202 Conflicting Opinions
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“We assume they’re doing this for some very obvious reasons.” Said my father. “One of them is to give us some distraction, leaving some Goblin Kings here and there, a bunch of Champions in the other place, and hundreds of Goblins spread everywhere… They keep us busy while we are protecting the tribe, so they can plan out what to do and perhaps even attempt it at some point…”
“Indeed, this is why we must move out the tribe, they’re using it as a way to limit us… If we can get the tribe away from this accursed forest that has always been the center of attention for these bastards we might find a way to protect the people.” Said Shade.
“To protect the people… I guess there’s no other way around it?” I wondered.
“No, there isn’t really anything on my mind…” sighed Shade. “I just don’t want to repeat what happened some years ago, when they had done the same and many Amazon people gave up their lives… at the end… Even as heroes, we cannot protect everyone…”
Shad seemed quite depressed, he sat down as he looked into the ground. His eyes slowly devoid of any light, as they seemed filled with melancholy.
“Papa… Are you okay?” asked the little Aquarina, as she moved towards her father and hugged him.
“Yes… I am okay… I just have to know my limits…” said Shade. “I will protect you, and the rest of the tribe…”
“Papa…” said Aquarina, her eyes shone brightly as she saw her father being more expressive, he kissed her cheek and then her forehead, and hugged her tightly.
…..
“I love you so much, my little girl…” he said. “I will do anything for you.”
“P-Papa…” Aquarina felt a bit moved, even as little as she was, she could feel her father’s love and devotion to her and also to the rest of the people.
Nepheline also hugged Aquarina from behind, kissing her as well.
“We’ll protect the tribe, our people, alright?” she said. “This is what a true hero does, not care about some old relic… Whatever comes after that, we’ll resolve it eventually.”
“Mommy…” said Aquarina.
She got hugged by both of her parents at the same time, she was their reason to live, I could already tell. Aquarina looked very cute in that family moment, the entire scene melted my heart.
My mother and my father approached me and petted my head. They also kissed my cheeks.
“Sorry for dragging you around so much in these things…” said my father. “We’ll make sure these demons won’t touch you… We’ll bring you and the rest of the people to a safer area.”
“Indeed… We cannot risk the people’s lives, nor yours…” said my mother. “Nor that of your sibling.” My mother caressed her belly lovingly, it was still small, but I could already see that it had grown a bit bigger.
Zack who had been keeping silent for a while spoke.
“But where are we going though? And what about Ninhursag?” Asked Zack. “Does she knows this plan?”
“I know.”
Suddenly, the voice of Ninhursag resonated behind us, as she showed up inside the dining tent.
“Hey…” said my father. “We didn’t told you before, but we were going to tell you now…”
“Huh. I know… So you’re leaving the forest behind at the end…” sighed Ninhursag. “I am staying.”
“What?! No, you’re not!” said my mother. “You’re coming with us!”
Ninhursag seemed honestly pissed, as she glared angrily at my parents, especially my mother.
“I am not coming.” She said. “This is my forest, the forest of my tribe, of my people… They all died to protect it… And I will also go down too in here, this is the grave of my people…”
“What kind of nonsense are you spitting now?!” roared Nepheline, approaching Ninhursag and glaring her down angrily, her height was ten centimeters taller than Ninhursag, so she could glare her down intermittently.
“Nonsense? This is not nonsense; it is common sense. All my people died in here, so why I wouldn’t go down here as well?” she said. “All these lives lost, all the things we lost… All the other tribes, the beast folk… Everyone… After fighting so much to protect our home, now you’re all backing down?! Don’t you think this is just insulting all these people that gave their lives to protect the forest?”
Nepheline roared back.
“And what’s your big plan, huh?!” she roared. “For everyone to just FUCKING DIE?!”
Ninhursag gritted her teeth as she looked at Nepheline angrily. It felt as if they had some sort of history together, the closeness in which they insulted one another and looked angrily, there was some grudge, some rivalry, and perhaps an old friendship.
“You…” muttered Ninhursag. “You’ve changed, I guess… I cannot really count on my friend. She’s dead.”
“What?!” roared Nepheline, almost about to grasp Ninhursag’s neck, but she was suddenly stopped by Ninhursag’s presence.
“Don’t touch me.” She said. “You don’t want to do this in front of your kid, right?”
“…”
Nepheline looked at Ninhursag in frustration, as the rest of our parents tried to stop her, she seemed to want to go out into the wilderness.
“Wait, I am not letting you go, Ninhursag!” said my mother. “You’re still heavily wounded, do you want to just jump and die?! What would your parents think? What would your older brother think?!”
“You never met my family! You don’t know how we were! You don’t know anything about the legacy of the skin changers!” roared Ninhursag. “We were protecting this forest and these ruins even before you nasty knife ears got to step into our territory!”
“Knife ear?!” roared my mother. “You dare call me with such a slur?!”
“Wow, wow, wow! Alright, please, let’s calm down now! We cannot just fight between friends!” said my father. “Ninhursag! Think about this for once, please! You’re just going to die, why do you want to die so much? Didn’t you learned something with the kids? They need you… We need you.”
Ninhursag looked at my father as she raised her eyebrows, and then she looked at us, except me, Aquarina and Zack were paralyzed by everything going on, their eyes were fearful of Ninhursag’s attitude, she had changed way too much to how she was usually with everyone.
“The forest needs me more.” she said, walking away.
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