The feast was only an hour away and Mira was preparing herself for every question she thought a tribesmen would ask her. After hearing about her decision to leave, she bet her tribe would have even more questions than she could think of.

She wasn't necessarily stressed about the feast itself, it was more so the reaction that everybody might have that made her a little nervous. Taking a deep breath in, she peeked outside her tent to see the sun was almost below the horizon. Once the sun disappeared was when the feast would start.

There was no dress code or special attire that needed to be worn, everyone would just show up in whatever they wanted and have a fun time together. So for Mira, while her parents might’ve wanted her to wear more traditional tribal clothes, she was going to go in her academy uniform. It was the most comfortable clothes she had and something she was used to wearing— plus she thought she looked good in it.

Her uniform was one piece with the upper part being a gray suit, while just past the abdomen it became a dark blue skirt that ended around her mid thigh. A few golden buttons here and there brought out the respective colors of the uniform, but the real golden piece that would draw eyes would be the elementalist badge on her chest.

As for the rest of her family, her parents wore their normal clothes which was just a mix of beast leather and linen tunics and straps, while her sister wore a new blue dress she had purchased at a town recently. It was an odd mish mash of clothing they all wore but since it didn't really matter, there was no point in changing to match each other.

Speaking of her family, her parents weren’t home as they were in charge of arranging everything for the feast. They had to make sure there was enough meat and drinks prepared, keep track of how much firewood they used, and delegate certain tasks to others.

Her sister was at home with Mira with a mixed look on her face. She was excited for the feast, she loved its atmosphere after all but— and that's a big but— she didn't know how to feel about being the new heir to the tribe.

To distract herself from thinking too much about that, Yura peppered Mira with a barrage of questions about everything she had just discovered about Mira after getting filled in on all the details.

While it was a little annoying for Mira, it was a good way to reignite the relationship each other had before she left— as well as a good warmup for tonight’s feast. Most questions were either directed at her relationship with Jane and her other friends, or they were about what the academy was like. A few questions were about other topics but it always swang back around to the main topics Yura was interested in.

The hour flew by thanks to Yura’s questions, and Mira could already hear the sounds of people getting louder as more tribesmen joined the feast. The entrance to their tent was flung open and her mother stepped in.

“It’s time for the feast!” Myral announced to the two girls. ”Are you ready Mira?”

Mira nodded with determination and followed after her mother as she guided her to the seat of honor. People all around the camp watched at her as she made her way through the crowd, some more familiar faces waved at her, but most others just stared.

A dark wooden seat, much too large for her own size, lay near the largest bond fire. The seat had intricate engravings carved into the armrests while a curling vine-like piece snaked up the edges of the backrest and ended as a pair of horns at the top.

This was the seat of honor, only something ever used in rare occasions like if an heir became the chief of the tribe, but today it was used to celebrate a great achievement; Mira’s successful return from the academy.

While her father told her early in the day in his mild anger that “classes don't matter here,” that was only half true. Like everywhere else in the world, classholders were special individuals, and in Trinium, they were required to attend an academy so they were properly trained in their gifts.

It was a grand occasion when a classholder graduated and even a small tribe such as theirs knew the importance of such a milestone. Besides celebrating her success with the feast, everyone wanted to ask her questions— about everything.

Mira sat in the seat of honor, a little uncomfortable at how large and overly intricate it was, but nonetheless she waited for her father to announce the beginning of the feast. The heat of the flames warmed her body while its bright encompassing light illuminated her face in the dark of night for all of the tribe to see.

Luckily she didn't have to wait long for something to happen because her father’s loud horn rang through the dimly lit camp indicating to all to listen. Yuroth’s big body found itself way through the crowd until he stopped beside Mira, he looked down at her with a smile before clearing his throat. “Tonight we celebrate the return of Mira Frosthorn, a graduate of the Academy of Classholder, but more importantly, my daughter!”

Everyone cheered loudly before Yuroth continued. “There is a lot to talk about, I'm sure you have many questions you want to ask her, which is why I won't speak for too long.”

“There are a few very important things I must announce before we begin the feast so listen very carefully.” He paused to give people a chance to get out of their head and focus on him. “Mira Frosthorn will be stepping down as heir to the tribe, and in her place, my youngest daughter Yura Frosthorn will become the next chief.”

A surprised gasp echoed through the camp and people began to whisper to one another hearing this sudden shocking news. Yura, who was on the other side of the camp already stuffing her mouth full of food, looked around and saw a lot of eyes staring her way.

“I know it's shocking but just let me finish before you start gossiping to each other.” His loud voice overshadowed everyone else's, quieting them down. “Mira has spent four years of her life away from us and in that time she has discovered the beauty of the world. She has become a full fledged classholder, and has grown up into an adult.”

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“There's a lot of things she wants to do with her life. She wants to be around her friends she made at the academy, she even wants to live with her lover away from the tribe.”

That last part got an immediate reaction but Yuroth bulldozed through the buzzing of voices, “And while I thought she wanted to leave for stupid reasons, that was not the case at all. She's a new woman and wants to live her own life, even if that sadly means leaving the tribe.”

“In response to her leaving the tribe to go live with her girlfriend Jane, Myral and I have decided our next destination will be Redwood, so we can meet Jane and her family— together as a tribe.”

“With all that out of the way, the feast may begin!” He roared and raised his arms to the sky but everyone was still processing what he had just said.

Mira was no longer heir but instead it was now Yura. That was a lot in itself, but that wasn't what most people's minds were stuck on. It was the fact that Mira was leaving them, had a girlfriend named Jane she was going to live with, and that the tribe's next destination was Redwood to meet this Jane and her family.

It took a few awkward seconds before everyone erupted into cheers and chatter, a crowd of people swarmed Mira and started asking her endless questions.

“When did you meet Jane?” “When are we leaving?” “What's Jane like?” Most questions centered around her girlfriend or them leaving to visit Redwood. Some asked other questions she’d be more willing to answer like what her class was, but there was simply so much chaos that she had no chance to speak.

“Okay now everyone back up!” Only after her father yelled did everyone calm down and take a step back. “I know you're all excited, but one at a time please!”

Yuroth took a step forward and grabbed the shoulders of a young man before he lifted the man off the ground and placed him in front of Mira. “Line up one by one— behind Ryal.”

Now a little more orderly than before, people lined up behind the young man named Ryal. For those who didn't manage to get close to the line, they slinked off and helped themselves to the food and drink that had already been prepared while still listening.

There were massive beast carcasses that had been spit roasted, while a blade sat nearby for anyone to use to cut pieces off for themselves. A long table had been placed out with other foods such as bread or vegetables but compared to how much meat there was, it was an abysmal amount.

The smell of meat tempted many to leave the line, but those already close to the front couldn't afford to leave now, they had burning questions they wanted to ask Mira.

“Okay, ask away Ryal.” Yuroth gestured to the young man and stepped back.

Mira sat there waiting to hear his question with a blank face, preparing herself for anything that may come her way. What she didn't realize was that she was quite intimidating to most others for various reasons. They hadn't seen her in a few years and were a little unsure of how to act around her since she was quite different then when she had left. She still had her cold face, but now she looked more mature, she wore a prestigious outfit that very few could claim, and she was also a powerful classholder.

All those things separately were intimidating, but she had them all. That's why when Ryal was asked to go first, he gulped and stepped forward nervously.

“...H-h-how long have you and your g-girlfriend Jane been together?”

“Just over three years.” An immediate response came from Mira.

Ryal stood still and nodded with a forlorn expression before he felt himself guided away by the heavy hand of Yuroth. “Next!”

With that, the line continued to move forward as more people asked her questions. It was almost nonstop question after question with no chance for a break. It took Mira’s hungry stomach grumbling for her to give herself a food break— much to the disappointment of those in line.

Mira saw that those in line didn't move since they still wanted to keep their place, which made her sigh and sit back down with a plate of food in hand. She would entertain everyone while eating.

If one were to document all the questions and answers given tonight, there would be too many in all honesty. That's why when Mira felt that the questions she was getting started to repeat themselves a lot, and feeling her still tired eyes beginning to droop, she called it for the day.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, she left after saying, “We have a month to spend together traveling to Redwood, feel free to ask me anything during that time.”

Hearing her say that brought smiles to the faces of the tribe and they all broke out of the line and joined the rest of the tribe in their celebrations of food, drink, dance and music.

Mira slowly walked back to her tent ready for bed, while watching the other ‘line’ that had formed tonight. Across the camp at another bonfire was where Yura had disappeared off to at the beginning of the feast. Once the announcement about her becoming the new heir was said, people flocked to her like they did with Mira.

Mira had more of the younger folk line up for her while Yura was surrounded more so by the older generation since the heir of the tribe mattered more to them.

Mira locked eyes with Yura and could read her silent expression screaming, ‘help me escape!’ and redirected her course towards her sister in need. She gently squeezed past the older folk and managed to break past the barrier and find her way next to her sister.

She didn't even say anything and just grabbed Yura’s hand and dragged her through the crowd back towards their tent. People yelled at them but she ignored them and continued forward until they both made their way inside their home.

Flopping down onto Mira’s corner ‘bed’ together, they both sighed from the exhaustion of the few hours they had spent at the feast.

“Thanks.” Yura said after catching her breath. “I owe you one.”

“You're welcome.” Mira threw her blankets over the two of them but was met with resistance from Yura.

“I'm burning hot!” Yura tried to kick the blankets off, but stopped when Mira grabbed her arm and she felt a cool sensation wrap around her scalding body.

“Oh that's nice.” Yura face melted and she relaxed.

They stayed in bed for a while in silence, before Mira asked a little shyly, “Would you like to… sleep together like old times?”

Yura snuggled closer to Mira to get more cold— that really only worked with an ice elementalist— and replied with a humming yes. Like when they were younger, Mira wrapped her arms around the tiny body of Yura and closed her eyes ready to sleep.

While Mira was dearly looking forward to living with Jane and living a brand new life, she was also dreading leaving her family. She had just reunited with them after four years and now she would leave them again so soon.

Obviously she would try and visit them or they would come to Redwood to visit her, but it still kind of sucked to not be able to see them everyday. In the end, this was just something she would have to come to terms with if she wanted to live with Jane.

‘It's all gonna work out.’ She kept telling herself in a half conscious state until eventually she fell asleep while embracing her little sister.