CHAPTER 31: IT HURTS, BROTHER

"Why would he have to convince her? He’s a beast warrior. It should be an honor!"

Fenric’s expression didn’t change much, but his gaze hardened ever so slightly at that last sentence.

"Why do you think Arinya doesn’t have a choice?" He asked. "She’s picking a spouse, so of course it’s up to her if she should accept me."

His words shut them up but there were still some who were skeptical.

Beside him, Veyra looked like she’d been stabbed, stitched up, and stabbed again. Her lips trembled—not with sadness, but with pure frustration, because nothing she said made him look away from me.

She looked at me like she could stab a knife in my heart and still play the victim.

She was probably thinking of ways to try and change Fenric’s mind regarding me.

Well, I doubt she’ll succeed.

Her voice dropped to a sharp whisper as she made one more attempt.

"Fenric... you’re making a mistake."

He didn’t even look at her.

"No," he replied quietly. "I’m not."

Veyra’s face twisted, and she took a shaky breath, as if planning one more attempt but unfortunately for her, a deep voice rose from behind the crowd.

"Fenric."

It was my brother, Kaelor. He walked in, looking at everyone that we’re gathered and wondered what was going on.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and then his gaze fell on me.

I twisted my lips, skeptical.

My brother who had set a blind date with his friend on my behalf... I guess he’s the only one I can count on in this family if he went out of his way to find me such a capable spouse.

"I just came back," Fenric said. "And it looked like an audience was waiting to question your sister about my whereabouts."

"What? Really?" He turned to look at my father. "Is this what this is about? I told you it didn’t matter if Arinya took him out."

Oh-ho. So there was such a thing.

"Still, it would’ve been troublesome." My father said.

"There’s nothing troublesome about it," Kaelor said and sighed.

He surely knew Fenric had gone out to find me, since there was no other reason why Fenric would walk around in an unfamiliar area with the risk of getting lost.

"Anyways, let’s leave it at that for now, father." He said. "The feast should be starting soon."

Ah, right. A feast to celebrate their safe travels. But just thinking about how they might just be eating raw meat with no seasoning, my stomach twisted.

If only we had salt.

"Everyone, get going." Kaelor dispersed the crowd. "And..." He looked at me. "...don’t worry about the things they say, okay?"

I nodded and then a light flash flowed through my memory.

One of Arinya’s memories I was yet to inherit.

It involved a little Arinya holding her bruised knee and crying while other kids laughed at her.

"We told you this game isn’t for females. Now look at you all hurt and crying." A young male said.

"Arinya, leave the climbing to the males." A young female said, though laughing, that this was the funniest thing she had ever seen.

Arinya could only cry as her knee hurt a lot.

Zevak and Ashren were both there, but they were more concerned with taking young Veyra, who complained that her leg hurt, to the healing hut.

They didn’t care that Arinya was bleeding.

It was then that Kaelor came, driving all the children away, and carried Arinya in his arms.

He was a lot smaller then, but not that small either.

"Arinya, don’t worry, I’ll take you to the healing hut right away." He said, and Arinya opened her eyes, looking at her brother, who had dirt with a mix of blood on his face.

It looked like he had gone out hunting and got hurt. But he covered the wound with mud so no one would know.

Clever move but Arinya knew.

"Does it hurt?" Arinya asked, sniffing as the tears no longer rolled down.

Kaelor looked down at her and then smiled.

"I can’t hide anything from Arinya, it seems." He spread his teeth wide, smiling even more cheerfully. "But it doesn’t hurt. If it were, I’d probably be crying like you right now."

"It hurts, Brother," Arinya said. "My leg..."

"It’s alright. This brother will take you to get cured right away so don’t worry."

They had a good relationship.

In this entire tribe where everyone seemed to be against Arinya, only her eldest brother looked out for her.

But he could not stay by her side all the time, as he was the next chief, and one who wanted to bring more glory to the tribe.

Thus, he began to travel around.

Each time he came back, Arinya would greet him happily.

But as the years went by, those happy greetings began to fall under a dim light.

Arinya had been bullied, ostracized, outcast, and no longer cheerful in doing what she liked... And as a result, she equally grew apart from the brother who cherished her.

It was quite sad.

As the memories surfaced, I once again felt a heavy feeling in my heart.

I should mend the relationship between these two. After all, Kaelor’s only crime was not sticking around and protecting Arinya.

He’s a good kid.

I was about to leave when Fenric suddenly caught my arm and said,

"You should sit with me during the feast."

I nearly frowned since that seemed more like a command than a request but looking at that bright and confident smile of his, I couldn’t bring myself to correct him... Yet.

I won’t let him off the next time since someone’s gotta teach these primitive beasts how to be polite.

I was planning on skipping the so-called feast. Oh well.

"Sure," I answered.

This will make Veyra feel even more sore so let’s give it a go.

I was going to walk with Fenric when my father walked towards me.

This time, I frowned.

Just now, he did not ask me for my side of the story, once again. He let himself get swayed, listened to the side that was the loudest, and did not try to be a good father, nor a good chief.

If I could, I would just walk away and pretend I don’t see him, but then again, that would be disrespectful to the chief. And given the expression he had on his face... Sigh.

"What do you want, Chief?" I asked and thus made him jolt, the look of disbelief spreading over his face.

It shocked him a lot that I referred him to the chief... And not ’father’ like I called him just that morning.

That’s what you get for not acting right.