The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 36.1

'It's been two blue moons and still nothing has changed!' Gaplae's angry voice echoed from the cliffwalls. Nume stopped and looked at him, shaking her head.

'You know that isn't true.'

'It feels like it though. We're still hiding away, doing nothing. Yes, the wizard made the army disappear, but our original problem is still there. Look at that, the city grows on and on because so many are chased away by their own friends and families.' The man turned and looked back at the city. They had gone for a walk when Nume had realised he was in a bad mood again. He was just too tempered, too young maybe. Thinking about that, Nume suddenly felt very old.

'But don't you see? The fact that they can come here and find shelter is already something good. It's step one. I know, you want to move on and do more, but there really isn't much we can do for now. Things like this don't happen from one day to another, they take time.' Nume said, sounding way too much like Tarlequin in her head. 'But if you do have an idea how we could do more, please, do let me know.'

Gaplae walked on in silence, always a few steps ahead of her. It was rude and Nume didn't like it, but she tried to ignore it for once. They walked further and further away from the city behind them and when Gaplae suddenly stopped walking again, Nume nearly ran into him.

'Don't you miss your family? Don't you want to return to them?' His voice was a mere whisper.

'I used to miss them. I used to want to return, but since my tribe has done that to Kran, I no longer want anything to do with them. I don't know who of them did that, but nobody stopped it from happening so everybody's to blame. Even me...' Nume said with a sigh.

'But they are your family. One doesn't give up on his family, even if they are miserable.' Gaplae insisted.

'Well, they gave up on me so why wouldn't I give up on them?' Nume asked.

'Because you can be better than that.' The sincerity in his voice surprised her somehow.

'Maybe family means so much to you because frago always live with their families...' Nume said. Rethinking what she'd just said, she changed her mind though. 'Actually, I thought male frago your age left their family to form one of their own. Shouldn't you be looking for a partner...?' Nume asked, hoping not to sound too stupid. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable but once the question was on her mind, she just had to get it out.

Gaplae stared at her, blinking several times. Then he sighed and turned away, walking back towards the city without answering her question. Nume swore, she'd obviously said something wrong.

'Wait!' She shouted, running after him. When she reached for his shoulder, he brushed her hand off but still turned around and stared at her. 'I'm sorry, alright, I really am. I didn't want to hurt your feelings or say anything inappropriate...' She waited for him to say something but when he just continued staring at her, she added: 'About the whole family thing, I guess I've just accepted that I have a new family now. Kran, Tarlequin, Toma and Profaen, everybody here, really. For a while, I even felt like I had a son in Mersha. Though that is rather strange now that he's older than me...' Nume said, drifting off into her thoughts.

'So you ran away from your family because you didn't want to start a family with Kran to then go start a family with him...?' Gaplae said very accusingly.

'That's not the same!' Nume insisted. She knew that her story was widespread among their followers but yet she didn't like when people just talked about it putting it all way too simple. 'I couldn't actually have a family with Kran, that's not the way I feel for him. He's my friend, he feels like a brother to me.' Nume was tired of explaining it over and over to everybody who seemed to think they had a right to question how she lived her life. 'I just don't love him like that.'