One week later, they finally came out of the forest.
In front is can see the entrance gate to the Tanah Musi. They had been following the Musi river since noon until they were finally able to set foot on Tanah Musi, whose residents live on the banks of the Musi river.
The four of them had to be checked in front of the gate and after that, they walked leading their elephant into the Tanah Musi whose residents built houses in a row facing the wide Musi river. And the main road became one lane on the river bank. Stone walls were built on the banks of the river so that the land would not be washed away by the river when it overflowed. The edges are also planted with Ketapang Kencana trees to protect the land and provide shade for pedestrians.
The roads in Tanah Musi are very neat and made of river stones arranged like in Tanah Minangkabau. But to go to Tanah Melayu, they had to cross the Musi river and the city next to it.
That afternoon, they stopped at a diner. A waitres came to serve. "Welcome to our restaurant, in the Tanah Musi." The waitres knew that they came from outside the land. "Our special food menu is pempek palembang."
"We ordered four portions." Sandanu represents.
"It is dry and soupy ones," explained the waitres. "The ones with soup are called laksan and celimpungan."
"I'm the one with the soup, can laksan or celimpungan," said Way Gambas.
"I also do the soup," added Mutia.
"You two mean the dry ones." The waitres smiled at Sandanu and Galigo.
No need to wait long, the waitres came back with their order. There are two plates of Pempek Palembang, one laksan and one celimpungan which have the same ingredients as pempek. Pempek itself is a typical food in Tanah Musi whose main ingredients are fish and sago. And the drink served is orange juice.
For all these orders, Mutia paid four benggol and six ketip. But the provisions given by the Minangkabau tribal chief were still intact, because princess Way Gambas gave Mutia five ronces of her provisions.
While enjoying delicious pempek, they felt the harmony between the people of Tanah Musi and their environment. The sun was almost setting and the breeze was getting cooler. They can see children playing on the river bank having fun and adults enjoying the afternoon by watching the Musi river which never dries up.
While they were eating, two people came into the restaurant. One girl and one boy. She had black skin and he has olive skin. The girl looked more mature and the boy was around fifteen years old and he was carrying a spear tipped with akik.
"Excuse me, we want to ask, why can't canoes cross the river? The people outside didn't want to answer," said the woman who had long black hair that shone just like her skin.
When Sandanu heard the woman's words, he turned to her. The woman looked so beautiful, she had shiny black skin and long black curly hair that reached her back, there were bangs in front of her that were sideways and a small braid in front of her ears. She wore shorts above her knees. Her long legs were wearing a long t-shirt with heeled leather shoes. The woman with black eyes was wearing a tasseled jacket without buttons, open and the dark red shirt inside showed off her sexy body shape.
The boy with the girl had green hair in a crew cut. He was carrying a brown spear and his skin was olive, there was a tattoo with a picture of who knows what painted on the right side of his neck. He was wearing trousers and a short-sleeved green t-shirt which was covered by a black patterned vest.
"There is a thief who entered the keraton and get is in this area, therefore no one is allowed to cross the Musi river except via the Ampera bridge." The waitres explained it in a whisper.
"Thief?" Galigo heard him muttering, meaning he and the others couldn't cross.
"Ampera Bridge?" asked the sweet black woman.
"Yes, and the keraton Sriwijaya is in the middle of the bridge, the keraton ketua suku tanah Musi," answered the waitres who then walked away from them.
Sandanu listened to the conversation, he approached the two people. "We will also cross the Musi River. What if we can't do it? Are you going to the tribal chief's keraton?" asked Sandanu.
The sweet black woman looked at Sandanu suspiciously. Who is this person?
Sandanu grinned. "Let me introduce my self, my name is Sandanu and they are my friends," he pointed to three people sitting in the corner of the restaurant.
"Whether i go or not is none of your business." The woman passed in front of Sandanu. "Come on, Boe, let's find the thief and get out of this city quickly!"
The child called Boe scratched his hair, he grimaced at Sandanu as if to apologize for his friend's attitude. "Yes, Ka Isogi." He immediately followed his friend out of the restaurant.
"Huft, that woman is very rude," said Sandanu as he sat back down in his place.
"What do we do now?" said Mutia.
Way Gambas responded. "We'd better spend the night here, maybe the woman can catch the thief and tomorrow we can cross the river."
"Yeah, that's a great idea." Galigo just agrees. []