Old Narok said to kiss a Kipee...

[narosh]

I met Old Narok in the Telsos bar many years ago, when I was a youth
and traveled with my father on the trade routes between Telsos
and Yrkanis to make a hard but honorable living in trade between
those ancient towns. Old Narok would sit by the fireplace in a chair that
was never used by another - someone would say, "That's Old Narok's chair,"
and the homin would find a chair just as comfortable for sitting elsewhere.
Some say he was an Avatar of the blessed Lady Jena, others thought him just
droll but amusing.

Think what you like, he had many a strange tale to tell.

One evening Old Narok said, " Young homins, come closer and listen, for this
you should know," and not only the young but their elders would draw closer to hear what he had to say...
Old Narok said "There is no shame in being afraid, for the Lady gave us fear
to keep us alive and often in one piece. I once told a young warrior maiden
the way to deal with fear is to kiss a Kipee. She said, 'What kind of fool
do you think I am, to approach a Kipee and touch its foulness?,' and I said,
'You would do it with judgement and weapon held ready, for a warrior is not
one that approaches danger without judgement. And a Kipee eats only the grasses and plants given to it by Jena, and the Lady creates no foulness.
So, in kissing it, you learn two things. Firstly, you are brave. Secondly, you judge a thing for what it is, not what you have been told it is. Jena denies wisdom to no homin, even males can find favor with her. Harrumph, you need only to seek it.' "
After saying this, Old Narok gazed into the fire a while and nodded off, and the barman quietly replaced his empty flagon of silverweed sap with a full one, and a dish of finely ground Oath bark within reach when he would awake and again surely share his views of the homin condition.