"Captain Sag, this golden stone looks all glittery and gold, like the big nugget gold Grandmother once talked about..."
"Ancestors! These packed-together symbols are neat and strange. They seem to foretell the divine deer's guidance... Are they patterns from a shaman's divination?..."
Night lay deep, and over the Kamchatka Peninsula, the starry sky held the same resplendent river of stars. The sailors of the northern tribes wrapped themselves in thick hide robes, skillfully dug shallow pits, and set up low hide shelters against the wind. They split off one group to keep watch through the night while the others formed small circles around several campfires and lay down to rest on padded hides. The warmer inner ring belonged to the Kingdom's southern warriors. Though strong and fierce, they were far less resistant to the cold than the tribal sailors recruited from the north, and had to stay close to the fires before they could sleep.
At the innermost campfire, naturally, were Exploration Captain Zuwaro and the two Itelmen hunters who had arrived. Zuwaro took out the gold and the state letter, looking at the two of them with his heart full of expectation, but their reaction was blank confusion, not at all the intense response described in the prophecy.
"May the spirit-blessed ancestors bear witness! Tribe from the eastern sea, I am not the hereditary shaman of my tribe. I cannot understand your shamanic runes!"
Hunting Captain Mu Quan tugged at his hair and shook his head hard, showing that he had no shamanic inheritance. Then he cautiously handed the hide paper covered in "runes" back to Zuwaro, pointed toward the northern mountains, and awe appeared on his face.
"Friend... Our Mountain Tribe's Grandmother has the inheritance of an ancient shaman. Perhaps she will recognize your runes..."
"Mm... You don't