Tribe Notices

"...
Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!
...
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!-
Let us do or die!"

-Robert Burns

All three moons must be in alignment for an eclipse from hell because people are acting all freaky. Now it might have something to do with the heat and lack of salt. It might have something to do with the winds changing direction and the cooler nights starting to remind everyone of the move North. It might have something to do with every time a line of dust rises on the horizon fear of fire seizes all the insides and turns them into shards of glass. Whatever it is that puts people on an edge .. they are on one and their tongues are whispering and sharp against anyone who appears to cross them.

There are always people who when the pressure gets tight or the way rough wish change. There are some who are never happy with what is and want something different all the time. And there are those that will jump on the wagon of someone else's unrest and take it for a ride to see how it feels. Now it came to my attention that there were a number of people not happy with how I was running things. But they were not speaking to me about it .. they were taking it to others and those others were uncomfortable with what was being said. That is a lot of saying that had nothing to do with me .. even though it was about me. So instead of trying to backtrack through the numerous conversations I simply sent out a Tribe Notice to remind everyone that .. I was Ubar. That I was ready to listen if they had a problem with the way I was doing something. And to remind them that I do things for a reason and usually a damn good one. And as long as I was Ubar I would continue to do things in the best way I knew how.

I do not consider myself a weak man. I do not consider myself an unfair man. I do not consider myself incapable of leading. I do not consider myself a man who avoids conversations nor do I consider myself a man who is not very grounded and comfortable with his own logic and thought processes. I do not consider myself so afraid of a loss in identity that I do not allow people to talk against me nor do I consider myself a man who is so masochistic and immature as to be pulled into an argument that has no possible resolve. And those people that felt so needed to bring it strait to me. Especially if they think I am weak or incapable of holding up my own way of thinking in the face of opposition. I should be a very easy target if all these things were true.

And if enough people thought so they needed to challenge me for the Gray instead of just biting at people's heels in their little frustrations.

Bo has returned. I restored his command when I found out he was back in camp to stay and it was good to see him around the fires. I am pleased to have another of my Oralu to shoulder the responsibilities of this Tribe. I never wanted him to step down as Ubar in the first place and to this day I wish he had stayed as the Leader of this people. But he needed another path and I can respect that as much as I can my own selfish desires. All in all it is good to see him sitting and laughing with Dash. She is .. more beautiful when he is near her. I hope the woman that I take as my own will be so when I am close to her.

Polunu arrived and reported a possible salt find. He asked me if I would begin to search the wagons of the Tribe for those holding back salt. I said I was not yet. I felt no need to assume my people were not being honest. I could not disrespect them like that. So many people came forward with their salt .. we have plenty right now to hand out and there is no emergency. Those who may or may not have held onto their salt out of fear will not lose their fear if I barge into their wagons and take what they so desperately feel they need. I want to calm my people .. not make them insane. So I will trust them. I will respect them. I will give them the honor they deserve until they prove to me they do not deserve it. They are to be assumed innocent. I know he was displeased with this. He told me so. I respected him for that. I respected that he thought of the salt first. He is a Salt Hunter .. he was born and raised to think of the salt. I must think of the people first .. I am the Ubar. Polunu and I make a good balance.

I hope it is salt that they found.