Amir gestured to his left in a grand manner, showing off the clearing as if a curtain had been concealing it beforehand.
"Just look around, my friend!"
Mikhail did just that, looking past the featureless mass of people to focus in on what they were up to. And he saw many things upon closer inspection.
There were children running around and playing tag. There were teenagers who were racing against each other. There were adults who were sitting down and playing board games.
And there were young adults gathered together in circles, making drawings in the sandier parts of the clearing, talking and laughing.
And there was more than just that! There was a group of all ages gathered together, practicing their vocal prowess and their instrumental dexterity, and there were the people setting up the food stands in a hexagon around the bonfire.
"..."
He could probably join the adults in their board games pretty easily. Getting a game of tag or a race going with the youngsters was also plausible.
"Mikhail?"
"Oh right. What to do… I think I'll try out the games the adults are playing."
Amir nodded, a smile on his face.
"Ah, I didn't take you for the wise type. I've mostly seen you as the simple and honest brute thus far, but it looks like I was mistaken," he said with a chuckle.
Mikhail raised an eyebrow to himself as he made his way over to the nearest group of adults with Amir. Was that a backhanded compliment? It sounded like one, but it wasn't delivered like one…
He pushed the thought aside as he got close to the adults.
"Hey, can I join you guys?"
The group consisted of a few average looking adults and a single old man. The old man was rotund and his hairline had receded upwards by quite a bit. His beard was shaped in such a way that it had three points, while the hair on the back of his head came downwards, just past his shoulders.
He radiated a wise and friendly aura.
"Oh? It's quite unusual that a youngster such as yourself would join us… Tell me, do you think you have what it takes?"
The old man's tone was inquisitve at first, but became deathly serious as if a switch was flipped. Mikhail didn't know how to respond, leaving the air around the group silent for a time.
"Bahahaha! Of course you do! Come, sit here! I will teach you the ways of Five Piece Slash!" the man said while waving him over with a wide smile. There was no chair for which he could sit in, but with a tap of the old man's foot, a perfect cylinder of pale-yellow stone rose from the ground.
"So, it goes like this…"
The old man explained how there were two phases to the game. The first phase was to line up five pieces in a row, creating a slash.
And the second phase was to eliminate the opponent's pieces. The initial pieces couldn't move on the board, but the slash could. It could move its entire length in the direction its short faces pointed to, while it could only rotate by one angle per turn.
The slash was a distinct piece that formed when five pieces were lined up, using some sort of inscription to merge the separate stones together.
As the old man explained things to Mikhail, Amir took the seat of one of the adults, who decided to go get some water. And he watched as Mikhail and the old man played the board game together.
No matter how long Mikhail took, planning out the placement of each piece, the old man would drop down his own piece in an instant, smiling all the while.
In ten turns, Mikhail had formed a slash, and the old man had formed a circular barricade. Mikhail's black slash stood at the center, surrounded by glossy white pebbles that almost seemed to shine with their own light.
In the time it took him to claim two of the old man's pieces, he had already nearly completed his own slash. Mikhail moved his slash back to the center and then rotated it once, but that was enough to allow the old man to form his slash and then move it to the center of the board.
The two slashes overlapped each other, and it was Mikhail's turn once again.
He stared with intense concentration at the board…
Mikhail would need to rotate twice in order to claim the old man's slash and continue his rampage, but the old man didn't have to move his piece at all as a result. If Mikhail closed the distance, the old man would finish him off.
"Fuck," he said under his breath.
He put a glossy black pebble down outside of the white pebble encirclement. The old man began making another slash. The old man finished the slash and moved it towards the new pieces that Mikhail had set down. Now, it had to rotate as well, which gave Mikhail the time he needed to finish the slash.
Now, two slashes were at a stalemate.
"Oh-hooo… You're extremely good for someone who only just learned the rules…" the old man said while combing through his beard with his fingers.
The match lasted an entire hour, the adults watching with interest and Amir with fascinated eyes.
"Another nice match! I, Roh the Great, acknowledge you as a new member of the Five Slash Sleuths!"
Mikhail tried to smile, but a conflicted expression was draped across his face. He had felt so close to winning! What could he have done to win?! No matter what angle he looked at it, he had been dancing in the palm of Roh's hand!
Roh watched Mikhail's competitive nature flare to life with a soft chuckle, reminiscing about simpler times.
"Young Mikhail… Failure is not the end, rather, it is an opportunity to continue, and try again," Roh said with an endearing smile.
"An opportunity to continue, huh?" Mikhail repeated, while looking up at the evening sky.
'Failure is not the end...'
Suddenly, a loud horn resounded out throughout the tribe. The Chief and the Hunter Hall had returned!
The weekly gathering was about to begin!