NationStates Jolt Archive

ooc: it's rather unlikely that anyone but Svea Riga and myself would have anything to do with this.

ic:


XNN- Xikuang National News, Elected General Council Section

Formal disciplinary proceedings have been enacted upon Elected General Councillor Kham Khitai following his recent public expressions of negative sentiment towards reindeer. Councillor Kham generalised the animals to be "bad-tempered, antisocial, and nervous", earning sharp criticism, particularly from within NHU-member nations Biotopia and the Hell Bovines. Though he has issued a formal apology, Councillor Kham has since admitted that he does not like reindeer, and has been remanded to a reindeer-oriented re-education program in northern Svea Riga. A representative of the Sami people in northern Svea Riga, whose lives are closely bound to those of the wild reindeer, stated: "We will be only too glad to help the Councillor to overcome his mistrust of the noble reindeer". During his absence, Councillor Kham's duties as Chair of the Provincial General Council of Lhorong will be taken up by P.G.C. Tseten Chejor, his CACE Liaison office taken up by junior liaison Q'e Zehui.


***CACE offices, Celdonia***

"And the files for new applicants go here?"

"Yes."

"The blue forms get marked and sent back to the Applications Department Records?"

"Yes."

"OK... AECPB stuff is..."

"In the third drawer down, right where it was when you looked at it yesterday."

"And I'm to leave the EDW suff alone."

"You can't access it anyway."

"I'm not sure I can handle this, Kham Sailin." Junior Liaison Q'e sat uneasily on the edge of the desk, looking even more nervous than usual, watching Khitai assemble documents he would need to bring with him to he didn't know quite where, Svea Riga.

"You'll be fine. Just remember: don't eat Orikhe's cookies, and don't leave sticky cups in the sink. That really annoys Ibin, and annoying Ibin is a bad idea. Anything awful happens and you can't get hold of me, call Xu. If Tillie turns up, call Ruairi. Number's there. It'll be fine. I'll be back soon, unless the reindeer kill me."

"What is it with you and reindeer, anyway?"

"They scare the bejeezus out of me."

"Really? Reindeer?"

"I had a rather traumatic experience."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

***Two days later, a passenger train, speeding through Svea Riga***

Khitai watched distractedly out the window as the train sped along towards its destination: the northern town of JukkasJärvi, last stop. He was seriously regretting not taking Ruairi up on his offer to come along for moral support, but Ruairi hated the cold, and in near-arctic northern Svea Riga, there was unlikely to be much in the way of anything but-- and somebody had to be there in case anyone found the cat. Presuming, of course, that Tillie hasn't met with a grisly end at the hands of juvenile cultists, he thought to himself. I wish Xu wasn't making me do this. My own stupid fault. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ah, it won't be so bad. I'm sure the Samis are very nice. They'll set me straight about the reindeer. It won't be so bad. It really won't be so bad.

Bother! Who am I kidding? It's going to be awful. His attempt at quelling his own anxiety miserably failed and feeling like he might be sick, he focussed his attention out the window again where through a haze of snowfall he could barely make out what looked like it might be a town. The train slowed, and the wizened conductor came through. Khitai and a surly-looking teenage girl, who had been listening to thrash metal at top volume on her headphones since she had gotten on in Stock Holm, were the only people on board.

"JukkasJärvi. All off."

Kham Khitai steps off the train and is met by a harsh and cold wind hitting his face.
Oh damn, and I thought back home was cold, hmm where is everybody and why didn’t that girl get of the train. I guess she was the smarter one.

Kham sits down on one of the benches to wait for the people he was supposed to met at the station. While he bends his knees and hastily sits down on the frozen wooden bench he hears a crack and he falls to the ground. The bench couldn’t even support his weight and he’d seen how the Svea Rigan soldiers looked like.

He sets of towards the big snow-hills he’s suspecting being houses over the other side of the parking lot. All goes well till he reaches what looks like a normal slope maybe 1 meter high. Just that it’s totally covered in ice and after a couple of failed attempts to get his frozen legs and the rest of his body to get over the slope he decides to get back to where he started this time a lot more irritated.

Stupid train, stupid bench, stupid re-education, stupid reindeers.
He gazes at the train slowly disappearing towards the horizon ”Come back, come back”.
An hour passes by, Kham continually sits on the remaining of once a great wooden bench and reads and after 5 minutes he gets up and walks for 10 min to maintain his heat.

Another 45 minutes passes by, Kham gets a little worried and especially cold and sweaty. He hears something or is it just wishful thinking. No it’s an Ox… no two and they’re pulling a big band-wagon.

He gets up and shakes hand with the man stepping out of the wagon.
”Mr. Khitai I presume”

Ah, finally, maybe now I can go somewhere warm, Khitai thinks struggling to get to his feet, the broken bench, icy ground, and his own frozen joints making this a rather difficult and painful process, as the man from the ox-cart approaches.

”Mr. Khitai I presume”

Khitai took the man's hand, his own entirely engulfed: standing nearly 40 centimetres shorter than the Svea Rigan, he was positively dwarfed.

"It's Mr. Kham, actually, but please call me Khitai. Thank you for meeting me-- it's awfully cold."

"It's Mr. Kham, actually, but please call me Khitai. Thank you for meeting me-- it's awfully cold."

"Ohh sorry Mr. Kham. Cold you say, Perhaps it is. My thermometer shows -29 degrees so I guess we've been lucky with the weather today. Please get into the wagon and we'll be right of, there's some warm water for you in there, couldn't find any tea, I know how you Xikuangese people love tea. You know I've heard you guys are short but you're shorter than I imagined, well I just hope my daughter won't tease you for that, she's 9 and is getting a bit... you know"

The man takes Khitai's cases and put's them in the trunk, gets into the wagon and they set of.

"Do you want me to buy you anything before we set of to the camp, unless an accident happens we won't be able to get back here for 8-9 days"

I know how you Xikuangese people love tea. You know I've heard you guys are short but you're shorter than I imagined, well I just hope my daughter won't tease you for that, she's 9 and is getting a bit... you know"

"Hot water would be very welcome. It's quite exposed on the platform. As for your daughter teasing me, I don't mind if she does-- I get it a lot, really. I do appreciate your welcoming me like this."

Khitai tried to help the man lift the cases into the trunk, but found that his limbs rebelled against him: this was a level of cold to which he was not accustomed, and after the long wait, it had suffused his bones. He found it painful to move, much less lift the heavy cases, though the Svea Rigan handled them easily enough. Khitai pulled himself into the cart, shivering.

"Do you want me to buy you anything before we set of to the camp, unless an accident happens we won't be able to get back here for 8-9 days"

"Em... I think I should be okay, really. How far away is the camp?"

"Em... I think I should be okay, really. How far away is the camp?"

"You don't want anything? Ok, well the camp is around 50 km from the boarder to the outer regions, and a 3 hour drive from here in the 2 meter deep snow. You just wait here while I'm going in to buy some milk for the camp".

He goes out and into the shop, 30 minutes passes and he comes out with 2 large containers, he plants them on top of the wagon and then re-enters it.

"Ahh 50 liters should be enough for 3 days don't you think, ohh and I bought you some tea, it's bagged but will probably be enough for a week"

The Ox's takes of into the cold and harsh wilderness, Khitai can see the civilization disappear behind him.

"You bought tea? That was very kind of you." Khitai takes the package offered to him, wrapped simply in brown paper and already gathering frost, marveling to himself at how easily the man had bene able to get over the frozen hill that had utterly defeated him-- then he noticed the metal spikes attached to the man's shoes. Crampons. Ah. I should have thought of that. A slight prodding to the oxen, and they were off, the town vanishing behind them, the landscape soon a vast uniform sea of blinding white, the distant mountains hidden by white haze. Khitai was utterly at a loss to ascertain how it was the man was navigating, but he-- or at least, the great shaggy oxen-- seemed to know where they were going. Anyway, there was simply nothing for it-- he was utterly at this man's mercy. Fortunately, he seemed a nice sort of fellow at whose mercy suddenly to find oneself in an arctic hinterland

"So..." Khitai ventured, teeth chattering only slightly.

"Yes?"

"I, er, I don't know how much you've been told about my visit here... but I really had very little time to prepare, and I must confess I know next to nothing about your village... even what it's called, I'm afraid. Would you mind telling me a bit about it?"

OOC:()/%&/¤)=) INVALID_SESSION...well here comes number 2 then

IC:

"Ahh yes little man"

"The village host's 78 people. We all work with reindeers, we don't move around anymore since we got fences to maintain the reindeers in one place thank god. We live there all year around. Err you'll get your own cottage if you'd like, otherwise you can sleep in one of the family cottages but then you won't be alone. We go to bed around 7 pm and get up 4 pm usually, on weekends we can sleep how long we want to. Not everyone speak english since education up here is complicated, it take 2½ hour to drive to school and 2½ back and it's only open on monday-wednesday"

"Anything else little man...Khitai?"

Tetchy even by Xikuangese standards, Khitai is inclined to take comments about his physical stature in good spirit. He is certainly used to them. Indeed, his companion's calling him 'little man' sparks memories of having been called 'belt high weed picker', and he experiences an acute pang of homesickness for Celdonia and being amicably abused by Ibin Khalid.

"Oh, I don't want to be in the way. Put me wherever's most convenient for you. Of course I'll want to help with any work that needs to be done, if I can... 78 people, you say? That is quite small. How is the village organised?"

"Oh... and, if I might ask..." Khitai shivered, only partly from the cold. "The reindeer... they don't actually come into the village, do they?"

"Yes they do, sometimes you can wake and they're right there beside you! Hah, just kidding, we keep the reindeers some km from the village. Yeah the village has seen better times, but under the last government deported the most of us to work camps. And organisations...well I'm the chief and we're like one big family where I'm the father and my wife the mother, everyone else are children. Some do the cooking other butchering, taxes, governmental involvment"

He watches the 'road' for a while and then he screams something to the Ox's who turn violently left.

"We're allmost there now little man, soon you'll see more reindeers than ever, we're going to drive beside the fence which contains some 3000 reindeeers".

"Yes they do, sometimes you can wake and they're right there beside you!"

Khitai looks distinctly alarmed as the man says this, provoking good-natured laughter. Comforted at least that the man did in fact know already why he was here, Khitai was a little uneasy with the man's apparent proclivity towards teasing him.

Hah, just kidding, we keep the reindeers some km from the village. Yeah the village has seen better times, but under the last government deported the most of us to work camps. And organisations...well I'm the chief and we're like one big family where I'm the father and my wife the mother, everyone else are children. Some do the cooking other butchering, taxes, governmental involvment"

Khitai nods at the mention of work camps: it was a point with which he could sympathise more easily than perhaps the man was likely to expect. "Indeed. We watched the revolution very attentively in Xikuang... We certainly had little to like about the old government... now that the SFP are in, hopefully you'll see real improvements-- erf!"

Not expecting such a violent turn from oxen, Khitai is thrown entirely off-balance and might have fallen off the wagon had not the chief grabbed a great handful of his coat, picked him up in the one hand and put him back on his seat.

"Watch yourself, little man. I don't want to have to tell your Dr. Xu that you got your neck broken on your first day here."

"Th-thanks... I'll try..."

"We're allmost there now little man, soon you'll see more reindeers than ever, we're going to drive beside the fence which contains some 3000 reindeeers".

"...Three thousand?" Well, at least they'll be fenced in, Khitai thought to himself, trying to picture three thousand immense, antlered ungulates, and exercise which made him shudder. "Ah, there's one now." the man said, and then corrected Khitai's looking towards the left of the wagon by gesturing to the right. "No, over there."

"Aagh!"

http://www.drnightshade.org.uk/ns/reindeer.jpg

Their view of the animals had been obstructed by a large snowdrift that had gathered around a rock, but they were now fully in view. Not even remotely anticipating that they would be so close, Khitai involuntarily retreated, throwing himself into the village chief's side.

"Compassionate Chenresi, it's h-h-huge..."

"Har har, it's a pretty big one yes, the kind we ride on when it's too cold for the horses. Too bad for you we're walking in the middle so right when you know it we have to use them to get to the reindeers!"

He pointed to the right when you passed a group of trees.

"There it is, my village"

There's some 20 tents or "Kåta" as they called them put up on a flat part of the landscape. A telephone line crossed the landscape and ended on the biggest one. Probably belonging to the chief. A stable where bot horses and reindeers were found. Children were playing in the snow, some men carried the dead body of a reindeers to the slaughter-tent.

"Ahh home"

"You... you can... you can ride them?"

The big man just laughed again as Khitai watched the movements of the reindeer with obvious anxiety. He didn't seem any less flustered by the time they arrived at the village. The chief got out and began attending to the oxen, but his Xikuangese charge didn't seem able to leave the wagon, but just stared about rather helplessly.

Khitai sits in the wagon, un-aware of the cold winds and that it's begun to snow lightly. His jacket is covered in snow and suddenly one of the men takes out a reindeer from the stable and it gets eye-contact with Khitai.

This shocks him out of whatever reverie had trapped him, and with a start, he comes back to reality. Compassionate Buddha, I'm stuck in the middle of frozen nowhere with thousands upon thousands of reindeer... Slowly, without taking his eyes off the reindeer being led from the stable, he gets out of the opposite side of the wagon, where he just stands with his back to it, trying to get his bearings.

A small girl comes up to him saying with a little shy voice.
"Are you all right Mr. Khitai - You look cold and scared. Father told me to show you the err..tent you'll be living in. It's the bachelor tent I hope that's ok with you? My name is Lisa by the way and that's my reindeer over there, it doesn't feel all right, it attacks people and is angry all the time. So we're taking it to the vet. Now come with me!"

"Hello, Lisa. Thank you-- I am rather cold, and I don't know the village... um, your reindeer, you say?". Khitai wondered to himself whether or not the girl was taking the same sort of pleasure in teasing him as her father apparently did.

Khitai gets his cases from the back and follows Lisa down towards the village. They walk past some women making shirts and jackets from the skin of the reindeers. Others wash their hair in boiled water. Some men stands beside the huge container containing vegetables for the foreigner. Khitai would guess they're trying to open the thing and failed miserably.

"Here it is Mr. Khitai, here's your tent. You're all alone for now because the men are out collecting pure ice for supper. Bye for now" Lisa runs away towards the reindeer.

Khitai examines the tent... Where is the opening? Why can't they have normal tents instead of these! After a couple of sec he sees the big skin of what once was a bear covering something. He lifts them and voíla an opening. It smells like animal skin in it and there's a small fire in the middle, it seems they've been expecting him. One place is cleaned and blankets have been put out.

He is a bit put out by the strong smell of animal hide-- not at all like live yak, to which he is well accustomed, though many would find that by far the more repellent of pongs, but the tent is warm, and he is very grateful for that. He puts his cases down neatly in the closest thing he can find to an out of the way corner and turns his attention to the fire, and to trying to get some feeling back into his frozen hands. I wonder if I should help with the cooking, he thinks to himself... but before he can decide one way or the other, exhaustion overcomes him, Head on his knees, he falls into a dead sleep.

He didn't know for how long he had been asleep when he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder, shaking him awake. Somewhat groggily, he opened his eyes. It was dark in the the only light coming from the fire, which had died down considerably. The hand shook him again. "Mr. Khitai." a little, shy voice said, insistently. It was Lisa. "Wake up!"

Khitai shook himself reluctantly awake and turned to face the chief's daughter. There were tears in the little girl's blue eyes; she looked worried and scared. Instantly fully awake, Khitai got to his feet. "Whatever is the matter, Lisa?"

"It's my reindeer. He's really, really sick." Lisa said, choking back her tears. "Will you come see him?" Khitai was utterly thrown. "But I don't know anything about reindeer, Lisa." he said, rather weakly. "Don't you think we should get the veterinarian?" "We can't." she replied. "All the men are out on the hunt, and everyone else is busy. No one else will come." "I don't know, I don't think there's anything I can do..." "Please!" she sobbed, grabbing his had and pulling, tears streaming down her face. "Nobody will help me-- I think he might die!"

The girl's obvious suffering over the pain of an animal she so obviously loved overcame any reservations Khitai could rationalise for himself. "Okay, Lisa, okay. Take me to him, please?"

Lisa smiled a little and squeezed his hand. "I knew you'd come. Follow me." She pulled him by the hand along with her, out of the Kåta, into the night: he must have been asleep for some time, and Khitai wondered to himself why at this hour the men were not yet back. "Is he in the main stables?" he asked, as the little girl led him in that direction. "No." she said, keeping her voice low. "Because he gets so mad, he has to be kept apart from the others. He's in his own stable. This way."

This last statement did little to reassure Khitai's pressing unease. Lisa moved quickly, furtively, weaving her way among the village tents, sometimes stopping to listen, as if she feared to be discovered. Around them, the voices of the women and the elders arose from the kåta, light occasionally spilling out from a semi-opaque window, but there was no other movement. Khitai was nervous, but concealed it for the girl's sake. It might be quite like a yak, he reasoned to himself. There might be something I can do. At least I can be there for the poor girl. It won't be so bad. Lisa led him toward the stables, then behind them, through the village, then finally to its outermost edge, guiding him towards their destination: a small, dark, desolate-looking shack, incongruently of unstained wood, standing cold and aloof, the snowdrift entirely engulfing its windward side and half-covering the roof.

"The snow keeps it warm." Lisa said, in barely a whisper, as she unlocked the heavy padlock on the door with a large key. "He's in here."

She entered, let Khitai in, then quickly shut the door again. Khitai lost the girl in the pitch black, but a dreadful, sickly odour filled the room and a disturbing half-growling, half-wheezing sort of sound came loudly to his ears. He froze-- then a light, at first the soft, phosphorous-scented light of a match, then the brighter light of the oil lamp Lisa had lighted, filled the small interior with its low light. As his eyes adjusted, Khitai could identify the animal, lying on its side in clean hay, as the originator of the sounds.

"That's him." Lisa says, her voice catching. "His name's Sufi."

Lisa's reindeer had once been a a fine silver stag, his legs a dark cobalt, his belly marked with a distinct cobalt stripe, a fine set of antlers on his head. Now, his coat was dull in the low light where the stag lay on his side in clean hay, his antlers obliging him to rest his head at a very awkward angle. The stag's eyes were glazed over, rivulets of goo running from their corners. His ears hang lifeless and his mouth hung open, panting, steam rising from his breath.

Cautiously, Khitai approached the sick reindeer. The animal appeared to take no notice of him, the horizontal pupil not shifting at all, not even reacting to the light, that dreadful wheeze rising with each laboured breath. He could see how dry the beast's nose was, how pasty its lolling tongue, could hear in its breath how gunged its lungs were, and though his irrational fear of animals of its type was hardly unabated he could not help but be moved by pity. Carefully, he extended a hand and touched the animal's snout. It was burning hot. "He's fevered. We should oring him some water."

"I'll get it!" Lisa says, leaving the lamp with Khitai and rushing out the door. He could hear her scrunching footsteps in the snow as she ran. A shudder ran involuntarily down his spine as he found himself alone with the huge stag, but at his touch, the reindeer seemed at last to have become aware of him. The eye moved, seemed to focus, half-closed; a rattling sigh escaped. The reindeer seemed comforted by his companionship. Tentatively, he petted its neck, softly stroked an ear. The animal seemed to sleep.

Then, abruptly, its flesh seemed to grow taught under his hand, muscles tensing to spring. A low growl issued from somewhere within, of the sort one would not expect in a member of the herbivorous tribes, and the lips pulled back to reveal glistening teeth, incisors sharp as knives. Khitai scuttled away, his back against the wall-- and realised that the reindeer was now between him and the door, and it was now slowly getting to its feet, its joints creaking ominously, its back to him. Desperately, he looked for a window, any means of escape-- but there were no windows in the small shack. The door was the only entrance. As quickly as he dared, though he was shaking uncontrollably and his heart pounded so loudly he was certain the animal could hear it, Khitai tried to move around the back side of the animal, keeping his back to the wall, hoping against hope he could get to the door before it had noticed he'd moved.

Suddenly, with incredible speed, the reindeer lunged, lowering its head so that its eyes were level with Khitai's and but inches away. He could not be sure if the reddish light that emanated from those horizontal pupils was entirely a reflection of the lamplight. The animal's antlers loomed above him as it growled, showing its teeth, thick saliva running from its mouth. Involuntarily, Khitai made some high-pitched, inarticulate sound, and began pulling at the boards of the wall. One came away-- revealing a second wall of ice. He might be able to get through the wood, but he would then face at least twelve feet of snowdrift. He was trapped. Desperately, he held up the detached board as a weapon, but with a flick of its head the reindeer's antlers disarmed him. The growling grew louder and increased in intensity. The animal stamped, and slowly, menacingly, advanced.

Suddenly, it turned away, distracted by a new sound: the latch on the door rattling, the door slowly opening-- "LISA, NO!" Khitai screamed, but the child had already slipped into the room, carrying a bucket of tepid water, which was dashed against the far wall along with her small body at a kick from a set of powerful rear hooves. A small gasp, and then a sickening crunch as she hit the wall, were the only sounds from Lisa; the animal had returned its attentions to Khitai before she had even slid, a bloody mess, to the ground. He did not know whether the chid still lived, but he knew he had to get the two of them out of the shack, away from the demon reindeer. He leapt to the side-- successfully, though the reindeer kept its antlers covering him-- but he was now within reach of the oil lamp. He grabbed it, picked it up. He would have to throw carefully. There would be only one chance. He gauged his angle carefully, his glance quickly moving back to judge Lisa's position, as he prepared his attack, when suddenly- he was grabbed from behind--

EYAAAAAAAH!

Khitai screamed, jumped back, raised his arm as a defense against whatever this new threat was-- and found himself looking up at a somewhat taken aback young man, in fur hat and coat, his hands raised in a gesture of non-hostility. The fire in the bachelor's Kåta was now dying down.

"Whoa there! A bit skittish, aren't you? I'm not going to hurt you." the man said.

Khitai swallowed, the panic fading only slowly. "Ah... sorry, I must have... I must have fallen asleep..."

"Yes, you did, but the chief figured you needed it, so we left you to it. But dinner's ready now, and you must be hungry, so I've been sent to get you." The man extended a hand to help Khitai to his feet, gratefully accepted.

"I'm starving. Thank you."

The man smiled. "Great. Come with me. I understand you Xikuangese like vegetables? I think the cooks have put something together special for you."

"Have they? It is very kind. I do appreciate it."

The wind outside is icy cold. The sun have set and left the landscape depending on the full moon and the small oil lamps stuck on the kåtas.
Khitai follows the man that woke him up and tried to keep up.
"We're eating with the chief, we're late so we're eating with the women!"

Khitai struggles to keep up, but the snow is thick on the ground and his legs are much shorter than the other man's, and he is obliged to trot rather undignifiedly alongside. "That's fine by me. Do the men and the women always eat separately?"

"Nah, only during the winter period. Most men eat early so we can attend the reindeers. And the women are mostly in camp so they can eat whenever they want to. You overslept and I... well I couldn't make it to the first dinner" He walked a little faster red in the face. They approached the big kåta and he pulled away the bear skin covering the entrance. The room was dark and smelled good from all the cooking. There was a big pot in the middle which contained reindeer meat and other thing Khitai didn't want to think about. And then there was a smaller pot to the side where vegetables were boiling and a small cup of water. And to the other side a teapot.

Khitai was beginning to wonder if it was standard policy for the Sami people never to introduce themselves as he followed the man into the room.

"We've prepared your food according to Dr. Xu's wishes. Go ahead and sit down. We're just about to start eating" Himself sat down beside the chiefs wife and Khitai was left alone aside two teenagers or if they were women, hard to see inside the dark Kåta. Everyone got their share of the boiled reindeer and milk. So the signal to start eating was given.

"I hope you haven't had to go to too much trouble." Khitai says, taking the seat indicated for him, turning to his companions. "Er. Hello."

The girls giggled "Hi I'm Therese, welcome to our little camp here in the middle of nowhere. This is Frida she doesn't understand English very good"
Therese examined the little man and stretched her back, she was almost as short as he were.

"Pleased to meet you, Therese. I'm Khitai. Hello, Frida." He bowed his head to each girl, then turns back to Therese. "My Rigan is just about nil, so you're both way ahead of me. But I trust you might translate?"

"I'll try" - Therese got back to her reindeer.
Frida said something in Rigan, Khitai sat there as a question mark while the girls laughed like only teenagers do. The man who had followed Khitai to the Kåta said something with a upset tone and the girl quiet downed, but they still giggled.

Khitai's meal resembled Therese's only in the particular of the potatoes: while the Sami's plates were piled mostly with reindeer meat, they had prepared a vegetable stew for him. It was a combination of vegetables he would never have thought to put into the same pot, and upon tasting, reasoned that that was probably because they shouldn't be... to his palate, anyway.

"It didn't taste good huh? I know I've already tasted it, Frida loved it though, but that's just because she puts a mountain of salt upon anything she eats. I've tasted the tea too, that on the other hand was quite good"
Khitai notices how Frida takes some salt in her hand and sprinkles it over the food before she eats it.

"No, really, it's fine." Khitai lies-- after they've gone to all the trouble to cater to his vegetarianism, he really doesn't wish to offend. "Just not quite what I'm used to. Perhaps a little salt would help..." Imitating Frida, he takes some salt as well, and starts looking around the assembled condiment-type things. "Er, is there butter about?" he asks Therese.

"Didn't you buy it when you were in the village?"
Frida looks at the man who followed him into the Kåta. They exchange some words with each other. "Frida asked Thom if the chief got any butter left...Thom said that indeed they had some and that he'd eat it all on his sandwich...Frida answered with strong words like capitalist scum, share and pig. I've toned it down to you, Frida doesn't like Thom and vice versa. So if you want some butter I think it's best to wait until tomorrow".

"Ah... well, that's all right, it's no worry." Khitai now regrets having put sugar in his tea, as he doesn't really like it with sugar if there's no butter... Ah well... He suddenly finds that he is not exactly hungry, and starts picking disconsolately at his potatoes.

Just picking his potatoes he notices one of the girls screaming and pointing towards Khitai!
Khitai looks around. "What?"
"You're on fire get out of here into the snow!!"
Khitai looks blankly at the girl. Surely she didn't just say 'You're on fire'...
Then he notices a strange flickering in the corner of his eye, as if from a... "Agh! I'm on fire!"

Khitai jumps up, upsetting his tea into his stew, and dashes blindly out of the tent. "Thai qing hueji dan-ghengneheli shuone--" he dives into the nearest snow bank.

As soon as he does so, he finds himself in quite a different predicament, as a huge amount of ice and snow that had collected on the kåta comes crashing down on top of him, thoroughly burying him. Fortunately for him, Thom and a number of the women have come piling out after him, and observe this, or else he might be in real trouble. Amidst general shouting, Thom begins digging through the snow with his hands, while two of the women go at it with a spoon and a frying pan, and the girls look on.

"Gotcha!" Thom eventually exclaims, and, grabbing Khitai by the ankle, pulls him out of the snowbank and he lands with a pathetic sort of thump on the ground. He is no longer on fire-- but his coat is half-burned, his clothes are full of snow, and he is wet, icy, and thoroughly bedraggled. One of the women pulls him to his feet, and they start brushing snow off of him.

At this spectacle-- this utterly out-of-place foreigner who seems to have a proclivity towards catching fire javing snow knocked off of him by two matrons wielding cookware-- Thom throws back his head and laughs, and soon the girls are all in tears of laughter.

Khitai sneezes.

It was roughly 5 am the day after the snow attack. The sun was nowhere to be seen. Khitai shivered in his sleep, he had been woken twice by the other to see if he was all right. He had 3 blankets on him but he didn't have any fever luckily. He got some tea beside him which he drank every time he woke up.

"MOOOORNING IN THE KÅTA BOYS" - The chief had his head stuck into the bearskin that covered the entrance. One of the men said something that made the other ones laugh and roll around on the floor. The chief looked furious after the comment. He rushed into the Kåta and grabbed the man who said whatever he now said, still laughing. The chief carried him out and throw him into the snow. "Eeeeeeeeeeee - Cold".

"Khitai time to get up, meeting outside my Kåta in 15 minutes for breakfast"

Khitai looked up blearily at the scene, wondering what on earth was so funny and why that man had been thrown into the snow. Still half-asleep, he blinked at the chief. "Q'engneheli t'hen sa?"

"That'll do, meeting in 15 minutes. The boys will help you get dressed and all that" The chief stuck out his head again. The man who had taken a bath in the snow came in swearing and the other men still laughed like seals.Khitai looked at the foot of his sleeping place. There lied some new clothing, probably too large but they were whole and newly washed.

Still looking a bit confused, his hair sticking up rather comedically on one side, Khitai gradually remembered where he was. "Fifteen... oh. Allright. Thanks." Reluctantly dragging himself out from under the covers, he shivered violently as he dressed. Indeed, though the clothes had been procured for him from one of the village children, everything was rather on the big side, but serviceable.

Khitai wandered of in the dark towards the biggest shadow which he guessed was the chiefs Kåta since everyone else was on their way there.
When he got into the big Kåta he was surrounded by pretty much the same people as on the dinner yesterday. Some pointed other burst in laughter when he entered, but after a strong gaze from the chief they quit.
"So Khitai my wife here says you've had your first adventure yesterday outside in the snow. I must say that no one have ever cought fire here before".

"Well, I'd hope it wasn't a common occurrence. I assure you, I'm not in the habit of spontaneous combustion."

"Ahh so do you feel fine or are you still cold? Please sit down and take whatever you want to eat" The chief continued on his loaf.

"I'm okay, thanks." Khitai says, but he doesn't really look it, and doesn't seem very interested in food. He takes some toast and tea-- noting, thankfully, that there's butter for it-- but as soon as he sits down he suffers an alarming sneezing fit that nearly knocks him off his seat.

When sneezing he puts his foot right into the butter plate and his shoe is covered in butter. "Hmm, I didn't plan to eat you for breakfast little man" The chief said. "You sure you feel allright, we can't have a sick man hunting reindeers into their collars". Khitai tries to say that he's just fine but a sneeze gets into it and he looks at the chief.
"Ok, you need some rest, you'll have to stay with the women today little man, I don't have the details but it usually includes spending my money"

"Sorry... I guess I'd-- *ah-CHOO!!* better." Khitai said, sniffling, trying to salvage the butter. "I don't want to be any hassle. I guess the fire and snow thing was a little much."

"No worry no worry, just go back to your Kåta and the women will pick you up in a few hours ok?"

"Okay. Thanks." Khitai sniffled. "See you later on then." As he shuffled out of the tent, one of the men said something that he didn't understand, and several others burst out laughing. [i]Well, at least I'm a source of amusement for them. Mercy, but I feel perfectly awful. He slumped through the snow back to the bachelor's tent, removing only his boots and outer coat before falling back onto the bed fully clothed. He wrapped himself up in a ball of blankets and was almost immediately asleep again, still shivering.

...The demon reindeer pawed the ground, balefully regarding Khitai with red-reflecting horizontal pupils dilated. He held the oil lamp in his hand, measureing its weight its weight. He would have to throw carefully. There would be only one chance. He gauged his angle, his glance quickly moving back to judge Lisa's position, as he prepared his attack. Suddenly, and with a startling roar, the reindeer lunged, and his measured throw went wild. The lamp shattered, glass and burning oil spattering the reindeer's head and antlers, and igniting a stack of haybales. Soon the small shack would be ablaze. Seizing upon the animal's confusion, Khitai darted to the far wall, picked up the limp body of the girl and went straight for the door-- but it would not open. There was neither lock nor handle on the inside. He pounds on the door, tries to call for help-- but the only sound he can produce is a strangled sort of squeak, and anyway, he wouldn't be heard over the roaring screams of the animal. Enraged, tossing its burning antlers furiously, the reindeer kicks out at random, sending burning hay and wood in all directions. The fire raging, Khitai crouches down over the little girl-- her breath coming in weak gurgles, blood bubbling from her nose-- shielding her with his body, waiting for the worst...

All goes black. Khitai is vaguely aware of a faint whimpering sound, only gradually becoming aware that it is coming from himself. Someone shakes him again.

"I said, are you awake?"

"Mnf." Khitai pokes his head out from under the blanket, and his eyes slowly focus on Therese, sitting on the edge of the bed, still shaking him. "Er. I think so." he says, his heart still pounding from the dream.

"Are you all right? You don't look so good."

"I... er, didn't sleep very well." Khitai sits up slowly, pressing his eyes with one hand. He has a dreadful headache. Therese hands him a thick mug, covered with a lid.

"Here. Old Auntie mixed you this."

"What is it?"

"Medicine. It'll probably taste awful, and you may not feel any better, but you won't get any worse."

"Oh. Thank you."

"You're to drink it all down in one."

"Allright."

Khitai takes the mug from Therese and drains it, as instructed. He nearly chokes. Not only dies the mixture taste, as predicted, absolutely ghastly, but it contains a fair bit of alcohol. Feeling slightly dizzy, he allows Therese to take the mug from him.

"Pretty bad, huh?"

"I'm not sure I could say I'd had worse."

Therese laughs.

*deleted double post*

OOC: Let’s jump to the next day.

Khitai is cold, very cold a blizzard rages on outside the Kåta. And it’s almost 4 am, time to get up. The other people in his tent shakes him but he refuses to wake up one bit, not even in Xikuang would he step outside in this cold and harsh winds.

“Khitai, come on it’s time to eat, I know you’re tired so are we but a good cup of tea and a biscuit will get you over the sleep” A man who’s quite blurry in Khitais eyes tries to wake him.

“Mmmmmmm, I’ll get up, just 5 minutes more” He says half asleep.

“NO NOW Khitai, the others are getting snow and you don’t want that do you?”

“Ok ok ok, I’ll get up, take it easy”

Khitai gets dressed and follows the others to the chiefs Kåta. There they have breakfast and Khitai drinks his tea and eats his biscuits with a piece of cheese on them.
The chief stands up and gets ready to speak.
“You know what men, the wolfs are becoming a bloody big problem for the reindeers. I propose we take with us our rifles today and shoot of 5 of them, I have the governmental permission right here. So get ready for it boys we ride in 30 minutes”

Khitai takes a sip of his tea “They’re going to shoot the wolfs?, Poor bastards only trying to get something to eat, I bet they’re cold too”

As soon as he takes one bite of the biscuit Khitai is forced to summon every iota of diplomatic self-restraint to keep from spitting it out. Merciful heaven, what on earth is this stuff? He takes a closer look, and suddenly realises that is his half-torpor, he has mistaken the cheese for beancurd, and discreetly removes it from the biscuit, hoping he won't regret the small amount he is obliged to swallow.*

He takes in the chief's words with a pang of regret. He has a fondness for wolves; he remembers being comforted by their distant howling as a child in a Guo Leng boarding academy. They reminded him of home. However, he realises that as the reindeer are these people's lives and livelihoods, they probably don't shae his attitude. I sincerely hope they don't expect me to come along on the hunt, though, he thinks to himself.

"Do you have a lot of trouble with wolves, then?" he asks.

*OOC- Khitai hates cheese.

Khitai watches the stable carefully, besides the horses he knows that they got reindeers in there too. Brhhh, I hope they give me a horse, please give me a horse!

The chief gets out with 4 horses, all are really beautiful examples of riding horses.
“Here you go Khitai” The chief hands over the smallest horse still standing some 2 meters above the ground.

“Thank you” – Khitai replies quite comforted that he didn’t have to ride on a reindeer.

They get up gather their gear, Khitai can’t help to notice the rifles that’s handed out to the men. When asked if Khitai wants one he shivers and politely denies. And then denies a pistol and a spear and a knife. Rigans and their weapons it’s almost scary an entire nation of gun-tooting people.

“Take this army knife Khitai, you might encounter a mean bush or something - bwahahaha” – Khitai accepts the knife and sets up on his horse looking at the laughing chief getting up on his.

Finally they set of, the blizzard has calmed down a bit, it’s still snowing like there’s no tomorrow. The icy winds are harsh on Khitai’s poor face, but he gets used to it. After some 30 minutes of riding suddenly a tree falls down right in front of Khitai, his horse gets scared and drops Khitai who falls down and vanishes in the 110 cm deep snow.

He tries to hang on, but the animal is too powerful, and Khitai is thrown to the ground, disappearing into the deep snow as the horse, bored now that the tree isn't moving anymore, wanders off. The Chief and his men laugh uproariously-- it is pretty funny-- but their laughter dies down as there is no movement or sound from the indentation in the snow where the unfortunate Councillor fell.

"Khitai!" the chief calls. "You allright, little man?"

For his part, Khitai might have been allright had the deep snow not lain over a heap of rather jagged rocks. The snow saves him from what could have been a rather nasty collection of broken bones, but he is momentarily stunned. By the time he comes around, the chief and one of his men have pushed their way through the snow towards him. Somewhat feebly, he begins struggling to dig himself out. "Over here!" he calls, his voice coming muffled through the snow. "Help!"

"Ah, there you are, I've got you." Locating Khitai by the sound of his voice and the faint movement under the snow, the chief digs for a bit, finally turning up an arm, which he pulls to bring the unfortunate Xikuangese to his feet-- but stops short as Khitai yelps in pain.

"I'm stuck. My leg's caught on something. I can't move it."

In the distance, a low, mournful howl rises...