For All It Revolves Around

V1: Learning is our greatest asset

The two leaders looked at each other silently, examining who we were and calculating every small, insignificant detail about us three.

"Would you like a tour of the place?"

"Yes, please."

All I could do now was stand in awe as people from all walks of life lived in the Village of Vaia.

The conversations flowed through the air; their chatter was beautiful and inviting.

Everyone here seemed friendly and welcoming.

The Village wasn't grand like the others I had been to, but more cosy and comforting to the eye.

The walls constructed here spoke of history, of untold stories yet to be discovered.

We continued to walk into the centre of the Village, where children's laughter became at the forefront of our senses, running past us without a care in the world.

A blissful ignorance that I would wish would arrive at our village, too.

Soon enough, we arrived at a meeting room that was smaller than ours, but it did its job.

We sat on the chairs that softened our bodies, relaxing into our seats as both Gemma and Nath did.

"I hope that you enjoyed the tour." Gemma smiled fondly.

Kassie bowed respectfully, "Your tour was lovely, as is the Village."

"Now, what exactly brings you here? We don't usually get that many visitors, if at all. . . Any." Gemma began slowly eyeing Kassie.

She had every right to be sceptical of us.

I would have been, too.

But still, Kassie remained calm and collected. Meeting Gemma's gaze, Kassie said, "We come from the Village of Facia, my people, and I hope you would be interested in working as a collective rather than individually." Kassie took a deep breath.

"For too long, our people have been isolated from one another when instead we should work together to become more modernised."

Both Gemma and Nath looked at one another, slowly nodding their heads.

"While that does sound quite wonderful, I'm afraid we cannot accept," Gemma muttered with a hint of regret.

"Why is that?" Kassie tilted her head.

"We don't think we can offer you anything you already don't have." Nath crossed his arms, looking away from us, almost as if he were ashamed of something.

"Might I ask why?"

Nath deeply breathed, "Our Village has been under multiple attacks from Plantea Beasts." He commented. "While we've tried our best with the few soldiers that we have, it's not enough; they keep attacking the village, trying to find any sort of Solum we have when we barely have anything for ourselves."

Kassie tapped her chin, "I see... Well, if you would accept, we might be able to help you with that."

Gemma looked over at us as if we were some magical beings, the way Kassie had calmly said, "Hell, even I was shocked."

I remembered the last time I faced Plantea beasts with Lusan during our first expedition with Lenin, and I could confidently say that I was knocked out for most of it.

"How could you do that?" Gemma asked curiously.

Kassie smiled, "It might sound ridiculous, but we do have some experience dealing with Plantea beasts. . . That is, if you choose to trust us."

Gemma remained slightly as she shrugged, "Well, we don't have any options in dealing with them." She looked at Nath, who nodded, "I guess, why not?"

"But under one condition." Nath declared.

"What is it?" Kassie asked.

"While we do want to believe your claim of being experienced at fighting Plantea beasts, I would request that one of your people fight one of ours," Nath added as he scanned his eyes at Lusan and me.

"Call it a test of acceptance."

"Well then. . . We can do that."

"Good." Gemma asked, "Would you like to be taken to the arena?"

The arena?

Gemma and Nath directed us outside the room, and we followed them from behind.

We saw the arena in all its glory, soldiers practising with all sorts of weapons that I had never seen before.

The ground was plain dirt. This arena was undoubtedly not for leisure but for practice.

"While we don't have many soldiers, we pride ourselves on quality over quantity." Nath looked over his shoulder, "These soldiers have trained since they were kids, learning the ways of the Vian people."

I looked at the soldiers currently fighting, who were probably without shoes to protect their feet from the ground.

"There's a reason why we have two leaders in this village. Gemma is the leader when it comes to administration and education. While I'm a leader in the military and foreign policy." He declared, "What I lack, she covers for."

These soldiers were no joke; I would have wanted to learn how strong they were if they had trained from a young age.

I noticed that some had significantly longer hair flowing to their shoulders, while others had no hair.

"Mind if I ask something?" Lusan asked.

"Sure." Nath smiled.

"What's with the hair? Not to judge or anything, but is there a reason why some of them have, you know, long hair?"

Nath chuckled without looking back at us as he answered our question, "Hair represents a lot for us in our village's tradition. The longer your hair, the more battles you've won."

We didn't need him to explain why some had short hair; it just meant they weren't as good as the others.

Hair was a currency for gaining respect in this part of the place.

The longer the hair, the more people will acknowledge you for the person you are and consider you a respected individual.

Well. . . That's what I like to think, anyway.

So, what else does the Village of Vaia have to offer us? One thing was for sure: there were still so many things that I could learn from a place like this.