There are eighteen in total in the clan, myself not included. Of these, only one makes the decisions. Her name is Mary Geist.
As I walked to the doorway, I heard her voice behind me, asking where I was going.
What she actually wanted to know was whether I was trying to leave the Forest. What she actually wanted to know was whether I could make it before being killed by hunters. What she actually wanted to know was whether she had to kill me.
I lied. I said I had family waiting for me elsewhere in the Forest. She asked me where my family was. I told her they were in a village to the north, a settlement not unlike those of my hosts. I told her their names. But the names of my parents, the name of my brother, felt bitter on my tongue, and she thought that I was lying.
I suppose I was. Can a person call themself family of people they have not known in years, have not known since they were first human?
It is, ultimately, unimportant. Mary drew a gun on me, but I had planned for this. I took the same pistol with which I had killed the hunter and pointed it at her. Her parents were watching. I glanced at them and then back at Mary, and I think she understood my meaning.
As I stepped out of the doorway, I kept an eye on Mary Geist. I stared at her, almost expecting her to follow me so she could kill me without prying eyes. Instead, she sighed and said goodbye to me as I walked away, though she gave me one last warning look before she closed the door.
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