The night came quickly as Veronica and Hawk arrived at the village of the Ricu clan. They entered the jungle again and soon arrived at a big open spot.

The trees here were a little larger than the rest and Veronica thought of the stories she heard back home from the travelers. That there were planets where giants lived. When she saw the trees being high and mighty, she almost thought she would see a giant.

‘We’re here,’ Lowe said and the rest of the group started to split and go their own way. It was at this moment Hawk gave Veronica a little push to let her notice something.

On the top of the trees, it seemed there were different sizes of wooden houses, built to hang on the sides of the trees. Between them were bridges built to connect them.

‘Climb aboard,’ Lowe said with a low voice and he bent his knees so he was a little lower than the rest.

‘Wait. What do you mean?’ Veronica asked with a little panic. If she thought of what was about to happen, she wasn’t happy with it.

Nobody said anything and Morning Python started to climb on Lowe’s back.

‘Get on,’ she said with an irritated voice and without looking at them.

While Veronica was irritated by her, she would follow Hawk who was already climbing on Lowe’s back.

When they were all together, Lowe ran towards the nearest tree.

‘Hang on,’ he said with a grin and before they could really sit steady, he made a big jump towards the tree, holding onto the wood as he landed.

Veronica gave a screech, thinking they would fall but when she noticed they kept going up, she looked to Lowe.

He was climbing the tree with his big claws while they held onto his back.

It seemed to take so long but finally they reached the top and Veronica finally could breath as she felt the wooden floor underneath her from one of the houses.

‘Welcome to our village,’ Lowe said and as he said that, two female Rico came to him.

‘Welcome back our lord,’ they both said in sync with a little bow but Lowe waved at them, letting them know he didn’t need the formalities.

‘Please, our guests have crashed onto Daisugi. Please help them on their way to clean themselves and eat something.’

The two Rico women nodded and looked at Veronica, Hawk and Morning Python.

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‘Please follow us to the waterfall. In the meantime we will prepare some food.’

‘Do you mind if I meddle with the food? I would like to know the dishes on this planet,’ Hawk said and both the Ricu women started to laugh.

‘First a bath. After that we will guide you to our cooking house,’ they said and they started pushing them inside the house.

At the other side of the houses, they were guided towards an open area which led to a huge cliff. A giant waterfall rained down next to the giant trees and the Ricu clan made something that guided some water from the waterfall in a huge bowl of water. Where the water would overflow, it would fall like a waterfall down over the edge.

‘Normally, we use these to wash stuff as the Ricu wash themselves but for now it can be used for you to wash yourself. Humans don’t do it by themselves,’ they said and Hawk would let them know with a nervous laugh that they didn’t.

‘It’s cold,’ he said as he touched the water, thinking how it would feel if he went in to wash himself.

The ricu woman started to ask for assistance to heat the water and Hawk quickly felt bad for being a whiny person for saying that.

After the water was warmer and Hawk quickly washed himself, saying that as a man he should be done quickly, it was now the turn for the women.

He left the place, hoping to know more about the Ricu food and he left Veronica and Morning python alone.

It was something Veronica didn’t like but luckily, one of the female Ricu stayed behind to watch them.

Veronica laid in the water, all the way on the other side from Morning Python but still they were very close.

Veronica didn’t want to look at her so she looked the other way as she washed herself. Unlike her, Morning Python would sit still in the water, looking in front of her in the direction of Veronica.

When Veronica was done and the silence was still going on, she decided to say something.

‘Isn’t it time for you to leave? Don’t you have some assassin friends who you can call to pick you up?’

Her words surprised Morning Python and she looked at Veronica.

‘If I could. My ship is on your ship so I can’t. And even if I got my ship, I don’t have someone to call,’ Morning Python said and she lowered herself more into the water to cover her face partly.

It was the first time Veronica looked at her and felt some sort of guilt.

She was angry at her for targeting Eto but after that, she never made another move to attack them.

It kept quiet for a while and Veronica almost thought about getting out and leaving until Morning Python said something.

‘Why did you save me?’ Morning Python asked after a while. This time, Veronica was surprised by her words.

‘Well, it is the right thing to do. You help people, instead of assassinating them,’ she responded and she felt good about her response towards her.

Morning Python looked away for a moment but quickly looked back at Veronica.

‘Would Eto rescue me like you did?’ she asked.

Veronica looked at her, not knowing what she meant with that.

‘Yes’ Veronica answered while being confused about her question.

‘Even though you tried to kill him.’

Again, Morning Python looked away but soon she stood up, letting the water fall off her body.

‘Then we should help him,’ she said and Veronica couldn’t believe what she just heard. All she could do was look at Morning Python with ambiguity.

Morning Python slowly walked towards her and reached her hand towards Veronica.

‘Vanessa,’ she said slowly as if she was ashamed of it.