In the early morning, I have a question for Nimm Or'.
"How was your sleep?" Nimm Or' asks me.
"It was good, thanks." I smile as I lie to him. I don't want to be rude about how I stayed up to check if anyone from his tribe would attack me.
"I was wondering, where is your father the chieftain?" I ask Nimm Or', as the tribe are all coming out of their tents and washing their faces.
The thought came to me as I was almost about to doze off last night. I realized that they mentioned the chieftain but he was and is nowhere in sight.
The ground is still slightly damp from the rain that subsided after the night. Patches of yellowish grass have dew drops sliding off the tips and there are still raindrops on the tent surfaces. The ground has some cracks in the ground, where it was dry before.
I see Tara splash some water at Toya, who returns the favor with a big stomp in another puddle. Tara sticks out her tongue and crosses her arms, before she runs behind Serah, who is hanging a hand-cloth to dry on a yarn of clothesline. It renders a real smile on my face as I look at his family living their lives so innocent and full of animated emotion in their features.
"My father went on a journey to form a peace pact with hunters in the west after what happened near the borders of our territories. I've been informed he encountered some hostility but will return to our tribe by tonight for the preservation ritual." Nimm Or' tells me.
Serah asks me to go help with heating water and making campfires, so the conversation ends abruptly about Nimm Or's father. I can't help wondering about Nimm Or's father and if it's merely a coincidence that he wasn't here when they took me away from Abe. What if the chieftain was there with the others who took me from Abe?
I can't accuse him since I don't have any proof and to accuse them would make me the hostile attacker again in their eyes. So I follow Serah with many thoughts in my mind, as she leads me around the tribe's tents. Many of the tents house families, while there are a few single older adults who have their own tents, like Matya.
The cooking tent requires some assistance with getting started. Since they don't have the preservation ritual yet, I need to return during lunch and before dinner to help set the fires for cooking. Inside the cooking tent it smells delicious, like some kind of chicken or pheasant with spices and herbs. There are some wooden logs and many metal pots with utensils like ladles and knives.
"What are you making?" I ask one of the tribe's cooking ladies.
The cooking lady doesn't speak at all to me, and focuses on her own cutting and preparing the meat and herbs.
Serah laughs, rubbing a hand over her belly.
"That's the head cook Mimmy, she's a bit shy and mainly speaks in our language Fireh. Mimmy, meet Penelope. She's helping with the fire." Serah introduces us.
Mimmy stares at me. She has big brown eyes and plaited hair in an updo, while she wears something similar to Matya, except her cloth is not pink but a deep maroon.
Mimmy mumbles something and points at me, before pointing at the pot in front of her. I aim my hands at her pot and instantly it warms. She smiles for the first time and with delight, her eyes growing wider. She immediately adds a bowl of water into the pot to boil some sort of homegrown potato-looking vegetable.
She touches a hand to her lips and mumbles the same word, "Kapsuhn!"
"That means something like please and thank you," Serah explains.
"How do I say you're welcome?" I ask.
Serah teaches me to say "Deam Nor!" to which Mimmy garbles a random response as she laughs.
We then leave the tent and the cooking tribespeople to continue preparing the food.
I visit the school tent next, spending most of my time in the day with the younger kids and listening to the teacher. Serah leaves me in the school tent, as I reassure her that I'll be okay here.
There are two main teachers in the fire tribe, a kind-hearted couple called Sofi and Sid. I am fascinated by the way the kids learn and the way they are taught. It is not like what I remember of my childhood, in the areas near the central palace. They teach basic things, like math and literature. But they have less resources and only use two books for learning.
It is then as I'm sitting in the school tent that another memory strikes me.
I remember growing up near the palace, meeting Abe at a centennial ball…my eyes water as I can finally remember how I met my husband.
"Good afternoon Miss. Sofi! Good afternoon Mr. Sid!" A group of fifteen children clamor and call together.
I wish I could go to Abe now, I wish I could see him and tell him I remember how we met. How we fell in love. But I cannot leave here yet, and he has not found me either. So I try to immerse myself in the lessons of the fire tribe schooling. Sofi and Sid are very inclusive and they ask the kids to introduce themselves to me.
Toya and Tara are also in the class and their grasp on language seems to be better than some of the others, who don't really speak or perhaps are too shy in my presence.
Eventually, we eat lunch together, as a communal activity.
Since it's not raining the whole tribe meets up around the main outside area. The warhogs are nowhere to be seen and I ask Serah about that.
"Oh, we have something like stables for the warhogs."
"You know what stables are?" I ask.
Serah smiles and she tells me her story.
"I was initially born in another place far from here, called Fragska. We had things like in high societies, I lived in a nice mansion. Nimm Or' came to Fragska on a diplomatic visit. He and I loved each other at first sight, and I agreed to come and live with the fire tribe."
As she speaks, tears well up in my eyes.
"That's really sweet." I say.
"I'm sure your story is not that far off either," Serah winks.
I laugh, and the thought of Abe flashes across my mind again.
"Where are you, Abe?" I wonder.
I recognize the potatoes Mimmy cooked, and as I munch on them I lift my hand to Mimmy who stands watching us.
"Kasut!" I say.
Mimmy raises her eyebrows, a veiled smile dancing across her lips.
The kids around me giggle and I say, "did I say it wrong?"
"You said poopy!" Tara laughs, howling as she and Toya rock back and forth in their laughter.
I frown at first at my mistake but laugh too afterwards.
The rest of classes go until late in the afternoon when the chieftain returns.
They make quite a big deal out of the chieftain's return, as they prepare for the preservation ritual too. There is a big space with logs all around the center where a bonfire is being prepared. They instruct me to stay near the bonfire so I can help them light it quickly when the time comes. They also roll out triangular patterned rugs along the edges of the campsite, so the chieftain can step through the rugs.
As the chieftain appears, Nimm Or' and his family are the first to greet the chieftain. I suppose he is the chieftain's only offspring since there are no others at the front of the procession. I thought the tribe was quite small but now I see they have a whole army too accompanying the chieftain.
The chieftain is intimidating to say the least, with his soldiers behind him in armored gilded gear and weapons.
He has black paint all over his face, and a robe train behind him as he walks forward. He towers above all his soldiers and people, almost as tall as my Abe. What seemed to be sharp spikes on Nimm Or's shoulders are even more pronounced on the chieftain's body. He is buff like a huge and muscular army warrior, and I almost laugh when I see it looks like his body is oiled and shiny.
What stops me from laughing is the way he looks around to pinpoint me with his stare. The wrinkle lines on his face show the years of experience as well as a period of squashing his eyebrows and lips together, looking as if they are permanently held in a scowl.
He walks past everyone waiting to greet him and stops right in front of me. There are a few moments of silence where we look at each other.
Nimm Or' and Serah come near us, trying to catch up behind the group of fire tribe soldiers.
As I open my mouth to thank the chieftain for his tribe's hospitality, one of his meaty hands shoots out to grab my neck. He lifts my body off the ground effortlessly.
Dangling me in the air, the chieftain's grip on my neck tightens as I fight to breathe.