 | Wapike was born in the Barrens to akicita father and mother who was know for her bead work. As a youth he learned the skills to be a akicita and a hunter. He excelled at tracking guided at times by dream world visions. He watched his father trade with wasicu wopetons learning basic trading skills. One of his father's inahan had been a scribe in the wasicu world and from her he learned to read and to write wasicu. This was a skill he kept to himself as he realized the advantage it gave him in dealing with the wopeton. From the inahan he also learned some of the many cultures of the wasicu which seemed to him much like the dream world he often visited. When he came of age he took his tracking and hunting skills to the lands of the wasicu to learn more of these stange people. He hunted and traded the meat and skins to eager merchants. He traveled along river the wasicu call the Olni and in the City of Vonda found merchants who were fair and did not over fear trading with a Dust Leg Akicita. For a season he provided much of the city with meat and furs. One merchant, a former warrior, saw that his skill in trade was almost as good as his skill in tracking and made a 'contract' with him to obtain difficult and hard to find items. His skills at tracking and stalking did him well and he developed a reputation among the merchants as a reliable source for these things. He was away hunting items for the House of Garnet when the city was attacked and leveled. With the city leveled the merchant retired to a vineyard and the one, now known as Wapike, traveled down the Olni and the Vosk. When he had little to trade he hunted and traded meat, an item the wasicu never have enough of. He reached the town of Port Cos and settled there for a while using the House of Garnet name to gain entry to trade circles. He also developed habit of wearing wasicu clothing, as his personal appearance alone caused many to fear him and other so to seek him out od a curiosity. Also in Port Cos he met the beautiful Iwoso who eventually became his wife. When Port Cos went through a great turmoil, he made his way back to the Barrens to return to his place as akicita among the Dust Legs. He settled in to village of Mikal, one well respected among the Dust Legs, and the home of his wife Iwoso. Here he settled into comfortable role of akicita and hunter, providing for his wife, his daughter and her family. |
