The first step toward meeting Payan was not speaking to Payan.
The first step was finding their road.
Roads were civilization's veins.
Follow a river, you find water.
Follow a smell, you find game.
Follow a road, you find a state.
The Search
Baba chose only two hunters for this task — Rell and Kaji — and again, the same four of us:
Me, Haniwa, Talli, Tullen.
Not because we were the strongest.
Because we were the quietest.
We traveled southeast, skirting the edges of the old stone-bed paths the caravan had taken earlier. We did not walk on them. That would leave sign.
We walked near them.
On the second day, Tullen stopped abruptly.
He crouched, pressing his palm to a flat patch of earth where moss refused to grow. He dragged fingers across it.
"Stone," he whispered. "But under the dirt."
Baba and the hunters knelt beside him. They scraped away leaves and brittle pine needles. The surface beneath was smoother than any forest floor should be — not natural stone, but carved stone.
Too flat. Too straight. Too deliberate.
Talli frowned. "This is not forest."
"No," I said. "This is civilized."
The System chimed:
Structure Identified: Ancient Roadbed (Payan or Pre-Payan)
Material: Cut stone / Mortared joints
Function: Trade / Military movement
Status: Partial decay
Strategic Value: High
Haniwa crouched beside it and pressed her fingers against the seam between two stones.
"Why smooth?"
"So wagons do not break," I said. "And so armies move fast."
Even children understood armies.
The Road's Whisper
We followed the stone-bed south for hours. The trees grew thinner. The air grew clearer. The wind stopped fighting us and began guiding us.
Roads did not just shape motion — they channeled it.
Baba ran his hand along the exposed edge.
"This was made," he said.
Hunters rarely used that word. They used grown for forests, given for rivers, built only for small personal things like huts or traps.
But this was not a hut.
This was intent carved into the earth.
Tullen asked quietly, "How many hands to make this?"
Baba considered, then said, "More than Alkenny has ever seen."
The System logged the concept:
Civilizational Scale Recognized: Labor Specialization
Sovereign Note: Large-scale infrastructure requires:
• workforce
• administration
• planning
• surplus food
• coordinated hierarchy
In other words — a state, not a tribe.
Signs on the Road
Near midday, we encountered the first sign of life.
A dead wolf lay by the roadside. Not slaughtered by beasts. Slaughtered by men.
No arrows. No spear wounds. No ripped flesh. No missing meat.
But a clean line cut across the throat — too clean for bone knives, too smooth for chipped flint.
Iron.
The System tagged the wound:
Weapon Mark Identified: Iron Blade (Refined)
Origin Probability: Payan Trader / Payan Soldier / Payan Retainer
Iron changed everything.
Wood clubs crush.
Bone knives tear.
Stone blades chip.
Iron decides.
Baba touched the dried blood and listened to the flies.
"Cut two days ago," he said.
Two days meant Payan did not simply pass through.
They patrolled.
The Border Marker
Not much farther, we found something even more important.
A pole set into the earth. Straight. Smooth. Carved with shallow lines. Painted with ochre.
A marker.
Talli asked, "What does it say?"
Baba touched the grooves.
"It speaks," he said.
Not in sound. In symbol.
Hunters read wood by grain, spoor by scent, tracks by pressure. They did not read symbols carved by hands.
But I did.
Not the language — that was foreign — but the function.
"This marks boundary," I said.
Baba turned toward me. "How?"
"Roads have borders. Borders need markers. Markers need meaning."
Tullen nodded slowly. "So travelers know where they are."
"Yes," I said. "And so they know where to stop."
The System chimed:
Concept Learned: Territorial Jurisdiction
Implication: Land controlled by rules → taxation, tolls, law, punishments
Kingdoms were not just walls and armies.
Kingdoms were rules that extended past eyesight.
The Crossroads
By late afternoon, the road split.
One branch turned east into the forest.
One branch continued south toward hills.
Both showed wagon ruts. Both smelled faintly of iron and horse.
Baba crouched and listened.
"South smells like forge," he said.
Iron-smell. Coal-smell. Smelted rock.
"East smells like river," he added. "More traders. More people."
He turned to us.
"What do scouts follow?"
We answered together:
"The thing that teaches most."
Baba nodded.
Then asked:
"So which way?"
Talli said, "East. More traders."
Tullen said, "South. More iron."
Both were correct.
But iron was military.
Trade was economy.
And the System whispered something else:
Branch Choice: Diplomatic Scouting
East → Soft Power (Trade / Culture)
South → Hard Power (Military / Production)
Baba waited for me.
Sight mattered here — not for seeing the road, but for seeing the future.
I pointed south.
"Armies make kings," I said. "And kings build roads."
That was enough.
Baba nodded.
"South."
The Gate
We followed until the trees thinned entirely.
And then we saw it.
Not a wall. Not a fortress. Not a city.
But a gate.
Two wooden posts. Iron bolt. Ropes. Crates stacked. Horses tied. A small camp of five sighted men and three blind guards, sitting by a low fire.
Beyond the gate, the road curved between two hills and disappeared.
The System clarified:
Structure Identified: Outpost Gate (Payan Border Check)
Purpose: Tolling / Inspection / Military Control / Messaging
Threat Level: Low (8 personnel)
Civilization Level: Early State
No one spoke.
We had not just found Payan travelers.
We had found Payan territory.
And the first rule of diplomacy is:
Do not enter another man's territory without knowing the cost.
Baba leaned down, voice a whisper:
"Now we wait."