13 Hesitation

As the family heads thought about the possible outcomes from their decitions, Leon at the head of the small crowd that formed inside the encirclement, started to walk deep inside the city. The family guards opened a path, the fear instilled into them after Leroux display of strenght made them back off unconsiously. Despite that, they still protected their elders and family heads and behind the now newly formed Lea family, a bunch of people followed behind them in order to ask for a job, to learn, to satisfy their desires of finally being treated the way they deserved it.

To this situation, an emergency meeting had to happen. It was impressive how fast this meeting was organized. Despite the Lea family proclaming themselves the new big family, they were not invited. The 10 families had to talk about how to deal with these kids.

Leon knew that some of them were going to take drastic measures, while others were going to join them. He didn't know what each one of them was going to propose, because his Master always told him that people are unpredictable, and today he saw that. He was counting on being attacked and they were ready to use force to open a path. Still, everything went smooth and without the need to fight.

A big circled table made out of wood was in the middle of the room and around it 10 seats were evenly positioned. Behind those seats, there was place for around 40 people to stand behind them in a queue. That is how fancy this room was, and how highly these big families thought of themselves.

The first one to talk was Cesar from the Kriger family. His father Cyrus was behind him, his face still sour due to the previous incident. Cesar stood up and looked at all the family heads to the eyes, "These are my sons, my own flesh and blood and they should be anexed to the Kriger family. Sooner or later they will realize that they can't start a family without the resources they have. Even if they know all about what we do, who will help them as long as we increase the pay a bit more?" he talked with confidence, as if he was sure that things were going to go the way he wanted it.

"HA, HA, HA! Come on, don't make us laugh Cesar. We all know that your kids are disgusted by you, they even declared you their enemy! If any of us wanted to get rid of you, then now is our chance to join hands with them and wipe the Kriger family out of this city. After all, no one has a need for you anymore, you can't even protect yourself, who would want you to protect their territories anymore?" said a Big man with an overgrown beard. This man was the Daener family head. He was actually Cesar's rival and as the Daener were hunters and explorers, they always looked down on the Kriger's need to 'face the enemy head on'.

The Daener were one of the lower 10 families, and as such they were looked down upon the bigger 5 and also the other 4. They had no 'utility' compared to the other families, and they were the first ones that decided to join these kids. They proved that their skills at hunting, exploring and the knowledge they had about the forest were amazing and that is what they always desired.

Cesar didn't reply. His pride allow him to answer to someone he considered inferior. Despite that, he knew that what he said was true. He was just trying to make people think about other things, he wanted all the knowledge those kids brought to himself only.

"We can't rush it, they're smart. That Leon kid is smart and he is elocuent. He knows we're in a meeting right now and I admire that. If I had to choose, I wouldn't mind joining them" said a tall woman with wrinkled hands. Behind her was another lady, a young lady with a cold face. Her beautiful features would make her a head turner, and for those that liked icy beautiful women, she face was like an angel playing the harp. She was the next family head, and while she was young she was prepared and above most of her peers. They were part of the Boer family, and controlled most of the food market in Kyus.

"We can't rush it, that's true. But if we wait for too long, we will have a bigger mess to clean up. Did any of you even follow them? I bet we can talk and ask them to come over here. I don't want people to know how to make weapons and armor. That is our duty and our pleasure only! But if they can find better minerals and ores then, what can I say? They can get the support from the Smid family", said a dark skinned man. His skin was darkened, but it probably wasn't his actualy skin color, but it was more likely that he was covered in ashes and cinder due to working on the forge before coming to the meeting.

All of them had their reasons to join them and also to refuse them. Some favored one option while others favored another one. It didn't take long for the meeting to erupt into a heated discussion about pros and cons. Still, they couldn't choose, they were constantly changing their minds and hesitating.

After hours of discussion, everyone called in for a break and asked for food and drinks. Only that, they didn't expect that the ones entering were the newly arrived Lea family members, with bags of fruits and jars full of unknown liquids. Lufti carried a huge chair made out of a special wood and exquisite craftmanship, making everything in the room, be it the table or the other chairs pale in comparison.

"Can we join the discussion or not? We've brought food and we're willing to negotiate after eating" said Leon with a smile on his face like usual.