As the morning sun rose, I was already up and about, laying the fired clay bricks for the storage I was building. Liora and Enara were with me, their hands dirty from assisting me.

A playful bark caught my attention, and I turned to see one of the wolf puppies frolicking around Liora's feet, its tail wagging wildly. Seeing the pup reminded me of a discussion I wanted to have with Liora.

"Liora," I began, keeping my eyes on my task, "Are you ready to start training the pups?"

Liora glanced at me, her hazel eyes curious. "Train them? How do we do that?"

"Well," I replied, pausing to look at her, "we reward them for good behavior and correct them when they behave poorly."

"What do you mean?" Liora asked, crouching down to scratch behind the pup's ears.

"For instance," I explained, "we could reward them when they don't bite people, or when they do their business away from our homes. And if they do something wrong, we correct it immediately so they learn."

Liora nodded slowly, absorbing my words. "Could you show me?" she requested.

I smiled at her earnestness. "Of course."

I set aside the brick I was holding and motioned for the pup to come over. It padded towards me, its eyes bright with curiosity. "First, let's teach them not to bite," I proposed.

As I crouched down and extended my hand towards the pup, it responded by playfully gnawing at my fingers. I gently pulled my hand away, repeating the action until the pup no longer attempted to bite me.

"See?" I told Liora, "With patience and consistency, they'll learn."

Liora's eyes widened in understanding. "I see, so, we have to do this with all of them?"

"That's right," I confirmed. "It won't be easy, and it will take time. But with patience, we'll be able to train them."

Enara, who had been quietly observing, smiled at our interaction. She seemed fascinated by the process, her azure eyes following our every move.

"We'll each have to do our part to make sure that they don't get out of control," I told her. "Eventually these pups will grow up and we'll have to try to get them to contribute to our tribe."

"What can they do?" Enara asked.

"They can help with hunting, or moving the animals we capture. But that will take time because we have to train them now while they are still young, and keep doing it even as they grow older." I explained.

The two girls seemed to think about my words and what they meant. I may not have the most experience when dealing with dogs, but I felt that I knew enough to teach them basic commands, such as sit, lay, and stay. Whether or not they would listen was not something I was equipped to deal with considering my knowledge on wolves and their behavior was not high. Wolves I knew acted differently than domesticated dogs, so training them would be difficult. With what I had on my plate, Liora and whoever else would have to take on the role of training them since I would have to progress my own agenda.

Liora was silent for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, she broke the silence.

"Tak," she began, squinting against the sunlight. "Your mother told me about your plan to build your own home."

"Oh?" I responded, pausing in my work to meet her gaze. "She did, did she?"

Liora nodded, a smirk playing on her lips. "She did. Have you settled on a place for it yet?"

"I've been considering a few places, actually," I said, a distant look in my eyes as I envisioned my future home.

A brick home with slight alterations to it, such as stairs, multiple floors, and at least two rooms on both floors. I wasn't expecting it to work out since my construction skills were not that advanced, but given that there was not anything to distract me from working on it I would have plenty of time to get it right.

"Really?" Liora asked, clearly intrigued. "What have you got in mind?"

I couldn’t help but grin as I began to explain my ambitious vision. "Well, I've been thinking of trying something... different."

"Different how?" Liora asked, her hazel eyes full of curiosity.

"I want to see if it's possible to build a house that is... longer, with another floor."

Enara's azure eyes widened with confusion. "What mean, another floor?"

"Imagine," I began, my hands moving to illustrate my point, "a house like ours, but with another one on top of it. Like having two homes in one."

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Enara's eyes grew wide in amazement. "That... possible?"

"I believe so," I responded with a nod. "And it will provide more space when I have kids someday."

Suddenly, Liora chuckled and shook her head. "Always dreaming big, aren't you, Tak? But what about us?"

"Us?" I asked, genuinely puzzled.

Enara broke our shared silence, her voice unsteady. "You... live together?"

Liora's cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink, her fiery hair glinting in the sun, but she did not look away. She met Enara's gaze, and then mine, before turning her attention back to the bricks at our feet.

The conversation I had with my mother drifted back to me. Out of everyone in the tribe, I was pretty close to Liora, mostly due to us being around the same age and there not being many other young boys in the tribe. The few that were with us are long gone now, either due to the Wulani raid or dying during winter.

So if I wanted a partner in the future, she'd be at the top. Although I still had my own issues with that voice telling me that this was wrong, I would have to push past it eventually. Besides, it was better to live with someone you know than not know. Also who knew what the other men were thinking in the tribe? Liora was growing, and with it so was her body. Although we were covered up in animal skin, it was easy to catch glimpses of what was underneath.

There were also times when we washed in the river, no one cared much for privacy when it came to cleansing our bodies when we felt like it. So it was natural to see naked people every so often taking a dive in the river. Liora was no different.

Silma's image popped into my head for a moment, but she was gone. I might see her sometime in the future, I might not. I decided to say something I would not normally say due to my own beliefs.

"I don't know," I responded truthfully. "I suppose that's up to us to decide. What do you think, Liora?"

Liora seemed to ponder the question for a moment, her fingers playing absentmindedly with a piece of clay. "I think I would like that. And maybe...Silma could join us, too?"

At the mention of Silma, I couldn't help but laugh. I was just thinking about her, this made me wonder if Liora could read my mind. "Silma?" I chuckled, "We don't know if we'll see her again."

"But we could," Enara chimed in, her blue eyes sparkling with something I couldn't quite name. "If you build a home like that, Tak, you will have many offers."

I looked at Enara, puzzled. "What do you mean by 'offers'?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.

The two girls exchanged a glance and giggled, a shared secret between them. Their laughter was light and airy, a soothing melody amidst the heavy labor.

A gentle breeze swept over us, bringing a momentary respite from the summer heat. Liora turned to me, a playful grin on her face. "Tak, many people think you'd be a good partner, you know?"

The sudden change of subject took me by surprise. "They do?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion. They must be talking about the Wulani women, they were a bit younger than the Ashaya women whom I've known. It also felt weird picturing them liking me in that manner considering the vast age gap between us. Still, it was Neolithic times so I guess it couldn't be considered too odd.

"Of course," Liora continued, her hazel eyes earnest. "They know they wouldn't have to worry about food. And your ideas... they always bring good changes. You know that, right?"

I scratched the back of my neck, my cheeks heating up. The praise was flattering but felt odd. "I don't know about that," I mumbled, desperate to change the topic.

Remembering something, I turned to Enara. "Speaking of changes, how is Yelia doing?" I asked, referring to one of the Wulani women who had recently announced her pregnancy. It was a surprise to us all, considering that Yelia was one of the quieter members of our tribe.

Enara's azure eyes flickered with concern. "I did not think Yelia would say anything about her...condition. Not after our visit to the Mayitans," she admitted. "It was surprising."

I nodded, a thoughtful frown on my face. "It surprised us, too," I replied. "Especially Mako. He didn't expect it at all." I added, remembering the look of shock on our tribe leader's face when Yelia had made her announcement. "His mood changed for the better when he learned she was with child."

"The tribe has food for everyone and there is peace," Liora mused, her gaze drifting off into the distance. "Many others might be carrying children soon too."

I nodded in agreement. "We have good lives now, and enough food for everyone. It's only natural that people will want to have more children, especially after we've lost so much," I said, my mind drifting back to the many hardships we'd faced as a tribe.

"Yes," Liora agreed, a small, hopeful smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "We've come so far, and now we can finally start to regain a bit of what we lost."

A heavy sigh from Enara interrupted our conversation, causing both Liora and me to turn to her. Enara was staring at the ground, her azure eyes distant and clouded with sadness.

"Is something wrong?" Liora asked a hint of concern in her voice.

Enara looked up at us, and took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts.

"It just... It just makes me think of my people... we, the Wulani have caused you pain," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"It's ok," Liora told her as she rested her hand on Enara's shoulder. "You didn't want to, you all were..." Liroa didn't finish her words just leaving them hanging in the air.

It wasn't that long ago that we were attacked by the Wulani people not once, but twice. The second time going a lot better than the first.

"I know," Enara nodded, gripping her hands tightly. "But it's just that... I still feel bad about it. Even though now I call this tribe home, the memories of what we did..."

"There wasn't anything you could do about it, just keep doing what you are now as we move forward," I told her.

Enara looked at me and I saw a tear in her eye. Yes, we suffered and lost a lot, but it gave us an opportunity to start anew. Now we had a better life, more tribespeople, and the grievances with the Wulani people seemed to be mostly dealt with at this point.

There was still the situation that Mako had to deal with about his leadership, but it would work out.

As the somber moment passed, I cleared my throat. "Enara," I began, my gaze finding hers. "Do you know anything about the Wulani being unhappy about the peace we made with the Mayitans?"

Enara's brows furrowed, and she crossed her arms, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. "I've heard some murmurings," she admitted. "But I don't know much about it. Why do you ask?"

Liora looked from me to Enara, her emerald eyes filled with curiosity. "What's this about, Tak?" she asked.

I shrugged, trying to play it off as nothing more than curiosity. The truth was, I had a feeling that this could spiral into something greater if the concerns weren't dealt with. It wasn't my place to do anything about it as much as I wanted to, I had to leave it up to Mako and the elders to decide how to handle the situation.

"It's nothing," I said. "Just something I was wondering about. No need to worry."

[author] I ended up scrapping all the other chapters to change directions as I setup for the next arc/volume/book.[/author]