A Helping Hand

Chapter 17 - Meeting Of The Two Tribes

Kotori ran as fast as he could, with the information given by Jason, he understood what needed to be done. He's surprised at how good of a leader Jason is. Although he is meant to be the next alpha, he feels like Jason has a shot at the position. 

"I'm sure no one would want him as the next alpha, he's a human after all, even now, I'm learning things from him. He's in charge of his little pack he has back there, his family, and even Kaya and I, we are his little pack, and he is leading us, however, I need to be the leader in this situation, I need to be the link to our tribe and Wesa's, its clear that they are struggling to survive, and if we help them, it will be great for both tribes overall." Kotori says in his head, panting fast as he huffs every breath with every movement through the forest, stopping at times to breathe and drink water by the river, but moving quickly to get back to the den. 

Finally coming up to familiar landmarks, cutting through trees and jumping over rocks and ledges, he sees things becoming more familiar as he runs by. He sees the den up ahead, and coincidentally, Aponivi and Rofl are right outside by the river, both washing some of their clothing. Aponivi sees the familiar wolf as Kotori slides right next to them into a barrel roll into his upright form. His paws on his knees to catch his breath.

"Is everything alright son? I thought you, Kaya, Jason and his family were out hiking north?" Aponivi says as Kotori grabs a big gulp of water from the river before speaking.

"We ran into the leader of a new tribe North." Kotori huffs out as he takes in more air, causing Aponivi and Rofl to gasp in surprise.

"Did they harm anyone?!" He yelled out worried for his family, catching the attention of the other members of the tribe. Kotori shakes his head no as he is still trying to catch his breath, it's the fastest he's ever run before and it's apparent to them both, Aponivi and Rofl sigh in relief. 

Kotori finally has enough air to explain the situation the feline tribe is in, who Wesa is, how they are in trouble with starvation, and why they are in their territory. Aponivi nods as he takes in the information. Kotori continues with Jason's proposition, to allow the felines to hunt in the northern part of the territory, Kotori even adds to have them give us a small amount of the kills in return for them allowing us to hunt there. He adds that they'd likely just move close to the border of our territory since they said they saw a cave near there. Aponivi continues to ponder on it more and even asks if he would permit them, to which Kotori agrees. "If we allow them to hunt here, it would benefit both our tribes, we get a little of each of their hunts and they have a better place to live with more game to kill. We have more allies who can help us in the event of any natural disasters, and since they live more north, we can also share their territory as well, more exploration and more things to trade." Kotori explained, that Aponivi liked the idea of having more allies and overall friends to trade goods with. Aponivi liked the sound of it, however, he wanted to meet this Wesa man himself.

"Since this is a diplomatic situation, I will come back with you, this is a serious matter and I appreciate you and Jason on taking charge in this matter." He says as he pats Kotori's shoulder, both pack small things up and they make their return back.

Meanwhile, Jason is still with Wesa, who is still eating his food slowly, Jason thinks that they probably want to savor it as much as possible, he did cook the meat with the seasonings he brought. As Jason panders to the hunting party, he also notices them eating slowly, he then chuckles to himself. Kaya, who was sitting next to Jason, lays her head on his shoulder, taking in a deep breath as she does so, Jason then lays his head on her head, both looking like a perfect couple. Wesa notices and couldn't help but ask. "How long have you two been together?" Wesa asks, catching the two off guard, blushing on how open they are with each other, which causes Wesa to smile. 

Jason coughs, "We've been together officially for a while now, her parents gave me the approval and she now lives with me back at my home, which isn't too far from her den." He says as he wraps his arm around Kaya and hugs her, making Kaya blush more. "I've known her and her tribe for well over a year now, lived out in the woods for I think 4 years now? My family and I are from farther south, in a much more warmer climate." Jason commented, which intrigued Wesa more about his origins and why he moved here, Jason then explained further, how he is from a state called Nebraska, which is mainly a crop-growing state, and how the weather changes often, from very hot and humid summers to quite fridged winters. Jason then explains why he moved all the way north, Wesa then nods. Right as he finishes his explanation, Kaya's ears perk up as she hears a familiar sound from the south, stands up, and looks onward toward it, Jason understands what she's doing as he looks in that direction, seeing Kotori return with Aponivi, which surprises him, never would have thought of him coming back with him, but understand this is a diplomatic matter, which is out of his authority.

Both Kotori and Aponivi return to their upright forms as they walk toward the fire where Jason and Wesa reside. "Greetings, I am Aponivi, Alpha of the Hopi tribe, I'm sure you are well acquainted with my son Kotori and daughter Kaya." He says as Wesa stands and shakes Aponivi's paw.

"As you already might know, I am Wesa, Alpha of the Cherokee Tribe." He then says as he shakes Aponivi's paw. "Never would have thought the Alpha himself would take the journey to meet with a struggling leader of his tribe." He says with a small chuckle. 

"I am more than willing to help anyone in need, whether a new face or not, I'd like to help anyone as best I can. Jason and I both know that wholeheartedly." He says as he passes a glance to Jason, who smiles at him. 

"Glad you could come here Aponivi, I really appreciate you're willing to help," Jason says as Aponivi sits down and takes a drink of water from his water canteen, a gift from Jason since he takes frequent trips to the Sioux tribe to visit Skah. 

"Of course Jason, Like I said, I like helping those in need, whether members of my tribe or not." He says with a smile. Wesa then smiles as he understands everything is going to be alright from now on. 

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I'm not dead! Just been really busy! Had a power outage as I was starting to write this (back on when I finished) so I had the motivation to write! so here I am pumping out as much story as I can, even got a bit of the next few chapters done too, just snippets though. I want to finish this story by the end of the year or sooner, I dislike on how many delays there have been between chapters, and I am so sorry. I'll make it up to you guys who read this dumb story of mine by trying to push out another chapter after this :). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see ya in the next one!