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 Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:22 am
Fluffesu I can see a timeskip coming up... what do you think?
And feed him too. "Are you hungry?" she offered as she felt the landing shake under him, "Thirsty?" She took out her bowl of berries and the jug of fresh, clean water, and turned to him, offering them. "You should..." her voice briefly faded, not accustomed to so much use, "Eat something."
And he should. The jungle encouraged a slim frame, but a growing young man like him... she was briefly overcome with a desire to just stuff him with food, tuck him in, and tell him everything would be okay. She wondered how far from Oba this child had come, how different her homeland was from his.
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Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:53 am
He landed next to her, desperately trying to keep the dread off of his face. He'd resigned himself to this, so there was no going back now. Even if it meant sleeping on the floor in cramped quarters with a strange woman, who may be some kind of stupid for helping out the alleged enemy. "Yeah... Okay," Xil agreed hesitantly, uncertain how he should go about eating her offerings. Just... with his fingers? He glanced around the little hut. He didn't think plates and cups were a particularly necessary thing for them... At least, not necessary enough to take up any of this very limited space.
Xil slowly plucked a berry from the bowl, inspected it with a critical eye, then popped it into his mouth. It was sweet... Really sweet. Only after he swallowed did he think he probably should've watched her eat one first, just to be sure they were safe. But whatever, he'd already gone for it. He took another, being as polite about eating with his fingers as he possibly could be. "Can I ask you one more question?" he didn't wait for a response. "Why are you helping me?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:07 am
Hijil smiled, pleased that he was eating and set the bowl down for him. ”Eat as much as you like.” she said. He needed food, and she could always gather more.
She listened to him as he asked. Of course you can ask. she thought to herself, feeling both kindly and wary, I might not have the answer, but...
And then he asked his real question. She almost laughed, but laughing out loud like this was still a large step for her. ”I'm helping you because you need it.” she said simply.
~~~
Hijil set out a blanket for her guest, and guest he became. She left him in the shelter and brought back food. She taught him how to survive in the jungle – what foods to eat, what foods to not eat, what foods to cook, how to take shelter from the rain, and how to make fire. She passed on, also, the knowledge that Rayolun the Shifter had given her, how to make snares, how to make simple knives, and how to hunt.
She continued her scouting duties while he slept, but did not tell the forces in Neued about her little stowaway.
When he tried to escape, though, she always found him and brought him back to the shelter – he squalled and yelled and was upset, and sometimes he had been in mortal danger. In the end, she worried that if he left her care before he was ready, he would die, and she had grown too fond of him to let that happen.
Neued began to thin, its people returning to their homes, and soon the day came when Hijil felt it was time for herself to leave as well. The crazed Radaku was freshly buried and her heart longed to leave this place, but not before her charge was safely on his way, or at least, prepared to be on his way.
”Xilarn?” she called, as she returned to the shelter, climbing onto the platform with relative ease. She hadn't told him, of course – talking as much as she did now to anybody was new. ”Are you awake?”
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:55 am
Despite the time he spent with her, Xilarn still never really understood why the savage woman did what she did; why she had any desire to help him. He obviously needed the assistance. There was no doubt about that. Even so, he was her enemy. She should have nothing but hatred for him and his people for trying to take over her home. But she didn't. She almost seemed... reasonable, somehow.
Naturally, the unusual circumstances made him suspicious. There was a brief period of time where Xilarn became obnoxiously obsessed with the notion that she was trying to fatten him up so that she could eat him. That seemed like something he could expect savages to do. Since he hardly welcomed the thought of animals eating him, even the idea that another person would try was enough to give him courage to flee. Somehow, he never made it far, and repeated failures had a tendency to dampen the thrill of escape.
Eventually, he lost sight of the irrational fear, especially when she started teaching him to do productive things; things that wouldn't be sensible to teach to someone who was about to be eaten. Xilarn's confusion only grew, but he was starting to get used to how quiet Hijil was. He was comfortable enough to sleep near her, eat her food, abide by her teachings, used to her departing at early hours of the morning, long before he was awake. It was strange, yes, but also undeniably useful...
At the sound of her voice one morning, he turned toward the little platform and grinned at her. He couldn't help it. It was kind of... nice to have someone around who wasn't such stiff company. Like most of his family was. "Yeah, I'm up," he answered, idly spinning the sharpening blade in his lap. He stuffed the blade, as well as the beginnings of what could be a spear under his blankets before standing and approaching her. "I was working on something, so..." Xil trailed off with a shrug. "Anyway, what are we up to today?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 3:23 pm
Hijil smiled warmly at Xilarn. She was tempted to ask what he was working on, but she didn't want to bother the boy too much, not when he was just beginning to get comfortable.
”Well...” she hesitated. How could she tell him? She put down the tied clothen package of edible seeds she had picked up in the ravaged little town. ”I was thinking... People are leaving. The way is clear...” she looked at him, shyly, almost regretfully, ”You could go back to Oba safely. If you wanted.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:16 am
Xilarn tipped his head in confusion. Return to Oba? After going through all that trouble of getting here? After learning as much as could of survival from this woman? Now she just decided she was ready for him to leave?! Him opened his mouth to inform her that he had no intention of going anywhere, but somewhere between thinking about it and actually saying it, he stopped.
This was Hijil's property, he supposed. She hadn't planned on him being here, but she'd genuinely devoted much of her attention to caring for him. he was starting to see how he could have overstayed his welcome... He tipped his head down in a grateful gesture. "Thank you, for all that you've done for me. Now that you mention it, I should be continuing on. But not back to Oba. I came out here of my own free will, not by some mistake or accident. I've learned a lot from you, so I think I should be fine if I continue on my own for now..."
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:48 am
Hijil felt her heart ache with a throbbing pain that did not recede. She didn't want to leave him all alone and, if he wasn't going to Oba, he would still be in danger. He didn't want to go back to his homeland, when he had a home to return to. Why stay in this dangerous place? Why not go where he would be welcomed, where the very plants would not try to kill him? She had, though, known him long enough to know that he would not change his mind. The best she could do was... Well... ”I have to go myself.” she said, the words feeling as though she had to tear them from her soul, ”There is somebody I have to find.” she mentally ran through her stores in the shelter – food, clean water, some weapons... all replacable, all things she could do without. ”I'll leave you will the shelter and everything in it.” she decided. She took his hands in her own massive ones, her eyes imploring. ”Xilarn...” she began, her voice thick and heavy with emotion, ”If you really want to... stay here... just...” she squeezed his hand gnetly, ”Please be careful. Take care of yourself.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:02 am
Xil stuttered in shock as she scooped his hands up. He'd grown past fear of her, but it was strange for her to do much speaking, let alone so easily display so much emotion. Not to mention that he still wasn't entirely welcome to the thought of being touched so familiarly by the savages, even if this one was gentle and helpful and obviously very useful to his cause.
"Thank you," he repeated with a nod. At least if he was permitted to stay, he could spend an extra day or two plotting out what he really wanted to do next. maybe he could store a bit more food and spend a little extra time practicing with the weapons... "I'll be fine," he vowed with an easy smile, shoving his doubts about contact to the recesses of his mind. "And you... You should also take care of yourself. Good luck in your search. I'm sure we'll meet again at some point..." Maybe. Communication seemed rather shoddy in the rainforest, but he decided not to bring it up.
With a calming breath, he leaned in to give her an awkward hug. They were already holding hands, anyway, so he may as well try and establish a more definitive connection. "Thank you," he murmured again as she departed. It was all he could think of to say, besides goodbye. And she didn't really seem like the 'goodbye' type to him. After all that she'd done for him and after having Hijil around for so long... being alone again almost seemed... saddening, somehow.
But he'd be fine. With her gone, he couldn't stay for much longer, anyway. he had his own journey to continue.
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