“RAWR!!" An enormous figure jumped out at Lolo from behind a giant rock causing her to scream, drop her bag, and draw her sword.

"STANDIG!!” Lolo hollered, clutching at her racing heart. “I could have killed you!" She sheathed her sword again and dropped to her knees to wait for the adrenaline to abate while Standig laughed. He clearly thought that he was hilarious. "How long were you waiting there for me?"

"Oh, maybe thirty minutes," he grinned toothily.

With her heart rate now under control, Huo Lohse stood up to punch Standig in the arm and give him a hug. "You really are stupidly tall, Standig."

"Is that better?" he asked, dropping to his knees to give her a better hug.

"Much, and you are still taller than me, even on your knees."

Standig chuckled and stood up to collect Lolo's discarded bag for her.

"Is it just you, Standig?"

"Just me. Philige and Jadu say 'hi'. They had some other business to take care of this weekend. And Shanti apologizes profusely. She was planning on coming with me, but she ended up needing to deliver a baby this morning."

"I suppose I can forgive her for that," Lolo sighed.

"However, Philige gave me permission to travel to the tournament grounds with you and spend the night in the village."

"Really?!" Lolo bounced.

Standig grinned. "Really. I say Philige gave me permission; it was actually his idea. Something about how a young woman shouldn't be travelling alone." He winked.

"Well, Philige is really thoughtful to send me an escort," Lolo smirked.

"Yeah. He's a real gentleman," Standig rolled his eyes.

"So, escort, how are you doing these days?"

"Oh, you know, same old, same old."

"Yeah… growing, obviously, military training, research, anything fun?"

"Nah. That about covers it. Captain Starkam was promoted to general. He's been recruiting heavily and sending me the new soldiers for training. We've set up a military base east of the Leader's Lodge, and I was officially made a captain."

"You're a captain now? When did that happen?"

"October," Standig grinned.

"And you didn't think to slip that into any of your letters?! 'Oh, by the way, it's Captain Tragen now....'"

He laughed. "Oh, come on. It's not like it changes a whole lot. I've been assigned to the training camp, which I was already doing anyway. Ernkit and Begrent are my lieutenants. Between the three of us, we keep the training camp running and the cadets cursing, but our military more than quadrupled in size last year, and we are on track to quadruple it again this year."

Lolo whistled. "What do those numbers look like?"

"Well, as you know, the Bear Tribe isn't particularly militant. Two years ago we had around a thousand soldiers, just enough to maintain order within our tribe. Last year, we had about four and a half thousand troops. This year, we are on track to reach a little over eighteen thousand, and we hope to double that again next year."

"Wow! That's really fast."

"But you have to remember, we are playing catch-up. Nearly three quarters of our troops have less than a year's training."

Huo Lohse nodded. "We've been inflating our numbers too, though less quickly, and we had a lot more soldiers to start with. I think we started two years ago with somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand soldiers? We've about doubled that over the last two years."

"Yeah, but you have more men that have already been trained."

"True. But of course, the Lion Tribe wins the soldiers count. Even post-coup, they had well over twenty-five thousand well-trained men, and, last I heard, they were recruiting heavily again to make up the numbers lost in the coup. I wonder what the Phoenix Tribe military looks like."

"When I was there five years ago, it wasn't impressive. I mean, they had decent numbers, something like fifteen thousand troops, but their training was weak. Many of their soldiers were only soldiers in title."

"Like Ulana's shieldmaiden training." Lolo nodded. "Hopefully that has changed a little."

"Hopefully," Standig agreed.

"I have to wonder, why would the Dragon Tribe pick a fight with the rest of the world? Between just the four other main tribes, we probably have over one hundred thousand soldiers. I wonder how big their military is for them to think that they actually have a shot at winning a war."

"That's true, Lolo, but you have to remember that they have an undetermined head start. They may have been preparing for a war for over a decade, and we just didn't know it. Consider how much our militaries have progressed and expanded in just the last two years."

Lolo nodded ruefully. "Well, how is Philige these days? I haven't heard much news about him in a while."

"That’s because there's not too much to tell. He goes on long walks in the evenings to clear his head and otherwise has had his hands full working with the council of elders and the military to try and batten down the hatches. I know he's concerned about how spread out the Bear Tribe is. It makes our people hard to protect."

"What is he doing about it?"

"There's not a lot that he can do about it without stripping people from their homes and relocating them, an idea he is very much against."

"You're right. That is a challenging problem. I'll have to give it some thought."

Standig laughed. "Good luck! Philige's been puzzling over it for over two years, even before the Dragon Tribe exchange, without many breakthroughs."

“Philige is what, twenty-three now?”

“Yeah. He turns twenty-four this September. Why?”

“Just something my dad said. He’s still pretty young, but, as the Bear Tribe leader, I’ll bet he’s gotten some pressure to get married and produce an heir. I was just curious if he was dating anyone.”

Standig blushed. “I wouldn’t know. We don’t talk about that sort of thing.”

“What sort of thing? Girls? Dating? Relationships?” Lolo laughed as Standig’s face became a deeper pink color. “Well, who else is Philige supposed to talk about those sorts of things with?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“In the Wolf Tribe, once the Alpha identifying ceremony is performed, it’s like a race to get the next young Alpha married and having kids.” Lolo laughed. “It’s unlikely that I will be the next Alpha, but sometimes I worry about what I would do if I was declared the Alpha. Where my brothers are concerned, apart from Zhongyan, I haven’t heard of any of my brothers even dating. My brothers and I are all old enough now that the ceremony could be performed within the next couple of years. One of us is going to have to get married soon.”

“That’s so much pressure!”

“That’s the price of being in line for a throne. I just imagine that Philige is feeling similar pressure.”

“I hadn’t even considered that,” Standig frowned.

Lolo laughed. “... And that’s the benefit of being the second child in a tribe with traditional succession rules.”

***

The village came into view a couple of hours before sunset. With so many people avoiding the southern road past the Dragon Tribe, the village had seen a huge rise in travelers passing between the Lion and Phoenix Tribes to the east and the Bear and Wolf Tribes to the west. It became evident pretty quickly that the odds of finding a place to stay for the night was unlikely.

“Want to camp out with me tonight?” Lolo asked Standig.

“I don’t see that we have many other options, and I don’t know that anyone will have a bed big enough for me anyway.”

Lolo snorted. “I don’t suppose you know a good place around here to start a campfire?”

“I think there are some camping grounds around the tournament field.”

Fifteen minutes later, Lolo was staring blankly at the multitudes if people already settling in for the night around their campfires. Apparently, many other travelers had the same idea. The camping grounds were also packed. “I guess we could just build our own fire pit,” Lolo suggested after wandering for a while. Once they’d picked a spot somewhat separated from the crowds, they built a small fireplace with a collection of moderately sized rocks and started a campfire. Lolo pulled out some potatoes, onions, and smoked meat that she’d picked up in the village to roast for dinner.

“Hey, Lolo, do you want to try a partner meditation this evening?” Standig asked.

“Do you have anything in particular you want to accomplish with a partner meditation?”

“Not especially. We just haven’t tried it since you informed me about your relationship with Fortus and the ‘pregnancy’. I wonder if everything that happened after that would, you know, change something.”

“It’s worth a try, sure!” Lolo laughed. “By the way, I don’t know that I ever properly apologized for the awkwardness of last summer.”

“I mean, you had to do what you had to do,” Standig chuckled. “I can’t blame you for that. And we did manage to stop the coup, so there’s that at least.”

“Well, with the whole meditation thing, are you wanting to try and control the merge again, or do you just want to let things happen?”

“I was thinking we’d just let things happen.”

“You realize that this could get pretty weird, right?”

“I actually kind of expect it to get weird."

“Well, let’s give it a shot. Do you want to lead, or do you want me to try?” Lolo asked.

“I’ll do it this time around.”

The pair sat cross-legged in front of each other and Standig took Lolo’s hands in his huge ones.

“Standig, I think your hands are bigger than my head.” In response, Standig palmed her entire face and smirked. “How tall did you say you were exactly?”

“Eight foot four.”

“Holy cow! And you stopped, right?”

“As of January, yes.”

Lolo just shook her head. “... Well, let’s do this, then.”

They closed their eyes and Standig started breathing slowly and rhythmically. Lolo copied him until they were perfectly in sync and their bodies relaxed.

Lolo was bombarded by a dizzying array of images. She was trying desperately to focus on just one image, make it stop and stay long enough to absorb. She felt strangely like she was drowning, and yet, her breath remained steady and deep. Just as she felt that the images would completely overwhelm her, a scene unfolded.

It was winter. Snow was falling and adding to the generous piles of snow already on the ground. Lolo was tired from hunting all night and was seeking shelter from the snowstorm, a place to rest for a bit before continuing her hunt. In front of her appeared a cave carved into the side of a mountain. She entered it gratefully and shook the snow off of her body.

She looked up to see a mother huddled together in a cave with her three small children. The woman looked terrified, and the children were hiding their faces in their mother’s skirt. They were shivering from the cold and seemed hungry. Lolo felt pity for them and a desire to help them. After all, she too was a mother. However, as she approached, the little family seemed all the more frightened for it. She looked down and realized that she was a wolf, a huge, silvery-white wolf. Not wanting to frighten them further, Lolo laid down on the ground and waited patiently. After what felt like forever, the oldest child, a little boy, detached from his mother and ever so cautiously approached Lolo, his hand outstretched.

Lolo allowed the boy to touch her fur, pat her head gently, and then, once he felt safe enough, cuddle into her for warmth. The boy’s brother followed his example, and then his sister. The exhausted mother finally joined her children, and, there on the cave floor, Lolo kept the little family warm while they slept.

The meditation broke as a group of men blundered into camp interrupting them. They reeked of alcohol, and Standig swiftly rose to his feet.

“Well, whatz goin’ on ‘ere?” one of them slurred.

“Yer really tall,” another one observed, comically drawing an imaginary line from the top of his head to the top of Standig's.

“Move along,” Standig ordered firmly.

“Don’ wanna share the fire?”

“Go start your own fire,” Standig chuckled at their inebriety. “If you are incapable, I’ll help you.”

“Nah. No good. I like thiz fire.”

“Sorry, this one is ours.”

The drunkards hadn’t seen Huo Lohse sitting behind Standig until that point. “Ah! Wha’do we ‘ave 'ere?” one of the men staggered deeper into the camp to approach Lolo. Standig caught the man by the back of his collar and spun him around, reiterating the order to move along. “She’s priddy. Is she yours?” the man asked Standig.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Standig nudged the man away as Lolo stood up.

“Wha’d’you wan’ fer her?”

“What are you talking about?” Standig was genuinely confused.

“Wha’d’you wan’ fer her?” the man repeated obnoxiously.

“Jus' fer the night,” another one clarified.

It took a second to register, but Lolo saw Standig’s face change from mildly irritated and amused to furious and knew there would be trouble if she didn’t intervene quickly. She stepped out in front of Standig and put her hand on his arm.

“Sorry guys, you’ve misunderstood. We’re married. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” Lolo turned to look up at Standig who was now staring dumbly at her, his mouth hanging slack until his brain caught up.

“Uh, yeah.” Standig put his hand on her shoulder. “Yup. Definitely.” Disappointed, the men moved off.

“Thank you for that,” Lolo said as she moved out from under his hand, leaving Standig to process what had just happened. “You’re my fake husband. Fortus is my fake fiance and the father of my fake baby. What am I going to do with all these fake relationships?” She grinned and sat back down by the fire. “Anyway, how was the meditation for you this time around?”

“Huh?” Standig flopped onto the ground next to her.

“The meditation. How was it?”

“Right! Erm, well, it was interesting.”

“Elaborate?”

“It started off feeling kind of like that vision we had last summer right after Fortus was healed and you howled. It was just really confusing and disjointed. And then, I was a bear.”

“A bear?”

“Yeah. This enormous black bear... and I was trying to decide what I wanted to do about a small village of people in front of me. I seemed to have two choices: destroy it, or learn how to cooperate with it.”

“What did you decide?”

“I decided not to decide, actually. I walked away and saved the decision for another day. And that’s it,” Standig scowled. “So what about you?”

Lolo smiled. “Mine started out the same as yours. Lots of disjointed images, impossible to remember. Then I was caught in a snowstorm after a night hunt. I took refuge in a cave and found a frightened mother with her three children. I wanted to help them, but I realized that I was a wolf, a giant silver wolf, and apparently a mother myself? So I laid down and waited for them to come to me. Eventually, they all decided that I was safe, and they snuggled up with me and fell asleep.”

“And then?”

“That was it.”

“Huh.” Standig paused to think a while. “It’s interesting that we were both animals interacting, or trying to decide how to interact, with people.”

“Yeah,” Lolo agreed, “but I just wonder what it means. All of our previous merges centered on actual, real memories, emotions, experiences and such. Real events. What was the whole animal thing about?”

“Lolo, I’m sure you are getting sick of me harping on the primordial spirit thing, but if the myth is true, at one point, the primordial spirits were actual living, breathing animals. And their spirits reincarnate into different hosts periodically. If we are one of those hosts, then maybe we did see real events, just ancient ones that our animal spirits experienced.”

“So then, why wouldn’t you see those things in your own personal meditations? Why a partner meditation? And then, why would we experience our own ‘memories’ and not each others’ memories as usual?”

“I don’t know, Lolo. But there does seem to be a sort of spiritual connection between us, if not all five of us. Something about connecting with each other in a literal way apparently has various effects. Fortus’s animal spirit bowing to Jadu-- Jadu’s blue fire. You touching foreheads with Fortus-- his roar and golden lights. Our partner meditations-- these interesting… whatever you want to call them.”

“You’re right. I hadn’t thought about it that way.” Her eyebrows scrunched together as she contemplated this observation.

“Hey, Lolo, this is completely unrelated….”

“Yeah?”

“Those guys earlier, did they frighten you?”

“No. They were sloppy drunk and unarmed. Why?”

“I was just curious why you felt the need to invent a relationship between us.”

She laughed. “I’d have thought that was pretty obvious. I said that to get them to leave before things got out of control.”

Standig felt indignant. “I had everything perfectly under control, thank you.”

“Standig, had they insisted on staying and harassing me, what would you have done?”

“Knocked their intoxicated heads together.”

“Exactly. So I sent them away by the most expedient means possible.”

“Wait.... So you’re saying that you sent them away to protect them from me?” The corner of Lolo’s mouth twitched as she watched Standig struggle with this realization. “I’d have only done that to protect you,” Standig felt the need to explain himself.

“I know,” she replied simply.

“Am I not supposed to protect you?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I know you always have my back, Standig, and I appreciate that. In fact, I rely on it sometimes.”

“Then you’re saying that I was the one that was out of control?”

“You can’t deny that when it comes to me, you tend to get a little worked up.”

“Name me one time!”

“Wolf Tribe exchange: tournament finals.”

Standig scowled. “Ok. Name me two.”

“Bear Tribe exchange: standing up to your uncle.”

“I’d have done that anyway! It wasn’t just you.”

“Dragon Tribe exchange: Fortus had to physically restrain you at least once every day.”

“Doesn’t count. You were in real danger.”

“Ok. Lion Tribe exchange: you caught the spy at my window and were ready to murder him on the spot.”

“He actually deserved it.”

Lolo rolled her eyes. “Knocking Fortus out because you suspected him of taking advantage of me.”

Standig crossed his arms. She’d made her point. “So I’m protective of you. So what? Someone has to keep you safe! You have a talent for finding trouble, Lolo.”

“And I appreciate it. Really, I do. Just sometimes there are less violent ways of protecting me than knocking heads about.”

“Whatever.” He slumped where he sat.

Lolo got up to hug the grumpy bear from behind and pull the food out of the fire.