What Ed learned shortly after his skirmish was that most families that were made up of cat people had a matriarchal society. While the husband was supposed to be large and imposing, the epitome of hunter and fighter, the homes were all run by the mother or head wife depending on the groups.
Peoples of the southern savannah, who bore more in common with lions, used a pride system. One male and several females all lived in the same house. The husband was a figurehead as far as real order in the home went. His household would run without him, to some, it might sound ideal but could lead to extreme boredom for others.
For Ashra's people, pride style living happened but wasn't as common. Most families were a mother and father, the children and sometimes extended family depending on the situation.
Ashra's family home was made up of her parents, one of her aunts and several nieces and nephews. The family dynamic was that the female was expected to bear several children while young in order to stand the highest chance of surviving childbirth. This meant that later in life they could enjoy and provide for grandchildren while they were still capable.
Ashra's parents introduced themselves, her mother was called Gillian and her father's name was Milanese. Everyone called him Milan for short although Ed was not yet sure he was going to be granted the same honor.
The house had a large great room in the center that housed the kitchen and seating for the family. Small rooms lined the outside for sleeping and storage and a stairwell went upstairs into a large room for further sleeping and storage. Large windows sat on either side of the front door and on a matching set sat on the far wall, away from the door. This gave the room enough light for everyone to see.
"What possessed you to choose this particular human as a mate?" Her father scowled, but his wife had accepted him so he must follow suit.
"I told you already father. Although he still needs guidance in the ways of our people and the people of the south. I have taught him what I know and he needs to be prepared to see the oracle and receive her knowledge."
Her mother broke into the conversation forcefully, "He is the Pilgrim, the prophet of change in the church and the ways of this world. If you could have found a better husband you would have."
Milan was taken aback slightly at the accusation very thinly veiled in her words. "There were none in this town worthy of her, even with her... traits," he said under his breath, giving the tell that this was a sore spot. "And furthermore her service is considered an honor. Marrying him? Who knows what this will bring..."
"More honor if you would shut your stupid head and think." Her mother said and reached over and slapped him on the backside of the head.
He rubbed his head and bared a tiny bit of fang in annoyance.
"We can take him to the teacher and he can learn with the children." Her mother said with firm resolution. "And when they are not learning, he will practice with the town guard to learn to fight better."
She looked at Ed. "You have spirit, but you are clumsy when you fight. Many tribes of the south consider a man only to be fit if he knows how to fight barehanded. You will need to be prepared, and you will need to learn how to blend your skills if you wish to survive."
Ed nodded and thanked her for her advice. Since they were considered a married couple they were given the upstairs room to sleep in. Rennish was offered a room downstairs but he politely excused himself and agreed to sleep out with the carriage. The back of the family home had a small stable and other buildings common to these kinds of cities. He insisted he wanted to learn songs and art from as many people as he could while he was allowed to.
The next two weeks went along as if they had lived in this house since they were married. Rennish had decided to go with Ed to see what the children learned. At first, Rennish went to make fun of Ed for being the oldest and most obviously human person there. But over time Rennish stayed out of curiosity. He was enthralled by tales of the heroes, and by the stories of the land that made up what would be called a geography lesson.
Martial training was a whole other story. The town guard here had swords and daggers but were trained in hand to hand first and foremost because weapons could be lost or damaged in a fight. It didn't matter that Ed could absolutely summon another weapon if he wanted from dirt or anything else he had. He practiced with the young cubs first, learning throws and grabs. After a few days he graduated to punches and parrying hits.
Ashra would often come to watch Ed parry with the other town guards and the city militia. It was mandatory for all young people to learn basic fighting skills in case of attack or invasion. She herself had attended and excelled in guerilla tactics. If she needed she could set traps or slow down foes better than almost anyone in town.
She smiled as she watched him develop and grow. He would land a few hits before the instructor or other trainees would throw off a new attack. He would take the hit and then get back up. In most ways, Ed was just absolutely average. She watched and she could see that when did something exceptional, he seemed to focus his mind for just one moment. It was as if he was summoning something from himself.
After the first full month had passed a festival was held. The town was celebrating something obscure. It was really just a reason to have a party and get everyone outside. Each family would bring a few dishes to the town square and everyone would take a spoonful of anything that looked good. Fan favorites made their appearance each time and people would line up to make sure they got a taste of whatever they wanted.
When Ashra and her father had gotten up from the table to get food Gillian had motioned at Ed to stay and sit. He suspected a conversation would come at some point but he didn't know when. Apparently that time was now.
Gillian sat at the long table in the town square and put her hands together before leaning forward. "They are all having fun tonight aren't they?" she said smiling.
Ed looked around. Rennish was dancing, he had loosened up and actually made friends here among the younger adults. Rennish was several hundred years old but had spent a long time as a spirit. His first few months as a human had been taxing as he learned to compensate for having emotions again. Now he was enjoying being alive again and his happiness was carrying over and infecting those around him.
"Yes, I am glad to see that Ashra and Rennish are blending in well enough." Ed said as he stared at the people before looking at his mother in law.
"I have concerns Erust."
It was the first time she had used his name so informally. She normally referred to him as Pilgrim whenever possible. "Why is that?"
"You are still holding back. I can tell it. I am sensitive to the divine. Enough to know that you and Rennish have the divine touch. And I can smell it on Ashra too, although hers is different. Like it was forced instead of natural."
Ed nodded, "Yes, something happened and I am hoping that the Oracle will give me some unbiased answers."
"You wish to rely on the oracle? Are you not divine enough to know and see what you must do?"
"Can I tell you a secret?"
"Of course you can." Gillian leaned forward. "I will even tell you one of my own..."
Ed smiled. "I wasn't always the pilgrim. I was cursed with being absolutely slightly above average in my previous life. Something about me is special and this body is divine but my mind is still human at times. Rennish was supposed to teach me about how to use my divine powers and he has for the most part. But even he doesn't know the exact limits of what I can do because of what happened to me."
He decided he had needed to trust her and he gave her as much information as he thought was safe. Most of it was things that Ashra knew already anyway and so he wasn't giving anything away.
Gillian nodded, "You are like the divine beings of old. Your body was replaced and you kept a human soul." She stroked her chin and looked off into space for a minute, watching a firefly as it blinked out in the field. "Do you know why I married Milan?"
Ed looked at her, trying to think if he had heard of any reason besides the obvious, "Love?"
She smiled and shook her head. "Mated pairs very rarely marry for love. We find friendship first love later if we are lucky. I am attuned to the divine. I was considered a witch at one point. The felis people have shamans and scholars and even men who try to test the limits of the rules of the physical world. I defied those in the things I can do. You can do them too. Humans normally have Mana and Demi's have divine powers. Rarely do we have great gifts of it like humans do with magic though."
Gillian reached down to the table and grabbed the end of a cloth napkin. She rubbed it in her fingers and it slowly changed from a tan color to white. She held it up to Ed and smiled.
"You see, I can change the nature of things too. I used to be much better, of course, I am out of practice. I married Milan as protection in case anyone found out. He accepts me and protects me. How advanced are your skills?"
Ed reached down to the ground and pulled on a stray blade of grass. He pinched it between his fingers and held it up for her. Normally he hid this process because it might cause panic but Gillian had openly shown him her technique. Looking at the leave he focused and changed it to glass. He looked at it further and shrank it just a bit so he could put a flower on it. He then handed it to her.
"With these abilities why are you still so limited?" She said looking at him like had missed the point of a conversation.
"What do you mean limited?" Ed replied.
"Tomorrow, you start training with me. You need to learn more about this. Maybe its time you learned from someone with a living touch to divine power." She smiled and looked at the pretty glass flower before smashing it on the table so no one could find it.