Bruyza's group stepped aside, the small army making an encampment not too far from where they had held the dozen Hay-yen hostage. With them freed, Oinna was given free reign to tend to them, with Vodra's assistance for clear communication. Those with more serious injuries were prioritized, first at the top of the list being the one Michael previously flayed the back of. Poor thing, it seemed her brethren tried to tend to her as best they could prior to being held up. While the rest were being given some medical attention, Retzen was taken aside to talk with the remainder of Michael's group.

"Retzy! Hello! You've been well?" Nushii asked with her usually bubbly attitude, her happiness oozing from her maws through her voice.

Retzen who had watched the negotiations, although she did so while being tied and gagged more securely than a gimp, was gazing at her blood relative with some wide eyes. "I'm... fine? As fine as someone who was a hostage a minute ago can be. Y-you... really seem happy... how are ya happy despite having to go to sleep at night at the side of that th-... daeman?" She'd say whispered, as she was given a bit of time with Nushii to speak while the others also discussed between them.

"Hm? Oh... M-... Master is not that bad. When we were originally captured he was actually the nicest one out of all of them. The rest took a bit to warm up to us... maybe not all of them like us yet, but... I can't blame them. We've not exactly been good neither. You know, he's not as bad as he seems. Me and Vodra are always all over him when we sleep and he doesn't mind it too much." Despite doing much better at taking seriously her role as a pretend slave and not slipping up, the way Nushii spoke of certain events... left the mind to wonder without additional explanations.

"E-every night? Y-you two are all over him every night?!" Retzen said as her ears flopped down and a yelped whine left her throat. "This can't be willing... I genuinely can't tell if you are charmed or not."

"Pfft... Of course it was willing. It is like how we slept when we were younger, the puddle, remember? It's like you don't even remember it..." Nushii said with a huffed exhale leaving her nostrils. "Anyways. Looks like we'll be fine for now. Although... I'm not too happy with the situation if Michael will be gone for a while."

"Mi-chael? Is that his name? You call him by his name?" Retzen asked confused as she then thought a bit. She was never dull, so as her mind began thinking a bit she looked Nushii directly in the eyes. "Nush. You don't look like a miserable slave should. He's been offering us things, help and knowledge and now if I were to boil down the conversation he had with those other tuskies, he's trading knowledge so we may not die."

Almost like a set of scales, as Retzen's ears began perking up with each observation, Nushii's would lower as she chuckled nervous. "Heh... m-master is just feeling... charitable?" She'd say while her tail gave one single upwards wag.

"Nush... I know when you lie you air head. He's not a daeman is he?" Retzen asked clearly annoyed.

Nushii tried her best to not give in to spill the beans, but theatrics be damned, she was a simple being. "N-no. He just lied 'cause you were going to attack us and he was still recuperating from his injuries. He didn't want to kill any of you, but we couldn't have you as hostages like he did for me and Vodra."

"Ough- conniving little..." Retzen grumbled between gritted teeth, before exhaling. "So. It's all an act to what... make sure we do not take revenge on him? Hmph. The bastard is smart I'll give him that."

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"Are you going to do that, now? He's been really nice to us and all we had to do was just be nice back. If you wanna oppose him, I'd be fighting you and I'd rather do that than lose what I've got. He treated us better than our Cackle ever did." Nushii said with a different tone from her usual one. As she spoke a seriousness could be clearly deciphered from behind her words.

"You'd fight your own blood for... whatever he is?" Retzen said with clear indignation in her voice. This sounded propesterous by any length imaginable.

Nushii at this point let out a small growl from in-between her large lips as her eyes, despite being focused, seemed to shine as if glazed by tears that refused to be shed. "Is it?! Is it, when my own blood treats me worse than that said stranger does? When my own blood sees me fall behind, she ignores me and belittles me. When I speak, my own blood says I am an air head or stupid and doesn't even explain to me why. When I had a bad day on the hunt and I was half starved my blood didn't want to share any food with me despite promising to return the help after." With each sentence Nushii's voice got more drowned by her own frustrated growls, which she struggled so hard to keep under wraps.

Retzen seemed to back up a decent bit as she listened to her cousin's accusations and she hung with her jaw slightly agape as if to say something. She stood there, staring Nushii in the eye with nothing coming from her lips. She was right, all that Nushii said was right. At this point she couldn't bare to keep staring her cousin in the eyes, her gaze lowering onto the ground.

"If y-you are so ashamed of sharing blood with m-me... I hope you're happy to know t-that... if I could take out the bit we share, R-retzen... I'd slit my wrists and happily rip it out for you... s-so you'd not have to feel so embarrassed. T-then... I'd also maybe not b-be so miserable that... my own cousin treated me worse than a stranger."

"I never said that..." Retzen mumbled, but she couldn't finish her sentence as a clawed slap hide the side of her snout. Despite it being a shallow wound it drew blood and a yelped whine from the Hay-yen.

"You never had to say it, because that is how you always made me feel!" Nushii said back with a growl, her voice raised enough to get the Tuskir and Michael's attention.

The human would rush towards them, but until he got there, the two once more locked eyes. At this point if Nushii's gaze was made of daggers, it would drill holes through Retzen's skull. "If you'd so much as raised a claw against him, I'd pounce on you and rip your throat out with my own fangs... that is what blood does for blood, but you wouldn't know that... would you?"

At this point Michael got in-between the two, not entirely sure of the situation, but with a half-awkward smile, poorly attempting to look sleazy, he'd look at Retzen. "Ah... hello again. Heh. It seems my pup is feeling a bit feisty. Cute little gift she left ya. How about you go with the rest and get that healed, huh?"

Retzen, smelling the scent of her own blood as it dripped off of her face and also on Nushii's claws, would turn and start walking towards the other Hay-yen. Her steps were slow and dragging her feet, only stopping for a moment. The way her body moved it almost seemed to want to turn back to say something or to look back, but it was only a brief pause in the end before she resumed her slow retreat.

Michael looked at Nushii who was shaking lightly from the top of her head down to her legs. "H-hey... I don't know what this is about and you don't have to tell me anything, but if you need something... at least mention that, ok?"

Nushii didn't utter a word, but she looked at Michael as she whinned muffled, wrapping her large arms around him and resting her neck over one of his shoulders, while pulling him against her much larger hunched frame.

"Hmmpgh?!" Michael said as he got a shoulder full of fur against his face. Sighing as his body relaxed, her winced silently as he felt a bit of Nushii's claws poking his back. He'd wrap his arm around her, but the much large frame of Nushii only allowed him to give some rubs to the sides of her back.

The moment would come to pass and things would calm down. As the Hay-yen had been taken care of medically speaking, the group took a moment to discuss and before any questioning could happen, they agreed to first get the Hay-yen settled. So, work began to build them a simple settlement with one main hut for them to share, a secure wall and a few small ponds along the river for the fish farm.