After the negotiations, everyone packed their bags and went back home. Reeve was the happiest among the people. He had actually accomplished something. That sense of accomplishment stayed with him for some time. Arkad realized that instead of going back, they could stay together with the Southern Earth tribe, and it would be more beneficial for his small tribe. After witnessing what Reeve had done, he was convinced that the Southern Earth tribe would rise in the future, and he wanted to be part of that rise.
Gathar decided to go back with the remainder of his people. He had been asked to stay and help as they built a few more houses, but he had said that he needed time to think about it. He had said such decisions required time and couldn't be made on the fly. Having said that, he left.
Myris had already made the decision to stay, along with his people. The only issue was that Mrak's Southern Earth tribe was too small to house all the people. So, Reeve came up with what he thought was a very bright idea. Why not extend the Southern Earth tribe into a small city? He could help them design the new settlement and stuff. Mrak liked the idea, while Myris and Arkad were concerned about spending such a huge amount of gold. They were afraid of running out of money before they finished building the city. Why did they fear running out of money if the Southern Earth tribe was rich? There was a war, remember? Also, currently most of the manpower was being used to gather materials for building the 'city'. Therefore, there was no income from the mining activities.
After a thorough talk, where Reeve talked about efficient ways to extent the city without spending much money, the others finally agreed. So, just like this, an ambitious expansion project began. However, Arkad and Mrak's worries came true when they were in the middle of the project. Reeve had to use his 'wealth' to pay for the rest of the project, and after six months of driving everyone insane, it was finally completed. The reason why it took less time, was because besides dipping into his own pockets, Reeve also invented what he called 'pulleys'. These pulleys helped in lifting heavy loads.
Mrak and Arkad were surprised when Reeve asked the men to cut logs into smaller pieces. After cutting them into smaller, thinner pieces, he carved a small path on the thinner side. No one understood what these things did, until Reeve held a demonstration. Afterwards, Reeve also instructed the men to extract stone from the rocky outcrop. When he looked at the stone, he realized it had small traces of limestone. Besides him, no one else understood why he was so overjoyed when he saw the limestone. However, after he extracted the limestone and used it to build the wall that covered the city, they began to understand why.
So, after six months of hard work, Reeve, Karim, Mrak, Arkad and Myris finally stood outside a new 'city'. Well, it could count as a city, but it was quite small compared to the others. Currently, it was just a bit bigger than the Southern Water tribe.
"I have to admit, this is wonderful! I never thought that something like this would be possible!" admitted Arkad, as he was standing next to Myris, who had a wide smile. Even he didn't believe they had done this.
"Anything is possible. The world is so wide … eh … actually never mind", replied Reeve. He wanted to go on lecturing about how the world was big and the whole thing about frogs at the bottom of the well, before he remembered he wasn't in his own world. In fact, he realized he didn't know much about this world at all. Yes, he knew about a few things, but that was just it. A few things!
"So, what do we call it?" asked Mrak.
Everyone remained silent, before Reeve suggested, "Why don't we call it Bernice?" All eyes turned on him, as sparks of confusion flew among the chiefs. "The name is Greek … eh … let's just say it can be loosely translated to 'bringing victory'. Don't ask where this language comes from!" explained Reeve. There was a wave of aaahs, as his audience finally understood, or they thought they did. While they were still standing, a red-haired girl arrived at the new city gates, where they were.
Meanwhile, in the Southern Water tribe, Saedis's face was sour. Six months ago, he had successfully mediated a conflict between the Southern Water tribe and the small surrounding tribes. After analysing the situation, he had found some suspicious points. However, that wasn't the cause of his sour face.
All his efforts were exerted so that he would be able to get away from the government. He wanted to retire from politics, after all, he thought he had been through enough already. After mediating successfully, he thought his chance had finally come! That was until today, when he received a letter from his ward, promoting him to governor of the entire Southern region! So much for being helpful, right?
While he was stewing in his misery, drinking wine from the continent beyond the fjords, a woman came into his study. She was average in height and had neat blonde hair tied at the back. Her appearance was elegant, she was not just beautiful, but she appeared graceful as well.
"How long are you going to keep drinking, dear?" she said as she came in.
Saedis ignored her, and he tried to keep drinking. However, she walked in and took the chalice from his hands. She said, "Do you think running away from your problems is helpful?"
"Stop nagging me, will you?" responded Saedis, as he took the wine bottle and started drinking from it.
The woman sighed before saying, "Look, I know thing might not be going as well as you want them to, however, count the blessings the deities have bestowed upon us. We're rich, and we live away from the capital and its problems--"
"We also live far away from my friends!" Saedis interjected.