synonym for troupe

[DaveC426913]

I've checked thesauri and asked AI and I just cannot find the right word.

This is a story set in pre-history (20,000BCE), about a group (~ dozen) of children and youths between 4 and 14 who are fleeing their village.


I'm 16,000 words in and still no joy.

I am frequently writing how this person or that person catches up to the X, or how the X camped for the night.

The children would be great except they're not all children. And youths-and-children is too awkward.
Troupe is about right but it sounds too modern.
Same with party, company and band.
It's not a tribe (it's a fragment of a tribe).
Likewise clan.
Group is too generic.
Fellowship, of course, has been used.


I've checked synonyms for each of those words too.

Help?


Can I use brood to refer to the whole group of children and youths - even if the youths are the de facto leaders? It's kind of synonymous with family, but is it in the right way?

 

[DaveC426913]

Actually, pack or herd would fit perfectly with the pre-history vibe, but pack is too predatory and herd is too ... er ... prey-atory.

What about more neutral animal groups?

But it has to stand alone. If it requires "of kids" tacked on, then I'm no better off.
So, I can't say "he made his way back to the bevy of children".

 

[symbolipoint]

You idea of "band" could work. Not by any checking of dictionary or thesarus; just by my best senses. Maybe gang? Maybe crew? How many in the group? Would congregation work for you?

 

[symbolipoint]

Another possible word choice, but again only through my own sense without checking word references: Company?

 

[DaveC426913]

I.... addressed these in the OP. Those are all too modern.

Think Clan of the Cave Bear. You wouldn't say "Thag returned to the cave and greeted the gang"