NOVEL FROG Chapter 721 – Revelries of the Night
“The way humans bind their youths with all sorts of rules and customs and traditions is really the one thing we always find hardest to understand. Weren’t the youthful years meant to be the time when one learned and found things out for themselves, to discover various things and its consequences?
What good would it do to coddle your youth and shield them from discovery and consequences that they would have to find out the hard way later on anyway?” - Karg of clan Crimsonclaw, head of clan Crimsonclaw’s trading caravan, circa 662 FP.
As the night grew late seconds of the food were distributed as requested, while more drinks were circulated around. From the light, fruity ale-like drinks to the far stronger, sour, milky liquor made by fermenting whatever milk was available, the scent of alcohol wafted through the feast, strong enough to intoxicate some of the younger people around.
Naturally, as more alcohol flowed to everyone around, inhibitions were loosened. By the time the group were having seconds of the delightful meal, some of the younger orcs were already providing the entertainment. Some danced with each other, either in pairs or in groups, while yet others chose the time to showcase their prowess before the watching eyes of their elders in the clan, an opportunity they knew would not come all too often.
They did so by engaging one another in bare-handed combat, often employing techniques passed down their respective family lines to prove their mettle and courage. The fights were unregulated and generally done until one side fell to the ground and could not get back up, but the orcs were sturdy folk, for whom such damage would likely fix itself within a few days at the most.
Such bare knuckle fights were pretty much tradition and a sort of a rite of passage amongst orcish clans, to allow their youths to train themselves to do well in the presence of people they would not want to embarass themselves before. It was quite a bit of pressure for the youths to perform as well as they usually could in the presence of the chieftain and shaman, much less with the great shaman and his guests of honor on top of that, even when their courage was buoyed by the alcohol they imbibed.
The siblings and Celia also decided to join in the fun while they were at it, though Kino declined since she had allowed herself to be somewhat intoxicated from all the drinks she had so far. Intoxication and void magic was a recipe for disaster, so Aideen applauded her on that bit of self-restraint, while the others were far less lethal even if somewhat drunk.
In fact, the experience they had proved to be far too much of an advantage against the orcish youths, the siblings and Celia easily dancing around their strike while returning some of their own with practiced ease. Sure, some of the older orcs would still give them a good challenge despite their greater experience, but the youths simply stood no chance since they were still too young to have learned and experienced enough in their lives.
Of course, none of the four hit the orcish youths particularly hard. They mostly flung them around to the ground, which bruised the young orcs’ pride more than their bodies. It was good exercise for the group, also made for more entertainment for the older, more experienced orcs.
Some of the older orcs also stepped up to the fray to show the youths how things were done, and had a much more even fight with the elven siblings. Celia had already returned to being a spectator by then, having less taste for fighting compared to the younger and more enthusiastic trio. They cheered them up along with the watching crowd of orcs.
As the moon rose higher into the sky, many of the youths slunk away in pairs or more, headed to the tents they lived in, clearly with other sorts of activities in mind. Aideen and Celia were quite familiar with the often shameless promiscuity of orcish youths, so they weren’t bothered in the least, though it caught the rest of their group by some surprise.
While the three elven siblings were each over a century and a half or so in age, they were still considered youths themselves by elven reckoning. The equivalent of a human barely out of their teenage years. None of them had placed much thought on matters of love or romance and the like as of yet, so the way the orcs were so open and unashamed about it caused some blushing to appear on their cheeks.
Of course, it was not that they were unaware of sexual matters, but more that they were inexperienced with it. Aideen herself kept her proclivities mostly discreet while traveling with them, after all, so the way the young orcs were so openly promiscuous was a first for them. It was a bit of an eye-opener for them, though Aideen felt that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for them to learn about it sooner rather than later anyway.
Their group was lent a large tent to sleep in, the sort usually reserved for shamans or chieftains. The tent had plenty of room for the six of them and could have easily fit in another dozen people, with plenty of fur and rugs to serve as their bedding. The group retired to their tent as the festivities slowly died down as the time struck midnight and then past it, knowing that they would have to wake up early as they would be traveling with the clan on the next day.
Even so, for some of them, the night was one of rather fitful sleep as vague noises and people’s voices – those who were not spending their time sleeping – carried over in the silent prairie night. There were times when having a particularly sharp sense of hearing could backfire, after all, and that night was one such situation for the elven siblings.
