9, The village

“Your Grace, let me introduce my son, Kahane nor TasBiorin,” the chief said, waving a man from the group standing behind him forward.

Ayya estimated that the man was about her age. He, like his father, had a short well-groomed beard but age had not yet made it white, instead it was nutty brown just like the shoulder-length hair. His eyes were the same colour as gold. The contrast was striking, Ayya thought, and she answered his bow.

“He will show you to your rooms and when you feel you are ready, he will give you a brief tour of the village. After that, we gather in the village hall for a meal together with the village council, where we can discuss our problems in more detail,” the chief explained.

“That sounds excellent,” Ayya replied. “Don’t let us stop you from what you needed to do,” she added and once again she got a grateful smile from the chief before he bowed and hurried away.

As if the chief’s departure had been a signal, the people gathered in the square dispersed. Ayya turned to the chief’s son and found that he was observing her. When he realized he had been spotted, he turned his gaze away, and it took a couple of seconds before he stepped forward towards Sinhera and Ayya.

“Follow me and I’ll show you to the inn,” he said, gesturing towards the big house on the other side of the square.

The atmosphere was a tad tense as they walked across the square. Ayya was unsure why, but felt she needed to do something about it.

“Have you had more predator attacks since your father sent word to us?” she asked Kahane. He looked at her seriously as he walked a little behind her.

“Yes, it’s been two more,” he replied. “But let’s hold off on the serious conversations until you’ve had a chance to rest,” he said, daring a small smile at Ayya, which she answered.

Ayya could feel the tense atmosphere slowly dissipating when they arrived at the inn. A large sign over the door showed it was called “The Wild Fox”.

Kahane held the door open and gestured for them to enter. Sinhera took the lead and stepped through the door before Ayya. Ayya couldn’t help but smile, wondering to herself what Sinhera expected she would find inside the inn that could pose a threat to Ayya.

The inside of the inn was welcoming, Ayya noticed as she stepped inside. They stepped directly into a large room, the tavern Ayya guessed based on the many tables, benches, and chairs. Where an enormous fireplace against the far wall was a focus point. Ayya realised it would be a dramatic sight when the fireplace was lit. Now, however, there were only embers in it.

To the right, beside the entrance, a solid staircase went up to a ledge with a couple of doors that were visible from where Ayya stood. All the furnishings were rough hewn, in wood, and gave a stable and durable impression. On the walls hung hunting trophies of various kinds, wooden plaques with inscriptions and a couple of woven textiles.

The rough floorboards were mostly covered with a layer of straw, and from the ceiling hung oil lamps. All in all, the inn felt homely and cosy.

The room was empty of people when the party stepped through the door, followed by Kahane, but soon a door opened next to the gigantic fireplace and a couple appeared. They approached the newly arrived group cautiously.

The riders had positioned themselves so that Ayya was half surrounded by them and although it made Ayya feel very safe; she realized that it probably gave a somewhat frightening impression. She therefore smiled and took a step forward towards the couple so that they had one person to focus on instead of an entire group.

The man bowed, and the woman curtsied deeply. Kahane was quickly catching up with Ayya, although he carefully stayed half a step behind her. Ayya realized it was going to be annoying in the long run, but let it be for now.

“Your Grace, let me introduce the innkeeper Gian and his wife Seara,” Kahane said in a slightly less formal presentation.

“Nice to meet you,” Ayya said, continuing to smile at them. “And let me thank you for being willing to give us shelter. We will fully compensate you for our stay,” she continued.

The man straightened up a little and looked towards his wife. His wife looked at Ayya a little nervous at first, but then plucked up the courage.

“It is very generous of your grace, but we cannot accept money from you or your company. It is an honour for us to welcome you as our guests,” she said cautiously.

Ayya nodded at her. Ayya felt it was wrong to let the couple bear the cost that came from having the company living in the inn. But she knew that it would be insulting to insist. She made a mental note that she would talk to the chief or Kahane about it later.

“Let me show you to your rooms,” Seara said.

“I’ll wait for you guys here until you feel ready,” Kahane said with a slight bow.

“We have rooms for all of you if you don’t mind pairing up,” Seara said apologetically as she walked ahead of Ayya and the grey riders up the stairs.

“That’s fine,” Ayya replied.

“We can move a bed out of one room to another if you want your own room,” Seara continued.

“I will share a room with the lady,” Sinhera said.

To soften Sinhera’s rather harsh statement, Ayya laughed a little.

“You don’t have to go through the extra work for our sake. Sinhera here likes to keep an eye on me, so it suits us to share a room,” she said.

Seara smiled back.

Ayya and Sinhera chose the room in the middle of all the rooms. To be honest, it was more Sinhera who chose the room. Ayya agreed because she didn’t have an opinion on whether any room was better than the others.

Once inside the room, they realized it was spacious. There were two beds against each wall. On the wall opposite the door there was a small window that let in light and under the window stood a small table and two chairs. In one corner of the room was a washbasin and a jug. Ayya discovered to her delight that the jug had been filled with water. Sinhera dropped their packs at the foot end of each bed while Ayya splashed water on her face. She then sat down on the chair while Sinhera washed before joining Ayya at the table.

“What do you think?” asked Ayya.

“Hard to say,” said Sinhera. “But something is wrong, I can feel it in the air.”

Ayya nodded.

“Fear,” Ayya agreed.

“Yes, it’s palpable just below the surface of everyone we’ve met.”

They sat for a while in silence before getting up. They knocked on the walls facing the other rooms to announce they were ready. After a little while of waiting, an answer was heard. It was a simple but effective method and they all stepped out of their rooms almost at the same time and went down the stairs.

Kahane sat at one of the tables and spoke to Gian. The two men stood up as Ayya and the riders moved towards them.

“Are you ready?” asked Kahane.

“Yes, let’s take a tour around the village,” Ayya said and Kahane walked over to the door and held it open to let the guests go before him.

Kahane showed them through the village. He explained they had always lived on animal keeping. The lush grass up in the mountains provided excellent grazing and further up there were meadows they beat to get winter feed.

For generations, families had specialized in certain animals. The village was now divided into different blocks, where each block handled a particular species. There was the horse quarter, the sheep quarter and the goat quarter.

Everyone claimed that their animal species were superior to the others and Kahane told Ayya that many evenings at The Wild Fox were spent on bragging contests about the various animals’ benefits and exploits. As the evenings went by, the stories usually got worse and worse.

Kahane had relaxed more and more during the tour and even laughed a little as he recounted the various stories that had been told. However, he was careful to point out that the division of responsibilities over the various animals was not absolute.

They were still a community, and they shared the responsibility of the animals and their lives here in the mountains. He told them that the meat, wool, milk, and horses they produced in the village were sought after by the merchants, who travelled a long way to buy them.

In return, they brought with them goods that the village could not produce itself. The flow of goods and the harmony of the villagers with the place they lived in meant that the village had thrived here for as long as anyone could remember.

There were also other villages up here on the mountain that lived the same way. There was a long way between them, but they kept in touch and helped each other if needed. Once every summer, all the villages gathered to meet, exchange news and, according to Kahane, it was an opportunity for the younger ones to find a partner.

As they walked around the village, they were met with respect from everyone. For Ayya, it was a new experience to be the only aari in a place where they weren’t used to aari presence. People looked at her and looked nervous.

Things didn’t get any better by Sinhera walking close behind her and taking her job as Ayya’s bodyguard seriously and the rest of the riders taking their cue from her. When the group stopped because a man needed to exchange a few words with Kahane, Ayya took the opportunity to turn to Sinhera. 

“You need to relax. It does no good if the people don’t dare to speak to me or even come close,” she said.

“You are my responsibility as long as we are here,” Sinhera said briefly, and Ayya sighed a little.

“True, but I’m absolutely convinced that you can keep me safe even if you relax a little.”

“You can feel the mood as well as I do, probably better. Scared people are erratic.”

“I’m here to help them. We’re here to help them. We can’t do that by scaring them even more. We need to reduce fear,” Ayya insisted, giving Sinhera a determined look.

She could see that Sinhera wasn’t happy with the answer, but she still hoped the rider would listen.

When Kahane had finished his conversation with the man, and thoroughly excused himself for having to talk to him, they continued their tour.

Ayya noticed Sinhera relaxed slightly, and she thought it had the desired effect on the villagers. Although they were still very respectful, they didn’t keep as much distance. Ayya didn’t know how to approach them in a relaxed way, but when Kahane stopped to show them vegetable crops, she got her chance.

The vegetable patches were in a courtyard shared by several houses and on the other side of the courtyard a woman was hanging laundry. Something that was made more difficult because she had a little girl on her hip at the same time. Ayya walked away from the group, only accompanied by Sinhera and walked up to the woman.