Accepting

Dacia closed her eyes and bowed, as if she was politely rejecting her friend. However, in reality, her mind felt so pressured by that intense flood of information, that it made her experience an episode of malfunctioning.

Lya rolled her eyes in exasperation and she couldn't help but try to clear the misunderstanding, by properly explaining her plans.

"No! I didn't mean it like that! Actually, I thought that it would be fine for you to disguise as a man, if you were to cut your hair a bit shorter and..."

Hearing those words made Dacia's mind recover from the earlier shocking experience, just to make her experience an even greater shock.

"What?!!! No way! I'm not cutting my hair! No! No! No! No! No! " Dacia covered her hair with her hands, as she slowly moved away from Lya.

From that point onwards, her best friend had turned into her nemesis.

It seemed that the idea of her having to cut a few centimeters of her already short hair, was even more inconceivable, than the idea of disguising as a man to deceive people. At least, her abrupt overreaction, told Lya that things were more likely to be like that.

Unfortunately, without a plan to convince her bestie, she could only beg as her life depended on it.

Lya instantly adopted a begging stance, that was reflected in her bright brown eyes. At the same time, she started to move her body left and right lightly, in a clumsy attempt to swing the little baby in her arms.

"Please!"

"No!"

Dacia was able to see through Lya's dirty little tricks and was adamant in the idea of refusing, since she thought that there wasn't a possible scenario, where it actually worked.

"Please? Please? Please?"

"No! No! No!"

"I beg you."

"Don't look at me like that!"

Just as Dacia refused with an assured intonation, both of them heard the melodious sound of an infant laughing. Like magic, it instantly broke their pace, giving Lya the chance to get the upper hand.

"See?! He liked the idea."

Dacia opened her mouth, but no words came out of it. Somehow, that laughter had touched one of her heart strings and she felt compelled to properly look at that infant.

As her eyes met with his, it only took a few seconds of silence, before she decided to reformulate her answer.

"... Fine." She agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"Yay! Little boy, you just got yourself a new "papa"." Lya looked towards the kid in her arms and started to play with him.

Dacia was flabbergasted by her own answer. She couldn't help but sigh in resignation, as she approached them in order to play with the kid too.

The luminous white light covering the moon, quietly receded, making it return back to its normal luster.

Even though that was supposed to be a sad night, that little encounter in the forest, could be considered as a moment of joy.

.

.

.

A week later, seven men were standing still, observing the path ahead of them. They were all wearing animal skin coats, that were tinged in a grey color, the symbol of their almighty Grey Mane Tribe. Apart from that, everything else seemed to be made of brown leather, giving a contrast to their furry grey coat.

Apart from the two people leading that group, a person could hardly spot any difference in the physical build of the other five, as they were all extremely muscular and shared a similar battle aura; honed after countless battles.

As for the two people at the front, one of them was just like the youngest version of the other.

Naturally, they were important characters from the Grey Mane Tribe.

"Father... What do you think?"

The one standing a little bit behind the other one, looked at the imposing figure in front of him, expecting to hear his musings of the whole situation.

The middle-aged man Stading ahead of the whole group, brought his right hand towards his grey beard and started to calmly stroke it.

"If it weren't because of those unknown factors, we would not have this golden chance. I'll naturally try to get you the benefits you desire, my son... But you must understand that it is not our priority."

With a downcast expression and a complicated gaze, Rothur Greymane decided to follow his father's words.

"Fine."

"It's good that you understand it. However, do not worry, I can promise you that your wishes are going to be fulfilled in a few years at most." The leader said as he kept stroking his beard.

Rothur looked at his father and he couldn't help but contemplate. His father didn't really look like one of them, since he didn't act brazenly, but had an odd calmness around him. His gaze was aways pointed to something far ahead and his actions were very subtle.

Even the way he had ascended to the chieftain position, was due to his natural schemes and collaborative pacts, and not through a death struggle, as how it usually happened.

However, it didn't mean that he wasn't strong either. It just pointed that he was someone that was able to think outside the box and survive in this merciless world, by using his brains.

"Let's go, it won't take long before we arrive there."

The chieftain of the Grey Mana Tribe said as he kept looking forward. Not even once during their journey, he had turned around to look at the men who were following him, not even to look at his own son.

He could only sigh at how his tribe usually liked to do things; using their physical strength and overwhelming numbers to bully others. If it weren't for that, if it weren't for their members wantonly using and abusing of their strength, a cooperation with the Southern Moon Tribe wouldn't be required at all.

Unfortunately, his son, Rothur Greymane, seemed to adhere to the same way of doing things, as those old and foolish people from his tribe. At least, being the chieftain, he could control them all.