We watched the Payan outpost for three hours without moving from the brush.
Not because we were afraid — though we should have been — but because Baba did not believe first impressions. First impressions lied.
Patterns told truth.
We learned quickly.
Payan Routines
The sighted men handled horses, crates, and papers.
The blind guards sat with staves across their knees, heads tilted to catch the wind.
They used both kinds of perception — sight and non-sight — stitched together the way tribes stitched hides.
Several times, a wagon arrived from the south, stopped at the gate, exchanged goods and words, then left east.
Once, a rider arrived from the east, spoke to the post captain, then left north.
From this, the children whispered conclusions:
"Trade," Haniwa said.
"Messages," Tullen said.
"Orders," I added.
Baba nodded.
But then the important lesson:
"Not free."
When wagons arrived, sighted guards tapped metal rings and coins into small bowls before allowing passage.
Coins.
Money.
The System chimed:
Economic Concept Unlocked: Currency (Coinage)
Function: Medium of exchange / Standard of value / Taxation tool
Sociopolitical Role: Enables state reach beyond kin groups
Tribes bartered because barter sufficed.
States taxed because taxation built armies.
Baba murmured under his breath, almost to himself:
"Payan make rivers of metal."
I knew what he meant.
Trade routes were rivers.
Coins were the water.
And kings drank upstream.
The Smoke Arrives
Just before dusk, a rider appeared from the southeast — horse foaming, breathing hard. He slid off the saddle and waved smoke-stained cloth.
The Payan captain grabbed the cloth and sniffed.
His face hardened.
He shouted commands quickly, short words, sharp cadence. The blind guards stood, staves vertical. The sighted men dropped crates and reached for weapons.
A small wax slate was pulled from a crate — sighted hands scratched symbols onto its surface.
Then the slate was sealed and handed to the rider. The rider mounted and rode north toward the hills.
Talli whispered, "What happened?"
"They smelled the smoke," I said.
"And the smoke smelled of fire-tongues," Tullen added.
"And Payan do not like fire," Haniwa added.
"No," I said. "Payan does not like chaos."
The System chimed:
Political Insight Logged: Payan = Order-Oriented State
This was the first ideological polarity the System registered:
Sect = Chaos / Defiance
Payan = Order / Integration
Tribes = Survival / Autonomy
Three forces.
Three futures.
Three constraints.
The Price of Peace
Not long after, a wagon approached from the east — piled with clay pots and bundles of herbs. Old sighted driver. Two blind porters.
The captain raised his hand and said a word that cut through distance:
"TOLL."
The driver opened a small pouch and counted coins by sound, placing them into a bowl.
Only then did the captain lower his hand and allow passage.
Tullen frowned. "They pay to use road?"
"Yes," I said.
"But road is on ground."
"Yes."
"Ground does not belong to Payan," Haniwa said confidently.
I smiled.
"That is how tribes think. Payan do not think that."
She blinked. "How do they think?"
I answered:
"The ground belongs to whoever can make others pay for it."
The System chimed:
Concept: Territorial Sovereignty (Recognized)
State Power = Extraction of value + Control of violence
Talli scowled. "Tribe should not pay for dirt."
"Tribe cannot stop others who do," I said.
Baba did not correct me.
Because he agreed.
The Problem of First Contact
After the third hour, Baba whispered:
"We have seen enough."
We withdrew silently through brush and moss until the sound of carts and commands faded behind us.
Only when the road was far behind did Baba speak.
"If we speak to Payan, we must pay first."
Haniwa blinked. "Pay what?"
"Coin," I said.
"We do not have coin," Tullen said.
"No," I agreed. "We do not."
The children looked at me.
I looked at Baba.
"What do tribes pay with?" I asked.
Baba considered.
"Fur. Meat. Women. Children. Land. Service."
All true.
All dangerous.
But then Baba said the truest thing:
"And Payan does not want what tribes want."
That was the heart of the problem.
States did not want fur, meat, or bodies.
States wanted obedience, taxation, and stability.
We could not offer those yet.
So we could not pay.
Return to Tribe
We returned at dusk. The council gathered again. The news was simple:
• The road existed.
• The border existed.
• The outpost existed.
• The toll existed.
• The Payan response to sect smoke existed.
When Baba finished reporting, an elder asked:
"Should we go to them?"
Baba answered:
"If we go without offering, we look weak."
Another asked:
"Should we send traders?"
Baba replied:
"We have no coin."
Another muttered:
"Then Payan cannot take from us."
The white-haired elder corrected him:
"Payan does not take by theft. Payan takes by law."
The council fell silent.
That was worse.
Laws did not feel like theft until it was too late to resist.
Sovereign Thoughts
That night, as the children slept, I sat awake holding the clay tablet with borders and enemies etched crude into it.
The tablet had no room for a new symbol.
But the world did.
I carved a new mark between the border line and the enemy symbol:
A circle crossed by three smaller lines.
Not for Payan as enemy.
Not for Payan as ally.
For Payan as state.
The System chimed:
Symbol Added: State Power
Then:
Sovereign Note: To negotiate with a state, you must first understand what it wants.
Current knowledge: Incomplete.
The real question wasn't how to reach Payan.
The real question was:
What would Payan demand in return?