Once we all finished checking our attributes and comparing our skills we started preparing for the celebration. According to Rex, this makeshift party was a way to relieve the tension caused by the Eaters. While there was going to be a small moment where everybody just wallowed in grief for those they lost, they should also be commemorating the fact that thanks to the sacrifices, the village and people had survived.
It felt a bit like a dichotomy. On the one hand, we could be very happy about what happened. On the other, we couldn't be too excited. I understood the reason behind that. There were many cultures in the old world that celebrated their dead. Considering that the Rodenti could remember the things their ancestors went through, it made a lot of sense to do the same.
According to Rex, ideally, we would also have some clothes to use during the celebration. It wouldn't be anything very specific, but something a bit more elegant than what we had. Unfortunately, none of us had anything that could amount to a formal suit. The Rodenti who usually created this kind of clothing wouldn't have anything that would fit humans at hand.
Since that wasn't an option, we had to just wear our old clothes. This was also a problem since we never really changed since starting our travels. Which was something we really needed to fix. Maybe the Rodenti tailors from the village were able to come up with a solution for us. Right now, our clothing was rancid.
Realizing our situation, Rex took us to a part of the village that we had yet to go. In reality, that was most of the village. Despite spending quite a few days here, we never had an official tour of the place. The preparation for the attack against the Nest ended up occupying most of our days, forcing us to go back and forth from the same places.
We went down the plateau where Rex and his father lived and walked south towards an area of the village that was lower even while still being underground. After a few minutes, we started hearing some soft sounds of water flowing. After turning the corner on the street, we came face to face with a large underground river. It wasn't as big as the Madison River, but it was far from being just a small creek either. Most of their houses were far from the water, but there were a couple of buildings a bit closer. By the structure, they didn't seem to be places where people actually lived.
As we got closer, we saw a couple of Rodenti leaving the building and giving us a solemn nod. Even without counting the visible wounds and bruises all over their bodies, I recognized them as part of the group that fought outside of the Nest.
"The only place that can clean clothes quickly. Best place to clean," Rex explained as we got closer to the entrance.
My mind went to those old world laundromats filled with machines that could help clean clothes. I imagined people with their bags of laundry after a long day at work. That was how things in movies used to happen. The reality was very different. We were not looking at machines but instead a small stream of water that seemed to be diverted from the river. A few Rodenti were kneeling over and scrubbing some clothes on strange-looking stones. They were blue and kept creating some bubbles as if they were using soap.
The moment we entered, one of the Rodenti who was washing some clothes looked up and opened a big smile. "Rex! So happy you are safe!" The Rodenti got up and started walking towards Rex, showing her excitement. Rex smiled and hugged the Rodenti woman, who had pure white fur and red eyes.
She was wearing a long shirt that was tied around her waist and what I could only describe as booty shorts, although it was obvious this was not the type of clothes she would wear normally. Just by the door, there was a set of longer pants in the same fawn color as her shirt that seemed to be a matching pair. In all likelihood, this was just the clothing she was going to use while working here.
Rex and this Rodenti exchanged a hug that lasted a bit too long. The two seemed to be completely lost in their own world as they held each other.
"Is she his wife?" Riley whispered. "Do you think he is married?"
"I don't know. He is old enough to be considered a chieftain candidate so, maybe."
As we discussed those possibilities, Rex turned around with a smile while still holding the Rodenti's hand. "Friends, this is Carly."
The Rodenti opened that smile and gave us a small bow. "Nice to meet. Glad that Rex had close friends."
"We are happy he had someone back here too. It's nice to see that he has such a lovely girlfriend." I took a stab at the relationship more out of awkwardness than anything else.
"What?" Rex shouted. "Girlfriend?" He quickly let go of Carly's hand.
The Rodenti started to chuckle. "No, no. Not girlfriend."
"Even if Rex wanted," Carly added with a smirk.
I frowned, not really understanding how rejecting him was a laughing matter, but my curiosity was quickly satiated as Rex almost rushed to explain himself.
"Rex was a kid. Didn't know."
"And such a smart kid Rex was. Wonder what happened?" The woman teased again.
Seeing our confused expressions, he finally gave us a proper explanation. "Carly was Rex's babysitter. Se took care of Rex when his father was not around. When I stopped taking care, Rex asked me to be his mate."
I could almost see Rex turning red underneath his fur. He quickly tried to explain himself. "I didn't know what it meant! I only thought it meant to be together forever."
"So little Rex wanted to be together forever with me?" Carly teased and batted her eyes, making our Rodenti companion growl.
As cute and funny as she was, Carly stopped playing around when she took a good look at us. She could already tell why we were there and quickly ushered everybody into a side room. It was the equivalent of a locker room. She offered a few rather rough blankets to keep us warm while she worked to clean our clothes and promised that they would be ready before the big dinner, and we were much grateful for that.
Apparently, they were putting a lot of their other work on hold just to help us. Carly also told the other people to go home and prepare for the big dinner. She would be doing it all on her own since she had a skill that would speed up the process. It was the kind of thing where having more people around would only hinder her speed. The other Rodenti seemed to be very happy to be dismissed earlier than they were expecting. They left without saying another word, likely not wanting to risk being called for another part of their job.
For the next two hours, we stayed there talking with Carly. She had various stories about Rex's childhood to share and seemed to be very excited to be able to do that with people who weren't already tired of hearing how much of a menace young Rex was. Our Rodenti companion quickly realized he made a mistake bringing us here, as we were very interested in what Carly had to say.
Once the two hours were done, Carly gave back our clothes with Michael being the last one to get his. As we left, Carly closed shop for the day. She would also be participating in the party, just like everybody else in the village. We offered to pay somehow, but she refused, stating that having helped Rex come back safe was already more than payment enough for such a simple matter.
Eventually, we all left together with Carly and headed to the celebration, which was about to begin. I had to admit it was a strange affair. While everybody understood that the whole point of this was to commemorate our victory, it was still somewhat jarring to see at one table people crying for the loss of a loved one and at the next people clapping while hearing a story about how a warrior fought off an Eater by themselves.
Things were going well, and the food was really good. Even if a bit unpolished, the Rodenti truly lacked in the presentation department. They were capable of making delicious soups and steaks, but it all looked unappealing. The soups were very thick and had some strange film on top and the color was not really something that made you want to put in your mouth. The steaks always had a charred look outside, which in reality was just the spices with which they covered the meat with. However, the flavor was undisputed. I could only compare it to the best meals that I had back in the Hidden Horn Village.
After a while, everyone started mingling with the Rodenti, but for some reason, I couldn't be as relaxed as them. To be fair, I did know the reason. Despite having defeated the Nest, there was something that we had failed to do. That was acquiring the memories from the Hatchery. While the danger that the Nest presented to the Rodenti was our first priority, I couldn't help but feel somewhat upset that we weren't able to accomplish all of our goals.
Defeating the Eaters that were protecting the Nest wouldn't be possible without the Rodenti. Our success was dependent on their presence. Trying to attack another Nest without their help was going to be nothing short of suicide. Unless we somehow were able to find a recently created one, one that was just now reaching Tier 2 or maybe even Tier 1. However, considering that this was the second time I ever saw a Nest anywhere, I didn't really like the odds of finding something like that.
I was on the edge of the party, more watching everybody than participating in the festivities. Completely distracted by my thoughts, I failed to notice how Ash approached with two cups of booze in hand.
"Here. You look like need one," the Chieftain spoke.
I came out of my trance and smiled at him. "Thank you." I didn't say anything else as I was still trying to figure out how we were going to get the memories from a Hatchery.
"Worried?" Ash asked with a frown.
"I am. We couldn't do what we wanted to do inside the Nest. And now, I don't know how we are going to be able to find another, much less get so close to a Hatchery."
"You need memory to save world, right?"
"I mean, it sounds kind of weird when you put it like that. And it's not to save the world, exactly. It's to see if we can understand why someone is predicting that the world is going to end."
"Understand," Ash nodded. "And what you need for that? A Nest?"
"We need something called an Eater Hatchling, or the Hatchery, which we assume is the Tier 2 version of it. I have a skill that can extract the memories of the creature, and then we can pass them along to someone who might be able to use them to understand what is going on."
Ash took a sip of his drink and stopped talking for a moment. We just continued watching the people at the celebration. Most of the crying had stopped, although a few groups were still clearly dealing with some heavy emotions. For the most part, people seemed to be leaning more towards the happy part of the festivities. After what felt like twenty minutes, Ash finally spoke up.
"Might have another option. Bad one, but could give you Nest."
"You could give me a Nest? How? We barely were able to destroy this one."
Ash shook his head. "No, not me. Someone else."
"Who?" I frowned.
"The Lumerin Queen."