As sunset approached, things got more and more lively at the Ruu settlement.
The hunters of the Ruu clans and the invitees from the other clans all showed up, and the crowd quickly swelled to over a hundred people. After wrapping up with my cooking work, I headed out to the plaza to watch them all arrive. Toor Deen and the women on our team were in the main building of Shin Ruu’s house getting changed into their banquet attire at the moment, so for the moment it was just the guys from the post town with me.
From the clans that lived near the Fa, the hunters who had joined us for the banquet were Baadu Fou, Jou Ran, Cheem Sudra, and the eldest sons of the main Deen and Liddo houses. Aside from Baadu Fou, they were all young hunters. And the women who had come to help out as chefs were all young too, so they must have been picked intentionally in order to give some younger people who would be responsible for the future of the forest’s edge a chance to deepen their ties with the westerners.
The other leading clans and one of each of their subordinates had also sent two people each. The Sauti had sent Dari Sauti and a young woman, while the Vela, who were their subordinates, had sent the young head of their main house and, once again, a young woman. Then the wagon from the Zaza clan rolled up, and things got even more lively in the plaza. As it happened, the subordinates of the Zaza who were joining us were the two members of the main Dom house.
“Hey, Asuta. It’s been way too long,” Lem Dom said with a daring smile on her face as she stepped down from their wagon. Deek Dom then stepped out after her, wearing a giba skull on his head, like always. The Zaza clan, meanwhile, had also sent a familiar pair—Geol and Sufira Zaza. As the four of them stood in a line side by side, Ben reached over and tugged on my arm.
“H-Hey, those guys are crazy intense. And it’s not just the men. That woman is scary too.”
“Oh, that’s because Lem Dom is a hunter in training. She isn’t wearing a hunter’s cloak, but you can still kinda tell, huh?”
“I mean, she’s got crazy muscles. Sure, her face is pretty, but I feel like she’ll grab me and eat me if I make the wrong move.”
Lem Dom must have heard that, as she glanced over our way at that point. “Were you calling me pretty? I appreciate it, but it goes against our customs to go around praising the appearances of women lightly.”
“I-It’s not like I was saying it to you, so it’s fine, right?”
“Heh heh, if you’re trying to have a chat in secret, you should speak a bit quieter,” Lem Dom said with a grin. She wasn’t just daring, she was bewitching too.
Ben shrunk down a bit and then whispered to me so quietly that even I could barely hear it. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen a woman that sexy and scary at the same time. She even makes your clan head look cute, Asuta.”
I didn’t really know how to react to that, so I just laughed it off.
And then, a number of totos carriages started pulling up to the entrance of the plaza. It seemed that Lefreya’s group had finally arrived. Soldiers in silver armor and helmets lined up along the entrance with mechanical precision, causing a stir throughout the plaza. And when two figures in leather cloaks, one large and one small, appeared from between those soldiers, the commotion grew even louder.
With people commenting about their arrival all around them, the two figures steadily walked into the plaza. As they did, Donda Ruu, Jiza Ruu, Dari Sauti, and Geol Zaza quickly moved to the front of the crowd.
“Thank you for inviting us today. I am deeply grateful for the magnanimous treatment you have shown us,” the small figure said while flipping back the hood of her cloak. As expected, it was the young head of the house of Turan, Lefreya. She was quite pretty, and had her light brown hair styled in a short bob. I had grown fairly accustomed to seeing her in the castle town, but it felt kind of unreal to see her at the forest’s edge.
The tall figure standing right by her side removed his hood as well. And when I looked up at Sanjura, a sense of déjà vu was added to the surrealness.
“How nostalgic... This is now the second time we’ve set foot in this land,” Lefreya noted. Immediately after Cyclaeus had been arrested, Lefreya and Sanjura had briefly visited the Ruu settlement. She had asked me to prepare a meal with giba meat for Cyclaeus as one last offering to the man, and had chopped off her chestnut-colored hair when making the request. “Nearly a year has passed since then, but today we have been invited as guests. I am truly grateful for that.”
“As the head of the Ruu clan, I welcome you, Countess Lefreya Turan,” Donda Ruu replied in a serious voice. “The sun will set soon, so we will begin the banquet shortly. If you have any weapons, we will take charge of them.”
“I left my sword, in the wagon,” Sanjura replied with a relaxed smile.
Donda Ruu then turned around and led the new arrivals through the plaza, while calling out in a solemn tone, “I’d like to have all of our guests from town and the other clans gather here. Before the banquet begins, we should take care of the introductions.”
At that, I stepped forward and started following Donda Ruu with Ben and Lebi. And as I did, the other guests gathered from all around in front of the main house. Yumi’s and Telia Mas’s eyes were wide open in shock as they walked behind Lefreya.
Once all the guests had formed a single line, the Ruu relatives in the plaza all got together facing us. After looking around at everyone, Donda Ruu furrowed his brow with a look of suspicion and turned toward me. “Hey, I don’t see your clan head anywhere.”
“Huh? You’re right. I haven’t seen her for a little while myself, but—” I started to reply, right before the door behind us opened, causing a big commotion.
“My apologies. Preparations took longer than expected.”
Ai Fa stepped out of the house. The reason her appearance had caused such a stir was the banquet attire she was wearing. She had worn the outfit before at Cheem Sudra’s wedding and Granny Jiba’s birthday celebration, but no matter how many times you saw her dressed like that, you would still be left in awe by how beautiful she looked. Naturally, my heart was pounding away as I greeted her.