The Chief approached his longhouse drained by the exhaustion and stress. The guards at the entrance, one at each side of the gate, held a barricade of spears horizontally place by their waists. As Baka approached them, they released the spear barricade. The guards that had been with him in the temple had assumed their positions outside the longhouse. The servants rushed to assist him as he entered. A few that sat idly in the doorway, just after the entrance of the longhouse, hurried into the inner rooms to make the rooms more presentable. The entire structure was brightly lit. The time of the day playing its part along with the torches attached to the walls every ten feet or so. The torches were carefully looked after and a servant was designated for keeping them all optimally lit. The Chief trudged through the hallway, passing his mother's small room where she spent her days indulged in minute tasks such as dusting and polishing her vast collection of miniature idols, animals and tapestries. He had almost forgotten to greet her, not that she would have minded because she was always too busy doing whatever she did in the dark room of hers. He walked back and entered the room. The stone bead curtain at the doorway rattled as he stepped inside. His mother was, as expected, cleaning her artifacts with a bit too much concentration. As she heard the sound of the beads, she turned to him with the perpetual smile on her face. He bowed down to her and kissed her feet as was the tradition. He had planned to leave the room as soon he did so but decided to stay. He collapsed on the bed of his mother. She looked at him with joy in her eyes. It wasn't every day that he chose to spend time with her old mother. She put down the statue and came to the bed. She sat down beside him and caressed his hair. He placed his head on his mother's lap.
"You don't look very Chiefly when you are withered like this", she said softly with a tone oozing with wisdom.
"What am I gonna do with this village?", he sighed.
"Just get started by getting married, I have talked to your aunt, her daughter looks like a goddess. I'll arrange a meeting. The couple of you will…", his mother started with her usual motormouth.
"Oh! for god sake! A stereotypical mother!", he interjected with a loud laughter, before she could name his future children on the spot. His mother laughed with him.
"I know you said that you will get married when there is lasting peace in the land. When do you think that it will come?", she asked him in all seriousness.
"Soon, mother. Very Soon"
"So, what troubles you my Chief!?", she asked lightheartedly while sitting up on the bed as he laid just beside her. The young chief was not sure how to or whether he should start.
"Was father a good chief?", he volleyed the question, staring deep in his mother's eyes. His mother was astonished to hear such a query. Coming from him, she knew a great crisis had come about.
"Interesting ask. Your father was a kind soul when I married him. He had the morals a person would die for. He loved his people with all his heart and worked for their benefit while staying in his ethical boundaries", she explained as Baka listened attentively.
"But one day he felt that he was going to wait too long for many of his dreams to come true, so he started to compromise on his morals and principles", she continued.
"What do you think was his greatest mistake?"
"He prohibited the people to step out of the forest. The man I loved for his principles, spread all sorts of rumors with the help of the Shaman to make people stay. He had seen the systems outside. He was scared that they might get new ideas if they went outside. He didn't understand that the people would benefit from it in the long run. I tried my best in convincing him but I'm just a woman after all"
"If I want to persuade the people to go out of the forest?", Baka asked plainly.
"You'll first need to pull them out of the pit of those rumors but that crooked Tai won't let you do that", responded the mother with apparent hatred for the Shaman in her tone.
"I know, but I'll need to find some way or our people will keep living and dying like animals for centuries to come", Baka put in thoughtfully, searching for answers.
Mother was certain that her son will come up with a way to do so as she knew his son for his determination but she wondered if he would deviate from the ethical principle to achieve the goals like the father did.
"Don't play with the balance of nature, son. A seed grows into a tree only in its designated time. If you try to meddle with it, the seed will rot", she said with a caring gaze and tone. Baka was wondering what she had meant when she continued, "Your father made the same error. He went hasty. Didn't give the nature enough time and took matters in his own hands. He broke the laws. The grim consequences persist to this day". Her son was surprised to know that her mother had seen and understood it all. She saw it on his face.
"I may be powerless, but I am not blind, my son. I even tried to talk him out of it. I realized I was pleading to only the shell of the decent person I had loved and who had once loved me back", she wiped a tear rolling down her face as she continued.
"The Shaman had conquered his head with promises of prosperity if he walked in his path. That made him dependent on the Shaman and he couldn't break free. Now you face the same problem, don't you?", she asked.
"But you said his biggest mistake was prohibiting the…", the Young Chief was on the course to ask when his mother interjected, "You look gravely troubled and that issue wouldn't have caused you any. Why don't you stop what your father couldn't?"
The Chief was defensive now. "I only throw away the criminals", he said in his defense. His mother smiled and caressed his face. "What happens when you run out of them?", she asked. The question threw the Chief in a deep thought.
"That doesn't make it any less cruel. End it while you can", she pleaded.
"I can't", he said. The strength of the mother's smile didn't wane.
"I know that maniac stands in your way. Now he is the one meddling with the nature. He will pay", she said.