"O Chief Divine! Are you all healed? How is Captain of Kepili Warriors?"
"Priest Adin, we are those returned by the Chief Divine after passing its trials. These scars are the marks of the trials. And the cough is the death that just passed."
Before Priest Adin, Tai Giant Eagle spoke thus. A dozen newly recovered Kingdom's Warriors and Dog Descendant Shooters stood behind him, similarly scarred and weakened.
After enduring this "trial," Tai Giant Eagle's face was no longer the smooth, copper-red, and firm appearance it once had. Smallpox had left dense pockmarks on his once robust skin in youth, or 'pocks'. The deepest pocks, like burn marks from embers, scattered around the forehead, cheekbones, and temples. These deep scars shimmered dimly in the sunlight, resembling cracks on a dried-up lake surface.
