Subj: [ffml] [MW] Good Hunting Date: 00-07-23 21:22:42 EDT From: larathia@mcs.net (Larathia) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com Immediately after reaching her people's encampment, Nighthawk ordered them all into the air. There were things that needed doing, and the first one, the very first, was to get the whole force the hell away from the humans. Her anger had cooled as quickly as it had come, but that of her flight-captains was still at fever pitch; with Lord Tim's probable state of mind in her thoughts, she wanted to be very sure no further strain on the alliance was made. Flight had that to be said for it; even had Tim *run* for his own people, he could not have reached them before she made it back herself. Once she judged their distance from the humans to be safe (and conveniently located a decent-sized stand of trees), she ordered flets set up and called a meeting of her flight-captains - all 23 of them. "Is it done, Captain?" said one, leaning towards her. "Is their stupid commander dead?" Nighthawk leveled her stare at the old flight-captain, whose name she recalled as being Ie. "No, flight-captian. I have not slain the human commander. We moved out to prevent any possibility of unnecessary death." "Unnecessary death!" cried Ie. "Captain, that idiot ordered us into a blazing village! He used *fire* near us!" "Ie, your remarks are colored with emotion, unfitting for one of your age and rank. He is *human*, Ie. A human from a world that has heretofore not known of our people. He was not notified of our weaknesses. He knows as little of us as we do of his own people. Do you consider yourself so able as to lead the humans into battle, Ie?" Ie's face flushed, dark red against his dusty brown hair. "I am within custom to demand the death of a human who puts us in the way of unnecessary danger. Why have you not done as we all agreed? You are the commander, that is your job!" And here, the other 22 captains nodded agreement. Nighthawk's eyes narrowed, her earlier anger returning - this time at her own captains. "Ie, do you challenge me?" At Ie's suddenly surprised and panicky look, she continued. "I will take it that you do not. Do any of you others?" Everyone was suddenly very still. "So. You are willing to follow custom when it is a human commander, but not when it involves me. How very foolish you have become." Nighthawk walked to the edge of the flet, where it was held up by a strong supporting branch. "Ie, what you fail to realize is that if you were to battle Lord Tim, you would *lose*. Oh, I imagine you could shoot him from afar; any of us could, and he has just been reminded of that fact. But you know as well as I that blood debts are paid in melee combat - and not a one of you could survive that." She turned and faced the suddenly attentive audience. "What you also fail to consider is that blood debt can only be claimed when one of us is injured or killed! He was foolish to use the dragons so early, yes, but not a one of you were killed! Not a one of you were injured! There is no debt for you to call! Now, I will not hear another word of this. Your arrogance has strained our relationship with the humans near to breaking point. I have given Lord Tim a communications amulet, but I doubt he will ever use it. He will issue no more orders, be they good or bad. That is the result you wanted, that is the result you got. Now, hear the price!" "No more shall *any* of you go anywhere near a human. No more shall *any* of you speak to a human. I will handle such communication as is necessary myself. You will not even overfly their camp, is that clear? I will not have their now-valid suspicions roused further by accusations of spying. After tonight, we will be able to make camp in their vicinity; you will not leave the borders of the camp. Humans I will permit to enter if they go unarmed; perhaps they will want to learn of us, but after today I doubt it. Most particularly - and I want there to be no misunderstanding so I will be painfully clear - not a one of you is to even be seen from a distance by Lord Tim. You wanted him dead; he knows this. Exactly how far do you think he trusts you now?" Nighthawk paused, pacing and thinking. "I know you're not used to dealing with humans. I've learned one of their pet phrases, and I think you will understand: *tough shit*. They're not used to dealing with us either. I acted as far as my own honor permitted when you demanded Lord Tim's death. Had he in fact killed or wounded us, I would have had no trouble killing him; he now mistrusts me also. They do not live like we do. They do not understand that there is *always* a bigger fish in the sea. He knows, or at least suspects, that he could defeat me in a fight. Had I challenged him, and he won - what would that have served you? Ah, I know, you think I cannot be beaten. You might be right; I might be able to take Lord Tim. But I might not. I will not take that level of risk for the sake of your pride. And we need these humans; more particularly, we need Lord Tim alive. He takes offence at any insult to his king, and that is credible behavior for a human. But Cyan has no love for us at *all*. Less even than Tim now....would you let your pride desert you in a world full of enemies, and no friends at all?" Ie bowed his head in shame during the recital; as it progressed, the others followed suit. Said Ie, "Captain, we are sorry. But the damage is done, what is there left to do? Will the humans attack us now?" Nighthawk took a seat on a handy stool, elbows on knees, and rested her chin in her hands, staring into space. "I cannot foresee so far, Ie. Though they have been pushed, by their standards, they have not attacked us. And since this latest fiasco, I think they've earned the right to claim a punch or two. We will know when we make camp near them tomorrow night; if none attack us then, none probably will. If they do attack, we must assume that Lord Tim has been pushed too far; if that is the case, I will take responsibility for it. If not, it will be your task to offer amends without abrogating the orders of non-contact. As it stands, the humans will believe that we have general orders to hunt moogles by day, and we will send reports at night. I will handle that. I think the first one will be distance-sent though, through the amulet; he is a man who has not yet learned that a blow struck through anger has more repercussions than a boulder dropped in a lake. Nor has he learned words are not blows; a very uncomplicated man. That is one reason I want you all to keep clear; it would be offering a temptation to someone tried enough." "So, we hunt moogles then?" asked Ie. Nighthawk focused, and grinned. "Yes, captain. We hunt moogles. And we skin them, and remove their penises for trophies. Let these moogles learn that there is nothing more degrading in the universe, than to be deemed a mere beast. And since their hides are light and tough, and when not holding in Moogle-guts quite fetching, I think they will become our clothing and armor of choice. When the humans see us wearing moogle-lined boots and moogle-leather pants and tunics, I think a few offerings of moogle hides will be a good way to begin making amends for demanding the death of their leader," said Nighthawk, with a sardonic smile. "If moogle skin holds an enchantment better than deer hide, we may just have to send a few home to the king; I am sure a naturally white fur and leather would please him no end." "Now. I want seven uber-flights of three flights each; uber-captain is the eldest of the flight-captains for that grouping. That leaves me one whole flight and one partial flight; more than enough. Since we're out tonight anyway, let's start the hunting now - the moogles will be asleep." 'But Captain," said Ie. "We have just fought a battle - the soldiers are tired!" Nighthawk grinned an evil and totally sadistic grin at her talkative flight-captain. "Next time you want me to shoot the human commander, Ie, I suggest you take that into account. Good hunting, captains. Neva, Torbeno, you're with me. The rest of you, assemble as you will." The two named flight-captains immediately stepped to her side, and Nighthawk took off with them into the night. The rest of the captains divided themselves up and set out a little later, leaving the flet empty. -- Larathia larathia@mcs.net Eclectic Witch, professional eccentric. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Make new friends, find the old at Classmates.com: Click Here! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Final Fantasy Mailing List: Now available in Cherry, Strawberry or Tofu ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- Return-Path: <.sentto-5708-61234-964401717-raumkatze2=aol.com@returns.onelist.com> Received: from rly-za01.mx.aol.com (rly-za01.mail.aol.com [172.31.36.97]) by air-za01.mail.aol.com (v75_b1.4) with ESMTP; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 21:22:42 -0400 Received: from hi.egroups.com (hi.egroups.com [208.50.99.211]) by rly-za01.mx.aol.com (v75_b3.8) with ESMTP; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 21:22:23 -0400 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-5708-61234-964401717-raumkatze2=aol.com@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.10.37] by hi.egroups.com with NNFMP; 24 Jul 2000 01:21:57 -0000 Received: (qmail 5462 invoked from network); 24 Jul 2000 01:21:56 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by m3.onelist.org with QMQP; 24 Jul 2000 01:21:56 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO Kitten.mcs.net) (192.160.127.90) by mta1 with SMTP; 24 Jul 2000 01:21:55 -0000 Received: from mars.mcs.net (root@Mars.mcs.net [192.160.127.85]) by Kitten.mcs.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA51277 for <.ffml@onelist.com>; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 20:21:55 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from larathia@mars.mcs.net) Received: (from larathia@localhost) by mars.mcs.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA87581 for ffml@onelist.com; Sun, 23 Jul 2000 20:22:07 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from larathia) Message-Id: <200007240122.UAA87581@mars.mcs.net> To: ffml@egroups.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL54 (25)] From: Larathia <.larathia@mcs.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ffml@egroups.com; contact ffml-owner@egroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list ffml@egroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <.mailto:ffml-unsubscribe@egroups.com> Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 20:22:07 -0500 (EST) Reply-To: ffml@egroups.com Subject: [ffml] [MW] Good Hunting Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit