see such expressions on the faces of their foes, making the prospect of coexistence look a little less absurd. Though it would still be hard to work past the grief caused by the vicious fights.
What would the tribe decide?
[] Accept the truce. Neither side will cross the river until spring, then the clans leave, hopefully never to return. (May or may not result in large invasion next winter.)
[] Agree to the duel. Snow-Fox and Red-Wolf will fight and the losers side has to leave the valley.
[] Marry Snow-Fox and Red-Wolf to merge the tribe with the clans. Both sides will struggle to survive their losses, but united they have much better chances.
[] Write-In
AN: Some have questioned why the clans tried to exterminate you in the middle of winter, and this is the reason. They thought you wanted to do the same with them and wanted to defend themselves.
Fair warning on the duel option. Red-Wolf is a Great Huntress and after all the looting on both sides, you have equipment parity. It's basically a toss-up who would win that one.
