The life of an uplands Abanye could be hard.

Surrounded by grassland and often rocky terrain, it was usually only the immediate banks of a river or creek that were useful. Shellfish could not be relied upon, and despite the fresh waters of upland waterways making farming easy, a village here in the hills would usually be a fraction the size of one on the sea.

All that said, Zheng-Thonye couldn't imagine a home anywhere but his village on the banks of the Sayi River. Though he and his family experienced the hardships of living in the uplands it was their home and theirs alone, and no part of their Abanye heritage had been sacrificed, at least in his eyes. Sure, their shores were not lined with the large fishing boats of a coastal village. Sure, their houses were smaller on average, lacking enough of the large strong timbers. But his village could still take their boats down the Sayi River to the sea, and travel to the larger villages their ancestors once departed for trade and festivals. The Sayi River was small enough to row across in minutes, but it was still large enough to carry fish, allowing the Abanye tradition of fishing to continue. And no matter where an Abanye lived, the nature of the land couldn't take the gift of song from them.

Every time the villages came together for naming festivals, some found it odd that the upland Abanye existed at all. Some even had the nerve to call them Ilutar (Barbarians), as if to say anyone who would live away from the coast was no true Abanye at all. But in Zheng-Thonye's eyes, this couldn't be farther from the truth. There had always been Abanye who lived away from the coast, on the rivers and streams that originated in the mountains. It was just within the last several generations that they had begun to live in the hills and mountains themselves. For some narrow-minded coastal Abanye, this was a drastic change, but to people like Zheng-Thonye, it was just a movement slightly farther inland.

Though to hear some of the elders tell it, more had driven this movement to the hills than simply following the rivers. According to them, their ancestors had heard tell of people who raised beasts as their own, producing wonderful hills. These tales also told of a river so broad you can't see the far bank even when you stand on the shore. Something about these tales drew the upland Abanye ever further east, even though it took them farther from the forests, and farther from the coast.

There was also a certain poetry in living amidst the rolling steppes of the upland. The marbled polecat was something of a symbol to the Abanye. Rru (polecat) was one of the most common first names for an Abanye boy, and the Abanye's Northern Brothers even referred to the Abanye as the Rrulam (polecat families). The Moon Twins, who so long ago had stolen song for the Abanye, did so in the form of polecats, rendering them something of a holy animal as well. But despite this tie to the polecat most Abanye lived in the woods, where polecats were rarely sen. In this regard the upland Abanye had a great advantage, as they could see the polecat all around them in the upland steppes, something their western brothers could not claim.

An most importantly, just because they lived inland did not mean they lacked the Rizukab. Having a Rizukab was the mark of an Abanye family, and no village would give it up simply because they could not see the sea out their front door. The Rizukab of the uplands may be smaller, and may lack the broad sails of the western Abanye, but they were beautiful boats nonetheless. Many were built with lumber traded from the west, but they were built nonetheless.

All this was reflected on by Zheng-Thonye as he sat, feet in the cool water of the Sayi River, counting his blessings. His life may be considered atypical by some Abanye, but it was his and that of his family. He wouldn't trade the uplands for any stretch of coast, and was proud to live among the hills.

Abanye begin to move into steppe highlands, primarily along small rivers that originate in the mountains. Some claim they have heard of a great river and animal-keeping peoples to the east, while others claim they were allured by the mountains themselves, but whatever the reason, Abanye move farther from the coast even as they spread along it. Their population is only a fraction of the Abanye whole, but they exist nonetheless. And their numbers are growing.

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