Return of the General's Daughter-Chapter 196: Lara’s Beliefs

As the Norse and the Lenard brothers ventured around the plateau, they were struck by its stunning beauty, especially the waterfall with the colorful flowers that seemed to be purposely planted there.

"Galeya," Percival blurted out. "If I did not know better, I would believe that she is indeed a goddess, and all those stories of how all these came to be are not just housewives’ tales but the truth."

Gideon snorted. "After bathing in that hidden pool for an hour, I thought you had become a believer."

With arms across his chest, Percival shook his head.

"How about you, Sis?" Percival asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity as he followed his sister to the waterfall. The vibrant colors of nature danced around them, with each flower and leaf shimmering in the sunlight. "Do you believe there’s a mystical force behind all that we see?" He gestured with his hands, his voice filled with speculation.

He was eager to hear Lara’s thoughts.

Lara took in her surroundings before replying, her voice calm and steady. "I used to believe purely in science, in logic and reason." She paused, her eyes glazed over, lost in her thoughts as she remembered the time when she woke up and found herself in a strange place and a body not her own.

She was an exceptionally rational person, grounded firmly in logic and reason. Her skepticism toward supernatural phenomena was unwavering. She approached the world with a critical eye, seeking explanations rooted in empirical evidence —yet, it was a fact that a supernatural phenomenon happened to her.

She was reborn in a new body and a different era.

"Sis?" Bener asked when he noticed that Lara was in a daze.

Lara smiled. "Perhaps, there is indeed an unseen force, an intelligent being—whose wisdom is beyond human understanding, that created all these things."

Bener and Percival were both speechless.

So Lara believed in the legend of Galeya?

Abel could only scratch his head. His cousin’s words were too deep for him to understand.

Gideon was interested in the plumbing—how water from the waterfall was diverted to a large clay jar in the banggera at the kitchen and to a small pond north of the plateau.

He watched curiously as Jethru reattached the two-meter section of a hollowed bamboo pole to the piping system—the one that caught the water from the falls. He dismantled it previously when they left the plateau, but once the jar became filled with water, he removed it again.

For supper, Lara cooked a pair of pheasants that they caught along the way. She prepared her favorite dish, binakol, a chicken stewed in coconut water and seasoned with coconut meat, spiced with lemon grass and ginger, and cooked in a bamboo tube. She also added potatoes.

While the chicken was simmering, she helped her master dig up rare herbs, which they successfully propagated, while her brothers and cousins frolicked in the plunge pool.

Lara’s eyes widened when she saw Jethru unearth a metal chest in one of his herb gardens.

"Master, how many chests have you buried in the past twenty-plus years?" She asked teasingly. But in her mind, she was chiding the old man. What a waste of money! If he had invested that, then he would have been so rich.

"Hmmm. Ten. I used up five already. That estate at the Narra Alley was too expensive."

"Don’t worry, Master. It is worth it." Lara leaned closer to look at the contents of the chest, but Jethru closed the lid before she could peek.

She laughed heartily at the old man’s action.

...

The evenings in January in Mount Ourea came early. When darkness swallowed the entire Alta-Tierra at 5:30 pm, the people in the small house on the plateau had a blissful dinner.

Gideon, who had never tasted Lara’s cooking before, was amazed. Just how much had she learned in the last two years? The last thing he remembered was that Lara didn’t even want to enter the kitchen because it was dirty, and the smoke made her feel awful. Yet now...

...

The moment the east brightened the following morning, Lara rose from her bed and cooked steamed rice. Just before the water completely dried, she took two ladles of rice water and transferred it to a thin bamboo tube.

From the shelf in the living room, she took out two small teats from a box. In the last two years, she and her master experimented a lot in creating teats from resin and came up with something suitable for orphaned pups or cubs to suck from.

She went to her room and studied the pups. Perhaps they were hungry because they seemed to be looking for their mother’s teat. After some time, they whimpered softly.

Lara marveled at their cuteness. She attached the teat to the narrow bamboo tube and pressed it into little Grey’s mouth. At first, the pup shifted its head but Lara held it in place until he finally latched unto the teat and started sucking.

She did the same for the female pup. She named her Snow because her mother’s fur was white like snow. She’ll decide to change the name later should its color turn out to be something else and not white.

After breakfast of steamed rice and scrambled egg, and the remainder of last night’s dinner, Lara, her brothers, and her cousins left to continue climbing the Ourea’s peak.

Jethru decided to stay, do his own things, and watch over the pups. It would be dangerous for Lara to carry them, so he volunteered to babysit.

In the many years he stayed on the plateau, he could not remember how many small animals he had taken care of. They were his silent companions, whom he eventually had to free when they were old enough to wander on their own.

And wolves are like dogs. They were very loyal and recognized their master.

He thought of Grey. No matter how accustomed he had become to the reality of the cycle of life and death in the jungle, he was still saddened by the loss of such a loyal friend.

He lifted one of the little pups and checked its gender. The little ball of dark fur let out a soft growl.

Jethru laughed.

"Hello, little Grey. You are a fierce one, huh? Just like your father." He caressed the pup, which was smaller than his palm.

"I am pretty sure that you will be as loyal as he. But your master is my disciple. Protect her well when you grow up."