The figure in the sky was very fast. A moment ago it was just a small black dot but now it was already across the river.
As the eagle got closer, everyone’s gaze was filled with even more confusion, as if in disbelief. They looked over towards Shao Xuan, who was smiling. They thought, ‘Is he really not going to do anything?’
Ao thought that the eagle was the Chacha that Shao Xuan mentioned before. But Chacha wasn’t that big in size. If it was Chacha, why didn’t the Drumming tribe recognise it?
Even with their own suspicion, Ao didn’t let anyone attack it. He just pointed his chin towards Shao Xuan, as an instruction for them to wait for Shao Xuan’s next words.
“Caw–”
A bright call came from above. It was so loud that some of them covered their ears.
Caesar opened his jaws wide but was unsure so he did not reply.
The large bird came speeding towards them, bringing so much force with its wings that everyone’s hair was immediately messed up. A few smaller tribespeople were nearly blown backwards too. Ao lifted his hands to cover his eyes, it was hard for him to keep his eyes open.
Thud!
As the giant eagle landed, it crushed the stones beneath, causing chips and mud to fly up and hit people’s arms.
Shao Xuan greeted his old friend with open arms and a warm smile.
Only then Ao brought his arms down to look at them.
The eagle before him was double the size of the eagle in his memory. Its pattern was not like the one he knew. He only cast away his doubts when he saw the eagle warmly greeting Shao Xuan.
“Long time no see, Chacha.” Shao Xuan patted Chacha’s lowered head.
[TL’s Note: I’ve been told the previous TL used ‘he/him’ pronouns for Chacha so I’m correcting most parts.]
Chacha was humongous now, was it because of his trip to Eagle Mountain? His feathers had patterns of mountains on it now.
Back when they were in the Drumming tribe, Chacha was rarely on the ground. He rarely interacted with the tribespeople so it was not unusual that the tribespeople didn’t recognise him with the new changes.
Chacha was very excited. If Shao Xuan wasn’t this strong, he would have knocked him over already.
Chacha saw Caesar standing at the side and moved over to interact with him until he saw Caesar’s injured eye.
Chacha was shocked. He hadn’t been gone for long, when did this friend become a cyclops?
“Hey! Ah Xuan, is this Chacha?” asked Ao.
“Yes, it’s him.” Shao Xuan explained a bit more, “I think he went to Eagle Mountain again, that’s why he became so big.”
Ao nodded. Eagle Mountain was their own secret. Back when they were on the other side of the river, Chacha went to the mountain before and then went another time. He thought Chacha was faced with trouble when they got information from the Hui tribe so he didn’t expect to see him here.
Ao smiled and praised, “This fella was protecting our home!”
“... Hehe.” Shao Xuan laughed. He knew Chacha well, Chacha probably wasn’t here because of the tribe. If the homeland was under attack, he wouldn’t do anything.
To Chacha, this was his actual homeland. He was born and raised here so his ties to this land was much stronger. When the Drumming tribe came forward, it felt like they were attacking his territory.
They were lucky Chacha remembered Flaming Horn’s friendship with the Drumming tribe. He only chased them away without attacking them.
Chacha wasn’t the friendliest animal, he was rather temperamental. He put up with the Flaming Horn tribespeople only because of Shao Xuan.
After meeting Shao Xuan and Caesar, Chacha went to look for Old Ke. When he was young, Old Ke was the other one looking after him so he was much friendly towards him too. He was in a good mood today so after landing, he went around to look for familiar faces.
But, why were there so many strangers?
The eagle scanned the group and realised he didn’t recognise half of them!
He cocked his head in confusion. Chacha noticed the seven green-faced fanged beasts and moved his claws.
He usually killed dangerous beasts without even a thought.
Looking at Chacha, Shao Xuan knew what he intended and quickly stopped the eagle, “Don’t fight them, they are important and useful.”
“Chief, Grand Elder, should we go there?” Mai asked since there was no danger there now.
After comforting the temperamental Chacha, Shao Xuan asked Fu Shi, “Can we swim across the river?”
Fu Shi shook his head, “I don’t know, we’ve never done that. We normally get help from treasure fish.”
“Ah, then let’s go there in batches,” replied Shao Xuan.
With Chacha back and much bigger in size now, he could transport more people over.
“We can get a few treasure fish over for you too.” Knowing that their neighbours were going to be the Flaming Horn tribe, Fu Shi was much relieved.
The Drumming tribe also got some crocodiles to help out. Shao Xuan modified carts for Chacha to be able to grab onto them and lift them over.
They weren’t able to transport many people over at once but they weren’t in a hurry. They sent some people over to make some boats because there was much more wood there.
All this made Shao Xuan very happy.