6 Hello, little one

Many people were crossing the bridges to reach this platform and a few hundred people were already on it, some of them were sitting in groups, there were lots of children running and many people were preparing a huge bonfire.

In front of the tree and above the platform, there was an especially large round building, its height was about 15 floors and tens of meters wide.

The structure was made by branches of the tree and silver, the outer walls seemed quite thick and were decorated with crystals and decorations.

"Is it a good idea to make a bonfire on top of a tree?"

"A flame like that wouldn't burn even a single leaf of the great ihya"

People were making room for Guaracy and the group to pass by, they looked with reverence at Cicí's mother.

"Ni Ivití, I have been feeling a lot better since the last treatment"

"Blessed be the hekura"

Many thanked and others just said "Ni", Guaracy looked at Vatu, who was right next to him and asked "Are they part of the royal family or something?"

"No... 'Ni' is how we call the elders, they lead the village and most of them are hekura"

"Are these hekura the healers?"

"Yes, but their biggest responsibility is to protect us from the Yamari. Yamari are evil beings that come from the spirit world"

Ah... Hekura is like a Shaman…

Vatu, with an worship expression, stopped speaking when they arrived at the entrance of the great building, there weren't doors in the building and the entrance hall was about 10 meters high, with some stairs coming out of it, the largest of which seemed to circulate the building.

"The reunion is going to be placed on the terrace," said Ni Ivití as She headed for the highest staircase.

As they went up, Guaracy noticed that the branches that formed the walls were covered by fabrics decorated with portraits or epic battles, crystals for lighting and inscriptions of different shapes.

This building is practically empty... People must all be outside on the terrace, hum… how did they build this?

The outside gave the impression that the building had many floors, but since each floor was very tall and were made of thick branches, they had to climb only 5 floors to reach the terrace.

Damm... I really wanted to rest… With so much magic and talking animals, they could have invented an elevator, right? "Is that a huge coral snake, climbing up the side of the building?"

The terrace was basically a large open space with a table in the center, the floor was well leveled, despite being made of tree branches, several beings and ordinary people were sitting on the ground, forming a semicircle leaving the center and the part close to the tree trunk free.

What attracted most attention were the several birds sitting on the parapet or flying over the building, two very colorful frogs and a huge jaguar running towards them.

The jaguar stopped beside Ni Ivití and seemed to be talking with the smaller jaguar that accompanied Cicí, Guaracy was about to ask about it when he felt something sitting on his shoulder.

He turned and saw a fairy-like creature, but she had butterfly wings and some body parts similar to the insect, she looked him in the eye and said "Hello, little one ..."

"Well, hello… giantess"

She laughed and flew to one of the branches that form the structure, looking around Guaracy saw a giant capybara lying near the other entrance and on her back sat an old man with a white beard.

On one side of the terrace, close to the trunk, a strange scarred man sat and behind him was a dark being with many red eyes.

Before Guaracy could really see who he was, the tree trunk twisted and formed a face, a few instants later a woman wearing a wooden mask came out from the center of the tree and took the central position of the hall.

She had lighter skin than the others, her brown hair was like a tree trunk, she had beautiful body paintings and was very tall, but for Guaracy everyone here was tall.

She looked around and said "Greetings to all" her voice had a strange tone that sounded like a crowd were speaking at the same time.

"Greetings Ni Wodàyn òwòru" all different animals and people greeted her with all their strength.

Like everyone else, Guaracy's group chose a free part of the patio to sit on. She waited for them to calm down and said calmly "As predicted... Ñyata brought us a big surprise..." the sound of the leaves accompanied each word she spoke.

Ni Wodàyn looked at Cicí and said "So far, it's a good surprise..." and looking at Guaracy "But it may bring unwanted changes..."

She looked to the left and said "But before I talk about it, Ni Huju would like to discuss some more urgent matters"

Ni Wodàyn approximated the tree trunk and the branches formed a throne for her to sit on. Shortly afterwards, a woman holding a bow and arrow, left the vegetation and walked to the center of the terrace.

Her hair was green, like the leaves that covered much of her body, she was looking exhausted. "The Caiarí have been seen again in our hunting grounds, east of the river, in the last few weeks they..."

While she reported the problems, Guaracy turned to Cicí and asked "Is this Ni Wodàyn the queen or something?"

Cicí said "I don't really know what queen means, but she is the oldest and the most powerful Ni of the tribe, the Ni council makes decisions by voting, but surely her voice weighs more than the others…"

She doesn't look old... Guaracy thought while Cicí said "But of course, minor problems are solved by people who work here, in this building and in the other buildings around the village".

"And about Ñyata, is she your goddess?"

Cicí said "I also don't know what goddess means… Ñyata is the spirit of the forest"

After briefly reporting the events, Ni Huju and a few others left to reinforce the village's guard posts, Ni Wodàyn got up and returned to the center.

"The last group we sent to investigate the matter, was discovered and hunted for days ..."

"However, Ñyata helped us yet again… not long ago, we rescued the last one that was missing… Cicí come forward!"

Cicí walked to Ni Wodàyn's side "During the fight the group ended up splitting and I was chased by the Caiarí for several hours, but they didn't have the courage to chase me during the night"

It was possible to see how worried the others Ni were, one of them asked "How did you manage to survive? the moon wasn't visible last night".

"During their escape they did everything they could to keep me from coming back, even if my supply of amulets weren't low, I wouldn't survive outside of a village... but the only village nearby was the Kurowas'."

"I ran as fast as I possibly could without spending Uzenu, because I knew that I would definitely need the Uzenu I had left, to avoid being eaten by the Kurowas or worse, like being corrupted by the Yamari and wandering for eternity..."

"The shadows began to distort itself, and even before the last ray of light stopped bathing the treetops, a terrifying silence covered the forest"

"All the animals were hidden, not even the crazy Kurowas had the courage to look into the shadows, I can't explain how relieved I felt when I saw the light of bonfires".

Cicí really enjoys telling stories, she is acting and making expressions in front of everyone.

Cicí bowed and continued telling the story in a low tone "From then on, I couldn't make the slightest sound, I used some amulets to increase my speed, senses and one more to camouflage myself, as the nearest fire had many sentries, I had no choice but to run like crazy to the next bonfire"

"Even with increased senses, it was almost impossible to get around without the moon, but I could see monstrous shapes moving through the woods... I felt them approaching...."

"I was so anxious, that it took me a while to notice black eyes in front of me… a huge Yamari was blocking my path, I didn't stop running for even a second… he was already going to grab me with his tentacles, when I used a tree nearby to jump over him"

"Make noise was the last thing that worried me, I was already prepared to fight to the death for the totem, I jumped over the fence directly into their field and climbed on top of their totem before Pü and the others could react "

"I looked at the three and said, If you attack me or call for help, I will destroy this totem and we will all become specters ..."

One of the Ni, who was sitting next to a reptile, couldn't resist and asked "Did they listen to you? ..."

"Shut up!! Don't interrupt the story… "said another.

"Normally they wouldn't... but when they looked into the shadows and saw the amount of Yamaris I had attracted... They didn't have a choice. I had to spend the night wide awake, watching them, listening to all kinds of insults, about how this kind of fight wasn't honored and bla bla bla… "

"I had to use my last Uzenu crystals so I could maintain the transformation all night long, then just before dawn, I had to run like crazy again..."

"Some Yamaris were still stalking our totem, so while I ran, I ended up running into two of them… thankfully my mother had prepared some sealing and purification charms, haha… there was no amulet left, when the sun rose…"

"When I found Guaracy, I had no Uzenu left, for the transformation and at the time I thought he was one of the Kurowas, I was exhausted, but I wouldn't fall into their hands without a fight..."

At that point, several of them started to stare Guaracy, "The rest of the story you already know... for some reason, he was lost and decided to help me…"

Shit! Please don't talk like that, it seems like I helped you, so I could infiltrate the tribe... Guaracy got up quickly and said: "I really don't know how I got here! I am really not a SPY!... "

"Don't worry, little one... we all know that" said the Ni who looked like a fairy "Vatu and the others you met are still very young, they barely started to see.... but for us on the council, your emotions and intentions are very clear…"

Ni Wodàyn òwòru looked at him and said "Let's see if Ñyata will tell us where you come from…" She plucked a hair from Guaracy and approached the table in the center of the terrace.

As soon as she put her hand with the hair on the table, the runes began to light up, first on the table and then on the entire floor.

The tree's leaves started to move, the sound of the wind seemed to be passing some kind of information, the phenomenon only lasted a few seconds, but Guaracy could see an expression of surprise in almost everyone, only the older Ni, the one who was on top of the capybara started to laugh.

Ni Wodàyn òwòru with a strange look said "Everything in our world is covered by Uzenu... we knew Cicí's fate, the only thing that was unexpected was that Ñyata would bring someone from another world to help her..."

"Are you telling me that she brought me here simply to help Cicí?"

Ni Ivití looked at him and said "Yes and no… you were already coming to this world, now the exact place or why you are coming, we don't know, your destiny's line had been broken with the trip... Ñyata felt you passing by through the forest, just when she was going to intervene, to save Cicí… she decided that instead of leaving you to randomly die in the forest, you might as well be a little help to Cicí "

"-_- ... Could you ask her why I came to this world?"

"She doesn't know either... but look on the bright side!... You could have appeared in the middle of the forest and survived just for a few minutes, or you could have appeared directly in the Kurowas' village and… you know..." said the elder with the capybara.

Ni Wodàyn looked at him and said "The important question now is what your destiny will be, going forward..."

"How about accepting him in the tribe? he has nowhere to go", said Cicí.

"He came from another world... Even his mere presence in our tribe can attract many problems" said the Ni, who was sitting next to the black insect ".

"His destiny is already linked to ours..." said Ni Ivití.

Another Ni stood up and said, "If we are going to accept him into our tribe, the right thing to do is to follow all the rules and probe his memories, we cannot let a monster enter into our family."

Cicí couldn't stand it any longer and said "I don't think that's fair... he helped me, and it was Ñyata herself who brought him to us"

"Cicí, you know the rules and Ñyata put him on your way at that moment, but we don't know anything else about that" said another Ni.

This may be a problem... my last few weeks have been a little... Guaracy looked around, but it was obvious that he had no way out.

Ni Wodàyn said "We don't have much time, tonight's preparations are almost ready… sit down Guaracy, I'm just going to look at some key points of your memory, so I can understand your personality and see if you can be part of our family… And maybe it will help you find out how you got here "

"Okay, but I just want to make one thing clear, I don't agree with the way people in my world treat forests..."

She took a small pot and walked over to Guaracy, What is she going to do with that paint? he thought when she opened the jar and dipped her index finger in the red ink.

She used her fingers to paint some runes on his face, a few seconds after she touched the rune on his forehead and said a few words that Guaracy didn't understand.

Guaracy didn't have enough time to understand the ceremony, because as soon after, he found himself reliving a memory that he didn't even remember.