Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 48: Watching the stars to find home

They rushed out of the Tiger tribe territory. They moved until Visha asked them to stop.

The strange feeling had been decreasing the further away from the Tiger tribe they were. Visha wasn’t sure why she felt like they would be in danger if they stayed. However, trusting her new instincts was something she learned was necessary.

She wasn’t used to going by instinct like that.

It was getting late. The sun was beginning to set. They needed to set up camp.

Finding a hollowed tree, they made this their bed for the night. The children, Kit and Nimo, would sleep inside. Everyone else would cover the ground with furs and sleep there.

They didn’t need to discuss who would patrol. This was not their first time outdoors.

Once again, they did not hunt. The food in Visha’s space was more than sufficient.

While they were eating, Uri broke the silence. "We have a problem."

Everyone became alert.

"It isn’t a threat." Uri was drawing lines in the ground, using stones. "We have a direction, but not a destination. We have a tribe, but not a home. We need to figure out where we are going."

"Drawing maps again?" Xeno chimed in, looking at the lines in the ground.

"He’s been doing it since we left the grotto," Visha said. "He wants to know where we are at all times." She leans against Uri, her feet touching Xeno.

"Knowing where we are keeps us out of trouble," Uri quipped.

"Yes, yes, I understand," Visha nodded. She straightened up, looked around at everyone, and said, "He is right. We need to know where we’re going. But I don’t know the lay of the land. You all need to help me."

"We have a few options. We can continue East. It is fertile, but parts of it are already claimed. The South brings us into the deserts. The North is cold, and winter would be a threat. The West... we can’t go."

The place was silent when Uri mentioned the West. Visha wondered what the West was like to cause such a reaction.

She didn’t question it, however. She would find out sooner or later.

"We can’t go West," Xeno stated. "It isn’t the place for us." He changed the subject quickly. "We need a place that is easy to defend, like a mountain or a cave."

"Too many tribes are close to the mountains. Every tribe knows the mountain range; going there wouldn’t be beneficial," Willa spoke.

"Beast and people follow the water. Let’s follow the water and see where it takes us. We need a place with both high and low ground," Chi spoke, her gaze on the distant horizon.

They discussed back and forth about the best place to go. The night got darker, and the discussion did not stop but intensified. Fil was first to go for his watch, leaving his opinion before walking away.

Visha was overwhelmed. She didn’t know any of the places they mentioned. She hadn’t voiced her opinion since they started talking. She would nod to show she was listening, but did not contribute much.

She thought about the system, wondering if it would have any insight.

She was frustrated. She started a tribe without the slightest inkling of where to go from here. She knew they needed to form rules as the tribe grew larger. A place without rules cannot be her home.

She hoped that everything would go well. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to shut out her frustrations. She knew she was getting anxious and that wouldn’t help anyone.

The conversation was going around in a circle with no one able to settle on a specific place.

Visha closed her eyes in the hope of centering herself. She didn’t need chaos. What she needed was to think of the pros and cons simply without everyone’s voices.

What she needed was a path. Even if they didn’t have a final destination, a path would show the way.

[System task: Establish Initial Migration Route]

Choose the path that will lead your tribe to a sustainable future

[Reward: World Map fragment (1%)]

Visha’s eyes opened when she saw the task. It wasn’t a destination, but it was a start. Maybe the system knew that whichever path they chose, they would thrive regardless.

"Stop, Visha said, her voice soft but firm. "We don’t need a perfect place. We need a direction. It doesn’t have to be the best of all time."

She bent down, looking at the map Uri had drawn during their discussion.

"What we need are defense, resources, and water. We don’t know if we can find all three, so we need to prioritize. Which is the most important right now?"

"We need water, defense, and information. We can only guess when it comes to resources, so we need information about the resources," Uri stated. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Visha nodded. "Then we don’t need a final destination, we need a path. We can follow the water. Instead of going deeper into the forest, we find the edge. That way, we have better visibility, and defense won’t be too much of a problem. Where there is water, there is bound to be food. So resources should also be solved. As for any other information, we don’t need it tonight. We take things one step at a time."

Visha could almost feel the collective sigh from everyone.

They had been talking for so long and hadn’t come up with a solution, but she was able to.

Everyone dispersed after the issue was solved. They didn’t need to think about it anymore, so they did their own thing.

Later that night, while everyone was asleep, Visha was still awake. She was looking at the stars through the leaves of the tree. Uri and Xeno came to sit with her.

They had to patrol, so they didn’t lie down.

They didn’t speak; they didn’t need to. Under the vastness of the wilderness, the billions of stars watched and were a testament to the new life they would build.

Visha lay on her back. Xeno’s hand found hers. Uri laced his fingers with her other hand.

They were a unit. A soul in three parts.

Visha closed her eyes, releasing a breath. They hadn’t found their final destination yet, but they found a path.

Visha thought, for now, this was enough.