While everyone else was out rescuing wild gehm, Sezio was looking after the many who they had already brought in. It had been long since Suwa left his village, and even though he hadn't forgotten his goal of gaining strength and returning to the Endora tribe, he had found even more purpose than expected when joining with Sezio. That purpose, that shared dream, had finally begun to bear fruit in the form of a new village.
Sezio had always intended to bring all the gehm in Era together, and his travels were meant to be in preparation of that. Perhaps, after so long, he had started to forget this intention, but after meeting Suwa, the dream started to grow inside him once again. It didn't hurt that Suwa was constantly driving him toward it, either. And a part of him might have been hesitating to try because he was worried about failure, but that part was changed by Suwa as well.
As such, Sezio's group had finally broken ground for the first part of their project—the construction of a village that could house as many gehm as there were needing a safe place to live in. The project started after they had rescued a small group that were unable to travel with them. That group had since recovered but chose to stay and support any new gehm that arrived seeking shelter. Thus, beginning of their second phase—gathering the gehm scattered across Era.
“Find Sezio. Tell him that we brought more to join us,” Moiya said as they arrived. “and we’ll take her to a bed where she can get rest and be taken care of.”
Belo, who was carrying the female gehm was waved over to Moiya, but before he could join her, he felt a small hand grab him. “Can I come too?” The woman's child asked with watering eyes.
“Of course,” replied Moiya. “You can come with me. Let the big man carry your mother, okay?”
“Okay.”
“What about us?” The boy’s father asked, but Suwa reassured him.
“Don't worry, I'll take you to a place where you can rest. You can join your family once everyone's settled in. Luika, tell Sezio we returned.”
“Dobin already left to do that, so I'm going to go find something to eat.”
Suwa sighed, but he knew there wasn’t anything he could do. “At least bring some food back for them, too.”
“You got it.”
With Luika running off as well, it was just Suwa and the man he rescued. Suwa gestured for the man to follow him and led him through the village. It was still being developed, but it was more than enough to keep the gehm there safe and to welcome more as they arrive.
“Umm, who's Sezio?” The man asked as they started walking. “Is he like a leader?”
“Almost. Probably the closest thing we have to a leader. But we don't like the idea of one person, or even a few people, being in charge here. So, it's not like he has any special power or anything. You'll meet him soon, don't worry.”
“And what are those? Are they supposed to be houses?”
At some point, completely by accident, it was discovered that cooked earth, after being wetted, hardens significantly. It was actually Suwa who first had the idea to use that material for building.
“That's right. They're sturdy and have plenty of room inside.” Suwa didn't even attempt to hide how proud he was of his creation.
“But aren't they too easy to see? Even if the top is covered in plants, they're too big. You'll never be able to hide something like that.”
Suwa laughed. Although the man's concern was understandable, he also knew that it wasn't an issue to worry about. “Yeah, you're right. But you don't need to hide here. Of course, it's up to you to choose whether you want to stay or not, but there's no need to worry about beasts here. Or food,” Suwa added as an afterthought.
Apart from the houses, one of the most notable things about the new village was the fact that there were gehm walking about without any intention of hiding. This was inconceivable to the man Suwa was showing around, but it did give validation to the words Suwa said. For some reason, it seemed difficult not to feel safe there, and that was a strange feeling for any new arrival to accept.
“This is the one your family will be staying in. I hope you'll like it,” Suwa stopped in front of one of the houses. “Luika, the man from before, should be back with some food. If you ask him, he should also be able to take you to where your partner and son are. Do you have any more questions?”
The man was noticeably overwhelmed by the situation, but after hearing about food, there was a question that came to his mind. Namely, “How can you feed so many people here?”
“Allow me to answer that,” someone said before Suwa could respond.
“Sezio!” Suwa hadn't expected Sezio to come find them, so he was a little surprised to see him.
“Hello, Suwa. And good job.” After greeting Suwa, Sezio turned to speak to the man who was with him, “I just came back from seeing your family. They’re both fine, and your partner should recover quickly. Since she's stable now, they should be bringing her here so that you can all get rest together.”
“Thank you!” the man said with absolute gratitude.
“Not at all. Now, about that question you asked. We actually grow all our food ourselves. So, there's no need to go out looking for it. If you're curious, I'm sure someone can take you to see whenever you like. And if you're interested in learning how it's done, we could always use help, either there or in other parts of the village. This is a place where we all take care of each other, so we would be glad to have you join us in whatever way you think you could contribute.”
“Yes, thank you,” the man wasn't sure what else to say, but Sezio responded with a smile.
“You're welcome. Now, if you don't mind, I have some things to discuss with Suwa.” Sezio turned back to Suwa again, “Can you follow me?”
