By the time Qianye returned to the holy land, yet another Attawa tribe had arrived. The remainder were fairly distant, so it would take two weeks or more for them to arrive. And that was because they could exchange messages between mother trees; it would take even longer otherwise.

The Mamon clan brought an entire three thousand warriors, almost every adult male and female in the tribe. They were even thinking about bringing older children along. According to a senior tribe member, less than a thousand of the children and elderly stayed behind.

This was a complete mobilization. Reportedly, the other tribes were doing the same.

The elders who had stayed behind were nearing the end of their lives. They would be able...