When the group followed the monkey captain to meet with their elder, he introduced himself as Donk. Apparently, it was the sound his father made when he was born. His father had been so overwhelmed he fainted and collided with a tree on the way down, making that sound. It was too memorable to not be given as a name to their son, or so thought his mother.
Since Toz and his group weren't monkeys and had to walk on the ground, the captain led them along, telling them about the place they were in, and some other mundane things. Donk also talked about why they were invited to meet with the elder.
They were headed to the Ash Monkey Tribe, the group responsible for keeping watch over the border in the area, around where Toz had entered the forest.
Donk confirmed Toz's suspicions. The monkeys were indeed guarding against the rats. But they were also watching out for any of their returned messengers or someone arriving at the forest.
Their elder would go into more detail about the entire situation. Donk just told them the basics everyone knew as part of their conversation. He also hinted that their meeting with the elder was about more than just informing Toz and his cats about the situation and that their trade from the day before wouldn't be the last firestones they get.
It didn't take long for the group to reach the monkeys' village. It looked like a small village, with huts both on the ground and up in the trees where the branches were braided together, creating bridges and a network connecting the trees.
Beasts in the wild rarely established homes and buildings the same way these monkeys had, even if they were capable of it. Since buildings were susceptible to being destroyed by natural disasters and could become a hindrance when the beasts are threatened by limiting their vision and awareness of their surroundings. As well as unnecessarily exposing a hideout, it was easier to just find or make a suitable place to stay. Maybe some cover, close to food and water.
But the monkeys didn't seem worried about any of that as they had established a proper village in the middle of the forest. With their numbers they might not necessarily fear bestial threats, but how could they stand against nature?
Toz hoped that he would find an answer during his conversation with the village elder.
After Donk brought them to the village and they were received by a lot of monkeys when they entered. Most of the monkeys just stared at Toz and his cats. Some who had been part of the festivities last night cheered and extended greetings in various manners since not all of them were capable of talking the human language.
Donk dispersed the crowd so they could move on to the center of the village, where a large and more decorated hut was located. Thankfully, the hut was placed on the ground so Toz didn't have to climb the trees.
Toz, upon receiving Donks gesturing followed him inside.
The ground was covered by an intricate mat made from the fur of several types of beasts.
Further inside the hut, a slightly larger monkey sat.
Unlike the other monkeys, the elder had a robe draped around itself and its three pairs of arms holding a staff laying on his lap. The elder also had a visibly larger amount of grey fur.
"Greetings, human traveler." Despite its apparent age, the monkey had a clear gaze as it looked upon Toz. He acknowledged the presence of the cats but his main focus was on the human that stood slightly stooped beneath the hut's sloped ceiling.
The elder gestured for Toz to sit, which he gratefully did. It would be utterly annoying having to hold a conversation when he was unable to stand properly. The cats lined up to his left in the order of Nil, Lucy, and Mindle, with Nil closest to Toz.
Since the elder had invited him, Toz waited for him to start talking after saying hello. The elder seemed to deliberate on what to say for a little while, never looking away from Toz.
Lucy was the only one who started getting impatient as the elder stayed silent.
Donks, who stood guard by the door, seemed a little used to the elder's behavior, but he looked at the elder with an imploring gaze.
At last, the elder seemed to have had his fun as he smiled and began talking.
"Mhm. My name is Raknaz, it is the sound my father made when sneezing as I was born, but the villagers only call me 'elder' all the time. Verily rude of them, I must say, I might be older than them but I most certainly am not close enough to death to warrant such a title. If only they could call me Great Warrior or some moniker akin to that, like the names I was known by in my youth. Really, I ought to-
"Ahem!"
It seemed the old, but not-so-old monkey liked blabbering and, if not for Donk's interruption, would have likely continued chattering about nonsense for some time.
After Donk looked at the elder sternly, it seemed he got the message and took on a more serious look.
"Right, we have important business to talk about. First, as you might have noticed, our way of life differs from most wild beasts. It is in part due to our intellect and weak bodies, but also because a long time in the past, our ancestors received a human guest. That guest brought with him a lot of his culture and knowledge. Before he continued on his journey, he left behind several books.
"Some of those books were about history and dictionaries. Others were about applications of magic and knowledge about beasts. The traditions that human passed down and the knowledge we gained from the books helped us develop into what we are now. We call ourselves the Ash Monkey Tribe, I don't know if Donk told you that, but that doesn't matter.
"To honor that human, we have passed on the human language and even given ourselves a human name."
Raknaz took a short break to breathe and allow Toz to ask questions, which he did.
"What does this have to do with inviting us? I don't know that human your ancestors met."
"No, but you came from the wasteland. I don't know how far it has spread, but years ago, there wasn't any wasteland anywhere near here, only forest and proper wilderness. At first, we didn't even notice it. But one day, the trees started dying, the ground dried up, and all the beasts in the south migrated north. It was chaotic, but with the help of everyone, it was settled pretty quickly.
"Or so we thought, the desolation continued spreading. We didn't know what caused it or how to stop it."
The elderly monkey seemed to age visibly as he continued talking.
"Eventually, we noticed the rats were causing it. We tried talking to them, but when that didn't work, we chased them away with overwhelming force, butchering them in droves. We were satisfied when they left. But they didn't leave. They returned from another direction and started smothering us. The forest shrank, the food started running out, and if we hadn't blocked off the river and captured the water within this piece of the forest, we would have died of thirst."
The rats had apparently been busy and posed a more formidable threat than Toz thought. If they had managed to reduce a forest as large as the wasteland to its current state in only a few years, they were certainly dangerous on an environmental level. Toz also began to understand why the monkeys wanted to talk with him.
Toz had crossed the wasteland once and managed to reach their oasis. They wanted to know the state of the world outside, and if anyone else knew the danger these rats presented. They had sent several strong and smart warriors to try and send a message to the outside world, hopefully before it was too late, but they had never heard back.
As time went on, and they knew the rats had continued spreading plaguing the land, the monkeys knew that if their previous warriors couldn't make it then, their current warriors won't be able to cross the wasteland now.
But now that they had found Toz, who had already made it through the wasteland once, and can make it through again and make sure to properly warn everyone else and prepare a thorough resistance and root out these rats once and for all.
