Nolkonoe stared at Charlie, the crowd of Forgers and Vultures did as well. Despite there being over two hundred present, not including the rest of the tribe, not a signal one spoke as they processed what he had just said. Even Nolkonoe was having a hard time believing what she had just translated.

“For five days I have brought the entire Vulture and forger clan,” those were his words.

“Why?” Phukomeia broke the tense silence.

“Simple, I wanted to get my point across,” Charlie said, his usual soft detainer and attitude not even present in the slightest.

“But why do this? Why trick us into signing those contacts! We trusted you!” Phukomeia screamed back, not being able to handle the fact he had betrayed them in such away.

“I want to help the tribe, but I knew that your tribe trusts actions far more than words. So I took action to get my point across,” Charlie calmly replied.

“By making us into slaves!” Phukomeia barked, beginning to storm towards Charlie.

“Only for five days. Now think about this, what if I had put five weeks? Or five months, or even five years?” Charlie said, Nolkonoe translating his every word to the mixture of scared, confused and angered tribe’s people.

“Then I would punish you and beat you until you called he master!” Phukomeia said, moving to approach him. A hand grabbed her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Turning, she looked to see the Chiefess holding her.

“Listen to him, I want to understand why he did this,” the Chiefess muttered in her native tongue as she kept her eyes locked onto Charlie.

“I want to prevent the tribe from being scammed again. That’s all. And I know that this all seems bad, but as I said before, I wanted to show you the dangers of being scammed by scamming you and showing you the potential impact, it could have. And if let's say you tried to attack me, I could have already sent one of these documents off to the Merchant Union and have summoned an army to support me,” Charlie explained.

“You could have just told us! We will always listen to you!” Nolkonoe said, finally speaking up.

“Yes, you would have. But you wouldn’t have taken it seriously. Your tribe is a proud people, I can tell that. So, if I just talled you this, you would think I was just worrying and brush it off as you are so proud of yourselves you would think that you wouldn’t fall for the same scams again,” Charlie said, raising the contract and ripping it in half. The tribe watched as he ripped the contract into small, confetti-like pieces.

“I…I don’t want to be treated as weak. I want you to acknowledge me as someone who can be of use, not just a toy,” Charlie said, taking a few deep breaths as he nervously shuffled in place. Keeping his arms by his side, he locked eyes with Nolkonoe. Smiling, she nodded to him.

“I’m innocent minded, naïve to the horrors your tribe has faced and because of that, you all see me like a dog, a puppy more like, and a pet. Thus, if I simply told you, you would just see an over-conscious puppy worrying for nothing. Now think back to what you all thought when I said I would help fight the Region Lord. You never said it, but I knew the majority of you all thought I would fail, yet I delivered and how did you thank me? Carry on treating me like a pet, maybe with a little more respect and privilege. So, if I wanted to show to you all the point, I needed to act less like a pup, and more like a wolf,” Charlie said, staring bravely down at the crowd.

Saying nothing, the Chiefess climbed onto the stage and wrapped her arms around Charlie.

“Love,” She muttered as she held him tightly, wrapping her tail around him in a comforting gesture.

“Always want, always love,” she said in her signature broken English.

“I want to be more than just a pet. I want to do something that would make my family….” Charlie quieted as he almost burst into tears.

All anger from the tribe disappeared as Nolkonoe translated what he said. Climbing onto the stage, Nolkonoe churched at his side.

“You want to prove to your family you aren’t useless? I understand. But we care for you, all of us,” Nolkonoe said, paying him from the Chiefess for a second so that he could look over the gentle faces of the tribe’s women. Even the Forgers looked at him with sympathy.

“I want to still give the money to the groups, but I also want to start something else,” Charlie said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Anything darling,” Nolkonoe said, running her fingers along his cheeks to wipe away any remaining tears that he had missed.

“I would like to start teaching anyone who wants to listen about merchants, our tricks, our documents and contracts, and in the future, I would like to prevent something like this from happening,” Charlie explained, finally regaining his demeanour.

“Sorry about tricking you,” Charlie said, lowing his head to the crowd. The crowd murmured and quietly debated what he had just said and done as Nolkonoe provided her service as a translator.

“You did it to help us, right?” Phukomeia said, moving forward and placing a soft hand onto his head.

“Yes,” Charlie said meekly.

“Then we love you regardless. But don’t think that makes you innocent!” Phukomeia said as she placed a soft kiss onto his lips, biting his lips slightly as a show of dominance.

“And I think your little trick worked, I know for one I was terrified for a moment there,” Phukomeia said, a large smile on her lips as she went to kiss him again, only for the Chiefess to drag him back into her arms.

The lead Warrior and Huntress stepped forward. Placing their hands onto Charlie’s head they smiled.

“We’ll help you do something great. Something that would make your family regret ever looking down on you!” The Lead warrior said with a grin. Not far behind them, he saw the two daughters of the women. Both had a smile on their lips.

“the tribe is here for you,” Nolkonoe said as she got to her feet. Grabbing Charlie’s arm, she dragged him in front of the crowd. Placing her hands onto his shoulders, she yelled something in her native tongue. The tribe responded with cheers and smiles.

“I have been translating your words to everyone, each here understand what you did and why. And I guess that there are many who would be more than willing to help,” Nolkonoe explained as the tribe continued their cheers of support.

“A new era shall be born, and I personally would like to be a part of it. Would you allow my Vultures to come and learn from what you have to say?” Nolkonoe asked, and Charlie simply nodded in return.

“We’ll start today,” Nolkonoe said as she began to ask the crowd in her native tongue for anyone willing to come and help.

Thirty, then forty, then fifty stepped forward, all wanting to learn the tricks of the outsiders who had brought them so low before.

“Thank you,” Charlie muttered to her as the crowd began to decide and those who wished to learn gathered. Room was made and tables, benches, blankets, and pillows were gathered for the tribe to begin their talks.

As this was done, out of odd respect she now found for Charlie, the Chiefess had the money owed distributed to the clans.

“He had me worried there for a second,” the woman taking the place of the Forger clan head said as the boxes of coppers were taken and given to some of her clan members.

“Despite what he wants, he is still my pet. I know him far better than he even knows himself,” the Chiefess responded.

“So is that just a fancy way of saying you knew he wouldn’t do anything bad?” The woman said.

“I don’t think he would go against me, the maids he grew up with for two years reported every little detail about him back to me. One of the biggest ones was that even though his father beat him often, he would still do his best to impress him. Each time he failed, but still, he tried. Like a loyal dog. Now though, he is my loyal dog, and I’m interested to see how loyal he becomes with more love than beatings,” the Chiefess ranted as the leader of the Forgers was slowly edging away from her.

Eventually, she just turned and left before the Chiefess could continue her ramblings about how amazing and intelligent her adorable pet was. Finally noticing that everyone had left, she turned to look at Charlie. On the stage he stood, walking with Nolkonoe as she translated his words. Pride swelled into her chest as she looked at him. He had tricked them in such a simple way, yet still, they fell for it.

He wanted to prove himself, that was his message to them, and the Chiefess heard it loudly and clearly. Walking to his side, the Chiefess decided to score a few points with him by helping him towards his goal of greatness.

Stopping before he had even really started, Charlie looked up to see the Chiefess standing over him. Looking to Nolkonoe she asked a few words in their language. For a moment Nolkonoe was silent but then smiled as she stared down at Charlie.

“The Chiefess has decided to give a gift. The position of our treasury manager. You will be in charge of the tribe’s spending, how it is spent, and who/what it is spent on. But only on one condition, you make time to spend with her,” Nolkonoe said.

The crowd that had moved out of the way before was still gathered as they wished to watch him and try to learn a little from Nolkonoe’s translations. Each of them smiled and laughed as they knew this position was both to both give thanks for helping them, as well as a ploy of the Chiefess to get into his trousers a little quicker that night. None could blame her though. The tribe had been shaken in the small ten-minute gap of Charlie speaking to them about him tricking them.

Even though he still held the status of ‘the Chiefess’s pet’ there was defiantly a small amount of respect present within the crowd of women.

“Thank you,” Charlie said, blushing slightly as he looked down out of embarrassment. Laughing, the crowd only made him blush more as they stared at him. Still, though he continued his work.

“Alright,” Charlie said, clearing his throat as he now intended to start his lesson.

An hour passed as Charlie began revising over how he had just scammed the tribe. How he had used his place as an innocent pet to win their hearts and let their guards down. This both intrigued the natives as some Vultures took notes, but as well this did reaffirm the newfound feeling of respect that was beginning to blossom.

To the side, the Chiefess sat with the other clan leaders. Many were there to try and learn, but just as many also just wanted to watch him. Despite so many shows of dominance and ownership over him. There were still many who knew the risks of going against the Chiefess balanced with the benefits of having him as a member of the clan.

The Vultures were gossipers, so word of him pledging elegance to the tribe rather than a clan quickly spread. And it was just as quickly ignored as many smaller clans as well as the larger clans knew his current and potential future value.

“I don’t see why his family saw him as a burden? He is smart,” the lead Huntress said with a wide grin as she stared at Charlie as he passionately continued to explain the scam in detail.

“You're just saying that because you have a poor understanding of his language and don’t understand any of the big words he is using, like document and signature,” the lead Warrior said.

“document isn’t a big word!” The lead huntress argued, sitting up from her lying position across a few piles of furs.

“Big for you,” the lead warrior mocked. As the two women argued, the Chiefess simply continued to watch him. There it was again. The same look he had when he said he would help them fight the Region Lord. The look of determination. Smiling, the Chiefess only wished she could see that look more often. But still, what he had said before stained her mind. He wanted to be more than just a pet.

“Do you think he enjoys being with me?” The Chiefess said, stopping the two women and their daughters from bickering.

“Well yes, why wouldn’t he?” The Lead Huntress said. Shaking her head, the Chiefess spoke.

“Ignore it, I am just overthinking things,” She said, sitting back in her pile of furs as she began to brush her tail with her fingers.

“I think we should have a break here. I think the shock of me ‘betraying’ you was a bit too much for today,” he said, now three hours into his talk. Looking at the tiered and sunken eyes of the Vultures, Nolkonoe agreed.

“I think you overwhelmed them a little much. Try taking it a little slower next time. This is your first time trying to teach after all,” Nolkonoe said, running her fingers down his back.

“I love you. You did well today,” Nolkonoe said, turning Charlie to look at her.

“But if you ever make me panic again like you did today, I’ll have to teach you a lesson in how we torture captive raiders,” Nolkonoe said, biting and nibbling the top of his right ear slightly.

“I see,” was all Charlie said as he allowed her tail to wrap around him. Yeah, it was probably best to not try something like that again if he valued his life…

“I have to admit though, it was nice being able to get that off my chest today and not get skimmed by the tribe,” Charlie said, relaxing into the embrace of Nolkonoe.

“To be honest, I still think many will be talking for weeks about how the small, adorable human tricked a tribe of a vastly superior species into becoming his slaves for five days through a signal piece of paper,” Nolkonoe said, lifting the tiered looking boy into her arms as she walked over to the Chiefess.

“I think though that despite how she acts, someone is quite annoyed that you tricked her,” Nolkonoe explained. Despite seeing the Chiefess publicly give him a position of somewhat power in a tribe of warriors, as well as congratulate him on tricking them, her ego probably took quite a hit. Carrying him over to the Chiefess and a pouty looking Phukomeia, he automatically lowered his head to them.

Placing him into the arms of the Chiefess, he looked up at the tall wolf woman.

“Sorry for tricking you,” he said, his big, scared eyes making her heart flutter.

“No trick again, or I eat!” The Chiefess announced as she buried her face into his neck. Moving to his other side, Phukomeia did the same.

“Idiot, you could have just told me, and I would have helped,” Phukomeia wined as she wrapped her arms around him. Not wanting to again argue his point that actions spoke louder than words, he placed an arm around her and allowed her to bury her face into his chest.