Chapter 56: Meeting End
Muhso’s words were clear and made clearer by the way he said them. He might not have the full picture of what had happened. But he knew that the Lowat tribe was mistreating one of their young. That was enough for them to have earned the Ursa tribe’s dislike. That was also why Sosora had earned their support.
Basla didn’t know how to react after being so openly attacked by Muhso. He just crossed his arms and snorted as if he couldn’t understand the lengths the Ursa tribe and Muhso would go to just for sausage. He wasn’t sure what the Outsider had done to treat one of the Ursa tribe’s young with kindness and generosity, but it didn’t matter.
Muhso hadn’t given any details, and Basla wasn’t going to pry. It wasn’t worth the hassle.
Instead, he stewed in anger and frustration at how bad the day had gone.
"If I understand you correctly, Muhso, you’re saying that this sausage is enough for you to think of the Outsider as a return to the age of discovery rather than a source of danger?" Poia, the woman from the Orovir tribe, asked. The sausage was certainly a novelty.
But it wasn’t like the different tribes couldn’t come up with new things on their own. Was there a need to go this far for a sausage, even if it was from an Outsider who had helped one of their kids?
"No." Muhso shook his head.
"This sausage is just the first of many things to come. I’m sure of it. I haven’t seen it for myself, but I know a couple of you have. You can testify to what I’m about to say.
"The Outsider possesses a building whose structure is unfamiliar to any of us. He possesses trinkets and clothes that are nothing like the ones from the forest or even from the three countries around us."