"Why would he have to convince her? He’s a beast warrior. It should be an honor!"
Fenric’s expression didn’t change much, but his gaze hardened ever so slightly at that last sentence.
"Why do you think Arinya doesn’t have a choice?" He asked. "She’s picking a spouse, so of course it’s up to her if she should accept ."
His words shut them up but there were still so who were skeptical.
Beside him, Veyra looked like she’d been stabbed, stitched up, and stabbed again. Her lips trembled—not with sadness, but with pure frustration, because nothing she said made him look away from .
She looked at like she could stab a knife in my heart and still play the victim.
She was probably thinking of ways to try and change Fenric’s mind regarding .
Well, I doubt she’ll succeed.
Her voice dropped to a sharp whisper as she made one more attempt.
"Fenric... you’re making a mistake."
He didn’t even look at her.
"No," he replied quietly. "I’m not."
Veyra’s face twisted, and she took a shaky breath, as if planning one more attempt but unfortunately for her, a deep voice rose from behind the crowd.
"Fenric."
It was my brother, Kaelor. He walked in, looking at everyone that we’re gathered and wondered what was going on.
"What are you doing here?" He asked and then his gaze fell on .
I twisted my lips, skeptical.
My brother who had set a blind date with his friend on my behalf... I guess he’s the only one I can count on in this family if he went out of his way to find such a capable spouse.
"I just ca back," Fenric said. "And it looked like an audience was waiting to question your sister about my whereabouts."
"What? Really?" He turned to look at my father. "Is this what this is about? I told you it didn’t matter if Arinya took him out."
Oh-ho. So there was such a thing.
"Still, it would’ve been troubleso." My father said.
"There’s nothing troubleso about it," Kaelor said and sighed.
He surely knew Fenric had gone out to find , since there was no other reason why Fenric would walk around in an unfamiliar area with the risk of getting lost.
"Anyways, let’s leave it at that for now, father." He said. "The feast should be starting soon."
Ah, right. A feast to celebrate their safe travels. But just thinking about how they might just be eating raw at with no seasoning, my stomach twisted.
If only we had salt.
"Everyone, get going." Kaelor dispersed the crowd. "And..." He looked at . "...don’t worry about the things they say, okay?"
I nodded and then a light flash flowed through my mory.
One of Arinya’s mories I was yet to inherit.
It involved a little Arinya holding her bruised knee and crying while other kids laughed at her.
"We told you this ga isn’t for females. Now look at you all hurt and crying." A young male said.
"Arinya, leave the climbing to the males." A young female said, though laughing, that this was the funniest thing she had ever seen.
Arinya could only cry as her knee hurt a lot.
Zevak and Ashren were both there, but they were more concerned with taking young Veyra, who complained that her leg hurt, to the healing hut.
They didn’t care that Arinya was bleeding.
It was then that Kaelor ca, driving all the children away, and carried Arinya in his arms.
He was a lot smaller then, but not that small either.
"Arinya, don’t worry, I’ll take you to the healing hut right away." He said, and Arinya opened her eyes, looking at her brother, who had dirt with a mix of blood on his face.
It looked like he had gone out hunting and got hurt. But he covered the wound with mud so no one would know.
Clever move but Arinya knew.
"Does it hurt?" Arinya asked, sniffing as the tears no longer rolled down.
Kaelor looked down at her and then smiled.
"I can’t hide anything from Arinya, it seems." He spread his teeth wide, smiling even more cheerfully. "But it doesn’t hurt. If it were, I’d probably be crying like you right now."
"It hurts, Brother," Arinya said. "My leg..."
"It’s alright. This brother will take you to get cured right away so don’t worry."
They had a good relationship.
In this entire tribe where everyone seed to be against Arinya, only her eldest brother looked out for her.
But he could not stay by her side all the ti, as he was the next chief, and one who wanted to bring more glory to the tribe.
Thus, he began to travel around.
Each ti he ca back, Arinya would greet him happily.
But as the years went by, those happy greetings began to fall under a dim light.
Arinya had been bullied, ostracized, outcast, and no longer cheerful in doing what she liked... And as a result, she equally grew apart from the brother who cherished her.
It was quite sad.
As the mories surfaced, I once again felt a heavy feeling in my heart.
I should nd the relationship between these two. After all, Kaelor’s only cri was not sticking around and protecting Arinya.
He’s a good kid.
I was about to leave when Fenric suddenly caught my arm and said,
"You should sit with during the feast."
I nearly frowned since that seed more like a command than a request but looking at that bright and confident smile of his, I couldn’t bring myself to correct him... Yet.
I won’t let him off the next ti since soone’s gotta teach these primitive beasts how to be polite.
I was planning on skipping the so-called feast. Oh well.
"Sure," I answered.
This will make Veyra feel even more sore so let’s give it a go.
I was going to walk with Fenric when my father walked towards .
This ti, I frowned.
Just now, he did not ask for my side of the story, once again. He let himself get swayed, listened to the side that was the loudest, and did not try to be a good father, nor a good chief.
If I could, I would just walk away and pretend I don’t see him, but then again, that would be disrespectful to the chief. And given the expression he had on his face... Sigh.
"What do you want, Chief?" I asked and thus made him jolt, the look of disbelief spreading over his face.
It shocked him a lot that I referred him to the chief... And not ’father’ like I called him just that morning.
That’s what you get for not acting right.
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