Nusantara: Taming a Dragon ✔

Long overdue

Soooo no ranting from me this time, other than saying I hope you lovelies enjoy this chapter and that you'll leave me a little comment to let me know what you liked/disliked about it. Cheers~ ( ˘ ³˘)❤

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~ One week later ~

"You're learning very fast."

Looking up from where she had been making a new basket, to see Sukma smiling warmly at her, Aleera offered a timid smile of her own in return. The old woman had been very pleased at how quickly she was learning any skill she had lacked upon her arrival, and Asih never failed to praise her cooking skills.

"I believe any young man in our village would be happy to have you as his wife."

The elder's statement caught the redhead off guard and made her blush lightly.

"I'm afraid I'm a bit too young for marriage, Granny." she replied nervously. "I'm barely twenty..."

"Nonsense!" the Chief waved her off. "Asih married when she was two years younger than you. And Tamara was nineteen when she married Mitra. Besides, you're everything a young man could want - you're beautiful, you're hardworking, and you have those nice child-birthing hips."

"Uh... thank you for the compliments..."

While she made herself busy with the basket in an attempt to avoid further discussion on the matter, Sukma merely smiled knowingly but did not press the issue for now. She was still new there and had time to find a good man to marry... of course, she had no idea about the Goddess' plans for the redhead. But for now they both settled in a comfortable silence to finish working on the baskets.

"You can go out, dear." the elder smiled, once they were done. "Asih will take care of cooking dinner tonight. She and Yuda will be joining us, and I think Tamara might visit with Mitra as well."

It was no more than a few moments after her statement that Asih came into the house with a bright smile and a basket of fruit and meat, while behind her Yuda brought a few stringed fish he had caught just earlier. They had barely exchanged a few words, when Tamara arrived along with Mitra, giving the redhead an excuse to retreat to the kitchen with the two young females.

"How's she doing, Granny?" Yuda finally asked, as the old woman sipped at a cup of tea while they waited for the food.

"Much better than Tamara handled life here at first. I'm certain it won't be too long before our young men start taking interest in her."

"Granny... you're already thinking of marrying her off?" Mitra chuckled. "Someone needs to look after you as well."

"Nonsense! I won't have her wasting her youth on an old crone like me. If she finds a good husband, I'll be more than happy to see her married."

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"Do you want to lead the cooking party today?"

Rolling her eyes at Tamara's jest, the redhead shared a chuckle with her before they both decided to let Asih guide them as usual. Maybe she had become a loner during her stay at the park, but spending time with the two females was incredibly fun and... warm, for lack of a better word.

"Oh, thank you for the new basket." Asih said while setting the ingredients of their dinner on the table. "It's lovely, and you did a really good job of it."

"Thank you." Aleera replied timidly. "I guess I always was good with my hands... it's not that easy handling Komodos all day."

"Speaking of Komodos..." Tamara wiggled her eyebrows. "I think I convinced Reksa to join us for dinner tonight."