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 Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 9:15 am
Hijil was quiet as she continued to search the area, unusued to conversing and searching at the same time. Finally, she turned to the girl. ”We're going to find food.” she said, moving forward again. Oddly, there wasn't much edible to earthlings in this part of the forest. Hijil supposed it must have already been gathered and eaten, either by the army or by the animals of the area.
She stopped abruptly. ”Aha!” she said, pointing belatedly at a lumpy, brownish-gold-green mass hanging in a string from a tree, ”Nuts. Very good for you.” she assessed it, thoughtful. If she climbed the tree, she could retrieve it, but it would be easier to just pluck it, but it was outside of her reach.
She had an idea.
”Here.” she said, gesturing before crouching, ”Stand on my shoulders and you should reach it...”
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:44 am
Aseara was more than happy to stay quiet after their initial talk as the moved through the forest. Hijil seemed to be looking around for food, but she was content with just watching and observing her surroundings. She only nodded when Hijil offered an answer to her question, which made sense really. She didn’t really notice any kind of food around and while Hijil looked like she could hunt there didn’t seem to be any animals in the area either. So Aseara wasn’t exactly sure on what they would find here, if anything at all really.
When Hijil stopped Aseara almost ran into her. She looked up at what she was pointing at and frowned. She ahd no idea what she was looking at. “That’s a nut?” That’s not exactly what she remembered them looking like. “Are you sure that’s a nut?” Aseara looked at Hijil with a dubious expression. She wasn’t sure about this. “What if I fall?” Still, Aseara slowly climbed onto Hijals back and reached up to grab onto the mass before plucking it right off and climbing down as gently as she could. “What do we do with it now?”
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:51 am
”Then I catch you.” explained Hijil. She sure as stars and sun wasn't going to let the girl fall to the ground. When the girl retrieved the cluster, Hijil took it from her and opened the protective sheath, showing Aseara the nuts inside. There were many of them, protected until they were ready to grow. But they were ready to eat, if prepared right.
”You roast them.” Hijil explained, ”Until they are brown and crunchy.” she slung it over her shoulder, the nuts within making a slight, soft, rattling sound. ”We can find more food” she said, ”Or take this back to your camp and put them on a fire.”
The choice was up to the girl.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:54 am
Roasting them sounded simple enough right? Aseara nodded. “I will let the guardians know.” Hijil wouldn’t be able to come back with her to the camp but at least she’d told her how to prepare the nuts. “Maybe look for a bit more food first?” She wanted just a bit more and return with enough food for everyone, their group was rather large and just this would not be enough for all of them. “Will we be able to find more food?” It had taken them a bit of walking to find this one precious cluster, how long for the others?
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:05 am
”Yes.” Hijil said, definitely. Food was everywhere in Jahuar. Just not, apparently, in this region for the time being. ”It might take a little more walking...” Hijil looked at the girl's little bare feet. ”Are you...” she sought the right words, ”Up for that?”
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:09 am
Aseara looked down at her own feet and wiggled her toes. “Hm, maybe not.” She said sadly. She glanced at Hijials feet sadly. She needed boots if they were going to walk far more and for a longer time period. “I think I’ll go back to camp.” There wasn’t much point in going on if she wouldn’t even make it to another food source because then she wouldn’t even be able to make it back to camp. “Thank you for you help.” At least they’d found one cluster, it would have to do for now. “Walk me back a bit?”
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:17 am
”All right.” Hijil smiled at her. Poor kid. Hijil felt sorry that she had made the girl walk all this way for one cluster of nuts, but apparently Jahuar just wasn't being generous today. ”Yes.” she said, ”I'll walk you back.”
Of course she would! She'd carry the girl if she had to.... the poor child had already been through a lot, and Hijil didn't want to add bleeding, sore, feet to that list. Hijil had experienced that before, and it was far from fun. The opposite of fun.
”If you ever...” Hijil began to offer, but then stopped. She was so far away from Sauti, on the very opposite coast, and she was so elusive that it was doubly unlikely that she would ever see the girl again, let alone help her. ”Nevermind.” she said, offering her hand to the girl to hold, ”Lets take you back.”
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:27 am
They walked in silence after that. Aseara thought Hijil would offer her more help but she would only have declined anyways. The guardians took care of her and she would stick with them until she had returned to the settlement. When they got close enough that she remembered her way back to camp and could hear some of the other children yelling Aseara stopped and turned towards the girl. “Thank you for the nut I will make sure that they cook it properly.” Then she just kind of stared because she didn’t know what to do at this point.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:45 am
”You're Welcome” Hijil said. Awkward silence grew between them, and Hijil knew that the girl would have to leave her. It was sad – Hijil wished she could take her in herself, and coddle and care for her as she knew she should. But no, the girl's place was not with her.
”... take care.” she said quietly, waving. And then she turned and went back into the woods.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:15 am
“You too.” Aseara waved at her and then went back to camp. The children gathered around her as she opened the nut as Hijil had showed her and told the guardians how to cook them.
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