Chapter 31

Pino POV:

After the introductions were over, I reached my hand out towards Akii Thamil. He was slightly confused, but after a small explanation, he grasped the idea much quicker than his counterparts, and seemed uniquely delighted at the new greeting concept.

I’d considered just using the customs and greetings of this world, but then I figured that in order to stand out, the Tesr tribe had to be different. Thus the small customs such as shaking hands, and as I remembered more, I’d add them to the budding Tesr culture.

“Please, Honourable Tesr, have a seat.” Thamil the older said, gesturing to the spot directly in front of him. I took a moment to inspect the “seat” . It was little more than tall grasses covered by fur, but it was most definitely this world’s form of “hospitality” or so I’d think.

Smiling, I thanked him while also taking my seat. There was a brief silence as we measured each other up. Finally, I decided to break the silence. “You used the wrong title for me Akii, I’m not the Honourable of the Tesr, you may know me simply as Pino.” I said.

A flash of confusion crossed Thamil’s face before he started with a smile, “Oh? Here I thought I spoke to the head of the Tesr tribe! Maybe there’s no point in this meeting?” He asked as a calm smile once again rested on his face.

‘He is trying to scare me, get me to reveal my hand. But I can't because the most crucial part of my plan is having their group believe I have a larger power behind me.’ I thought.

“Well…” I began, “The way that our Tesr tribe functions is a bit different from the other tribes and groups. We Tesr all come from deep within the Forests. The prey is bountiful and life is not merely existing moon by moon, but rather enjoying life in every moment.” I said.

Before I could continue, De-lah blurted, “There’s no such place! Aki has mandated that we live just as every other creature lives. Life is struggle, and only by struggling to the end can we join the ancestors!”

Thamil stared me in the eyes, waiting for a reaction, annoyance, anger, I gave none. Instead I peered back at him quietly, before slowly raising an eyebrow. “Who should I address Akii? You or the boy? Who’s in charge here? I’d like to speak to him.” I said calmly.

Releasing a small smirk Thamil the Older ordered, “Everyone other than Shah-mi, leave at once!”

Looking at De-lah’s face, I could see he was shocked… hurt, but a nudge from Thamil the Younger forced him numbly from the tent.

After they’d both exited, Shah-mi swept the room with her eyes saying, “Now that the sparklings are gone, let's finally begin.”

From that point, what felt like a century elapsed, but in reality it was likely a lot closer to six or seven hours. We talked about many things, the largest concern of this fledgling tribe was their freedom. They don’t want to join a tribe that’ll treat them as servants, the Earth’s equivalent of a slave. If they were to be treated as such, they’d rather fight and die, all the way to the last child, rather than relinquish the freedom they worked so hard to attain.

This was essentially a non-concern for me, as I explained to them that the “Greater Tesr”, the imaginary tribe deep within the forest, forbade any form of slavery- servitude of civilians, yet another word I had to explain, and so not only they but any person who sook shelter within the folds of Tesr would be safe from servant status.

From there, questions as to what “Greater Tesr” is, began to pile up. How many tribesmen are there? Why did you leave such a wonderful place? Why do you need us? Why would Greater Tesr want us?

I explained everything in order calmly, Greater Tesr is something called a “Nation” a group of “city-states,” which is a word I was alarmed to find out Thamil knew about, that join together under one banner to prosper and protect each other from outside threats.

The reason I’d “left” Greater Tesr, was to expand the nation, and found a new city outside of the Great Forest, ideally near a river. Since not many people wanted to leave such a prosperous place, only I and my sworn brother struck out into the wilds in search of new citizens to add to the “mighty” banner of Tesr. As for why Tesr would want a rag-tag group such as theirs? The nation of Tesr wants and accepts all people who want peace and prosperity, and will work diligently for the nation in pursuit of that goal.

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“So… how… How many tribesmen- citizens, are under the banner of Greater Tesr?” Thamil asked as he licked his parched lips. He leaned forward, fully enraptured by the picture I was painting, his fingers fidgeting, showing his anxiousness and desperate need for an answer.

Looking at him with all the esteem and sageliness a “governor” could muster I said, “We don’t yet have an accurate count, because our nation grows by the day, but I’d say around 8,000 tribesmen, women included.”

He looked at me, extremely confused, “How many 9 and 1s is that?” He asked.

I stared blankly at him before bursting out laughing, from there I explained the concept of zero and double, triple, and quadruple digit numbers. I could tell by the deep shock in his eyes, that I’d shaken his understanding of the world around him. Pushing on while his mental state was weak, I said, “The knowledge of Tesr is deep and almost limitless, aside from Aki we also worship Skyence, through her we uncover the secrets of the world! If you join us, we can lead you to a truly prosperous future! One without constant death, fear, hunger, and servitude! Isn’t that what you want? Freedom, peace and prosperity?” I continued, almost shouting in excitement at this point.

Not only Thamil, but Shah-mi, who’d been extremely quiet since I began my monologue, exchanged a glance. Gulping to quench her dry throat, Shah-mi said, “Give us the night to discuss this… Governor Pino. If you’d like, can we shelter you here for the night?”

Pausing and pretending to consider, I replied, “... Sure, I’ll bed here for the night, but by the time akigi is directly above our heads, I’ll need your answer. I’m extending this offer not only for Greater Tesr, but also in consideration of De-lah… but I won’t wait forever.” With that, I began to walk towards the tent’s exit, which was a relatively short distance away. As I raised the flap to leave, I turned as if only just remembering something, “Oh and by the way,” I said, “Don’t mention anything I’ve said to others… not even your fellow tribesmen. The knowledge I have is enough to get myself killed, and all of you with no fingers in an attempt to grasp the power… the potential that we hold.” Then without waiting for a response I turned and left the two to their own machinations.

It was only after I left the tent and walked a few steps that I realised… I had no idea what tent I’d be sleeping in. I turned and looked back towards Thamil’s tent, but quickly decided not to reenter, it’d ruin the image that I’d just built. Instead, I leisurely strolled the tribal laying grounds while keeping an eye out for De-lah or Thamil the Younger, who’d hopefully point me in the right direction.

The children had slowly but surely trickled from their hiding spots as the hours wore on during the negotiation. Now, although they were wary and mostly avoided me, they’d still come out to play. A few of the kids were playing a game with a stick. Most of the children stood between two other kids, who threw the stick back and forth to each other. The children in the middle jumped and grasped for the stick. Once one of them wrenched the stick from the air, they’d join the two children who were throwers, and the last person in the middle lost… or so I thought after observing for a while.

‘Monkey in the middle?’ I asked myself, a small smile playing across my face. ‘There’s something strangely comforting about a familiar kids game existing in this world too.’ I thought as I began to walk forward once more.

As I strolled and casually observed my surroundings, I suddenly had to scramble and stop myself from falling on my face. “What the hell…” I muttered as I glanced behind me to see what had almost caused an incident.

There, sitting on the ground and holding her leg, trying not to cry was a girl. She was probably around 6 or 7 years old, and had the skin of the steppe folk.

Brushing myself off as I approached to make sure she was okay,I bent down and asked, “Hey little sparkling, are you okay?” In the swift and slightly rough tongue of the steppe. She looked at me, and as if the dam was only waiting to break, began to cry. “Hey, hey, it’s okay!” I blubbered, panicking. “Look here!” I exclaimed, while pulling a small piece of smoked meat from the pocket I’d “fashioned” into my hide pants. At first she was too focused on crying to see the food, but after a bit of prodding she peeked just enough to see the meat, and her demeanour immediately changed.

Snatching up the food, she began gnawing on it and murmured, “Thank you.” between bites.

I laughed a little and replied, “No problem as long as you’re okay!” As I ruffled her hair, “What’s your name?” I asked as I stood up from where I was stooped and stretched a bit.

“Colada!” She said after savouring the last bite. “Well Colada,” I said while pinching her cheek, “My name is Pino.” I paused for a moment as my brain tried to recall something. “I guess that makes us Pino Colada!” I laughed. I laughed and couldn’t stop laughing, my stomach hurt and my eyes were watering by the time I’d contained myself.

At first Colada was confused, but then she just shrugged at my strangeness and slowly… cautiously, walked away.

Breathing hard and in a fantastic mood, I continued my walk with a bit more pep in my step. As I looked at the women starting the nightly fires and the children playing and shouting, a sense of responsibility suddenly landed on my shoulders. I knew that if Thamil the older was as smart as he seemed to be, then he’d accept my offer. That means these people, my people, their safety and wellbeing was now my duty.

I let that realisation wash over me, sink into me, into the pit of my stomach where it tightened and condensed into resolve. Clenching my hand into a fist I resolved to see my ambitions through to the end. My internal moment of triumph was interrupted by a yell that broke the serenity of the night.

“WHERE IS HE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BROTHER?!” His roar reverberated across the clearing, ripping into the ears of the surrounding people.

‘Shit!’ I thought as I began sprinting toward the sound of the disruption.

“I’ll kill all of you if you don’t bring him out now!” Attila yelled.

As I rounded a tent and Attila came into sight, I saw him wildly swinging his spear, a crazed look in his eyes, his face a mask of fury. Thamil the younger and De-lah held their spears forward in defensive postures, but appeared more confused than anything.

“Attila!” I yelled sternly, as I swiftly bridged the gap between us. When we locked eyes, I saw his face melt into an expression of immediate relief. I couldn’t be too mad at him, we never spoke about contingency plans in the case of me not checking in after a few hours, only if De-lah or anyone became immediately aggressive.

“Thank Aki, thank the gods!” Attila cried as he ran to embrace me, “I thought you were dead.” He said, while holding me tightly. “No, not yet.” I responded while laughing.

Our serene moment was invaded by a strict utterance, “What is happening here!” Thamil the older, trailed by Shah-mi, asked.