Caio froze when he saw the System notifications pouring in front of him.
Huh? Personal Ledger? That sounds important. But I have more pressing matters right now…
He mentally closed the notification messages and focused on the women around him. He would find a time later to see his stats properly.
Aruá was still at his side. Her cheeks were a bit red, making her shy smile even more striking. One would even forget the circles below her eyes from the two all-nighters. But Caio wouldn't. And knowing that the two all-nighters were simply for him only made her more precious to him.
When the whole world looked at him as a stranger, she was the one caring for him. He was not the kind of man to ignore that.
"Thank you, Aruá. Thank you so much."
"I-it's nothing. I… I just what I did… I mean, I just did what I had to. As a healer, I mean."
Caio couldn't help but chuckle at how adorable she was.
Suddenly, someone touches his shoulder. He looks up and sees Jara, who is also smiling.
"Welcome to the Yarikari tribe."
He nodded, then he got up, slowly. Jara helped him so his legs wouldn't fail on him after so long lying down, but he was feeling actually very springful.
"Thank you, Jara."
Soon other women were also welcoming him, touching or patting his shoulders. He had lived enough time (though it was just two days) in the village to know that those touches were the normal way of interaction for them.
Being touched like that meant that those women were really recognizing him as one of their own. It was even more reassuring than the System notification from earlier. At least, it was more concrete, warmer. As human as it could be.
Yet, in between all that, he knew that there was one touch missing. He could see Maivira watching the scene from a distance, piercing him with her gaze.
I'm sorry, ma'am. I know you're the fertility sovereign here, but…
His mind didn't complete the phrase, as more people were approaching to welcome him.
***
After some time, Aruá takes him back to the village on her boat. Then, she leads him through the walkway, holding his hand.
"Where are we going?"
"First, we go my house. I need to check you. Then, introduce to House heads."
House heads? Oh, I guess she means those in the seven lower stools in the council the other day.
While they walk, several of the women have already begun their days and are weaving or banging stones together to create tools. Children are running around or swimming, laughing without a care in the world. To them, it was like nothing had happened the other day.
He noticed how people had gotten more used to his presence. There were fewer stares and less attention, and he was grateful for it.
In one house, near Aruá's, there was a couple kissing passionately. They weren't doing anything 18+, it was just a kiss. But still, Caio's face reddened and he moved his head to the other side, not to stare at them.
He heard a chuckle at his side. When he looked, Aruá was staring at his face with a glint of amusement in her eyes.
He desperately tried to change topic.
"I saw the seven House heads in the Circle of Reeds. You said that you would introduce them to me today. What exactly is a House head?"
Caio knew what a house head was, on Earth. But it was tied to bloodlines, and it was patrilineal in most societies. But in a world without men, or sexual reproduction…
Aruá squeezed his hand once, gently, as if grounding him again before she answered his question.
"The House heads are the leaders of each of the seven Houses. I am from the Dawn-Eels. As the First Daughter, I am to become a House head myself when Naira retires. The Dawn-Eels are the healers, midwives, and keepers of blood and birth. Maivira is from the Dawn-Eels as well."
So the houses function like an early labor division in the society. Reminds me of some clan-based societies from Earth.
When he was studying Amazonian societies in his History Major, he would've never guessed that that knowledge would prove useful one day.
"Today, you're going to meet Pita of the Blue-Silts and Hessa of the Stone-Underwater."
Caio noticed that as his understanding of the language expanded, the phrases of the Yarikari began to sound less chopped and more fluid. He made a note of it in his head to think about later when he had time.
"Well, but first, I'll check you up. We arrived."
They were, indeed, in front of her house. She pulled him inside without hesitation, still holding his hand.
After they are inside, she makes him sit on the - her - bed, then she begins to touch the places where the injury was last night.
While she was touching and examining, she asked about his world, which made him freeze.
"What do you mean, my world?"
Aruá paused a bit to look at his face, with her hands still on his chest.
"I mean, all men died a thousand years ago. So you can't be from this world. Am I wrong?"
Caio chuckled and shook his head.
That's good reasoning. And there's not really a reason to deny it. On the contrary, it might make things easier.
So he began to talk about Earth, about São Paulo, the city where eleven million people lived, about the pollution and the dead rivers, and about how the government was driving the world to a collapse.
She kept asking questions and making commentaries, when he noticed that she had stopped 'checking' him some time ago. Right now, she was just touching him casually, as if exploring his body.
Her fingers slowed, tracing absent shapes across his chest. Caio could feel that her breathing deepened and he opened his mouth, still unsure about what to say, when footsteps rustled at the doorway and two women entered the hut.
The first one had skin with a slightly darker hue than the others and cold, analytic eyes.
"Welcome to the Yarikari tribe. I am Hessa of Stone-Underwater. Your presence will shake the relationship with the other tribes. Your presence here will make everyone target us. I expect your contributions to outweigh the risks."
The second one had a softer demeanor, but Caio could notice in her eyes that her movements hid an iron will underneath. She was slender, with her hair bound in practical knots, and there was some mud on her arms, signs that she had been working before coming.
"Welcome to the tribe, Caio. I am Pita of the Blue-Silts and keeper of the river gardens. If you generate more children for us, the tribe will expand like never before. On the other hand, there will be more children to feed. I hope you help us with that."
Well, they are not wrong.
"Thank you for having me, Hessa, Pita. I am Caio. Those concerns have already crossed my mind, but I think that I can be of help not only with my seeds but also with my knowledge. I have already noticed something in the ropes you use here, for example. Aruá, can I take that one?"
Caio pointed to a rope that was in one corner of the hut. It was one that she had begun to weave before his arrival and was unfinished, waiting for her to have time to continue the production.
"Y-yes."
She took a step back, looking curious at what he was about to show.
Caio took the rope and showed it to them.
"You make them with three-ply, right? Braiding them like this."
He braided the rope to show what he meant. It wasn't very good work, for lack of experience, but he showed that he knew the technique behind it.
"Yes, that's how we do."
"Okay, but there is a better way to do it. It's called core-sheath rope."
He undid the braiding that Aruá had already made, then separated the plies. He then selected the strongest fibers and set them as a core, and then he braided a sheath with the finer fibers around that core.
It took him around half an hour to have a length of rope that was enough for him to demonstrate its effectiveness.
The three women were watching his every move, and soon there were other women inside the hut, watching. Saori, Jara, and Maivira.
When he finished, he handed it to Hessa.
"Take a look."
Hessa analyzed the rope, bending, twisting, and pulling it. Each time, her face became more and more surprised.
"This is… I've never seen a rope so flexible and strong."
She handed it to Pita, who did the same, before passing it to Saori.
Caio caught a glimpse of Aruá's proud smile in the corner of his vision.
Lastly, the rope reached Maivira, who just took a look at it, then hmpfed and gave it back to Saori.
She walked slowly towards Caio. Her posture was straight, her expression carved into perfect ceremonial neutrality.
The other women stepped aside to let her approach him.
"Kai-o Esteves. Water Sees you. Water keeps you."
She brings her palms together, fingers interlacing at the tips. It was a ritual gesture symbolizing the closing of distance, one that only Stream-Flowers were allowed to perform.
Caio locked his eyes with hers. They were cold. Not exactly hostile, but unreadable.
"Your breath joins our breath. Your path joins our path. You walk under this river's word."
She bows her head, every gesture of hers flawless.
But there was no warmth behind it. No real welcoming. The ritual words were correct, the gestures precise. But, beneath it all, Caio understood. Maivira had not accepted him.
But the looks in Hessa and Pita's eyes told him that her position was not shared by the others. Those two couldn't speak, lest they offend the Stream-Flower, but Caio could see that they accepted and respected him.
***
Later that day, he was with Aruá and Jara in the communal space. They were eating, and Caio was teaching the women how to make ropes in the core-sheath way.
It was a simple knowledge that he learned from his mother, who was an artisan, when he was a kid. Back then, he had a hyperfocus on ropes. How to make them, how to tie them firmly, how to increase their strength, and how to tie things so they wouldn't fall from the moving truck.
He is sitting between the two girls, their shoulders touching his as they watch him with interest. Gourds with cassava flour and grilled fish passed from hand to hand, and some women told stories. The smell of grilled fish and the taste of cassava flour bringing a certain nostalgia from the one time he visited the city of Manaus.
He thought for the first time since arriving in this world that he could actually be happy living here.
***
After dinner, he went to the hut that he was given, at the outer edge of the village. Some notifications had popped up when Maivira did the welcoming ritual, but he had closed them without reading. So he was opening them now, on his way to his home.
He had unlocked the Civilization Ledger.
He was about to open it when he heard some voices nearby. He recognizes Maivira and Saori's voices arguing in hushed intensity.
He isn't able to catch everything, only small fragments.
"The river chose…"
"…she stays too close…"
"…this will unbalance…"
He pauses, troubled. He thinks about heading closer to the voices to listen better, but then he changes his mind and walks straight home. He exhaled slowly, trying not to think about what 'unbalance' might mean in a tribe this tightly woven.
When he entered his house, he heard the familiar ping and the Overseer's voice in his head.
[You alter your surroundings with remarkable efficiency, Caio Esteves. Even I did not anticipate this degree of adaptive optimization.]
[Multiple resonance links detected. Your harem is not yet a structure, but its foundations are visible.]