Facing the words of her tribe members, she nodded her head,
"Let’s have the tribe rest here for today. We will continue our journey early tomorrow morning, and stop only when we reach Sunset Valley... Have you contacted the Dragon-men of the West Branch Tribe and East Branch Tribe?"
The two Dragon-men exchanged a glance, both finding it difficult to speak. After a pause, one of them replied with great effort,
"They... refuse to get involved. They say humans will not go to the East and West because there are no gold mines or anything else that humans desire there..."
Upon hearing this, Rafael smiled slightly, not in anger but with a hint of mocking,
"Yes, humans won’t go now, but Rafael will get to the East and West Branch Tribe before the humans do. I will pull out the heads of those stubborn fools and show their people what they have in their brains... Go now, take rest. We will set off again in the morning."
The two Dragon-men returned to the jungle, but Rafael stayed put, still gazing at the dark night sky in the distance.
Before long, a Dragon-man woman, who still looked elegant despite her plain clothes, emerged from the jungle. Her golden hair was tied back, and a golden horn grew on her forehead; yet, her overall appearance bore an air of age.
She looked at the young red Dragon-man who was planning the route, her eyes filled with concern. She stood in place, silent for a long time, as if fearful of disturbing her.
It was Rafael who seemed to sense something first. She suddenly turned around, saw the woman standing there, her expression changed, and walked over to the woman, whispering,
"Rafael, you should rest. It has been several days."
The newcomer was Rafael’s mother, Yaril, also the wife of the former Clan Leader.
In her youth, she was the most beautiful of the South Branch Tribe and was a tail-matching partner with the strongest Dragon-man of the entire tribe. Their union was considered by the South Branch Tribe to be the most fitting marriage in centuries, truly a match made in heaven.
However, this joyous tale dissipated like smoke several months ago, when Rafael’s father was killed by humans.
His mother seemed to have aged considerably overnight, and now, the responsibility of the entire tribe was on Rafael’s shoulders.
"...I’m alright. You should go see how my older brothers are doing. Their bones should still be healing from when I broke them."
Several months earlier, during the war with the humans, Rafael had lost his father and seven brothers, but the humans suffered heavy casualties as well. The remaining older brothers, seeking vengeance for their father, were prepared to lead the remaining Dragon-men into a do-or-die battle against the humans in the city. Thankfully, Rafael returned at that time.
She made the decision to lead the tribe in migration, to avoid conflict with humans for now. This naturally met with opposition from all her brothers, who thought her too cowardly to be a Dragon-man, considered Rafael a traitor, without any feeling for their father’s death, all because she was a red Dragon-man, an anomaly.
This accusation enraged Rafael, and she severely beat all her brothers. The most severely injured brother was nearly killed by Rafael right there, had Yaril not intervened to break up the fight. Otherwise, Rafael truly would not have minded killing a kin for the future of her people.
Indeed, she had changed a lot, and many tribe members felt she was a stranger to them. But her strength was undeniable, and most of the tribe members could only trust Rafael now. So, they followed her, leaving their ancestral home to move toward Sunset Valley in the far south, where no human activity was found.
There lived the Bat Species Subhumans, who had had a non-aggression treaty with the Dragon-man Species in the past. But with the current emergency, Rafael had no choice but to head there in search of a slim chance of survival.
Only she knew that the heavily injured humans would undoubtedly seek revenge. Staying put would only lead to a dead end. They had to avoid the sharp edge for now, and wait for a better time to make their move.
"They are doing fine, and they wouldn’t want me to see them beaten into a miserable state... I mean you, you should relax a bit now. You haven’t really rested since you returned to the tribe."
Rafael, however, smiled and shook his head,
"I had been resting before I came back, and I had rested long enough. I knew what I would face before coming back. It was my choice, so of course, I won’t regret it... Don’t worry, Mother, I’m doing well."
But Yaril stared directly at her, and it was a long, long time before she sighed and said,
"I don’t know if it’s a good thing for you to come back. When your father was still here, he even thought that it might be a good choice for you to leave the tribe, at least you’d still be alive then. He had foreseen a future battle with the humans; as the Clan Leader, and your brother being his son, they would inevitably give their lives for the majority of the tribe. He spoke to me many times about his death, and I cried many times too."
"But you, once you left the tribe, you no longer needed to carry so much burden. It would have been fine for you to go anywhere, just as long as you could live... Or perhaps, were all the demi-humans and humans you met outside unkind?"
Rafael seemed to think of something and smiled unwittingly. After shaking her head and pausing for a long time, she finally spoke,
"There were bad people, and there were good people... Very, very good people."
Yaril looked at her daughter’s scales, which were slightly drooping due to yearning, and looked down at herself, noting that her scales had also drooped because she missed her father.
Her daughter already had a tail-matching partner, of which she was aware,
"Then let’s talk about him. If he’s someone you approve of, then no matter what race he is from, he must be a very special person, couldn’t you just stay with him? Why do you have to come back... The tribe has many opinions; many disagree with your views. They are only temporarily submitting to your power. Just look at your brothers..."
Indeed, how could Rafael not know these things?
"I know, but there’s nothing else I can do..." As she mentioned him, Rafael’s gaze softened a bit, "Even if he could accept me, could cherish me for a lifetime, I couldn’t accept just that. Call me proud or foolish, but at least, I hope that one day, when everyone can peacefully quiet down, we can be together as equals, forever."
"To achieve this goal, to protect my tribe and loved ones, even if they don’t understand, even if they resist, as long as I have strength, as long as I live another day, I won’t allow them to stray from my path."
Rafael extended her claw toward the starry sky, as sharp as a steel blade, as if she wanted to grasp the entire sky in her palm. Yaril, standing behind her, knew that her daughter’s path would not be easy and could only finally say in persuasion,
"These are not the actions of a good Clan Leader..."
"Yes, but I still must do it." Rafael calmly looked at her mother beside her, seeing also those tribespeople whispering secretly in the jungles behind, venting their dissatisfaction in the dark, like creatures without eyes in the night, utterly lacking any sense of direction.
If that was the case, she would have to take the first step.
"Mother, if the position of Clan Leader granted by Father becomes an obstacle, then I can no longer be the Clan Leader... I cannot have any obstacles in the way of my goal."
"When those tribespeople finally live on well, when they can freely run in the wild, can freely fall in love without fear of being captured and killed for their blood, then they, my brothers, will all kneel down and thank me."
"They will respect me, support my decisions from the bottom of their hearts, will defend my power to the death and no longer question my correctness..."
"They will call me..."