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‘I may not know what she is saying, but I am pretty sure she thinks I am slow.’ Grud thought to himself as the old woman was very obviously talking slowly to him like he was slow in the head.

 

As the woman was raising her hand, Grud said, “Elder, I have no idea what you said, and I am not slow in the head, I just do not know what you are saying.”

 

This time, it was the old woman’s turn to tilt her head in confusion.

 

Thinking about the situation he was in reminded him of the time Nita and himself were teaching Mita their language, but unlike Mita who had the advantage of having a mind link to Grud to understand her impressions, he was going to start from scratch with this old woman.

 

“Guess I will start. Me, Grud. Grud.” Grud said as he gestured to himself while emphasizing his own name. Then he gestured to the old woman while asking “And you are?”

 

The old woman quickly picked up on the question by its gesture and intonation, she then gestured to herself and said “Yara.”

 

“Good to meet you Yara, I thank you for hosting me.” Grud said as he bowed his head. 

 

As Yara was about to respond in her attempt to communicate, Grud's stomach let out a loud rumble of hunger. 

 

Hearing Grud's stomach protest for sustenance, Yara raised her hand in what seemed to be a universal sign to wait as she walked out of the room. 

 

From the next room, Grud could pick up the sound of three voices, the first one was Yara's, and the other two belonged to other women. 

 

When the women were done talking, Yara came back into the room, grabbed a nearby stool to sit by Grud’s bed, and they both started trying to figure out a solution to their communication problem.

 

Seeing that he was being hosted by someone else, it was only polite to learn their language. Grud started by pointing to objects, which Yara told him the names of.

 

After some time of Grud learning new words, the partition curtain was pushed aside, and two women holding bowls came into the room. 

 

Grud could not tell with Yara due to her skin sagging from old age and her hunched posture in baggy clothes, but he noticed that the two women who just came in were more slender and had sharper features compared to the women from where he came from.

 

Yara said something to the women while pointing at a small table, and they brought the small table over by Grud’s side and set the bowls down, they then bowed to Yara who dismissed them with a hand wave.

 

The two women made their way out of the room, but not before Grud caught them stealing glances at him, he saw their eyes crawling all over his body, but lingering at his crotch.

 

When they left the room, Yara let out a knowing chuckle, she obviously knew they were checking Grud out. She gestured for him to eat as she got off her seat and exited the room to let him eat in peace.

 

—

 

As Yara exited the room, she saw the two sisters looking at her with anticipation, “Well? Who is he? Which village is he from?” Kaya asked in hushed tones.

 

“Yeah, did he say anything about us?” Tala added.

 

Yara chuckled and then admonished the two girls “Calm yourselves first. I know you saw his manhood and your blood is running hot, even your nipples are poking through your clothes.” Yara said as she pointed at the girls’ chest which they promptly covered.

 

“As for who he is, apparently his name is Grud… I think. As for which village he is from, I have not managed to get that out of him yet, we are currently having a… communication problem. Suffice to say, he is not from around here.” Yara finished.

 

Cocking an eyebrow in confusion, Tala asked, “Communication problem? Is he mute or slow?”

 

Yara shook her head and said, “Neither, apparently he does not speak the same tongue as we do.”

 

This time it was Kaya’s turn to be confused, “What do you mean “does not speak the same tongue as we do”? Sure, there are a few far-flung villages that have funny accents, but they are similar enough for us to understand.”

 

Yara, lightly bonked Kaya on the head with her cane, “I mean what I say, girl. The words that come out of his mouth are truly foreign. Currently, he is trying to learn our tongue. I will most likely be spending many days teaching Grud our tongue, so as promised, you will be taking care of him, which means both of you are doing the cooking. So while you are at it, might as well cook my meals at the same time.” Yara cackled the last part.

 

As the two girls grumbled about the extra work, Yara was making her way back to the room where Grud was when she remembered something important and turned back to the girls, “Oh, one last thing, do be cautious and respectful when you interact with Grud. I sense he is a witch doctor, and a powerful one at that.” then she turned around and went back into the room.

 

—

 

After Gurd was done with his meal, he continued his language lesson with Yara, but some time into the lesson, there was some noise coming from outside the room which was soon followed by four men coming into the room where Grud and Yara were in.

 

The first man who came in was the current village chief of the Riversong village, Jorah Riversong, he was a heavier set but obviously muscled man with scars earned in battle. The second scrawnier man who had an obvious familial resemblance to the village chief is Thak Riversong, he is the only son and heir to the village chief. The other two men looked to be just escorts.

 

When Jorah entered, his eyes settled on Grud and looked him up and down. Noticing the acid burns, all the men of the village except Thak cringed at the sight. Those who knew what the acid did to people would usually mercy-kill the victim if it got sprayed over too much of the body.

 

But the man before them had still exposed wounds all over his body. If the man before him looked to be in agony with those wounds, he would have granted his guest mercy and plunged a blade into his heart to end his suffering. But the look on his guest’s face told Jorah that he was not in pain.

 

Jorah then turned to Yara and said, “I heard we have a wounded visitor and came to see for myself. But I see that things are well in hand.”

 

He then turned to Grud and said, “Well met stranger, and welcome to my village. What is your name?”

 

There was a pause for a few moments, and as Yara was about to intervene and tell Jorah that Gurd did not know their language, Thak shouted, “The Chief, my father, asked you a question! Are you dumb or deaf?!”

 

Hearing this outburst, Jorah pinched the bridge of his nose while the two escorts rolled their eyes, but before the chief could chastise his son, Yara spoke up, “Chief, he does not know our language, he speaks a different tongue-”

 

“So he is just stupid then.” Thak said as if to crack a joke, that nobody was laughing at.

 

While Grud did not know what they were saying, it did not take a genius to pick up on the insulting tone the skinny little shit was directing towards him, this put a frown on Grud’s face, but for the sake of being a gracious guest, he would put up with it for now.

 

But apparently, Yara was not taking any of Thak’s shit and glared at Thak, “Shut your mouth, fool boy, the adults are talking.”

 

Thak sputtered and said, “You… you can’t talk to me like that! I am the heir t-” *Slap!*

 

Before Thak could finish his sentence, Jorah backhanded Thak to the ground, “Silence! You disgrace me with your words, get out!”

 

“Bu… But father! She can’t talk to me like that! And even Tala and Kaya are attending to that imbecile! They should be attending to me!” Thak sniveled like a spoilt child while pointing at Yara, then at Grud.

 

Jorah shook his head and asked one of the escorts to escort his son outside. Then he turned to Grud to give a short apologetic bow, before he asked Yara, “So what have you learned from our guest?”

 

After waiting for Thak to be escorted out, Yara shook her head, “Not much, the only thing we know about him is that his name is Grud, he is most likely not from around here, and I can sense he is a powerful witch doctor.”

 

That last point made Jorah’s and the escort’s open wide in surprise, “Really? How powerful?”

 

Yara shrugged her shoulders, “In terms of mana, I would say he is as powerful as one of the elder witch doctors, but from his looks, he is quite young, so I do not know what he knows. We are still working out the communication issue.”

 

Jorah gave Grud one last look, before telling Yara, “Keep me updated on what you find, if he is not committed to another village, he may be a boon to our village. We may be able to tie him down if we marry our women to him.”

 

Yara gave a sly smile, “Oh, I can think of one or two women who may be available… I will keep you updated.”

 

—

 

After the man whom Grud could only presume was this tribe’s chieftain left, did Grud think to himself, ‘When I get back home, I need to make sure to spend more time with my children… No way am I going to allow my children to act like that man-child.’