#kanali

Needless to say the meeting between a demi-god and three remarkable gnolls was in better terms went a hell of a lot smoother if you know what mean. At first our interaction was quite tense with explaining how I had met Nikolai aboard the ship, how he saved me from the storm, and only a hint of what happened afterwards up until this very moment. Kanali and Akisha luckily approved of Prince Ishkah, but we were not out of the woods just yet.

Our mother was the leader of the Gnoll Tribe up in the Savannah flat lands just west a little ways from the port where our ship docked. My sisters and I had gathered supplies for our village. Nikolai offered to help carry, but needless to say we gnolls were stubborn when it came to carrying our own weight. Thus that left my beloved with only a handful of supplies so that he didn’t feel too horrible or left empty-handed.

When we were finally done gathering the supplies we needed, Kanali led us through to the entrance of our home. Our village was kept mostly remote away from most traffic, but not too far away from civilization if worse came to worse. Luckily as we entered the cool cave to get out of the scorching sun, there was a familiar brother up ahead trying to gather all the cubs back to their parents’ nests before night fell across the Savannah terrain.

Ronan, the runt of my siblings, looked over eyeing the newcomer. His almost bleached white dreads went to his cheek, but those eyes had a keen look of fear and yet curiosity to them. He had always been a coward, but behind his outer appearance the albino gnoll was kind and family oriented like the rest of us. Hopefully Ronan would get along with Nikolai…

It was then that as we came to the center of the village that the horns blew signaling time to gather for the evening meal. Mother was talking with her female guards before stopping as she spotted Prince Ishkah among us. Her howl-like yip was a clear warning as the guards came to circle Nikolai. As much as I wanted to get him alone and away from here, I had to respect the leader and Mother of our tribe. 

“What is the meaning of this? You know that we do not take any men into our village especially those that smell of death and wealth!” She hissed coming forward to stand right in front of us. I looked over to see that oddly enough my beloved wasn’t nervous at least from an outer appearance. His captivating eyes staring with honesty and respect just as how Ishkah greeted me that fateful day aboard the ship.

“Mother, our Queen. This is Prince Ishkah of the Faraway Lands. I met him aboard the ship heading back from gathering supplies. He saved my life, Mother. Please allow him to speak.” I spoke up as my sisters flanked on either side of Nikolai while I talked with my mother. 

Needless to say it took many pleas and arguments with our leader aka my mother to let Nikolai stay in the village. She was still not convinced, but warned Ishkah to stay by my side until they could talk alone later that night. Beyond that, most of our villagers, specifically the younger ones, welcomed Nikolai with open arms begging him to tell about his journey and where Ishkah had come from. His laughter and their joyous yips only made me more aware of how special this man was. Perhaps Mother would eventually warm up and give divine permission to allow Nikolai to become my beloved mate.

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Coming into the village was quite a sight to see. The savannah terrain wasn’t as fruitful as Elysium nor as dark as the depths of the Underworld. It was mostly flat lands with occasional trees, bushes, and rocks. The cave entrance to the village kept the gnoll tribe from being a beckon to trouble from any travelers passing through. I was apparently the rare exception as Genova and her sisters led me to meet with their leader, Sarabi.

Sarabi was a force to be reckon with. Cladded with tribal markings and her dreads redder than even Genova’s proved that she was not only a noble leader, but a truly intimidating presence that all men felt when standing before a mother such as she. My heart sank knowing that this was the most difficult challenge of my life so far. if I was to be Genova’s equal I had to be accepted by not only the villagers but Sarabi as well.

I stood my ground though through even breaths as her female guards flanked me on either side with Kanali and Akisha. It seemed that Genova was trying to plea with her Mother seeing them both argue defensively back and forth. At last, after what seemed like eons, they both came forward. My beloved rushing forward to exclaim that Sarabi allowed me to stay in the village, but only if she stayed close beside me to make sure harm would not come to me from the other gnolls in the village.

However, most of the gnolls welcomed me with open arms. Not so much the elders or the guards, but I got to tell stories to the younger ones from cubs to I would say around Ronan’s age. I wasn’t sure if Genova’s younger brother was going to acknowledge me since he was preoccupied with many orders from the female gnolls around his age. It must be a rough life having to be on the opposite spectrum where men were not allowed to stand up for themselves. In fact, there wasn’t a lot of male gnolls here except those that were mates, fathers, or those that were too young to leave the village.