Jarik rescues a small apparently wolf-like cub, from a battlefield and attempts to locate its parents; he comes across the agressing side, narrowly escapes being killed, and runs into the cub's family who rescue him. He heals one of their wounded and earns their gratitude. They call an airship, a Rephidim patrol ship, and send him to the Temple with their small gifts. At the Temple he receives the Rephidim common language processing and a strange cryptic warning of some kind, and agrees to serve the Temple for a year in lieu of his Exile processing fee