The euphoria of reaching my destination was damped by my tiredness. I dropped off to sleep in a wet cave, not minding my surroundings, not minding anything. It was too dark to see anything, by the way, so best I waited for dawn.
When I was shaken awake the sun was high in the sky, streaming in through the cave entrance and rendering the intruder's face dark.
"Look who we found in this cave!" it was a feminine voice, and she was calling to her partner who was behind.
I squinted and sat up, scrambling on all fours out of the cave after the girl who fled when she saw I was awake.
"For someone who shook me and screamed so loudly, I'm surprised you're running away," I said to her after I rose to my full height.
I wad surprised at what I saw. A cluster of tents. People minding their business. Cooking tripods with young girls fanning the embers, yelling and laughing. This was down in the valley, though. The cave into which I had crawled was made by an overhanging rock not far from the spectacular waterfall that had been Hakorhi's pride.
The boy and girl who had discovered me were still gawking at me.
"Sister, are you coming with us or not? Let us introduce you to our matriarch,"
So there was no clan prince.
I followed them, climbing down the rocky path. My heart was beating so fast. I remembered chasing fellow children down this mountain track when I was young. I kept my face impassive, though. I wanted to keep my identity hidden until I found someone I recognized.
When we descended into the valley. People shouted greetings at my escorts, and I assumed they were popular. I responded to "fellow mage" acknowledgements with a wave. Most of these people were weak links, and they looked at me with awe, especially the men, whose ages ranged from thirty to forty. There were not many young men, or maybe I hadn't seen them.
We came to a decorated tent, the largest in the middle of the tents. A lot of women were here, gossiping, laughing. The girls were twirling their neck beads around their hands while they talked non-stop. Was a coming of age ceremony upcoming? Could I sneak Rudolph here so he could experience his coming of age the proper way?
"Matriarch!!" my female escort, whose name turned out to be Siva, called loudly when we came to a halt.
Everyone stopped talking immediately, and stared at us. Or at me. The girls, all teenagers, younger than me, drew in a collective breath in an O and started giggling and whispering among themselves.
"Siva, what is it?" came a low voice from within the tent.
"We found someone! A mage," Siva added with an excited chuckle. The girls all giggled again. I found that I was starting to get irritated.
Everyone became quiet again when an old woman appeared in the doorway of the large tent. She walked with the aid of a carved stick which had painted markings twirling around it all the way to the bottom. She was not dressed in a tunic, but had on a loose blouse and a wrapper around her frail waist. Her eyes were the same shade as mine, her wrinkled skin very dark.
"What brings you to Hakorhi?" the voice command strength.
"I-- I am a clan member," I stuttered, suddenly getting goosebumps.
"What is your name and who is your mother?"
She was still as fierce as she had been. I noticed that there were a lot of people around now. They had sidled after us without my knowing.
"My name--" my voice shook, "my name is Neiman Saarhash... and my mother is... Shathelia Hakorhi, the wife--" I decided to throw in all my cards, "the wife of Thzarmir Hakorhi, clan prince of clan Hakorhi, son of Mulan Hakorhi, matriarch, in whose prescence your subordinate quivers," and I bowed deeply, throwing myself at her feet, "grandmother! It's me, Nei! I'm alive!"
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