Her Fierce Protector

Chapter 4

WHEN Ashera went back to the village, she immediately looked for her father. When she didn't found her father in the usual places where her father stays, she went home to look for her mother instead.

"Mother?!" she called loudly when she got near their house.

"Mother?!" she called again.

"I'm here in the kitchen, Ashera!" her mother responded with a small voice, so she immediately went inside their house made of wood, bamboos, and nipa.

She directly went to their little kitchen where she found her sister cutting vegetables and her mother near the kalan de uling an old and traditional model of stove they used for cooking their meals. It is also called ulingan which was from the a term uling that means charcoal.

"Where have you been?" her sister, Zelda, asked her as soon as she entered the kitchen.

"Where is Father?" she curiously asked.

Her mother took a glance at her like she just asked a strange question, "Your father is on the farm, Ashera. Why did you ask?"

"Is the lunch ready?" Ashera asked her mother.

And her mother immediately felt something is off with her. She sounds like she was in a hurry to meet her father. Though she is close to her father, her mother couldn't stop wondering since they knew Ashera know the schedule of his father's work.

"We're still cooking, Ashera. Why are you acting so strange today?" her sister asked her, "I think you should come with me and Mother to deliver Father's lunch. We will also have our lunch there."

Ashera nodded and went to the jar of water. She took the glass made of bamboo and get water from the jar and drank it before she sat beside her older sister and helped her with what she is doing.

Actually, the reason why she wants to see her father is to ask her father about the other tribes living near them, she is sure that her father knows about that.

Ashera helped her mother and sister cook until finally finished preparing their food. The cooked vegetable which they put inside a handmade container made of wood. They put it inside the handmade basket made of rattan with the rice that they wrapped using a heated leaf of banana.

After that, they went to the farm where their father works. It is just in the southern part of their village, probably the lower part of the mountain that the men had worked with to be planted crops like palay, corn, sweet potato, and others.

It was a little bit farther than expected, they're lucky today because the weather is fine that's why going down to the farm wasn't hard because the land was dry.

When they got there on the farm, they immediately look for her father and they found him resting under the mango tree where they build a little space made of bamboo and wood to stay.

"Father!" Ashera was the one who ran towards her father and hugged him as if they didn't see each other for months. Her father just laughed at her reaction and hugged her back.

"It was a good thing that you decided to come with your mother instead of going somewhere else that could possibly endanger you," her father said.

"Hello, Mang Pedring, Mang Timbo, Mang Layan, Mang Berting, and Mang Tasyo," Ashera greeted all the men who stayed there with her father, she even bowed her head as respect with her usual cheerful smile.

She heard those men laugh and chuckled at her and greeted her back.

"Your youngest is really adorable, Gido," Mang Timbo, a father of two and is younger than her father for probably five years, said.

"I do not doubt why she has a lot of suitors and admirers, it is just fair to think that your daughter is not just beautiful, she has the ability to remove people's tiredness through her smile," Mang Berting said.

"Thank you for the compliment, Mang Berting," Ashera said to the man.

Their tribe is one of those few tribes that is not yet reached by civilization, their tribe still follows some ancient beliefs, rules, and more that they have inherited from their ancestry.

Men in their tribe are trained to be good soldiers, they are trained to hold swords, bows and arrows, and anything that can be used for protection, mainly because their duty is to protect their family.

Women are trained to be good housewives, they're taught how to cook, clean the house, weaving fabrics, and other light chores in the house.

Once women reach the age of eighteen, they are already allowed to get married and start their own families. Though they have rules with it as they value women like precious gifts they can never get without assuring the parents that they can provide the woman a good life, probably not about money for they are all living a simple lifestyle, but the assurance of fidelity and commitment. They never tolerate infidelity in their tribe because they believe that it will just ruin their group. That's why men are taught to be loyal and faithful since they were young, though there are still a lot who slipped and committed mistakes but they had faced equal punishment for their deeds.

They also have their own alphabet to write and read, which the elderly teach the younger children together with their values and any teachings that they need to pass down and preserve for the next generation of their tribe.

Ashera, being the youngest daughter of the tribe's leader, a lot of men tried to pursue her, she has a lot of suitors since her parents had announced that she is already at the right age to get married.

Who wouldn't be attracted to her beauty? She is considered the most beautiful maiden in their tribe, even those who are living from other mountains travel for days just to see her beauty.

Her sisters Zelda and Ria got suitors as well but not as much as she has.

Her sister Zelda is a shy type, the typical maiden that loves staying in the house and doing household chores. That might also be the reason why even at the age of twenty-eight, she hasn't got married yet and she never heard anyone that her sister, Zelda, had given a chance.

However, her sister, Ria, has the most opposite attitude of Zelda. A lot of Ria's suitors got offended with her blunt words that anyone would never like. Ria has a very high standard for men and is also a rebellious child, she never cares about what others would feel, she is that kind of person who only thinks and believes in herself, the self-centered.

She, the dream of most men. A lot of men believe that Ashera is the kind of woman that is very easy to handle, the type of woman that can change anyone's mood into something good. She is cheerful, she smiles a lot, she sings a lot, even when she is watering the plants in their garden, she dances with her own music, making everyone get amused by her attitude. Her smile and light attitude add to her beauty, she has bright emotions on her face that lighten other people's day… because of that most people call her the goddess of happiness as she gives happiness to their village.

Their tribe is probably the only tribe that believes in werewolves as far as she knows, it was passed down from generation to generation together with the thought that their ancestors had interacted with those werewolves, though no one of them had seen werewolves.

"Where is Ria?" her father asked them.

"Stop looking for your stubborn child, Gido. Ria never had the interest of visiting here," her mother said to her father.

"I was just thinking why you didn't bring her here," Gido said.

When other women had arrived bringing the lunch of men, they finally started eating altogether. They had a very happy gathering like they always do.

Ashera was sitting on the ground where they put some leaves to sit on, her father is just beside her that's why she finally got a chance to ask.

"Father?" she called.

"Yes, Ashera?"

"I have a question," she said.

"Hmm?"

"Is there a tribe or village located near us, Father?" she curiously asked.

He saw how her father's forehead creased after gearing her question like he was trying to think about it.

"Hmm… none that I know of, Ashera. Since I was a child, I never heard of a village near us. As far as I can remember, our neighboring village is five or more mountains away from us, they also need to cross rivers to get here," her father answered and looked at her, "Why did you ask?"

Ashera was stunned and had sat straight after she remembered those two weird men who introduced themselves to her claiming they're from the other village and they're just lost after following a frog.

Impossible! She said to her mind.

"Ashera?"

She was pulled back to reality, she smiled at her father before she shook her head, "Nothing, Father. I'm just curious about it."

Well, I should ask those two men. I think I need to make sure. Maybe father just missed meeting those people, She said… Or they are… NOT HUMANS!

She suddenly gasped with what she was thinking which made her father look at her in confusion and worry.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm o-okay, Father," she smiled awkwardly, embarrassed.

"Gido?!" Mang Pedring called her father, taking their attention.

"Pedring?"

"I thought we will go hunting later at night?"

"Oh, yes. We should get ready after our work here. Last night, three of our pigs were attacked, probably, it's the werewolves," her father said.

The conversation of the men went on and on planning for their hunting later. They all continued eating until they finally had finished and decided to go back to their home.

Ashera decided to sleep for she is sure that they will not have a decent sleep later at night since the men will go hunting.

ASHERA woke up with multiple calls from her mother telling her to get up for they all need to go to the center shelter they called Pulongan. Pulongan is a large house made of bamboo, wood, and nipa. It is where tribe meetings are held and is also where all women and children are gathered whenever the men go out hunting. It is their way of securing themselves from any possible bad events that may happen without the protection of men. Some of them know how to protect themselves, but most of them do not have any idea how to fight.

The shelter is just enough to accommodate everyone who lives in their village. This is also when little ones gather in the same circle and talked about spooky stories. They are allowed to stay outside the center, but just near it. That is where little children put a bonfire and there they gather around it and tell random stories.

They may have the simplest lifestyle, they do not own treasures to add to their pride, but they have a very peaceful community and has a very harmonious relationship with each other.

WHEN men finally back from hunting, the wives and the men's families welcomed them. Men usually go to forests to hunt werewolves but always come back with wild animals. Those wild animals that men had got from hunting will be cleaned by men and cooked by women to serve as everyone's food for how many meals, depending on the size and number of animals that they've caught.

"Father? How was your hunting?" Ashera asked.

Her father looked at her and throw a glare, "Never go back to the Alawin forest, Ashera!" his father said making her brows furrowed.

"W-what? Why?" Ashera asked confusedly.

Mang Berting who heard their conversation went to them, "We heard a long mournful howl coming from the forest, Ashera!"

Ashera's brows furrowed. That's it?

"You should start listening to us. That was probably a werewolf, Ashera. We never know what is in that dense forest! It's better to be safe!"

Ashera sighed and frowned. Looks like my father will become more strict on watching me. This is just… ungood.