Chapter 108: Offerings (1)
Maeve smiled. "Perfect."
Finally, she looked around at everyone gathered before her. "We don’t have to finish everything in a single day," she said. "We’ll build these defenses step by step. As long as we keep working together, our settlement will become safer with each passing day."
The tribe members nodded with determined expressions.
"Yes, Goddess!"
"We’ll do our best!"
"We’ll protect our children!"
Their voices echoed across the settlement, filled with excitement for the work ahead. Even though it would take time, everyone could already picture a future where the Azuryn Tribe would be protected by more than just Axan’s barrier.
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They worked until the sun was almost setting and they probably could have kept working for a few more hours if Maeve hadn’t finally stopped them.
"Since we’re holding the Purification Fire Ceremony tonight, we can continue tomorrow," Maeve said to Ikarus and he immediately passed her words on to everyone else.
Maeve couldn’t help smiling awkwardly because it felt a little strange telling everyone they had done a great job when, compared to the others, she had barely done any work herself.
Since everyone had been busy building the new defenses, there was no one who could watch over Lior all day. Because of that, Maeve stayed by his side from morning until evening.
Most of the time, she simply sat nearby and watched everyone work. Only when Lior fell asleep did she have a chance to help the women twist the dry vines together into sturdy ropes.
"Thank you for working so hard today," Maeve said when she saw her three husbands walking toward her.
Cerus blinked in surprise. "But I haven’t even butchered my prey yet!" he said, scratching the back of his head. "I don’t think I’ve worked that hard."
Maeve chuckled and shook her head. "Cerus, hunting those wild beasts was already hard work."
Her gaze slowly shifted toward the pile of beasts stacked near the settlement’s entrance, and she couldn’t help letting out a soft hiss.
Cerus and the other warriors had killed them by quickly twisting their necks, so most of the beasts hadn’t bled much at all. Their bodies were still in good condition, making them much easier to butcher without wasting valuable blood or meat.
"But I think we should butcher them as soon as possible," Maeve said. "Since we’re going to build a large bonfire for the Purification Fire Ceremony anyway, we might as well smoke the meat so it will last longer."
Cerus nodded in agreement. "Yes, I was thinking the same thing," he said. "But everyone seems too excited to wait for the red moon tonight."
He let out a sigh and glanced at the warriors, who clearly had no intention of wandering too far from their mates.
"They’ve been looking forward to this all day," he said with a helpless smile. "If I ask them to butcher the beasts now, I’m afraid they’ll finish as quickly as possible and keep looking at the sky every few minutes."
There was a good chance they would end up accidentally chopping their own hands because they were too distracted.
"I can understand them," Ikarus said with a small smile. "I was just as nervous when I was waiting for the red moon while Maeve was pregnant."
Maeve couldn’t help but chuckle. "Maybe we can wait until the red moon appears. Besides, the fire will probably keep burning for a long time tonight."
Then she looked at the three of them with curiosity. "What kind of belongings are you going to throw into the fire?"
Unlike her, they had lived in this world since the day they were born. Surely they had many precious things they could offer to the Purification Fire.
The three brothers looked at each other before Cerus answered first. "I’ll throw in my first hunting knife."
Maeve blinked. "The one you’ve been carrying since we met?"
Cerus nodded with a smile. "My father made it for me when I caught my first prey by myself. I’ve kept it ever since."
Maeve could tell from the way he spoke that the knife meant a lot to him.
Axan spoke next. "I still have the Voryn Stone my mother gave me before she withered away," he said. "Its energy has already run out, so I can’t use it anymore."
Maeve looked at him gently. "But it’s something your mother left behind. Don’t you want to keep it?"
Axan fell silent for a few moments, carefully thinking about her question. In the end, he slowly shook his head.
"No." A small smile appeared on his face. "My mother would be happy if she knew that something she once gave me was being offered to the Purification Fire to welcome a new baby."
His gaze moved toward the center of the settlement, where the villagers were already preparing the large bonfire.
"To her... it would mean that everything she did to protect this tribe has finally paid off." His smile grew a little warmer. "It would mean that the future she gave her life to protect is finally filled with new life."
Maeve looked at him, her heart growing warm. She had never met Axan’s mother, yet from his words alone, she could picture the kind of woman she had been.
A woman who had loved her people so deeply that she had given everything she had to protect them.
"I think..." Maeve said softly, "she would be very proud of you. Not just because you’re offering her gift to the Purification Fire."
Maeve continued. "But because you’ve carried on her wishes. You’ve protected this tribe just like she did."
For a moment, Axan didn’t know what to say. But then he simply smiled and lowered his head slightly. "Thank you."
She then looked at Ikarus. "What about you?"
Ikarus looked down at the leather pouch hanging from his waist. He rested a hand on it for a moment before slowly opening it.
From inside, he took out a small necklace made of polished bone. A single blue Voryn bead hung from the center, its glow long since faded.
"I’ve had this since I was a child," he said in a low voice.