Hey Cole, do you know any songs other than the heroes.”
“Yes, I do, but why do you ask Orb,” Cole says in the saviour’s song.
“It’s just that I don’t want the guards listening in on our conversation, because I don’t know what information we say, will set the people here off,” I reply in the saviour’s song.
“I see, but it could also raise their suspicion if they can’t understand us. There is nothing scarier than the unknown.”
“I get your point, but with how they treat us, I doubt they could get any more suspicious of us.”
“That is true.”
“So now, since we can talk without worry Cole tell me about yourself.”
“It is rude to ask for information before presenting your own first.”
He is starting to annoy me with this whole moral’s thing, but if this is what it takes to make friends, so be it “Ok, then ask me anything.”
“Well, first, why did your hair just turn red a second ago.”
“My hair changes colours according to my emotions.”
“So, what does red mean.”
“It means I am Relaxed.”
“Why did your hair just change to lime as you said that”
“That’s because lime means I am telling the truth.”
“You know dishonesty is the first step to a life of crime. If you keep that up, the hammer of justice will fall upon you.”
“You know it’s rude to assume someone is lying.”
“It’s worse to lie.”
“Just move on from this and ask me another question!”
“Are you of noble birth.”
“No, why would you ask that.”
“It just because for your age, you speak both the saviours and heroes song very well, so I simply thought only a noble would have such knowledge at such an age.”
I didn’t know my ability to speak them was so weird. “I speak the heavens song as well, but the reason I speak them so well for my age is sort of a long story.”
“Well, all we got is time, so you can tell it” So after Cole tells me this, I go ahead and tell him the story of my life so far, wolfie, Capti, all the books, Even the events of my life after I met him.
“Sorry, Cole, I got a bit carried away there.”
“No, thank you, Orb. It was nice to hear your story. Thank you for sharing that with me.”
“Well, I think I have told you enough about myself to ask you some questions.”
“I guess that is only fair ask away,” he says passionately
So, as I am about to ask the first question, I hear the guards say, “GOOD DAY, CHIEF,” after hearing this, the village chief quickly comes into my sight. The guards then promptly open the door and let him in.
“You don’t freeze. I thought my daughter was making excuses. It makes sense why she didn’t back down now.”
He then picked me up with one hand from all the snow, but as he did that, the iron stocks which bound my hands and feet crumbled. I guess the snow froze completely.
“Aea, Alis, didn’t I specifically tell you both to take off the stocks before putting all the snow on him,” the chief says with a smile.
The two guards start shaking with looks of fright on their faces, but then both of them in complete unison bow and say, “SORRY CHIEF.”
“It’s no issue. Remember next time, and it’s not like we use these all that much, so it’s fine you two.”
Even though everything he just said sounded lovely, Aea and Alis kept shaking, and I don’t blame them. This giant man with a ruff face and heaps of facial hair looks so scary that I am sure the clouds run away when he stares at the sky.
“Now that we have that sorted, Orb, I will be talking with you now.”
How does he know my name? I just told the first person today. While he is taking me away, Cole says, “Don’t hurt him,” aww, thanks Cole, I think to myself.
“The only child I punish severely is my daughter,” hearing him say this somewhat calms my heart. So, as we leave the cell, I tell Cole in the Heroes song, “goodbye, see you soon,”
“See you soon, Orb.”
As the chief takes me away, we walk through the village with people staring at me with eyes full of fear talking about me. I want to do something to scare them, but I am afraid that the chief would snap my neck if I made the people of his village feel threatened,
We eventually approached the building Maple tried to sneak me into, but I suddenly heard, “I won’t apologise no matter what. You will not break me, dad you suck,” that voice its Maple. I look up to where I hear the voice originate, and see maple tied up on the top of the building.
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“See hasn’t apologised yet,” the chief says, exasperated.
Isn’t this a bit too intense of punishment, I think to myself? After we get inside, he eventually brings me to a room that looks much like my house’s study, but it isn’t as nice.
As he places me down gently, he says, “These last few days must have been very stressful for you; sorry about that.”
“Oh, it was a bit boring but mostly fine, at the very least; I got to experience shitting in a bucket. That was new,” I say with a smile.
Relaxed by my comment. The chief sighs and says, “Well, since I am not one to waste time, let me be upfront, this is an isolationist village. The people here are born and die here, they only have a vague concept of the outside world. That’s how our village has existed for over a thousand years.”
Suddenly I get a terrible feeling.
“Throughout our long history, no outsider has ever stepped into our village. You see, there is a certain way to get in and out of our village, which is something one could never come across randomly. That’s how we have stayed safe.”
My bad feeling is getting worse now.
“So, you see, the fact that my daughter has brought you here means an outsider now could know the method to getting in and out of our village, which would endanger all our lives, so that essentially means you have to die.”
Oh no, my feelings were point on, so I get up and move back as my hair turns bright yellow.
“So yellow means fear if I am right,” he says, unbothered by my actions.
“How do you know that,” I say in a defensive position
The chief let out a thunderous laugh which caused me to fall to my feet. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought I would get back at you for playing tricks on the Aea and Alis. Don’t worry; you won’t be killed.”
With his words bringing me relief, I go back to sitting in front of him.
“My daughter told me you came from the top of the mountains, which at first I didn’t believe, but I read some of the letters which you had, they gave validity to your story, and knowing that the ice doesn’t affect you, all but convinced me, still I don’t have a full story so would you fill in some of the blanks.”
It looks like I am popular Capti, people really want to know about my life, so for the second time today, I tell him my life up to this point.
“Orb, I am sorry about reading your letters.”
“Don’t worry, Capti made all those to help me, and if they accomplished their goal, I don’t see the problem.”
“With everything I know now, I will trust you, Orb.”
“You sure about that? Everything I just told you, could have been some elaborate plot,” I say with a playful expression.
“That would be bad for us, but to be honest, you don’t look sharp enough to pull off a stunt like that,” he says confidently.
“I am genius; I would have, you know.”
“There are very different types of intelligence, and I can tell you don’t have the type that would allow you to construct such an elaborate lie.”
I want to contest what he said, but I shouldn’t go out of my way to make myself untrustworthy. “Hey, what do you plan to do with Cole.”
“I am sorry, but his fate is still undecided. Unlike you, we have no idea where he is from or his intentions. If we let him leave, he could tell people how to get into the village.”
“Cole was unconscious the whole time, he couldn’t have seen or even memorised the path we took.”
“I am sorry, but I can’t be sure he was unconscious the whole time. He could have been pretending or woken up after some time, when Maple brought you guys here. If he saw how to get in and we let him leave, he could use that information against us.”
“Cole didn’t seem like a person who would do that.”
“I am sorry, but I can’t base the fate of my village completely on a gut feeling.”
He makes a sound argument. All I can do is pray that Cole can convince them he is a trustworthy person.
“So, Orb, what do you intend to do from this point on”
“Oh well, I intend to continue down the mountain until I find civilisation.”
“Didn’t the man Capti give you any directions to get started.”
“Nope, and I don’t need them since adventures are more fun when you have no direction,” I say with fervour.
The Chief then looks as if he is thinking and says to me, “Hey Orb would you like to live here.”
“Don’t you guys not like outsiders?” I say shocked.
“I am sure you can achieve your goals in this village, and up to this point in your life, you have lived a life similar enough to our own, so I am sure you can fit in with everyone so how about it.”
“I am sorry, but that is a”, but as I was about to finish my sentence, a large grumble was left from my stomach. Why does this keep happening.
“Well, I guess it is about time to eat. Before I called you, I told the women to start prepping for dinner. Let’s go” so, while I was sitting there in utter embarrassment, the chief picked me up by my head and started walking “Oh, I guess I never told you this, but my name is Sequoia.”
-Break-
Everyone stares at me, their eyes full of wonder and fear like I am some strange animal. This is the most bizarre meal I have ever had. According to Sequoia, the last meal of the day is something everyone in the village eats together in a big dining hall. We all sit on long dining tables in columns. Everyone sits side by side on the left and right of the table. The only seat that is different is the chief since he sits at the top of the centre table like a host, but just like a host, he makes his guest of honour sit beside him, that person being me.
It was ok when it was just the two guards, but by my count, there are 1320 people here, and all of them are staring at me. It’s too much, but the worst thing is that I hear Sequoia talk about meat. Meat is the dismembered bodies of animals. It’s their flesh. There is no way I can eat that; I need to find some way to tell him I can’t eat this.
While lamenting over how to tell Sequoia, I hear him say, “To all my people, big and small man and women, we thank nature for providing for us, for another day, so let us give thanks by honouring all the food that will be given to us and eating every last bit of it there shall be no waste today” after that people start serving the food.
NOOOO, now I can’t tell him, I don’t want to be rude; I’ve got to think of something. A large sound then suddenly rings through the room.
“Oh, it must be the lighting. It did start raining a little while ago.” Sequoia says nonchalantly.
“Wait, Sequoia isn’t Maple still hung outside, won’t she get hurt.”
“A little rain and lighting have never hurt anyone, and besides, that girl needs to have some sense of danger.”
Before I can say anything back, I see a hand quickly place my food down and pull back.
“Orb, go ahead; it’s delicious I am sure You will enjoy it.”
So, I take a fork, pick up my meat, and I hesitantly bring it towards my mouth, but as I am about to bite into it I pull back. I can’t do this. It was alive. It’s like eating a human.
“Orb, what’s wrong,” Sequoia says, worried.
As I tell him I can’t eat this, I see everyone staring at me. I can’t say anything with everyone looking at me again; dammit, you know what? I am just going to do this as fast as I can, and if I throw up, I can say I have some sickness to it. Yeah, let us go with that.
So, I pick the meat with the fork and bite into it; then I take another bite and another. I can’t eat this fast enough with a fork, so I use my two hands and devour the meat.
When I finish, I have tears running down my face, and all I can say is, “Delicious,” Capti was right meat is heavenly; I lacked perspective; I need more now. “Sequoia, where did you get this,” I say suddenly with desperate eyes.
Sequoia responds, looking frightened saying, “All you ate today is what we hunted for.”
So, after getting from my seat, I walk over to Sequoia and get on my knees, saying, “I WILL TAKE YOU UP ON YOUR OFFER FOR NOW. PLEASE TEACH ME HOW TO HUNT. I NEED MORE!”
The entire dining hall went quiet, and then Sequoia, with a smile, told me, “It will be my pleasure Orb.”