Seventeen-year-old Razen leapt from the ground and aimed a vicious kick at Layla's head. Layla dodged nimbly and laughed.
"Try harder little flame ~" she laughed. Razen kept up the pursuit, laughing herself as Layla swatted another kick away with her palm. She spun in the air after her kick was blocked and tried to elbow Layla in the neck but was too slow. Layla blocked her blow again, grabbing her elbow to hold her in place then ruffling her hair.
"That's enough play for now Little Flame, we must finish our duties first!"
Razen grinned at Layla's gentle scolding and pretended to pout. "Alright, alright…. As you wish Master…."
They went laughing and joking into the village to gather supplies, Razen still trying to pounce on Layla whenever she thought her guard was down. Razen knew she was found in the woods as a babe, and that her mother had left her in the care of the Felcit Tribe. Layla had told her the truth of her origins as soon as she was old enough to realize that her hair was flaming red, while the rest of the tribe were crowned with various shades of blonde hair. While Layla didn't share details of why her mother had left her, or even what she looked like, she had let Razen know that even though she was adopted, all the Felcit considered her a member of the tribe.
Razen grew up like all the other Felcit cubs, wrestling with them and training under Layla, who had decided to raise her after discovering her in the shrub near the Border Oak. Layla was very much like a mother to her, but Razen decided to call her 'Master' as soon as she was accepted as one of Layla's disciples. Layla was the Combat Master of their tribe, and it was her responsibility to teach the young cubs to hunt and fight. All the cubs started training as soon as they could walk steadily and hold a weapon. They started out with blunt sticks for swords and spears and used padded cushions as shields until they were old enough to handle real weapons. Even then, they were only given old dull weapons so that no one would get hurt in an especially intense training session. Every cub hated that they weren't given real weapons until they came of age. Even the "arrows" they used to practice archery barely passed as sharpened sticks.
Razen, not being a blood member of the Felcit tribe understood the rule a little better than her peers. Not being Felcit herself she wasn't as strong or as fast as the other cubs. They could destroy wooden targets with those dull weapons with a proficiency that would have been scary if she couldn't do it herself. Some of her fellow disciples could slice through tree trunks with those dull swords and destroy targets with those blunt arrows. At times the weapons themselves were destroyed as the cubs wielded them in lessons.
The Felcit cubs would always complain, and Razen did the same, that if they were allowed to use weapons that were new then they wouldn't be destroyed so easily. Much of the training for Felcit cubs involved how to control the strength that many of them took for granted. Under Layla's guidance, they were taught hand to hand combat, weapon mastery, and basic hunting and tracking, since the tribe depended on game harvested from the Moon Mist Forest.
The Felcit tribe was peaceful and playful. They frolicked and lazed about when they weren't carrying out their respective duties. While all their cubs are trained to fight, many choose to live simply, becoming farmers or hunters or craftsmen. Only a select few are chosen from among the elite in each litter to join the Scouts or the Guards. The village was a hidden haven, cut off from other tribes and nations. They hunted and fished in the Moon Mist Forest that stretched towards the Namdeeth mountains and were protected by what the Scouts called the Great Oak Wall – the forest her mother had travelled through to ensure Razen was left with the Felcit.
The Great Oak Wall was a forest of danger and mystery. Each cub was taught to be wary of the place even though they never ventured past the Border Oak. While the Felcit tribe was cut off from the outside world, the cubs were taught – by the Chief (Spook) – about the Dark Army that sent moles to burrow into the earth among the roots of those oaks digging deep for information on the location of their village. They were taught how to make the Marking Potion from their hair, that was strong enough to confuse the senses of all except the most powerful beings. Spook taught them that dangerous beasts lurked outside of the barrier created by the Marking Potion made from the hair of the tribe's strongest guards. They knew that to venture into the maze of the Great Oak Wall without covering your trail with a Marking Potion could mean death for a careless cub, and danger for the village.
While the Felcit cubs were adventurous and curious, the Marking Potion used to protect the village from intruders also kept curious cubs from straying too far. They knew when they encountered that unique essence, that combined both smell and felling in one unique sensation, that danger lurked beyond. Besides that, many of them had seen and heard unknown beasts lurking in the mist that clunk to ground as they went to train as Scouts. They also had their own experiences trapping and killing the moles that were spies for the Dark Army.
Those moles were terrifying creatures, hairless with long sharp claws and pointed incisors. They stank of damp and decay, and screeched warning noises whenever they were caught if they weren't silenced quickly. Their bite was slow to heal, and their rolling milk white eyes could petrify a cub who had a faltering heart – not because the creatures were blind – but because those milk white eyes could see….
Victims of the gaze of a Dark Army mole could stand petrified for up to three minutes while the awful feeling of having their innermost thoughts discovered kept them unable to even call out feebly for help. The moles couldn't read thoughts, but they could make an unwary victim feel that way – that was how they escaped when they were caught or bought time for other foul beasts to attack.
While the Great Oak Wall had been tainted by the corrupt power of dark forces, the Moon Mist Forest was still clean. The Felcit tended crops in open plots close to the trees, and got wild game, fruits and herbs there. A river ran from the Namdeeth Mountains giving cool clear water that they had partially diverted to supply the village for drink and household use. Razen and Layla lived in a simple cottage close to the Moon Mist Forest on the very edge of the village.