We returned before sundown.
We did not tell the entire tribe what we saw — only the council. Not because Baba feared panic, but because ignorance was safer than speculation for now.
When Baba finished recounting the clash between sect and soldiers, the council did not gasp or curse or clutch charms.
They fell silent.
Silence among hunters meant two things:
We understand.
and
We do not like what we understand.
Truth of Strength
The eldest elder finally tapped her staff once.
"So the fire-tongues are ash."
"Yes," Baba said.
"And Payan did it like pruning fruit."
"Yes."
"They did not lose men?"
"No."
"They did not shout?"
"No."
"They did not celebrate?"
"No."
The elder nodded slowly.
"Then Payan will not fear this valley."
The white-haired elder added, "They will not need to."
That was the part that mattered.
Fear ruled tribes.
Legitimacy ruled states.
Payan did not need superstition or ritual to maintain unity.
They had process.
The Fearful Speak First
An elder with broken teeth clenched his jaw.
"If Payan come here, they will make us pay coin."
"If Payan come here," whispered another, "they will make us pay children."
"If Payan come here," spat a third, "they will make us bow."
Baba did not answer any of them.
Not yet.
The Reasonable Speak Next
The white-haired elder tapped her cane.
"Or," she said softly, "Payan may ignore us."
Heads turned.
"Why?" asked the broken-tooth elder.
"We have nothing Payan wants," she said. "We are small. We have no iron. We have no horses. We have no priests. We have no roads. We have no written law. We are not rebels."
She looked at Baba.
"We are not fire-tongues."
Baba nodded slowly.
"Until we are," he said.
Because power had a habit of growing — even among tribes.
The Third Option
Then the eldest elder asked the question no one else wanted to ask:
"And if Payan comes not to take… but to trade?"
That shifted the room again.
A hunter asked, "Trade what?"
"Coin for goods."
"We have no goods."
"We have furs."
"They have many furs."
"We have herbs."
"They have better herbs."
"We have meat."
"They keep animals."
Then a dry voice cut through the murmurs:
"We have children."
Eyes snapped toward the speaker.
It was not an elder. It was an old hunter who had seen slavers take villages in the past.
His voice was not malicious — just realistic.
The room froze.
Tullen stiffened beside me. Haniwa's fingers curled. Talli's breath hitched.
Baba spoke first.
"No."
Just one word — but the tone was iron.
The council did not challenge him.
Because Baba had killed slavers.
Because Baba had rescued children.
Because the rescued children were sitting right beside him.
The System quietly logged:
Moral Doctrine Identified (Local): Children are not currency.
Long-term effect on civilization: +Stability +Unity +Human capital preservation
States that ate their young rarely lasted long.
The Question of Tribute
Then the white-haired elder asked the real question:
"If we cannot pay Payan with goods, and we cannot pay Payan with bodies, and we cannot pay Payan with coin… then how will we pay Payan?"
The answer was simple.
We wouldn't.
Payan did not need us to pay now.
Payan needed us to submit later.
Tribute was never about today's goods. Tribute was about tomorrow's obedience.
But I was three, so I gave the simpler explanation:
"We pay with nothing now."
Heads turned.
"And later?" the eldest asked.
"Later we show we are useful."
The elders blinked.
"Useful how?" the broken-tooth elder demanded.
I pointed to the clay tablets near the council fire — the ones with maps and marks.
"Scouts," I said.
The council stared.
Baba finally spoke for me:
"He means this: Payan cannot see the forest. Payan cannot track. Payan cannot hunt. Payan cannot scout. They need eyes and ears. We have eyes. We have ears."
Even the white-haired elder tilted her head at that.
Not offended. Considering.
The First Diplomatic Model
The System opened a new interface for my eyes only:
Diplomatic Stance Options (Proto):
Submission → Low risk / Low sovereignty
Secrecy → Medium risk / High autonomy
Tribute → Medium risk / Medium autonomy
Service → Low risk / Medium sovereignty / High leverage
Alliance → High risk / High autonomy
Resistance → Extreme risk / Unknown yield
A brief note beneath:
States value leverage more than loyalty.
Service — not submission — was the path tribes could take without being consumed.
The Proposal
Baba stood, placing his spear against his shoulder.
"We will not hide," he said.
"We will not bow."
"But we will not burn."
The council stared.
He finished with the sentence that mattered:
"We will talk."
Not now.
Not immediately.
But soon.
The white-haired elder nodded.
"Then our children must prepare."
The cohort straightened unconsciously.
We were no longer just scouts.
We were becoming envoys.
The Children React
Later, by the river, the cohort processed the news in the only way children could — with blunt logic.
Talli: "Payan kill fire-tongues."
Haniwa: "Fire-tongues scream and die."
Tullen: "We do not scream."
I added: "We do not die."
Ren, who had been silent, asked the question the System had been hovering over since Chapter 15:
"If we talk to them… what do we give them?"
I smiled.
"Something they don't have."
Tullen frowned. "What do they not have?"
I pointed at the clay tablet with our territory scratched on it.
"Us."
Because services were commodities.
And information was the first service a state ever paid for.
The System chimed:
Diplomacy Path Chosen (Implicit): Service / Leverage
Status: Developing
Not ally.
Not subject.
Not enemy.
Something new.