Title-- The Demon-God of Jubagh (book two, part five)
Rating and Warnings-- G; mild language.
Cast-- Rai Gerring, defected black magician (human man); Brandon Styhan, exiled paladin-warrior (human man); Lhafa Softstep, blind voodoo warrior (baghan woman); Jujinkajou, native guide (shapechanger Sivefi man).
Previously-- Book One: Jubagh. Earlier parts of Book Two: Sivef. The part right before this one.



Jujinkajou was pleased at finding off-worlders who were not afraid to touch, and his tail beat a happy song against the ground. Their scents were dizzyingly strong, just like the scents of the other off-worlders he had once helped his elders guide through the wet forests in the long-day season, and he would have to work at deciphering what the scents meant. There were clues to feelings in each breath he drew, if only he could interpret them!

It was very hard to speak slowly for the lady. "Good totry!" he affirmed enthusiastically. "Do you want togo now?" He looked around, floppy ears pricking as much as they were able. The landscape was awash in dull browns, fading to simple greyscale when he stopped paying attention to the bland color and looked for movements instead of static detail. It was a barren stretch of old forest. Nothing of interest. He was already bored.

The lady was speaking slow words that he didn't understand. He waited, plumed tail slowing its happy song, until she looked at him again. "Yes," she said quietly. "We can go now."

The Sivefi lolled his long tongue out in a friendly grin, reluctantly putting cold space between his speckled flank and the lady's warm chest. "I willlead youthree well!" he asserted, stilling his tail and slinging its length low behind his haunches. "Follow me!" He took a few quick steps north, pausing and glancing over his shoulder at the three. They seemed the type to want to walk. "Walk, yes?"

The lady's gaze followed him slowly - or, well, her face followed him. He couldn't see her eyes. Maybe she was a people who kept her eyes elsewhere. "Yes, walk, until we get our bearings, please," she said quietly. She always spoke quietly. It was soothing, but strange. The other Sivefi spoke quietly when they were trying to calm an angry person. Maybe she thought he was angry. Maybe he should speak more quietly, too.

He tried to be quieter, but only succeeded in making his voice raspier. "Okay! Tell themen tocome!" He took a few more steps, long-furred tail wagging hesitantly until he stopped again. They hadn't moved. Why hadn't they moved? He opened his jaws to speak, then snapped them shut with a loud, damp sound as the lady dusted the dirt in front of her with her tail and took a step forward, then did it again. "You don'tlike thedirt?" he asked, puzzled.

"I cannot see," she replied, her expression changing fleetingly. He couldn't understand what that look meant before it vanished again. "So I make sure to not trip by using my tail to feel my way."

He was stunned. "Youcan'tsee?!" he yelped, ducking his head low and thumping his belly to the ground with a dusty noise. "Howdoyouwatchmesowellthen?!"

The lady paused, extending an open hand towards him. Jujinkajou wriggled on his belly towards her, stuffing his nose in her palm and letting out a raspy whine. "I follow the sound of your steps and your voice," she replied calmly, stroking his blocky muzzle. The heavy, blunt tips of her fingers ruffled the quill-fur between his eyes, and he felt better that she was not upset with him. "All is well, Jujinkajou. Do not worry."

His long, dark ears pricked, and he huffed into her hand uncomfortably. "Youdonotneedtocallmebymyfullname!" he protested. "CallmeJu'jou. Itisshorter! Lessformal!" He paused; he'd forgotten to slow down his speech. Oops. "I willtry tospeak moreslowly again. Iamsorry!"

Behind her, one of the men spoke in that language he didn't know. The lady replied in the same language, looking over her shoulder - er, not looking, but ... looking without eyes? He didn't know. It must just be like a hand gesture for her - something with meaning to communicate with others. Pretending she could see, maybe. It was confusing! She looked-without-eyes back at him. "Shall we continue, Ju'jou?" She even pronounced it right! His tail beat a happy song on the ground again, raising a small cloud of dust behind him.

Ju'jou nodded enthusiastically, ears flopping against his jowels, and pulled his legs under him again. He told his tail to be still and it obeyed, slinking low behind his haunches again, the longest tendrils of fur nearly dragging the ground as he turned northwards once more. He took a few quick steps and paused, craning his head around to watch. The lady walked forward with her tail as a guide, stepping carefully over a root arching up from the dry soil. Behind her, the two men followed, the smaller of the two lifting his long shirt up to keep the hem out of the dirt. No, it wasn't a shirt, it had another name. Dress? Yes, that was it. He'd seen off-worlders wear those before.

Pride puffing out his dappled chest, the Sivefi carefully picked the clearest path he could find through the winter-dead forest, listening carefully to the three following him. The men spoke in that other language a lot, and occasionally the lady would add a comment or a question, judging by the tone of her voice. Ju'jou tried very hard to be quiet and focus on his path-finding, especially since the lady couldn't see, but he found himself bored within a handful of moments. Three days north? Of him being quiet? He couldn't do it.

"Where do you come from?" he finally asked, proud that he spaced out his words so well. He glanced over his shoulder at the lady, who was still diligently picking her way along the path he was forging. She hadn't yet had a problem following him. Was he really that loud, even when he wasn't talking? Well, sure, his claws clicked on unearthed roots and he stepped on some twigs and he kicked some rocks out of the way which made them clatter, but...

"I come from a world called Jubagh," the lady answered, her face making that same expression from earlier. He wondered what it meant. "I am a baghan. Once, I was of the Softstep tribe."

Ju'jou nodded enthusiastically, then remembered belatedly that she couldn't see him, and he ducked his head shamefully. "Why are you here?" he asked next, curiosity besting his feeling of social awkwardness. He would just have to learn how off-worlders were and forgive his own mistakes in the learning. Yes, that was a good way to look at it.

She didn't answer for a long moment, and he glanced back again. She had stopped, and the men had drawn up next to her. They all seemed to be staring at the same spot ahead of them. The man in the dress had writing on his skin that was glowing. "Ju'jou," she called, "do the Sivefi talk to the gods?"

Gods? Was she serious? Did she really not know the answer to that question? Maybe she meant something else, and just didn't know how to say it. He turned and padded back to her, peering up curiously. "Ofcourse we do," he answered, perplexed. "Allpeople talk to theirgods. Why?"

She lifted an arm and pointed a long finger straight ahead of her at the empty forest. "I think that is a god," she said calmly.