Leva continued to hold back laughter at what was happening in front of her. Kat was sitting with the occasional little squirm, clearly uncomfortable. Though her face was still expressionless.

Seb and Manu slept using the girl’s shoulders as headrests. Even worse, Pif fell asleep using Kat’s lap as a pillow, giggling and drooling.

I kept whispering to Kat not to wake the three of them. Pity them. I swear that I saw them do that by accident. The men just fell because of sleepiness. If they were bastards, the three men’s hands should have touched where they shouldn’t have been. However, they did not do that.

I find this sight very amusing. And to be honest, I wanted to join them.

Oh, I saw another slight change in Kat’s face. The corners of her lips began to twitch.

“Errrrmmmm….” Kat’s face was getting redder as she pushed the heads of the three people one by one, then wiped off Pif’s drool on her thighs using a torn dried banana leaf.

Pif, Seb, and Manu exchanged glances with barely open eyes and gaping mouths. This made Leva laugh out loud.

“Ah, the rain has stopped.” In a drunken like voice, Pif spoke while looking outside.

As soon as I went out with them, the smell of water mixed with earth hit my senses even more. The afternoon sun also gives warmth to my body.

“I can hardly believe it was raining so hard earlier.” Seb put his hands on his hips while taking a lot of fresh air.

“My tribe elder said, things like this happen because of the wishes of the spirits that guard a group of people.” Pif chimed in as he stared at the white smoke in the distance. “Maybe, this group did something so good that it didn’t deserve an incident.”

Guardian spirits, huh? Is that me?

Leva sneered. “Sigh, if that spirit exists and wants to protect us, it should help us during raids and when our tribe is attacked by those cursed monkeys.”

Ugh. Sorry, Leva. It’s beyond my control, and I’ve tried my best. However, I do want the safety of all of you, really.

Manu walks forward with a shaking body and shedding tears. Then he fell to his knees and squeezed the mud below.

“Thank you, if gods do exist…. But, why am I always like this?” Manu’s voice sounded like someone was moaning in pain.

Seb crouched down and patted the man on the shoulder. “Every human being has mistakes. We can learn from those mistakes.”

“You do not understand.” Manu gulped hard. “I made this mistake more than once. And it affected me and the people around me.”

Leva folded her arms across her chest and glared at Manu.

Having a bad feeling, I spoke into the bearded man’s ear. “You’ll talk about it later. If what you’re about to tell them is enough to infuriate Leva, things will get messy.”

Yes, I don’t want the tension in my colony to be higher than it is now. I’m sure Manu’s story is dark, and not everyone can accept it. If, for example, Leva got angry and attacked Manu again, the man could retaliate many times over.

Even now, I’m already worried that one day Manu will take revenge on Leva, who hit that guy last night in the face.

Manu had opened his mouth to speak but immediately closed it again, shaking his head.

“Ah, it’s okay you don’t want to tell me about it.” Seb flashed a smile. “But remember, I’m always there to listen to you.”

***

The night has come again. Manu sat alone under a tree some distance from the shelter, only accompanied by a fiery log as a torch that was stuck in the ground. Every now and then, he shivers. The fire from the log didn’t seem enough to warm his body.

I purposely told him to be there for some reason.

Not long after, Seb came with a log of fire too. “Hey, you haven’t slept yet? What brings you here?”

“I can not sleep.” Manu answered in an almost whispering voice. “And I don’t know why I wanted to go here myself. How about you? What made you come here?”

“Same, I don’t know either. Maybe this is a whisper from the spirit that Pif told me about?” Seb chuckled and pointed to the spot beside Manu. “May I sit here?”

Manu nodded. Seb then sat down next to the bearded man, sticking out the fiery stick he was holding.

I purposely made them meet tonight. I felt that Seb would be the least judgmental of Manu’s story.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” Seb started the conversation. “At that time you didn’t say it because there were others, right?”

Manu slightly looked up at the stars in the sky. “If you were hit by a friend when you were a child, what would you do? Would you retaliate?”

Seb shrugged. “Well, I won’t do anything. I’m a coward.”

“A long time ago, I nearly went to gouge out the eye of a friend of mine who hit me.”

Instantly Seb’s eyes went wide. I hastily gave instructions to Manu. “Leave the details and examples of your vengeance.”

Seb can’t stand violence, after all.

“I don’t want to talk too much about what I do.” Manu took a deep breath. His lips began to tremble. “The point is, I always repay other people’s actions that upset me with actions that are many times worse. I myself don’t know why I am like that. I… I feel like I was created with that trait.”

Seb just stayed silent and looked at his fellow colonists.

“I’ve done a lot of things that ….” Manu rubbed his face. His eyes were starting to glaze over. “It’s true that I haven’t reached the stage of killing fellow humans yet, but my tribesmen have become afraid of me.”

“Sorry to ask like this, but was that the real reason you were exiled, Manu?” Seb spoke in a cautious tone.

“What I told you back then was true. I impregnated the wife of the tribe leader’s son… What I did was not ****. I’m the one who seduces her to do it with me. However, I did it not out of love. The reason is that the son of the tribe leader was caught by me flirting with my lover.” Manu laughed bitterly. “My lover… She who has faith that I can change. However, I betrayed her instead… I also betrayed my tribe, which only punished me with imprisonment every time I made a mistake, even though what I did was really cruel… Ah, looks like I’ve said enough.”

Seb sighed. “All that sounds though, my friend.”

“I probably deserved to be exiled like this. The situation for this group would probably be better if I left.”

“Don’t talk like that, buddy.”

I do sympathize with Manu. However, the story also made me think of one thing.. Looks like I should pay extra attention to my first colonist.