The chieftain frowned slightly at Alz's grandfather's sudden actions, but quickly recalled his relationship with Alz and his own actions earlier, making a bitter smile while deciding not to interrupt.
"I am willing to depart for the capital as a warrior of the Calla tribe." Alz stepped forward and declared with his right hand on his chest in a salute.
Several seconds later, the chieftain began to speak, "Very well, Alz, you will leave with the group in three days, make sure you do not embarrass the tribe in the capital. Is there anything else you want to bring up?"
He looked towards Alz as he finished speaking, but Alz remained silent this time. He nodded his head lightly and continued, "Since there is nothing else to discuss, the two of you may leave now."
Hearing this, Alz and Polon bowed slightly towards the council and began to leave the building. As they were leaving, the earlier council member named 'Gruff' also stood up and began heading out as well while the remaining members resumed their earlier discussions before the pair arrived.
Clearing out and securing the village was only the first step, and there were many more details that needed to be ironed out. With the information the pair had provided, they could now lay more concrete plans for the future.
However, Alz's grandfather was unable to focus on the discussion in the room at all. He stared blankly at the entrance as he spaced out while the other members pretended not to notice and simply carried on with the discussion.
Around five years ago when the scouts first reported the attacks on the fourth village, he immediately lost all reason and tried to run to the fourth village frantically before the others could even react.
Naturally, he didn't manage to leave as he was stopped by the guards at the gate with the other council members chasing behind. In the period following this, it was like he had changed completely.
He began to throw random fits of anger and remained irritated the entire time. He also conducted his duties poorly and was practically a walking explosive at that time, showing no signs of his usual calm and gentle demeanour.
This was at its worst when the three elves arrived from the fourth village, dashing his last hopes. He started shouting at them under the pretext of 'not protecting the village' and had even tried to attack them, creating a huge disturbance in the room.
The chaos was quickly suppressed as the chieftain called for two elves to hold him back and bring him out of the room. Of course, he was not actually that unreasonable and knew that all of it was just misplaced anger.
Later that day, after he had cooled down slightly, he returned to the council and bowed to them, apologising sincerely for his previous conduct.
Following this, he requested for a break from the council and practically vanished from everyone's sights for three months. When he had finally returned, he resumed his duties and began to conduct them properly again, but he spoke much less and always carried a depressed air around ever since.
This episode allowed the council members to understand how much he valued his daughter, so they wisely chose to give him time to collect his thoughts now.
Alz's grandfather stared blankly at the entrance to the room. His mind started to wander back to the past, triggered by the appearance of Alz whom so heavily resembled the daughter he loved.
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After she was born, he had lost his wife to an illness soon after. He had nearly fallen into despair, but she stopped him. He spent all the time he had between hunting and scouting with her back then, raising her with all the affection he could give.
Yet, on the year she completed her trial, she did not return. She had chosen another elf over him, a mediocre elf who possessed not a single redeeming quality in his eyes. He loved her, but he always felt his anger rising whenever he saw her, causing them to quarrel.
He eventually entered the council and visited her less due to increasing responsibilities, causing them to drift apart more. Eventually, he stopped visiting and they stopped communicating.
When he first learnt of Alz's birth, he visited him multiple times, but his brilliant topaz-coloured eyes cut deeply into his scar each time. He could only see Alz as his son and not hers, hence he neglected him.
As he went through these memories that were filled with regret, his mind slowly froze on memory seven years ago, the last time they had spoken. Tia had suddenly appeared in the central village and immediately looked for him.
He was both surprised and overjoyed at her sudden visit and went to welcome her personally. However, his happiness slowly died down when he learnt that she only visited because of Alz. It was then that he learnt about Alz's true results and the arrangement Tia had made.
They talked for about two hours before Tia angrily stomped off, returning back to the fourth village at the end of an argument. Little did he know, that this would be the last time they would be meeting.
After she left, he thought through it and ultimately decided to help. He shared the truth with only one of his most trusted friends for added credibility for when he needed to reveal the truth, so there would be more weight to his words.
If Alz really had the level of talent Tia mentioned, it would be a great loss for the tribe to have him continue as a warrior after the trial. He also wanted to use this as an opportunity to mend his relationship with Tia and to look away from the past.
However, the incident at the fourth village decimated his hopes, mocking his vision for the future. Yet today, he learnt that all was not lost. His grandson still remained. Alz somehow managed to escape and survived alone for five years, and he had returned.
His eyes stuck onto Alz the moment he entered the room, to the face that reminded him of his daughter. He had even thought he was dreaming of his daughter visiting him, but he quickly noticed Alz's bright yellow eyes.
He returned to his senses and recalled the scene from six years ago and the promise he didn't make. The motivation behind it was gone, but Alz was still alive. Alz was the last kin he had left with Tia's departure and he thought it was time he did something for his grandson.
Yet, things did not go as planned. Alz had returned, but he held a strong, deep-seated resentment towards the tribe. He began to hesitate when he realised this, unsure of whether or not he should reveal Alz's results.
He continued to watch the developments unfold, planning on discussing it with the other members later instead of bringing it up here, but the chieftain derailed his plans entirely, wanting to force Alz back to the village as a warrior.
He had decided to intervene then, but he was interrupted by none other than Alz himself who made a shocking declaration. After witnessing the strength of Alz's will, he decided he wouldn't make the same mistake again and decided to support his decision, offering him a way out.
He slowly turned his head towards the center of the room as light slowly returned to his eyes. After looking back on everything in his life, he was beginning to question the decision of splitting the village by the old council.
This was the root behind most of the problems he faced, and many others as well. It was just a rumour outside, but the council and many of the older elves knew that a shelter truly existed beneath this room, after all, it had been used before.
The shelter was used for its first and last time during the first large scale attack that followed after the 'Great Wolf Disaster'. Without it, there was no way they could have withstood it with just the measly 140 survivors and 100 warriors granted to them by the Elven King then.
The Elven King had built it with the intention of allowing them to hold their ground and fend the wolves away, but the re-elected council feared the wolves far too much to consider the defence provided by the shelter to be enough.
However, they now possessed more knowledge and experience, and the time might have come for the tribe to come together once again. He inwardly decided to work towards this as he started to participate in the discussion again, planning to bring it up after he made a concrete plan for it.