Ch 3

Athena made her way past the busy grass fed streets, then taking the more narrow paths on the way to the main hall. Her decision was simple, dinosaurs don't like the small narrow and tighter spaces and she didn't like them. She took these types of routs as often as she could. If she went down a busy street filled with the creatures both big and small then people would definitely notice the anomaly, and while she doubted that they could guess the truth,there would be questions and whether she answered or not, it would raise suspicion. And raising suspicion would make people notice her, and that was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Her personal objective was to be an observer, to watch and learn why the hairless monkeys with pointy sticks sought to challenge her in the arena. Athena had hoped to find out quickly, but after six months on the island she realized that they were much more complicated than she had previously anticipated. And she was nowhere near finding out the answer, every answer gave way to three more questions.

Despite her initial intentions after living among them, she had grown to respect some members of the tribe. Particularly Joe who for all intents and purposes she should hate, but the fact that he was able to defeat her in combat caused her to be more impressed than anything else. If there was one thing a great predator respects is strength and endurance, both qualities the man had.

Athena saw the building from the usual angle when she took the path. Between the two wooden walls of the buildings between her, she saw the flag of the Quetzal tribe flying high and mighty. Red and purple banners stood tall on the sloped roof. The building was made from a stone foundation and red wood walls and strong roof. It stood in the center of the base, a clearing made around it.

Entering through it's modest doors she past the usual guards posted at the front, a young man and an older gentlemen gave her respectful nods, likewise she gave nods back.

Making her way to the main room she saw Joe speaking to two others, a man and a woman adorned in pelts and leather with arrows and bows on their backs. Joe's second, Nira stood not far away looking down at a map. The room was large and had many desks and papers scattered across. It was the main archive of the tribe as well as the main headquarters.

Taking a moment to listen in she leaned on the wall opposite to them.

"I'm telling you something is not right, the forests smell weird and the animals are not behaving normally. They cry out in the middle of the night and game has become increasingly scarce in the jungle." The woman in brown hair said, Athena guessed that they were hunters.

"Not only that but that stench of rot, we looked everywhere but all we found was this." The man said, revealing a wet cloth covered in the yellow stains of Amarberries. The hunter undid the carefully knit top and opened the package.

Athena felt the stench before she smelled it. The odor hit her like a charging Triceratops, she saw Joe and the hunter visibly gag and even Nira covered her nose and looked up to see where the stench was coming from.

The item in question was small and from Athena's view she could make out scattered feathers and blood.

Joe signaled for them to put it away and the woman re tied the package. She then grabbed a handful of Amarberries and squashed them on the top of the package, then applied water.

After a moment the stench subsided.

Athena studied Joe after she recovered with her hand over her mouth to try and keep from throwing up. He looked more convinced than when she came in and after thinking about what to do, he said, "I will send out a detachment to investigate, see if there is anything we can find what is causing this." The hunters were visibly relieved.

"However we will wait until after the celebration, for now relax and enjoy. After it is over I will send out the detachment. Many of the men have been looking forward to this, we will address this afterwards."

The hunters looked like they were going to protest but at that moment Brian came in with Jason from the opposite end of the room.

Joe waved the hunters off the discussion was finished, and they begrudgingly left.

Brian spotted Athena where she stood and waved at her with a bright smile. Athena offered a polite nod as she usually did, remembering how Brian had not informed her about the Terror Bird Tribe's intention to fight one of the bosses.

Athena made her way to Joe, Brian, Jason and Nira who left the map on the desk.

Joe gave Jason a welcoming smile "How was your tour of the base, I trust Brian was more than welcoming."

Jason gave him a polite nod "yes he was, but… are all the creature so... curious?" he lowered his voice at the question as if to not offend anything that wasn't actually there.

Brian clapped Jason's shoulder "You'll get used to them, everyone does. Well... almost everyone" he shot Athena an amused look, she couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Joe smiled "you're new here so they want to get to know you. Trust me it's better to have them recognize you as a member than not," he paused and looked out to the front door his eyes looking at nothing "you never know when you need their loyalty in a tuff situation" he muttered.

Athena knew that he was thinking of the arena and climax of their battle. How she moved to incinerate him with the burning fire in her gut and the blue green raptor launched him out of the way. Saving him while it's scales melted and burned to ash. She didn't know how long he had the creature but by the way he spoke of it, it held a special place in his heart.

Joe shook himself back to the present "besides their not that bad, start with the smaller herbivores then make your way to some of the bigger things."

Jason did not look all that convinced but Joe turned to Athena before he could say anything else.

"I trust the flyers behaved."

Athena nodded "Kyle and Jordan are onloading the fish and will be taking them to the chef's quarters."

Joe nodded, "Good, well be ready by tomorrow, the decorations are almost done and the last of the other tribe members are arriving."

He turned his attention to Jason and offered the young man a smile, "why don't you and Brian go help with the rest of the preparations while I finish organizing things with Nira."

Athena gave a slight bow, "I will finish with my duties." Together she, Brian and Jason exited.

Joe watched them go, his overfondness with familiarity and close companionship had its limits. Brian was apart of the Terror Bird Tribe and to that extent an ambassador and ally, Jason had only joined them recently and he wanted to make him comfortable. But Athena was a different situation entirely, normally servants and cleaners were not very familiarized with the higher levels of the tribe and much less listened to the on goings and troubles. But a part of him allowed her to familiarize herself with him, something that he no doubt she knew well. A feeling in his gut told him that there was more to her than meets the eye. Perhaps she was a noble in her past life.

Nira beckoned him back to the map and they discussed the details on the party that would investigate the disturbing reports.