Stuffing his linen bag into his pocket for another day of hunting and gathering, Destan closed the front door of his home and started for the forest. He'd barely made it to the edge of the tree-line, when a head of red hair stomped past him.

Their eyes met and Destan stopped in his tracks when he recognised his cousin.

"What are you doing here?" Tari spat.

"Uh..." He knew she'd never liked him before. She'd grown up thinking he was an untrustworthy outcast after all. But the hate that now burned in her eyes was on a whole other level.

"Don't answer that, I couldn't care less." She straightened her shoulders and stuck her nose in the air. "I bet you're proud of yourself, aren't you?"

"P-proud?" Without the slightest idea what his cousin was talking about, he scratched his shoulder, waiting for her to explain.

"An outcast, trying to make a name for himself. Preposterous!"

"Tari, what in the ancestors' names are you talking about?"

His words only seemed to enrage her further. Her eyes shot fire. She took a step closer, obviously trying to look intimidating as she stared at him. The fact that she was so much smaller than him greatly negated the effect.

"I will not let you ruin it for me," she hissed. "It's too late for you. You'll never be able to take what's mine. And when I'm the Chief, the first thing I'll do is kick you out for trying to take my place!"

Destan's jaw dropped as he watched Tari stomp off into the forest. Take her place? Why would he ever want to do that? Where did she even get the idea from?

Regardless, he'd never seen Tari so angry before. Her disgusted face was a normal one, but she'd never cared enough to be angry with him.

"There you are."

The voice made him turn around. Wasn't anyone going to let him hunt in peace today?

"Oh, hi, Aruna."

She smiled down at him, hands behind her back. "I figured you might not have been informed. Follow me, I've got something to show you."

As she turned, he sighed. No dinner tonight, then. Maybe I've still got a few wild berries left in the cupboard.

He trudged after her, soon realising they took the exact same route as they had a few days earlier. Was he to sit in with another meeting? He'd figured it was a one-time thing.

Suddenly the noise got through to him. As they rounded a corner, the voices became louder. Dozens talked over each other, making it impossible to make out any of them. Through the cottages, Destan could see tribers standing around in front of the Chief's home.

"Remus is about to make an announcement," Aruna answered his unspoken question, as they stopped at the edge of the crowd. "You'll want to see this."

A vague smile graced her face as she watched the front door of the hut open and the Chief gestured for them to be silent. On his heels was Lys, stepping to the side so that he was out of the way of Remus, yet still in full view. The tribers quieted, eager to learn what their Chief had to say.

Destan's grandfather stood still for a moment, watching his tribe and drinking in the silence. Destan always thought he looked the most intimidating in these moments, when he stood straight in front of all these people, silencing them with a mere gesture of his hand. His thick grey hair and beard suddenly didn't make him look old, but rather wise and strong. The walking cane in his hand gave off an air of confidence, rather than weakness.

He couldn't imagine ever looking like that while addressing so many people. He thought he'd be sick with nerves. In fact, he didn't understand why Tari wanted it so much.

"Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming here on such short notice. I know you're all very worried about the farms and the forest. I hear your concerns about the upcoming winter. Today I am here to assure you that we have the matter under control."

A relieved muttering spread through the crowd. A few people whooped and cheered. Most stayed quiet to hear more. Lys' eyes slid over the heads of the people, resting only for a split second on Destan. His usual smile was missing, making it look like his face was covered in a shadow.

"After long deliberation we have decided to rely on our neighbours for resources. It is time our friends outside the forest helped us out. Since we've never had the best relationship with those without magic, we didn't think it a good idea to alert them of our presence here. Therefore, we do not intend to make any contact with them as we take what we need."

The murmur that now wandered through the crowd was nowhere near as happy. No cheering interrupted their Chief's speech this time. A young girl to Destan's left whispered, "Stealing? Isn't that wrong, daddy?"

Destan shuffled his feet uncomfortably. He'd be the one doing the stealing. Sure, he was ordered to, but did that make it any less wrong?

I'm helping my tribe survive, he told himself. That's what makes it less wrong.

"It is, sweetheart," the girl's dad responded, his hand on top of her head. "But we do what we must to survive."

"This is a temporary solution, of course, just to get through the winter. That will give us ample time to get things back in order."

Remus paused as the murmurs and whispers got louder. Destan wondered what they'd have in mind to fix this mess. They couldn't keep stealing from Grimsby forever; it'd be noticed before long. But what could they do? Nature had become an exhaustive resource. What were they meant to do about that?

As he looked up at his grandfather's smiling face, he wondered how much worry there was behind his mask. This couldn't have been easy for him, and yet he stood proudly nevertheless. Next to him, Lys kept his face still, as he stared into the distance with a frown.

I heard there's more tribes like ours to the north, his uncle's words came back to him. Perhaps that was one of the solutions they were considering; travelling to a place where the land was fertile and food was easier to gather.

"To Grimsby?" Destan caught a woman say behind him. "What if they find out about us?"

An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. She wasn't wrong; the Inops finding them could be disastrous. He couldn't afford to make a mistake.

He had to keep his power under control. At any cost.

"To make sure we can do this safely, without anyone getting hurt, we have set up a special team. Three of our most powerful young people have offered to take this important task upon their shoulders."

Aruna bristled at the words. Destan glanced aside to see a frown on her face, but she kept still.

"Please be aware that under no circumstances should anyone try to go out to Grimsby themselves. We set up this team for a reason; we don't want to attract too much attention to ourselves. Grimsby cannot find out about us after all these years we've managed to stay hidden. We've never been able to forge a good relationship with our neighbours, so we want to keep them in the dark about us."

He fell silent for a moment, to let the words sink in. Then he added, "Those who go against this rule, whatever their intentions, will be punished." His voice was low, sending a shudder up Destan's back.

As Remus ended with a final statement of how everything would be alright, Aruna turned to look down at him. "As you can see, you've got an important task ahead of you."

Destan's cheeks lacked blood as he nodded. "Yeah," he muttered. "The entire tribe depends on us."

The crowd burst into cheering, while their Chief returned to his hut.

"You are ready for this, Destan," said Aruna, leaning in close so that he could hear her over the noise.

Destan nodded vaguely. He prayed to the ancestors that she was right.