Chapter Text
To say our return was joyous was a disservice to the word. To say the people were celebrating was an understatement. As soon as we rolled through the front gate, with the slain Deviljho latched to the cart, we were engulfed in noise and color.
To add to the pandemonium, the Fifth Fleet had arrived in our absence, and the new residents found themselves facing the concept of a civil Anjanath walking through their settlement, clad in human-crafted armor.
And the sword sheathed on her back. I am willing to wager a hefty sum some greatsword users were itching to ask if they could try swinging it. Likely the ones who were always pushing themselves, challenging their limits. It must be a genetic trait, I guess.
There was no real financial reward for this quest, and Sue agreed with me to donate all the useful parts to the Fangs to cover their participation. For us, the idea that this menace was dead and gone was reward enough.
Or at least I thought so. Turns out we had an unforeseen reward, courtesy of our handler.
Zero paperwork.
I thought I had heard the Fangs cheering when we defeated the green beast. That paled in comparison to how fired up they got when that fact was revealed to them. Truly a shining example for the group of top hunters. A dangerous Elder Dragon or filing a report on how it died? They’d be sprinting into the desert before you could even uncap the inkwell.
This time I had learned my lesson, and avoided anything alcoholic (or at least the strong stuff). ‘But Yvan, how can you know if a random drink was safe?’ you might ask, and my answer is simple and has lasted the tests of time immemorial.
I simply held it up to a torch and waited to see if it caught fire.
Tyberius had gotten cheeky, offering me a cup of ‘water’ which lit up quickly under the touch of a nearby flame.
Quyl, using all of her brain cells, offered me a dark ‘coffee’, which similarly experienced instantaneous ignition when brought near a heat source.
Being the nimble thinker I am, I suggested they test Sue’s constitution, measured in barrels. Much to everyone’s surprise, we were treated to a no-hands barrel-stand by my overly excited girlfriend.
After the disappointingly low-effort attempts to demolish my sobriety, I offered to look after my… niece? God-child? I volunteered to take care of Princess Midnight while everyone else drunk themselves under the table. He was agitated due to the loud noises and excess stimulation, so we kept to one of the quieter areas and away from the main throng.
Princess was much calmer once we segregated ourselves, and acted very reserved for a wyvern of his age. When served a cut of meat on a plate, he even attempted to mimic me, holding it down with one paw while the other used a single claw to slice off a piece, stab, and consume. As the pieces were so small, he simply inhaled them without chewing (lacking molars, his species was not one for grinding down food with their jaws).
His growth was steady, but he was still a manageable size, with most of his downy feathers giving him a soft and black fuzzy appearance. After finishing his plate, he looked toward me with an adorable twinkle in his golden eyes, pleading for seconds. And I took it upon myself as ‘Funcle Yvan’ to order him another plate.
After trying to get him to eat the vegetables he had left on the plate, unsuccessfully. Look, I tried at least, can’t do much more than that without risking a few fingers. During this time, I began to try and teach him simple words, like my name, his name (admittedly complicated, but necessary), and the basics like ‘food’, ‘hungry’, and ‘thirsty’.
I also did my best to teach him ‘outhouse’ after an incident which required us to relocate, forcibly, as well as introduce him to the building (he did NOT appreciate the odor). But all of my efforts reminded me that I was dealing with a baby which was barely two months old. I couldn’t expect him to learn so much when the average human baby was still incapable of anything but crying.
“Yvan, what did you do now?” A familiar feminine voice called to me in passing. Still holding Princess in my arms (and struggling), I turned to see an empty spot– “Rude boy; forgotten me already? Shameful,” she commanded, forcing me to shift the toddler.
“Baba, how are you finding the festivities?” My elderly former landlord held a stern expression, her hands gripping the tip of her walking cane, and not a snack in sight. “Also, you look great for being twenty again.”
“Hmph! Still a disrespectful child. And you even have the nerve to hold an old woman’s words against her? Pei!” She mimicked a spitting motion to the side, followed by an upwards chin nod towards Princess. “I ask again, boy. What are you holding?”
Struggling to not drop my nephew, I rotated him around to show Baba. “This is my nephew, Princess Midnight. He’s about two months old, and already learning table manners. Midnight, this is Baba.” My introduction was more for her sake than his, but he still made a cute cooing sound when he heard his name.
“Nephew?” Her judging gaze bore deep, scouring my soul for the truth. “Boy, you and I both know that thing is going to be a menace sooner than you’ll ever admit.”
I didn’t rise to her jab, as Midnight wiggled in my arms and made grabby motions towards her. “Are you sure you won’t even say hi?” Her frown wavered as I brought the bundle of soft fluff closer. Her scowl trembled, until when we were within an arm’s length she caved, scratching his fuzzy belly with an outstretched hand.
“Preying on your elders’ love of soft things and babies, how despicable of you.” She was still upset, just a little bit less now, and not towards the baby. “You’re rather cute for a little monster, aren’t you?” I felt Princess giggle, my arms vibrating from the emotion.
“Any interest in-?”
“No.”
“Again, I do apologize to you both. I had thought we could make accommodations, but…” Holly trailed off, nervous and apologizing. I didn’t hold it against her, it was an impossible ask to begin with.
“You tried, and that’s what matters. Sue and I both appreciate it.” My girl nodded beside me, as we conveyed our appreciation for our handler’s attempt to secure a domicile for the two of us to live within Astera. In the end, there was no feasible space we could either squeeze in or construct a place.
I contemplated telling her what was on my mind, to which Sue gave me an encouraging nudge to the shoulder. “You know, Astera is getting a little crowded; this might be a good excuse for my other idea to get some support.”
Her suspicion was warranted, it was ambitious, with a lot of risks and unanswered questions. “Which idea?”
“For a new settlement, one that can accommodate a wider range of body types and sizes.” She looked skeptical, which I attribute to just how novel such a concept was.
“And where would you build such an ambitious outpost?”
Ah, yea. “We’re still working on that. We have been scouting out possible locations—“ I was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder; Sue trying to get my attention. She pointed towards her eye, then her skull, as best as her stubby arms would allow. “See head? Eye scalp?”
“You know of a place?” Holly offered, earning a nod in confirmation. Sue then pointed behind her, before clapping her hands together in a handshake.
“Tail slap?”
“She says ‘but there’s a catch’, I think.” Another confirmation of Holly’s guess. Wait, why was she so sharp? I always was the best at reading her—
Sue held up both claws with an open maw, exhaling in a soft playful roar. “Something dangerous lives there. How dangerous?” Sue wiggled her claw up and down. “Waves? Treacherous?”
“That signal means it varies,” I supplied. “It means whatever it is, it may not be a straight fight or confrontation.” This time I got the nod, as we continued this game of charades.
“Then that means Sue has an idea for how to make the encounter less dangerous. Which, I believe, might be too complicated to communicate via hand gestures.” Sue shook her snout, simply pointing at Holly. “What about me?”
“She’s saying you need to come with us.” Holly tensed up, waiting for a follow-up of any sort. But when none came, she agreed to pack for an excursion with us. After she finished delegating her duties to other guild members. Which would be after their hangovers wore off.
Despite being an active part of the festivities, Holly seemed steady on her feet to me. She must be very good at holding her liquor…
Holly rode behind me on Sue’s nape, as we traveled further north than we had previously ever gone. We had been steadily travelling for almost two days at this point, with an interesting night behind us where I learned that Holly had zero experience roughing it in the woods.
Sue was being evasive about where we were headed, but was foregoing any form of subtlety. Holly offered her own theories on our destination, but they were met with silence from our guide. All of her projections shifted when Sue made a right turn to cut through the mountains via a winding narrow path.
I could feel the temperature dropping as we climbed higher, the warmth of the coastal forest exchanged for increasingly foggy cliffsides. Life was also much scarcer up here, which could be a bonus for security for the new outpost. Having to travel down the mountain for food wasn’t a bad thing if it meant fewer things lurking around our new home.
The plant life up here was a darker, richer green, and lacking anything resembling edible fruits or herbs. The hardy trees growing up here were sparse on leaves, instead the flora felt like a cross between drying husks and overgrowth.
Holly and I were starting to feel the cold, breaking out a warm blanket to share, when it emerged from the fog.
A statue, carved from stone.
It was worn from time, but definitively done by a pair of small (almost human sized?) hands. It stood roughly three meters tall, possibly depicting a monster of some sort, but the stylized details were long gone. Sue paused for us to take a long look, before walking forward. Below her feet, I could see the rough outline of what appeared to be a significant number of flat stones in the dirt.
“Was that stone significant?” I questioned, noticing another one barely visible through the mist ahead. Sue nodded as we approached, the second statue was of a different design, but held the same general pose. I could make out the indentations signifying a pair of wings on the back of this one.
“It looked carved, but no human has ever lived here..? Or is it from a lost civilization?” Holly had that excited tilt to her tone. She was possibly the first human (besides me) to explore whatever this place was ever since the original residents vanished.
Or at least I assume they vanished. Otherwise, wouldn’t we have met one of them? Astera has been around for years, it had to have been a possibility…
Up ahead, two massive stone spires emerged from the fog, towering well above Sue, with an arrangement of smaller boulders scattered around them. These were much more detailed, as we could make out four limbs, a tail, two large wings tucked in, and holding a proud pose.
Just, missing their heads.
Oddly, these had no moss growing on them, and the details were still somewhat present. While the intricate scalework was softened, an untrained eye could identify that it had been covered in such details. Everything about them radiated power, pride, and a sense of danger.
Unlike before, Sue did not stop to permit us extra time for examination. Instead she continued along what was turning into a path, the stones buried in the ground becoming more frequent and cohesive.
“It’s a road,” Holly commented, pointing out the deliberate placement and arrangement.
But as we continued along the road, the mist began to lift slightly, rendering us both speechless. Before us stood the ruins of a civilization we never knew about, the remaining architecture unfamiliar and distinct even while crumbling to pebbles.
Sue barely lowered herself in time before both Holly and I had sped to the nearest remains of a building, rubbing our fingers along the carved contours of what used to be an arch, maybe for a doorway. The little that remained hinted towards a small shack, a single individual’s home.
We used no words, the two of us simply pointing, nodding, and experiencing a level of euphoria that likely hadn't been felt by another human since the guild ended their experimental drug trials. We even found a small flat stone that had what appeared to be a collection of symbols on it, all of them consisting of one or two three-stroke arrows pointing in one of the four cardinal directions.
We were so enthused we almost missed when Sue showed us how one of the buildings had been big enough for her, a mind-blowing feat of engineering given the potential technology level of this lost society. The two of us fluttered from spot to spot, espousing speculation, proposing what life may have been like, even the identity of who had lived here.
Until Sue interrupted us, signalling to follow her. We had just discovered what may have been the town square, with the remains of what may have been the town wellspring. I wanted to smack myself for losing sight of our objective and the danger. Sue hadn’t made a single noise since the first statue, at least not a vocal one.
We followed her down the wide opening, what may have been the main road once upon a time. The buildings were a variety of sizes, some matching human equivalents, others nearly ten times as big. I could swear that the echoes of their conversations were whispering from the crumbled stone piles.
At the end of the road was the most impressive sight so far.
Stairs.
Stairs with multiple size steps for multiple sizes of residents. Some were broken, and the edges were shattered entirely. But the center was worn down, the sort of wear only found on the most well-trodden stone stairs in any other historical location. Sue took the set sized for her, which was basically just two stone blocks. Holly and I were on what appeared to be the smallest set, slowly placing each foot with a reverence I was not expecting to be practicing today.
At the top stood two columns flanking us, or at least what was left of them. One was barely taller than a tree stump, while the other was a half meter taller than my head. Before us stood a wall, one that may have been the first thing anyone saw when entering this building. It was being claimed by the moss, a sweeping carpet of green hanging down from the top left.
But even from here I could make out the tilework. It was a breathtaking mosaic, composed with a litany of colors, each design reflected a stylized being. I recognized the fiery red Anjanath, a dark blue Nargacuga, and even the cloudy white serpent that idolized a Mizutsune. There were a few others I did not recognize, like one towards the top which was a flying arrow of silver and red, or the rainbow-colored ball with straight lines protruding from it. There was also another white one featuring marble which seemed to be locked in battle at the center with a pure black one, likely made from obsidian.
Neither of us could break the silence, both stunned by the mural and what it might be trying to express. As we approached, I began to notice there were other species on the wall, none of which I recognized from their depictions, as well as a simplistic figure located at the center of the clash between the white and the black. Two legs, two arms, and a circle atop a vertical stick of a body.
Despite the damage, the mural was in an impossibly well-preserved state. Typically, the inlaid stones or jewels would fall out over time. But this one appeared to be missing nothing from the part of the stone which remained. I moved over towards the left side, attempting to clear away the moss, when I felt my entire self blocked by a thick tail.
Sue eyed me, maybe suggesting I leave it alone? But instead she turned to the mural and let loose a roar of challenge. Or, I thought it was a challenge, but it had that same tone and inflection as the mornings she was upset I wasn’t ready to go. Another reason why she couldn’t stay in Astera, she was one of those ‘morning people’.
The sound faded as it echoed through the valley, reverberating off the mountain range that lined the lush space. It almost sounded like her outburst caused a few boulders to fall from their perch. It also sounded really close—
I heard the grumble from behind the mural, before something bright and white lifted up from behind it. I saw rows of sharp teeth as it stretched wide its carnivorous maw in a yawn. Two prominent bone white horns twisted in a sweep back following the contours of its brow. A wing-like neck frill stretching out from the base of either side of its jaws. But most striking of all is the bright crimson eyes.
I was willing my body to run, feeling absolute terror as it rotated to look at us.
But then its eyes narrowed… in boredom? I heard Holly’s breath hitch, as the clacking of talons on stone broke the silence. The white dragon reared up to lean on the mural like some sort of receptionist’s desk, its claws getting dangerously close to the art, practically scratching out the worn decorations—
“STOP!” The shout blasted through the clearing, only for me to recognize it as my own voice from the echo. Holly looked terrified, and Sue’s face had gone bone white. But I had the thing’s attention now, so I leaned into it; like any sane hunter would. “You’ll damage the mural with your claws.”
I pointed to a piece of green glass which had fallen from the artwork, where his claws hovered over a recently opened insert. I stood firm, asserting my will into protecting what I could, into demanding something simple and unusual.
And then it— he laughed.
A deep, belly-busting laugh. One that removed his claws from the artwork and had him holding his ribs. Sue had returned to her usual color, and Holly was… better? She was mumbling some things under her breath, but until she felt like sharing I wasn’t going to push.
When he recovered, the three of us were granted a full view as he sauntered out from behind the art. Quadrupedal, two massive indigo membrane wings that reminded me of the deep oceans, dark golden claws and accents along his wings, and a bearing that I could swear implied Nobility. He placed himself before the center of the mural, sitting on his haunches before studying us more seriously.
He nodded to Sue, then seemed to stare at Holly and I for an uncomfortable amount of time. But before I could break the silence, Holly did. “What?” She asked in confusion, further increasing my own concern about the situation. “Prophet? I mean I can…”
She made a noise that combined a sigh of defeat, an exhale of exhaustion, and the abandonment of disbelief. “Yvan, can you hear anything he is saying?” I shook my head no without breaking my gaze, catching a slip of surprise in his brow. “He is requesting I translate for you, as his new Prophet.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant. “Can Sue hear him?” My girl gave a swift nod. “So, why can’t I?” There was a silence, as she parsed what might have been his answer, but then I saw another rare sight.
She smiled, like she had just heard an incredible joke. “Brain structure; according to The Guardian, only women can hear his voice.” No laughter, no follow-up, so it must have been the inconvenient truth- as if!
“Right, and I’m just a meat-headed prince charming. It would be rude of me to demand being included in the conversation, but I don’t buy the sexist excuse.”
I stood in silence, Sue resting a claw on my shoulder in support. Holly listened intently, breaking out one of her notebooks to jot things down. It seemed like several studies’ worth of information, with how quickly she was flipping pages, until finally…
“Yvan, this is The Guardian, the last living member of the civilization which previously occupied this town. He has dubbed me ‘The Prophet’, to act as his speaker for those who cannot hear his words. And he referred to Sue as ‘Daughter of the Stars’.” She monologued, flipping a few pages. “He also mentioned a ‘Son of Legends‘, but didn’t elaborate. And then you…”
“Yea?”
She nibbled her lip, “he said it warmed his heart to see a return of the old ways.” My expression reflected my confusion, but she didn’t elaborate.
“Anything else he might be willing to share? Like the story behind the mural?” Before the words had finished leaving my mouth, he stood and slid to the side. In order from the outside, he pointed at each stylized design, pausing on each as Holly took notes. When he pointed to the Anjanath, Sue gave her own input to add.
Holly looked over her new notes, arranging them into a stack. Then several staggered packets. Then she started spreading them out, whispering to herself as she thumbed through each grouping. “Here’s what The Guardian had to say…”
Humans and not-humans living together, communicating, cooperating, co-habitating!
And then the explanation for the mural; it was a prophecy. It had spoken of the Queen of Thorns, who had led to the community’s downfall in the past. Everything was eventually destroyed by, as you might guess, The Unstoppable Destroyer. Something about it (the black one) being in eternal conflict with members of The Guardian’s species.
I don’t quite know what all of them were, as my brain froze when we got to the portion about the Anjanath; the Daughter of the Stars. According to the story, she would fall from the skies, blessed with knowledge beyond this world, and would be the herald of the recovery of the old community.
Then there was the bit about the Nargacuga, the one who would save the populace from grave danger. That sounded ominous, and for his sake I hoped it wasn’t Princess Midnight. But given the chances, it may well be.
And then there was the center, where a descendant of The Guardian’s species would face off with The Unstoppable Destroyer, stuck in balance until The Champion of Man would intervene and bring the conflict to an end, slaying either one of the two for all time.
It was a lot to take in.
“So, all that being said… what about us potentially re-settling this place? I asked with a sense of dread. “I get this is somewhat of a special location, but—“
“He said yes, on the condition that you abide by the old ways.” Holly interrupted, as the ground shook from Sue’s gleeful bouncing. Until Holly spun around in shock. “Now hold on, that is hardly a fair condition!”
“What? It can’t be a completely unfair request that we revive his culture—“
“Not that; he is demanding that I live here.”
I waited, as the heft of the demand settled in. None of us said anything (at least verbally) as Holly processed the concept of abandoning Astera. “Is it because of the whole ‘Prophet’ thing? Couldn’t someone else do it?”
Sue rumbled something, maybe a response or possibly an agreement. I couldn’t tell; for whatever reason my ability to understand her was hampered in the dragon’s presence. At my suggestion that Holly have time to consider relocating, we explored the rest of the ruins. I dutifully copied images of the language for further study, as well as a general map with sizes.
We spent the night there, though I suggested Holly take a break from interpreting and get proper sleep. I caught Sue and The Guardian playing one of the games she had taught me. More than that, he seemed to win, implying a level of familiarity and experience.
I didn’t notice many physical cues, but they appeared to be having a conversation, like two old friends catching up after a long time apart. They clearly knew each other from the past, maybe the Guardian had known her mate as well..?
We said our farewells in the morning, needing to return to Astera to weigh our options, logistical needs, and how many people would need to move for a second outpost to be functional. “What are you thinking about?” I asked my handler, as she was clearly lost in her own head.
She didn’t respond right away, needing a slight poke to break her concentration, forcing me to repeat the question. “Why does it have to be me?” She replied with an air of frustration, and a side of disbelief. “There are plenty of other capable people who would live there; why does it need to include me? I’m not like you, or Ty, or even Quyl!”
I let the outburst hang, formulating different ways to approach the matter at hand. “Putting that aside, what was it like? How could you understand him?”
She smiled, a genuine smile which was a stark contrast to her previous expression of worry. “Warm? I just heard a warm and gentle voice in my head, masculine and old, almost narrating the whole time. It wasn’t a conversation, it was more like he molded my inner voice and used that to impart ideas and concepts?”
That sounds so cool. “So sort of like what Sue and I have?” My girlfriend scoffs at the notion, implying that we somehow aren’t magically meant to be together.
“Yvan, you just speak whatever you think Sue is saying. The Guardian was actually controlling a part of my thoughts to insert specific concepts and visuals.”
Sue bobbed her head, “Yea, Yvan. What we have isn’t as special—“
“Just like that,” Holly pointed out at my expense. “It was less of a conversation and more of him controlling how I thought. And that isn’t a comfortable feeling, no matter how he tries to trick me.”
Ah, so less about staying and more about having her head manipulated by a puppet master. It was dawning on me that I was so desperate for a conversation across the species boundary that I was failing to understand her feelings on such an invasive method.
“You don’t have to; we can find someplace else—“
“Yvan, if you didn’t notice, that location is probably the best we will find in the New World. Easily defendable, no contest from local wildlife, and not a long ways from Astera. If he hadn’t demanded I stay, I would be writing up provisions requests and personnel needs right now.” She paused, “I still will, because we meed a full picture of the situation.”
More silence as we travelled down the mountains, “I worry The Commander might…” she trailed off, as I caught on to what she was thinking. Sue grunted, spurring me to agree with her.
“He won’t,” I stated with a sense of expertise and authority. My thoughts swept through every possible outcome of her relocating, but nothing stuck. They were all going to be either a bad result for the new outpost, or forcing Holly against her wishes. My eyes lost focus, as I felt myself praying to Gog that the answer would fall from the sky.
Until I noticed Sue looking back, locking eyes with me.
What if..?
“Holly, think back to what that dragon said. What, exactly, did he want from you?”
She took a moment, likely replaying the one-sided conversation in her head. “He wanted me to be a member of the new settlement, to be his mouthpiece.”
“Did he use the word ‘mouthpiece’ exactly?”
“No, it was the concept of translating his words for humans to hear..?”
It hit me, with unusual clarity, the loophole in that concept. “This is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out; he didn’t specify that you had to translate his every word, did he?” I turned to look behind me, the gears turning in her own head as a lightbulb came on.
Sue, the clever girl she was, began to laugh audibly with malevolent glee.
Our report on the location was met with skepticism, and a large amount of research into the archives. The Guardian’s species was not something we had encountered yet, but luckily Sue provided us a name: “Mal-tse-no”. She had originally written it in her language, and I roughly translated with phonetics to ours. The Guild promised to send our report of his description with the next ships headed back to the mainland.
But before we could pride ourselves on such a discovery, plans needed to be made for who would be relocating, what materials were available to us, and how long it would take to build something basic. Fortunately, our plans did not require a protective wall, which sped up the timetable by weeks.
Holly (by necessity), myself (also by necessity), and Sue were the first three volunteers. Quyl and Tyberius joined up when they learned of the possible new village, implying Princess Midnight and Seikret would also tag along.
We tried to recruit a chef— a normal chef, I should specify, but the only one willing was Yeast. Holly and I made it abundantly clear he was to behave if he had any interest in joining us. His pledge secured us a cook (and once word got out among the Felynes, also an alchemist, a tanner, a leatherworker, a blacksmith, and an herbalist).
With The Commander’s permission, we posted a notice to try and secure additional hunters for security. None of the applicants ended up being of the same skill as Tyberius, but several of them did possess uniquely valuable skillsets and hobbies.
All told, our caravan departed for our new home barely a month after we found it. But before that, Sue and I made a quick stop at our old home in the forest. We gathered our meager supplies, all of my notes and observations, and said our grateful goodbyes to the last remnants of her past.
I had floated the idea to her of copying the cave paintings onto paper and archiving them with the guild, but Sue firmly rejected the notion. Her explanation at the time baffled me, but made sense after a time.
‘Some art is made for others; some art is made for yourself.’
As our six wagon caravan rolled into the misty valley (which took extra time as Sue and Seikret were needed to pull the heavier carts up the slope), we were greeted at the twin dragon statues by our silvery contact. He stood silently, at least silent to me, as Holly stepped forward.
We all waited with bated breath, up until it turned away; heading into the ruins. Holly faced us, almost towering about us in the middle of the road. “The Guardian has stated that we must agree on a new name for our village before passing beneath this gate. Does anyone have a suggestion?”
“New Astera!” Someone shouted, before they were quieted by the reminder that Astera wasn’t that far away, nor destroyed.
“How about the Village for people who like monsters and want to learn to love monsters too?” An audible bonk rang out, gauntlet meeting metal helmet.
“Monster lovers’ village?” Ty got a solid laugh at that one. Not sure if he was being serious though.
“Kamura Village!” Someone shouted, to no response.
“What about the Village of the Hidden Mist?” The groan from the group was loud, as said suggester was calmly told to stop reading ‘those picture books’.
Sue roared, silencing the crowd. Holly gave me an expectant eye, one eyebrow raised. Fine, I could try to give a terrible idea too! “What about… Hakum? Like in the old tales?” A brief silence, but no comments or jabs came my way.
“The fabled village where humans and monsters coexisted? Interesting choice. All in favor?” Holly polled, met with an enthusiastic cheer from the rest of the caravan. “Hakum it is. Let's get started!”
Another light cheer, as we passed between the two pillars and into the new Hakum Village. We had a lot to do, but I felt a pleasant confidence that we would succeed.