Unbeknownst to Sobek, the Neanderthals he had encountered lived not far from the lake, on a rather high hill that soared above all the surrounding environment. The choice of that place was purely logistical: from an elevated position it was easier to see any large predators and it was possible to establish with more confidence whether it was safe to go out or not. The perfect place, therefore, to locate a city.

The Neanderthals' city was in fact surrounded by a huge wooden palisade made up of layers and layers of logs, seven meters high and almost two meters thick. If a large carnivorous dinosaur had worked hard, it might have been able to take it down, but no predator would have been stupid enough to waste time and energy on such small preys. In addition, the Neanderthals would have bombarded it from above with spears and arrows, and perhaps even with stones, which, although not very efficient, would have annoyed and perhaps even wounded it if they had hit in the right places. Any predator, even the largest and most ferocious ones, would have just given up. There was simply no reason to go through such an ordeal just to get a paltry amount of protein. It simply wasn't worth the effort.

The Neanderthals' city was built exclusively with wood, since it was literally the material they had the most easy access to, but coated with a special resin to make it fireproof. Since the city was their guarantee of survival, they could not risk it catching fire and the flames destroying the palisade. Losing the wall due to fire meant being at the mercy of all the great creatures outside, who would surely have been attracted by the smell of burning flesh as soon as the fires died down. The Neanderthals called their city Thirkiom, which translated would have meant 'the refuge', or even 'the protection'.

The style of the houses resembled a sort of cross between the Egyptian ones and those of the Native American civilizations. In the center of the city there was a palace that vaguely resembled a Mayan pyramid. That was Manathan'liny, the city government center. It was also the home of the Manas, the ladies who held power in their society.

The Neanderthal's civilization, or at least the one of the city of Thirkiom, was matriarchal. This is essentially for a reason of convenience: to govern in a good way it was necessary for a person to acquire experience and therefore live long enough. In Neanderthal's society, men were hunters and gatherers, because they were stronger, while women were engaged in agriculture, weaving and crafts, and hardly ever left the city. As a result, for obvious reasons, most men died under the age of twenty-five, since they were exposed to all the dangers of the outside world and were much more likely to lose their lives, while women lived much longer. It wasn't unusual for a woman to have had at least three husbands in her life and not be able to bury even one of them because the body wasn't found since it had already been digested in the belly of some predatory dinosaur. Consequently, since they lived longer and they could gain more experience and learn from their predecessors, it was women the ones who held the power.

The Manas were a kind of cross between rulers and spiritual leaders. They handled both city affairs and religious affairs. Together they formed a council of thirteen people where they decided national issues;

at the head of them was the Supreme Mana, who had the final and decisive word on every decision.

There was no fixed path to becoming a Mana. When one of the those women began to feel old, she would go down to town, examine all the girls, and then, according to her criteria, take one of them as an apprentice. The child would then have moved to Manathan'liny, be blessed in sacred water, and then spend the rest of her youth with her teacher who would have passed on all her knowledge to her. Once the old woman was in the verge of the death, she would have withdrawn from the council and her place would have been left to her apprentice.

If Sobek had known this, he would have realized that, in some way, that could remind him a little of the Jedi system in the Star Wars' saga: they too took children when they were small, gave them to a teacher and trained them to become the next masters. of the Jedi Council. Furthermore, just like the Jedi, all Manas or future Manas were also forbidden to have love affairs: such emotions distracted them from the management of power. Their attention was to be directed exclusively to the well-being of the city and the population, and nothing else.

Neytiri was one of those apprentices. She had been chosen by the teacher Mo'at when she was only four years old. She had grown up now and was nearly sixteen; in those twelve years he had learned writing, mathematics, geometry, architecture, politics, astronomy and biology (at least the small amount known to the Neanderthals, which was minimal to that of Homo sapiens sapiens). To ascend to the rank of teacher, however, she still had to learn the religious teachings and the meaning of the ceremonies well.

The myths and legends were known to all, but only the Manas really dug into them to extrapolate their meaning, which they would have then communicated during the religious service. Most people just listened to the stories and that's it, but the Mana had to understand them in their fullest.

Neytiri was bent over one of the sacred texts (a sheet created not with paper, but with rolls of papyrus) when one of the palace servants warned her of an urgent summons. While she wasn't yet a Mana, Neytiri was still an apprentice, so observing council assemblies was part of her training. Only by looking closely at the actions of the old women could truly learn how to govern.

And Neytiri had to learn even more than the others: she had to know every single thing that corresponded to her role. Because the teacher Mo'at who had taken her into custody wasn't just one of the Manas: she was the Supreme Mana, and that meant that one day Neytiri would inherit her place as the absolute leader of her people. This meant that she had to prepare as best she could to take her teacher's role, and she couldn't afford mistakes: a single error from her, regardless of what it was, could create serious problems for the entire Neanderthals' population.

When she arrived in the Great Hall she had found the Manas already sitting on their benches. Neytiri bowed to them and then went to kneel beside her teacher's seat. Even if it was an uncomfortable position, this was the place for the apprentices: it helped to harden the body more and to test patience.

When all the other apprentices arrived and knelt beside the other elders, the Manas nodded to the servants, who finally opened the main doors. The members of the water supply expedition entered the Great Hall.

Living on a hill was safer, but it also had its drawbacks: there were no perennial sources of water like rivers. To drink and irrigate the fields, the Neanderthals had built many wells, but sometimes in times of drought there was too little water, which made it necessary to go and collect it at the nearby lake. This entailed enormous risks: moving with all those amphorae full of water in the middle of the forest, in addition to being close to a very popular lake, was certainly not a safe operation. Very often more expeditions were needed because the people sent to fetch water never returned: even their remains were often not found.

Neytiri was indeed surprised. Not only the men of the expedition had returned, but no one was missing, an event more unique than rare. This could be considered almost a miracle in the extremely dangerous world full of giant creatures they lived in. Not only that: they seemed strangely excited.

"Commander Eytucan" the oldest Mana, teacher Ninat, welcomed him. "Have you completed the task we had entrusted to you?"

"Yes, my ladies" the beaming man replied without hesitation. "The amount of water we brought will be enough until winter arrives"

"Very well. We are impressed" another of the elderly, the teacher Peyral, said sincerely. In their history no one had ever managed to bring so much water into the city: most of them got lost on the way as men abandoned the amphorae to lighten the load and escape from giant predators more quickly. "How did you manage to accomplish such a feat?"

Eytucan's body shuddered. "My ladies... we saw him. We have met the Great King of the Forest! It is he who has granted us a path free of obstacles!"

The Manas rolled their eyes in surprise. They weren't the only ones: Neytiri nearly lost her position in shock.