The Cinders of Dezu

15th: Daybreak (4)

Raina found herself inside a camp filled with large fury lion men. They were strapped with armaments on their backs and at their sides and wearing dressed down armor. They were soldiers of some kind, clearly in their off time, sharpening weapons and others having breakfast. They had been mostly quietly talking amongst themselves around campfires and huts, but as soon as each of them noticed her, they fell silent and stared. The silence spread until the entire camp had her attention. About a hundred lion men and about two hundred eyes in the quiet morning was too much pressure for Raina's feet to keep moving. She stopped in the middle of the camp.

"H-Hello!"

Raina heard her voice come out louder than she had wanted. She remembered Orion's words about being nice to people who are different. She spoke up.

"I'm, um, supposed to get to know you. I'm Raina and the king said he wanted me to meet... you..."

She trailed off. She felt like this sounded more stupid the more she talked. One of her trailing escorts stepped forward from behind her.

"The king called the girl his ambassador. We are to  give her our greetings."

Several of the lion men turned away and Raina could hear the troop sigh and grumble to each other in a language she hadn't heard before. Some started back up with what they were doing before. One of them stepped forward out of the crowd. She could see that he was older and gray on the fur around his cheeks.

"Hello, young one," he said, "We are The Daybreak Army of the Fuja people. My name is Nofoo Dod."

Raina nodded nervously and reached out for his hand. His handshake was much more evenly matched than Dai's but her hand was still swallowed by his.

"Feel free to wander our camp and enjoy our morning cakes and roasted straton meat."

"Is that like bacon or more like... well, my dad makes this shredded-"

She overheard loud arguing in the soldiers language and was caught off guard by its severity. She leaned past Nofoo and saw a huge Fuja with jagged metal shoulder pads hunched over and yelling at a smaller companion. His teeth were bared as he spoke. The words she made out were short statements.

"I don't care."

And

"He's doing it again!"

Nofoo turned around.

"Cosh! Stop! We have a guest!" he said.

The Fuja he called Cosh turned to him with a look that could burn through walls. He stood erect and began to approach.

"That's not a guest, that's a slap in the face. He sends a Nom girl into the camp!?"

"She's a child, Cosh! She's not hurting anyone. We show our hospitality here. We always have."

"I'm sorry," said Raina.

The two stopped arguing and looked at her. Raina realized she hadn't said it in her native tongue. She had said it in theirs. The two had been speaking about her in the language of their people. Raina had simply responded in kind. The warriors looked at each other and then back at her. Cosh leaned down to address to her.

"Why do you speak Fujanai?"

Raina looked terrified into his orange eyes.

"Its... I... guess I kinda speak everything."

Cosh stood tall again. Raina supposed he had to be about as high as a professional basketball hoop.

"The girl is a Vincarsee. Why bring another human amongst us? The mind of the man..."