The Clans of Arra (1/4)

After Haalfrin is left alone below the Valor Hall, he stares up at his fortress with an odd mix of emotions.

Dakka and Fina had just left to go visit Lord Fheldin and Lady Arla, and dear Freyya had just gone back to the Death Realm again.

For the first few minutes, all of his Arkyn comrades are still reconstituting their bodies, leaving their commander a few minutes to contemplate his future – alone.

It's an odd feeling – being alone. He hadn't truly experienced that for thousands of years by now.

'What now?' Haalfrin wonders. 'Are there any wars to fight? Anything, really?'

He looks up and sees little flashes of silver, as the Arkyn start appearing again on the walls, one by one.

Haalfrin stands up and issues a flight spell. 'Well, no matter. Now's not the time for thinking. It's time for celebrating.'

And celebrate, they do.

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With the black wall of Death Aura gone with Fina's death, all the Arkyn and Rehkin make merry in the Valor Hall's lush, wide courtyards.

Together, the comrades dance arm in arm, sing each other's cultural songs, and tell each other tales of both the war, as well as legends passed down in their respective cultures.

The celebration goes on for hours on end, and when the sun sets, they continue telling stories and drinking themselves to sleep.

The few soldiers who stay up all lay on their backs and gaze at the stars. The Rehkin in particular get teary eyed. Some of them even weep at the sight of their full, lustrous moon.

Most suns look the same when they hang in the sky… but the moon shining brightly above Arra…

These Rehkin hadn't seen their home's moon in 10 thousand years. They can't help but go silent at the sight and bow their heads with reverence.

When the moon sinks beneath the mountains, and the sun rises again, the celebrations begin anew.

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Haalfrin loses track of the next several weeks. Even when he gets sick of stuffing his face with food and drowning himself in drink, his dead comrades don't ever seem to be getting tired.

…They say that the dead don't change, but isn't this a little too much?

Still, the war was 10 thousand years long, and having that ordeal completely behind them after so long… Haalfrin can't bring himself to go home.

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It's looking like Haalfrin was going to be forever trapped in dance and song, but he's abruptly pulled out by Kaalhyme, who gestures with his head towards the front gate.

"There're some guests waiting for you," the second-in-command says. "They're some of the surrounding Rehkin Clans. They came in droves, asking about the 'black barrier'."

"What took them so long?" Haalfrin rolls his eyes. "It's been nearly 6 weeks. That's more than enough time for some nearby clans to scout us out."

"Heh," Kaalhyme chuckles, "They got scared away when Dakka passed over them."

"… Makes sense. Let's go meet them," Haalfrin says as he puts his hands in his pockets. "Oh, and bring the Rehkin leaders with us. I imagine having their ancestors accompany us might help with any negotiations."

"They're already waiting near the entrance, sir," Kaalhyme promptly says.

In fact, it was their Rehkin comrades who alerted Kaalhyme about their descendants rapidly approaching the castle.

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Haalfrin and Kaalhyme saunter over to the main lobby. Their castle was once a palace, so the front lobby is large enough to fit a 4-Horned dragon, much less, several packs of Rehkin from the various clans in the region.

There are Hawks, Lions, Bears, Wolves, Crows, Coyotes, Foxes, Boars, and several other Clans that Haalfrin actually doesn't recognize.

All of the Rehkin are separated by clan – all of them staying far away from the others, as if being too close to the other clans would give them some sort of disease.

Luckily, the lobby is so large that they have plenty of room to spread out.

"What can I do for all of you?" Haalfrin unceremoniously asks no one in particular as he steps down the stairs.

The captains from the various scouting teams all stand up straight, and many of them bow their heads in respect.

Incidentally, the Rehkin who do this are all Lions, Wolves, Hawks, and Foxes – all from clans that's been aiding them in the war all this time.

Haalfrin turns to those 4 groups of Rehkin specifically and asks, "Do you know who I am?"

A Wolf woman – the closest soldier to Haalfrin – shakes her head. "No, sir."

"Then why did you bow respectfully to me? Don't you only do that to your clan matriarchs or respected guests?" Haalfrin asks – puzzled.

The Wolf girl pauses, then answers hesitantly, "I feel a strong spiritual connection with you. You have a great tie to my clan."

"I suppose I do," Haalfrin shrugs. "Anyway, all of you should just gather around. Stop hiding from each other. I don't feel like shouting, and I only want to say this once."

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All of the various scouting groups come together, and they pull up chairs in a big circle. With everyone ready, everyone looks at Haalfrin – waiting for him to speak first.

"Well, tell me what you're all here for," Haalfrin says. "I assume you're all here for the same thing so…" He points at a random Rehkin – a man from the Boar race. "You. Tell me why you're all here."

The Boar man clears his throat and starts explaining…

… As it turns out, everyone came here because the black wall of Aura disappeared after 10 thousand years. They were to simply find out more information about what was going on here – if there is any hidden danger here, or if there was some valuable resource that must be snatched up quickly.

"But then, your pointy-eared soldiers captured us all and brought us here," the Boar crosses his arms and huffs angrily.

"That's because you resisted," a Hawk woman sitting next to the Boar adds. "When the pointy-eared people came to invite us, we didn't try to cut them down…"

The Boar man frowns but says nothing to this.

Suddenly a woman of the Lion clan leans forward and says to Haalfrin. "You've asked us a question. How about I ask a question? What are you?"

Haalfrin swats his hand in front of his face as if he were batting away a fart. "No need for that! This isn't a transaction. I have nothing to hide, and there's nothing I want from you. How about I just tell you everything you want to know, and you answer as much as you want to?"

Even if they were to lie to him, Haalfrin doesn't care. He can just find out the truth on his own.

"Well… get explaining…?" the Lioness says while keeping a cold expression on her face.

And so, Haalfrin does.

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Over the next several hours, Haalfrin explains all about the war. He mostly talks about how the war started and how it ended. The details themselves would take far longer than a mere afternoon to explain fully.

So, the Clans are refreshed on some very old pieces of their clan history. They're told about the Ant Clan invading everyone. They nearly wiped out the Fox Clan at the time, and they severely crippled many more.

In the end, the dragons drove the Ants towards the Threshold – hoping to trap the Ants between the human's strong fortress and their own forces.

"What's this fortress for, anyway?" one of the Rehkin asks.

"Eh… You guys don't remember?" Haalfrin asks.

There's dead silence.