“I guess the recent war helped us vent much of the instinctive need to kill, but it’s been weakening amongst the kids anyway. As it is, probably in several generations our people might be able to walk out openly as a tribe once more, rather than just a few chosen ones allowed to roam the world.” - Koru Yasen-Zol, Chieftain of the Hidden Tribes, circa 721 FP.

“Nerun,” said Kyara nonchalantly with a fang-bearing smile. Cal recalled that name, one of Kyara’s children, her younger one if she recalled right. “Everyone in good health? How goes things with your brother in the lead? Any progress with little Ylica?”

“Uncle Nerun,” said Ashani as well. “Your good health is a blessing to see.”

“Mother, Niece, good to see you both returning in good health,” said Nerun as he stood up. Cal had not failed to notice that every other therian in the group still knelt respectfully, so probably his privilege as his mother’s son. She noticed how Nerun watched the rest of the party with some wariness before he finally asked his mother. “And these are?”

“Guests, and anyone who disagrees with that can take it up with her or her students,” said Kyara as she pointed to Cal behind her with her thumb. “I think Orgu already learnt that lesson first hand, but they won’t mind if others need to learn to respect them too.”

“Understood, Mother. I will pass on your words,” said Nerun. He then spoke rapidly to the others in the language Cal didn’t get earlier, likely the tribe’s own local tongue, and the rest of the therian group stood up, some looking warily at them, though most of the looks were more of curiosity than anything.

Cal also noticed how Nerun brought a mostly gray-furred female therian over and then exchanged words with Kyara in what seemed to be excited tones. She recalled what Kyara said years ago, and thought of a possibility, so she asked the therian matron to confirm it.

“That the girl you mentioned him chasing after when we first met?” asked Cal.

“Yeah, that’s Ylica, the same one,” replied Kyara with a nod and what looked to Cal like a proud smile. “They had gotten together last year but were apparently waiting for my return before they went through with the rituals. The silly boy…”

While Kyara’s words were of complaints, Cal noticed the tone she used, which showed how much the little gesture had touched the matron. They walked along the trails with the therian group around them, though this time more like escorts than anything, while Kyara chatted with several of the others in their own language.

Before sunset, they had reached the village of the hidden tribes. Cal instantly thought that calling it a “village” was a misnomer, as the place was easily as large as many cities she had seen, even if less developed structurally.

The village was situated around a large, nearly circular bay on the western side of the island, and as far as she could tell, spanned the entire perimeter and then some. Their houses were built from lightweight wood that had been treated to become waterproof, and were all built on stilts, some easily a couple meters above the ground.

Given how the houses maintained a mostly level height while the stilts got longer the closer to the bay they were, Cal assumed that they were built to avoid the high tide. The presence of many rope bridges between the elevated houses further confirmed her guess.

Many eyes turned to the party when they arrived, the locals clearly unused to guests, with even more looks that followed Leila’s arrival, as she came together with Lumi, who landed on a larger bit of open ground between the village and the forest.

Nerun left the party and leapt agilely onto a tree, which he climbed rapidly before he leapt to a nearby rope bridge. He ran along the bridge and headed towards the largest of the houses, which was situated near the forest, and was easily four times as large as most others Cal had seen so far.

Before long he returned, with a large group of other therians in tow. At the forefront was another large male with brown and black fur, who was followed by around ten more adults and a gaggle of younger therians of various ages. They all climbed down and seemed to greet Kyara affectionately, as the therian matron took some of the younger children and carried them with a smile.

“That’s my father, Koru, along with the rest of the family,” explained Ashani to Cal while Kyara was still busy getting mobbed by the horde of grandchildren excited to see her again. Cal raised an eyebrow in question, as she counted a dozen adults in the family, Koru, included, and at least sixty youngsters and children.

“Ah, right, I forgot that the ways of our tribe are different,” said Ashani again when she noticed Cal’s expression. “We are not… what’s that word you people use… monogamous? More often than not our adults would gather together in families of four to eight people, usually with a roughly even split of males and females. The children are then considered everyone’s, so if some members of the family were to perish on a hunt or a battle, the others would then take care of the rest.”

“I see… then in Koru’s case… is his family just particularly large?” asked Cal.

“It is. I have five others I call father, though sire Koru is my parent by blood, and similarly five others I would call and consider my mother,” replied Ashani with a nod. “Father is especially virile amongst our people. I have at least twenty-three siblings by the same father now. A couple of the young ones I had not seen before, but judging from their coloring they are likely father’s as well.”

“Damn,” said Cal as she gave an appreciative whistle. “And here I thought goblins had large families already.”