(Apologies for this post being 8 days tardy; I got busy this week and didn't write anything for Dawn.)

Zahrh-Panlu and his men had sailed for over a week, but when they had seen any men at all, they were so primitive as to not be worth considering. They had only seen canoes a handful of times, so primitive was the coast of southern bend. When the group had rounded a particularly busy piece of coast, filled with many peninsulas and sandbars, many had begged Zahrh-Panlu to turn back. He had promised them that after four more days travel, they would turn back home. Zahrh-Panlu hoped this would give him enough time to find and civilized inhabitants of the southern bend.

On the third day, Zahrh-Panlu's patience was rewarded. One of the men, currently at ease for the wind was to their back and the sails were unfurled, cried out that he saw boats on the horizon. Zahrh-Panlu left the steering oar in his mate's hands, and made for the front of the boat to see for himself.

At first the forms simply appeared to be boats, maybe no more than canoes, a fact which disappointing Zahrh-Panlu. However, his doubts vanished as the Abanye drew closer to the forms. These boats were too large to be canoes, and eventually the Watum could make out that some of the boats were comprised of two hulls fixed to each other with long spars, a novel construction that had not occurred to any Abanye that he knew of. It was clear from the motions of the men that they were fishing with nets and traps. It was clear that these men were more advanced than the primitives of the western forests. This was who Zahrh-Panlu had hoped to meet!

The Abanye sailed into the natural harbor in which these people were fishing, some holding aloft the gifts they had brought to make it clear they didn't have violent intentions. To Zahrh-Panlu it was clear that these people had their own way of life that was unfamiliar to the Abanye. Hopefully there was value to be gained in trade and learning, just as sails had been learned from the savages.