Chapter 19

'Ah! Almost forgot.' said Angela as we were walking towards the council-tree.

'What is it?' I asked.

'Remember the guy and the two overseers who dropped you off at our Inn?'

'Yea, Mathijs but I don't recall hearing the names of the two overseers.'

'Before they left Mathijs wanted to give you his support and thanks. To submit a proposition to the council you need 3 people to support it.'

'3 people. So its you me and Mathijs right?'

'No that won't do. Since you're the one submitting it you need 3 more people to submit it officially. So we need one more.'

'Can't your grandfather help with that?' I asked calmly.

'He can't be present at the council thus his support wouldn't be of any help.' Angela answered.

'I see, then we're in a bind aren't we...' I looked down at my feet deep in thought. Then I heard a familiar voice.

'There you are!' said Mathijs as he approached us. He was wearing all black clothes and he held the hand of a lady with his left hand as he waved at us with his right.

'Hey Mathijs, how are you doing?' I asked.

'I am doing great! Thanks to you I was able to marry my wife!' Mathijs replied.

'Here this is Patricia my wife.'

'Hello' said Patricia as she greeted us.

'Congratulations on getting married. But what do you mean; thanks to me?' I asked

'Well that is because Tamarin customs prevent anybody who hasn't killed a thornwolverine of becoming a true adult and if you're not an adult you're not allowed to marry.'

'Oh, so that is why you participated in the trial.' I replied.

Then Angela said; 'Hi I am Angela; nice to meet you Patricia.'

'Hi.' Patricia replied.

'So since Mathijs said that he'd give Frank his support does that mean that you will too?' Angela asked.

'Yes.' Patricia answered. She seems to be a lady of few words. But more importantly; this means I'll be able to submit the proposition officially.

'Then lets go to the council-tree!' I said with a big smile on my face.

It was still quite far away on the way I talked to Mathijs hearing about where he was from and trying to keep the conversation as far away from me being the topic as possible. Continually asking questions and letting him talk as much as possible. I had always thought that conversations were tiresome since you need to constantly think of what to say but letting the other talk made the conversation very comfortable. I should keep doing it like that.

We then arrived at the base of the council-tree. We had previously bought fruits all the way at the top of the tree but the entrance to the council area was on the other side of the tree-trunk so it was still quite a long walk. There were stairs cut into the roots that blocked the way. They were several stories high and we had to climb over 5 of them before arriving at the place where the entrance was.

It was a gigantic door with several layers of ornaments carved into the tree around the entrance. If we were to stand side by side we wouldn't even fill up a quarter of the doorway and there were Tamarin, Druids and Klavers continually going in and out of the doorway. Looking up and around at the ornaments carved into the wood I could see that it was a story. The story of how the founder of these people Tamarin lived and died. It reminded me of the doorway to the palace in Jin. It had a similar thing going on at their gate but not as grand as this nor as well-kept. It seems that the wood is still alive and thus it doesn't wear out. Instead at places it looks like the image faded out because the tree didn't stop growing but grew new layers of wood on top layer after layer slowly changing the carved images.

We then entered the hall. Angela seemed to know where we needed to go so we just followed her. Inside was an egg-shaped room. At the bottom was the central stage with around it layer after layer of benches on which many Tamarin were already sitting. I could also see that it was divided in 4; one for each race. But I was the only one there of my race. After Angela pointed out where I had to sit I went there but it felt pretty awkward. I basically had one forth of all the seats to myself. Angela and Mathijs and Patricia were sitting in the front row of the Tamarin section. For some reason nobody wanted to sit at the front row. Since the front row of each section was the closest to one another I decided to sit at the front row too. It would feel pretty strange to sit all the way in the back though. There was a lot of talk and after I sat down I could feel the gazes coming at me from every direction. At the center on the stage there were 3 Tamarin who looked pretty old. They had dried up grey scales and skin on them but they looked like they were in top shape and all three had a six-pack and a powerful gaze with which they stared right at me. They seemed to each represent their race. One was a druid, one was a klaver and the third was a Tamarin. After a while one of them came towards me.

'Hello, my name is Bregader the eldest of the Tamarin. Since you are the eldest of your tribe you should come up on the stage to represent your race.'

'Ah, of course.' I stood up and followed after Bregader as he turned around and climbed back on the center stage.

'Hello' said the Klaver elder; 'My name is Klaver.'

'As in the founder of the Klaver?' I asked surprised.

'Yes, we don't die of old age. Only in battle.' Klaver replied.

I had no idea that that was the case. Sounds very convenient.

'Hello I am the leader of the Druid; my name is Stoon.'

'Nice to meet you.' I replied.

Then it was quiet for a while.

Finally the Tamarin leader Bregader asked; 'May we hear your name?'

'My name is Frank I lived with the dragoon riders but when they joined the war of the humans I left them and came here.' I replied. I hope they don't ask me to shape-shift otherwise they'll catch on that I'm just a Tamarin.

'We have heard of the human war. A man by the name of Yoran came by here a couple days ago. He was a diplomat who we used to have ties with. He's grown old and after visiting with us for a couple days he left.' said Bregader.

I tried to restrain myself as I heard that, I didn't want to show my surprise on my face but it seems that Stoon noticed. But for reasons unknown he said nothing of it.

'lets begin.' said Klaver. He was the oldest of us 4 and his tribe held the largest portion of the jungle; that is if you count the underground levels that they made.

'Everybody settle down!' said Klaver with a loud voice as he spoke through a large horn that he had picked up from the table at the center of the stage.

Everybody became quiet and went to sit or to find a place to sit. Cold sweat was running down my spine as I felt the pressure on me. Somehow the responsibility of a tribe that I did not know fell on me. I was representing a race or tribe that I had not known existed a couple days ago. But I was not alone and that did make me feel reassured. I thought as I looked to the front row of the Tamarin section where Angela, Patricia and Mathijs were sitting.

After everyone sat and settled down Klaver continued with the introductions. 'I am Klaver as many of you know; I am the leader of the Klavers; the three behind me are the representatives of each of your races. Bregader of the Tamarin and Stoon of the Druid. Lastly we have Frank with us who despite not being an elder is the representative for the Huin Seseum.' After hearing that there were some sounds of whispers and reactions from all sides. It seems that Huin Seseum doesn't show up very often.

'We will now begin the council meeting in the same format that Tamarin, I and Druid have set up since old times. Huin Seseum was not a co-founder of the council but they did participate in the past before their lands were taken by the wretched humans. This is the first time ever since that time that the race of Huin Seseum has participated as to address this fact I would like to give the word to Frank so he can tell us about his tribe and his purpose here.'

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Klaver then handed me the horn through which he had spoken. I hesitantly took the horn and after scraping my throat and formatting that which I wanted and had to say I started to speak.

'My name is Frank of the Huin Seseum. I am a youth of the tribe and have never met anyone of my tribe. I lived with the Dragoon Riders in the white-tip mountains. My purpose here is related to the fact that the Dragoon Riders joined Jin in the humans strife. They have attacked several diplomatic convoys of Joren seemingly instigating a war between the nations. Thus I left them and came here.

I have just learned that until yesterday a diplomat by the name of Yoran was here.'

I took a short break looking around in the room. Everyone seemed to tentatively listen to my words.

'I do not know with what purpose Yoran was here but I have a proposition to submit. The ones supporting me to submit such a proposition are Angela, Mathijs and Patricia.' After saying that the three of them shortly stood up showing that they supported and were present at the council.

'My proposition and my purpose here is the following; I wish that the people of the forest will collectively stay out of the strife of the humans. Nothing good will come from joining either side and we should continue to alienate the humans as to not let them into your lands. My people lost their land and I do not wish to see you all go through those same ordeals of traveling and hiding in lands that are not yours.'

I did not know what to say next so I was racking my brain trying to think of what to say next. Then a big man amongst the Klaver stood up and said 'I support this proposition. Who is with me.'

Klaver then stood next to me and said 'I do' Stoon and Bregader followed suit as did Angela, Mathijs and Patricia. Followed by the majority of each tribe. In the end nobody remained seated.

Klaver then asked me to give him the horn and so I did. I stepped back and Klaver then said: 'The proposition of Frank of the Huin Seseum is hereby accepted by the council. None are allowed to join in the strife of the humans through military or other means.'

Everyone then started to clap. It was done. I had succeeded in my quest. After everybody sat down Klaver asked his race to com forth with propositions. There were some propositions about underground roads being expanded between the tribes to decrease the time to commute. Currently it seems that the Klaver had a vast underground infrastructure but it only covered their lands. Some of the Tamarin did not like this proposition but it gained slightly more than half of the votes therefore this proposition also was agreed to. The Tamarin did not have any propositions except for Angela; her proposition was to increase equality and though I supported it the proposition was not even able to be submitted because there was nobody else to support it. It seemed like Mathijs and Patricia didn't feel obligated to help Angela with it either plus they did not agree with her proposition.

The Druid after hearing that the underground infrastructure was to be increased proposed that a secondary infrastructure would be realized in the tree-tops. It would take less time to make but it is a less direct and safe road to take since it wasn't safe to travel during storms while underground would be safe but due to the Klavers proposition being passed the Tamarin felt obligated to agree to the Druid proposition thus they gained 2/3rds of the votes and that proposition was also passed.

'Then we will take it upon ourselves to put these propositions to fruition.' said Klaver.

'Hereby the council-meeting has come to an end.' Klaver then put down the horn on the table and everybody started talking to one another.

Klaver turned to me, Stoon and Bregader.

'Well since we have 3 propositions and 3 elders I guess it'll be easy to divide the work. Frank will not be working on these propositions since he has no real authority nor people to enact the propositions. I will set workers to dig the underground infrastructure. Bregader will take some of the Tamarin and strengthen the borders and Stoon will work on the secondary infrastructure.'

Stoon and Bregader nodded and turned around and walked off. I followed suit and walked towards Angela and the gang. Angela was angrily talking to Mathijs and Patricia.

'We did it!' I said happily as I got into their hearing range.

'Yes we did;' Angela said. 'But more importantly. These two wouldn't even support my proposition.'

'That is because your proposition is stupid and against all the customs of the Tamarin.' Mathijs replied. He had a pretty angry face. I felt that I had to do something about it.

'I'll buy you all dinner to celebrate that my purpose here is fulfilled.' at hearing about food all three looked at me happily. 'Lets go!'

'I know a good place to eat.' said Patricia. 'Follow me!' she then grabbed the hand of Mathijs and pulled him along. She was surprisingly strong and fast so without being able to reply me and Angela quickly followed through the crowd. After leaving the council-tree through the entrance it took some time for my eyes to get used to the sunlight. It had been pretty dark inside due to a lack of windows. There had been some fireflies but that didn't give off very much light.

Patricia instead of going straight went directly to the right from the entrance of the council-tree and we went along a walk-way that circled around and up the tree. There were more rooms just like the council-meeting room carved into the tree. Then after a couple minutes of walking at a high pace we reached the place. It had a lot of windows made by putting glass into carved out holes and the tree then partially grew around the glass fixating it. They were very long windows that went up several stories. We then entered through a proper door and entered a restaurant of some sort. It was still empty so we took the table on the first floor by the window. A waiter quickly came to us and asked if we wanted anything to drink.

'4 beer please.' I replied.

The waiter left and shortly after he came back to give us the menus carved on wooden panels. After which he left to get our drinks.

'Just wondering.' said Angela; 'but how are you going to pay this?'

'ah... I forgot.' I said.

I didn't have any money but luckily. 'Then I will pay.' said Angela and Mathijs simultaneously.

surprised they then looked at each other. 'I feel obligated to pay since we got married today.' said Mathijs as he looked lovingly at Patricia.

'Oh, then we'll let you pay.' said Angela with a smile. She had originally planned to treat us if her proposition was to be accepted thus she had a lot of money with her.

Then the beers arrived but we hadn't picked what we wanted to eat yet so we just drank the beer, enjoyed the view and talked a bit. Mostly about what Mathijs and Patricia were planning on doing. They were from different villages and had to decide where to live. Mathijs was a traveling merchant and sold all sorts of miscellaneous items. On one of his business trips he met Patricia and fell in love. That was 2 years ago and after proposing he went off to participate in the trial. Patricia then took his business and waited for him while working here in the capital.

Angela was going to go back to her village and work at the Inn waiting for an opportunity to gather more supporters for her next attempt at submitting her proposition. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was thinking of asking the leaders of the tribes about my father since they seemed to know him they might've known where he traveled to. After eating and drinking we separated. Me and Angela went back to the Inn while Mathijs and Patricia went to their Inn where they lived temporarily before buying a house. It had been a good day and I went to bed with a smile on my face and a heavy burden had lifted off of my shoulders replaced by an uncertain future ahead. I was to make my own decisions now. I had properly become an adult.