World Building Challenge - Day 7 - Ritual

This is part of Faranesque's World Building Challenge from r/WorldBuilding. Check out my hub post for details.  

Preface: Most of my posts from this point on will likely focus on the crew of the Rōnni and the refugees with them, now I've done some of the cosmic establishment from Day 1.

In today's installment, we have an account of the ritualistic introductions that take place between Maldasi tribes.

VII RITUAL

The Maldasi faced one another. The Rōnni's quintet stood in a bent line, with Drazen at the center, the other four a step behind. Only he had shed his traveling coat, pulling the beaded braids of his hawk-tail over his shoulder so they hung in front of his chest. He slid his arms from his knife-harness, which he held to one side and dropped into Braga's inked palm. Spreading his arms, he stepped forward, showing his teeth in a Maldasi smile.

To his left and right of him, two other bands of Maldasi stood in similar arrays, and their chosen spokesperson going through a similar routine of shedding their traveling coat and their chosen weapons, though the Maldasi woman still wore the chest-wraps. She stood to his right, and her markings noted her as part of the Strifesong tribe, narrowed her eyes and let the smile fade. She spoke, intoning, almost musical, a contralto with steel in it. "Here we stand, here we walk, and find Maldasi in our path." She lowered one arm, while the other flung a finger toward the Rōnni band. "Speak your name, speak your claim, lest we all show our wrath."

Drazen stepped forward, flinging his braids back over his shoulder, stamping his foot as he clenched his fists to either side. Like the woman, he let a rhythm fill his voice as he responded. "We go where we like, we show our teeth, we seek out strife," he grinned a Maldasi smile as he slapped his chest and dragged his fingers over his scars, "we bend no knee, we wear no chains-- freedom is life!"

"Speak your name," the Maldasi woman demanded. "Speak your claim."

The song gone from his tone, he turned in a circle before the other three Maldasi leaders. "Drazen, I was birthed, but in battles I was born, tasting blood and seeking more. Every mark upon my flesh marks a battle I survived. Not fist nor knife nor gun could stop me." He planted his feet and folded his arms, tattoos writhing over his bunching muscles. "I am difficult to kill. That is the essence of my name: Scarhide."

The two Maldasi leaders nodded, but then Drazen fixed them both with his gaze. "Speak your name. Speak your claim."

The Strifesong woman lifted her chin as she stared him down, but then a slow smile spread over her features. "Whelped as Grelda, my lullabyes were the clash of blades. I challenged the chieftain my father for the right to be born. Stood over him and howled my victory." She drew her clawed fingers down along her forearms, then bowed slightly, spreading her hands behind her. "Untamed, dangerous, my scream means death: Wolfcry."

To Drazen's left, the towering spokesman for the Rovefar tribe nodded to them both. "Sylen, was I birthed. Fast, I grew, tall and lean." He spread his arms wide and high, fingers spread. "Huge, was my reach. Once I was born, there was nowhere they could run from me." He took one great step forward and bowed slightly more, sweeping one arm before him like an actor on a stage. "Long and wide, as my step, my name: Farstride."

(And I think I'm going to end it here. Everything that might have followed the introductions just doesn't flow right to me.)