Zorroku and Peaches

Original Part 3

Zorroku and Peaches

Part 3

When you finally arrived in the Thunder Herd Clan village which consisted mainly of vast and beautiful, luxurious tents, which to you looked very movable. It caused you fear that you wouldn't be able to plant the seeds and be there long enough to see them sprout plants and there were people still putting up tents which made you think that they had just moved here because while there were hundreds of corrals set up. And dozens of horses in each one

Crowthu went around the village introducing you and to your surprise, everyone seemed happy and excited to meet you. Especially when Crowthu simply introduced you as the new member of his family- 'Marfu Daughter- Peaches'. You expected them to sneer at that idea, having a human as a member of the warchief's family but instead they simply nodded in understanding and agreement and smiled warmly at you. Which unsettled you a bit and made you feel like at any moment the floor was going to drop and that at any moment all this pleasantness was going to vanish. This shouldn't be happening, every account you had ever heard about the Thunder Herd Clan said that they were vicious and horrible, even among other orcs. The only way they would be this nice to you is if they knew your secret and this filled you with dread.

Then you were taken to the warchief's family's personal, but very vast and super luxurious tent where incense was burning, filling the tent with the most heavenly aroma and lit up by gorgeous lanterns throughout making the rich colors of the tent ceilings and walls seem even richer where an old woman orc dressed very well and a younger woman orc by comparison, who by the way her hair was braided and the way she was completely decked out in finery, led you to believe she was the warchieftess but she looked very familiar to you because you knew who she was but she looked at you in disgust before glaring at her husband who followed in behind you who quickly seemed to assure her something in Pregu that you could still barely grasp. It seemed to be along the lines of- 'she isn't for me, she's for our sons' before she seemed to be appeased by that but still held you with a critical gaze before she seemed to weigh and measure you by just looking at you before the older woman hit her arm and say something else to her in Pregu before the older woman turned to address you.

"Welcome home." The older woman greeted you warmly in the common tongue and the warchieftess seemed reluctant and wary if not very resentful to offer you the same greeting but judging by the way she finally offered one very begrudgingly, after looking away from her husband who was still planted like a tree directly behind you and glaring at her to greet you properly, told you she wasn't happy you were there at all and you knew why she would hate you, but until she learned the truth in her own time there was little you could do- you still needed to mind your manners and tried to make your first time meeting them go as smoothly as possible.

"Thank you, it's good to be home." You offered meekly so as not to offend the older woman, avoiding the warchieftess' gaze and kept your gaze on the older woman, offering her a small but brave smile as the older woman introduced herself as Mama Arob, Crowthu's mother and the warchieftess Yotul.

"Come, put your eagle on this perch and drink tea with me," Arob beckoned you and you quickly went over to the 'perch' which was a heavy branch pushed into the ground, but it was surprisingly solid and Razor took to the branch and stayed put but still watched over you as you came over to her and sat down on the cushions that surrounded the fire as close to the older woman as you physically could by the fire, sensing she would protect you the best before she poured you a cup of tea and you gratefully took it before she offered you a jar of honey and you took it and quickly added some to the tea before you took a stirrer and stirred it in and took a sip, a grin spreading on your lips because this was delicious tea, really some of the best tea you've ever had the pleasure of drinking and you quickly drank half the cup before she refilled it for you, the warm liquid soothing you as the incense relaxed you before the sons left and came back a few moments later, Zorroku himself served you and his grandmother a very large roast of what you assumed was horse. Already sliced into bite size pieces and flat bread that was a bit hard and stiff with some roasted onions and you ate after the old woman invited you to and started eating too from the same plate and so you did as she did, taking off a layer of soft, roasted onion and using it wrap around the cube of horse meat. To your surprise, the roasted horse was similar to beef, but it wasn't spiced hardly at all, except for the same pink salt from the mountains, which was normal for most orcs in the interior of the continent and so you reached into your satchel and got out a dried pepper and started to crush it and rip it, careful to save the seeds before the warchieftess got up and stomped over to you as Razor suddenly spooked, screamed and quickly swooped down to your shoulder to scream at Yotul but she ignored him as you quickly grabbed his feet and put him on the other side of you, between yourself and Arob to protect him from her as she took all the crushed pepper you had prepared and retreated again to eat it with her own meal, your whole body going tense as you braced yourself for her to hit you and closed your eyes, fearing the worst as her husband and other sons glared at her as she did so but she ignored them. You peeked open your eyes a moment later and relaxed as you watched her retreat again before you purred and chirped to Razor, giving him a bite of horse to eat on his perch as you pointed back to it as he obeyed you and took the piece of meat very carefully from your fingers and jumped up and quickly flapped his wings to get back on his perch before you looked to the older woman who looked at you very apologetically as she herself looked quite embarrassed as did her son and her grandsons, Zorroku palming his face in embarrassment before you tried to figure out a way to turn that rudeness around, you had almost gotten used to the really gentle and respectful way Crowthu and Zorroku and even Nar were treating you but Yotul reminded you of the very real reality of this situation. Yotul had not been there to agree to the alliance or the terms pertaining to you, so you assumed she didn't know anything of it and therefore had not agreed to it herself. At least she didn't actually strike you as she took your crushed pepper.