To say that we walked into a bush of thorn is to make light of bushes. Safe to say we've found the Nuzi people, and when I say ‘found’ I mean we were ambushed. That will teach me to let silly things like how I'm going to converse with them distract me from my surroundings. Had Flynn not covered for my lack of poise we'd both be dead.

I’d like to think that my choice of words is what stayed their intent to kill us but honestly, it was because I could speak their language at all that did it. That fact would have been darkly humorous had it not reinforced the feeling of being unprepared for something. I hate not knowing.

With both village’s sun Chief and stargazer gone on an errand, the moon chieftess gave us a hut to sleep in as well as washing herbs to use in the sweat tents, food was prepared for us also. It was not her place to answer the questions I asked, it’s against their ‘minhna’.

To prevent another cultural complication I held my tongue on the matter but it was very difficult. Though I'll respect custom the look on her and her people's faces, the sheer hostility that we faced when we were ambushed betrayed a more deeper underline story here. One of vengece without a clear aim... that is if I'm reading the room right.

I’ll wait for them to return, they say that they'll be back the next day so I should get some rest.

Sophie - July 23rd, 2764

Natalie

She followed the trickle of people who made their way up to the northern gate. Right before she reached the front of the gathering of people, Natalie heard the newcomers, their hums washed over the excited murmurs of the Nuzi people like shour tides. It whistled upon the winds as if it were the breeze itself, the harmonious sound of singing could echo from beyond the wall, not far from where the guardian rock stood.

Talks from the crowd simmered down to a dull buzz as they all listened. It was… soothing. Almost reverent in its sound. It pulsated through the air through their chest and right into their souls. Although Natalie did not get the words (the whole thing was in Alermuric) something about it that made her feel like she’d almost got it almost understood anything and everything that was said if she only just stopped and... so taken in by the song Natalie had to do a second take on why she was moving towards the gate.

Need a translator.

Natalie had heard of the enchanting hymns the Hemerlains could muster with their voice alone but this was the first time she’d witnessed it. Pushing through the mesmerized crowd Natalie activated her angel sight to look through the walls what to expect. There was a small crowd of perhaps twenty men standing off in the far distance, barely visible to the naked eye unless you knew what to look for. Two more people, a man, and a woman according to their inverted silhouette stood several paces closer to the village. The proud way that they held themselves made them out to be leaders or at least one’s in charge of this gathering of people. Nuzi people from one of the other tribes Natalie was willing to bet. And lastly to the far right, right by the guardian rock, she found them.

There were about twenty people gathered around the walking wall give-or-take. All wore long robes of sky blue. Their wide hats fanned out like a rosebud in bloom, their hymn-like song seemed to swirl around the air in a kind of whimsical vortex. The song was so reverent and hypnotic that Natalie almost overlooked the fact that they were indeed singing it directly at the guardian rock which couldn’t be good. She was about to run over and put a stop to it until she noticed a small group of Nuzi people was already engaging them with protests and waves to stop what they were doing. Although they were shouting the Hymalens song drowned out their calls.

Eventually with some nudges and prodding the group stopped their hymns and began to file up in front of the man who stopped them as they were escorted towards the gate to the village. Watching them walk past Natalie noted the regal but giddy way that they held themselves. Like carefree children that got caught doing something foolish but knew it would get a laugh out of everyone. To them, life was an adventure, and the stunt they just pulled was part of the fun. It contrasted her take on things so much that Natalie felt a reluctance to even engage them.

Most of them looked to be between their late teens and early twenties, somewhere likely more her age but the rest seemed older and they hid it better it did not take much to see that even they held the same faces. Some were hiding a smirk, others were simply conversing and laughing among themselves without a care in the world. A few of them however noticed Natalie standing there watching and all their conversing and banter stopped flat as to look briefly back. A vague curiosity painted their faces as they moved back to speaking.

The small group of Nuzi men that gathered them herded the Hemerlains in the village like sheep, once gathered, two of the men were escorted from the front whilst another two stayed back to tail them from behind. stood between them and the wall like preventing any from sneaking away although it did not seem necessary. Off were the two people who stood heard something in Alermuric said to Minda, Natalie assumed it was a kind of apology going by the tone. Unable to grasp the words Natalie had to get by with reading the tone and features of the speaker. They were dressed in much the same way as the stargazer was except this one looked a fair bit younger. Their faces expressing that friendly apology in earnest Natalie thought until a light look of amusement at the events that appeared on their face.

Natalie did not need much to understand what was likely said. And considering Minda’s worry about how people’s mood will influence the guardian rock only to make fun of that spoke volumes of the underline bad blood that Minda spoke of between the other tribes. Given everything Natalie was willing to bet that the leaders from the other tribe encouraged the Hemerlains to do what they did. Well, it was stupid, what if it actually worked and the thing went berserk? It was not because she cared about these people per-say but nobody deserved to lose their lives because of one person’s dark humor. Besides, Andrew and the children were still inside the village. Not to mention that if things did go wrong because of them, being as close as they were it would have been the Hemerlains that suffered the first casualties.

Shaking her head Natalie turned back to the village gate, the last of the Hemerlains had mostly been escorted into the village itself, the guardian rock was still placid as it waited by the village walls. Noting this Natalie ignored Minda as she talked to the stargazer from the rival tribe to seek out one of the Hemerlains.

~#~

Pulling one amongst them to have a word with was not too difficult, in fact, it kind of just... happened. It happened the moment she made her way towards the rear rank. She’d been following the tail end of the flank for a short time as they moved deeper into the village. Not gone this deep into the village before Natalie was a little surprised to see that the path had widened, with huts were placed further away from another making for a wide area of the dirt-baked road. Therein its center here were long thin benches all gathered side by side in trouble rows pointing towards a lone hut stood in the dead middle.

It was like a stage, or formal gathering Natalie guessed as she saw the Nuzi people and Hemarlains alike all take up a seat on this bench, they looked to be waiting for something to happen. Knowing that she did not have the time to wait around for whatever was to take place to finish Natalie plucked enough courage to approach one of the rowdy bunch Hemarlains sitting on the last row of benches. One of the Hemerlains (a man) looked back at her before saying something lost in the hubbub for Natalie to hear at his peers before peeling away from the group to approach her. Natalie could not help but notice that his peers gave her one last curious look before getting back to observing whatever it was that was happening at the front.

“Blessed be the winds, what can Hymn-man Eli do for you? Your... are not local here are you?” It was barely framed as a question.

Eli was three, perhaps four years older than Natalie. Even though he was the senior she could help view him as barely older than herself. Perhaps younger if she did not consciously remind herself that was not so. It was his posture she guessed, like most of them Eli held a bright disposition about himself that betrayed her take on how one her age would have.

He'd instantly got into a speel how he was so sure she was not one of the locals. Her clothes were the most obvious ones. How she wore her hair down was also a big giveaway, most girls her age here seemed to keep it in a bun. And given that they had been rotating among the three tribes for a while now they grew accustomed to being the only ones in those villages with distinctly different attires.

For three years they had been studying among the Nuzi people. Eli was hoping that he’d be fluent enough in Alermuric to one day create his own hymns in the language. Or at the very least passable enough to be allowed to finally migrate south to the land beyond the womb and meet up with the foretellers. People who are said that their inspired hymns hold potential fragments of events yet to transpire within the cycle.

“Most say that their foretellings are just coincidence-and I can’t fault them for thinking such. Still, if the stargazers say that they have grasped the thread of their own interpretations of the cycle then who am I to argue. Na, I’ll be wholly content learning the Nauzi people’s culture and then moving on to someplace not north and not as hot. Feather Head or Brew comes to mind.”

He happily divulged his motives, wants, and dreams all without her squeezing a word in edgeways. He was just earnestly open and optimistic. Even his talks of knowledge were framed in this bright-eyed childlike demeanor, one that tempered with the weight of spoken wisdom. Perhaps that’s where his lack of street wits and caution were funneled to.

Besides Andrew, it had been a long while since she really interacted with anyone her own age. Thanks to his speel half the questions that she had for him fell by the wayside, all except one. She just needed to stop him from talking.

“So are you a hunter? You must be traveling also. But so far north alone. Commissions here can’t be worth the effort even a premium job.” Eli said.

He went on like that for a full minute. (Natalie counted with gritted teeth.) At first, Natalie thought that he was being nosey, that perhaps Eli had tried to lull her into a false sense of confrontation before diving in for a full investigation. His brief mention of the odd appearance of storms coming and going in a blink and how the Itsu tribe had suddenly cut their arranged visit short to bring them here as sooner than prearranged. Natalie was pissed, she was soon going to get her back up until she, however, realized that besides being sent here early likely because of her actions he himself did not have a clue if she herself was connected to it. Besides noting her oddity in this side of the world he was simply someone who was hardly able to keep a loose thought to himself. Although it made her more sure he could be of use it was grading at her. She’d hardly been able to get a word in.

“Can you translate?” she’d finally pushed out.

Eli blinked as if she’d just appeared out of thin air in front of him before he opened his mouth in understanding the question.

“You mean the Alermuric tongue? Why, of course. I might not be the best at it but I am far better than half my peers including Mertel who-”

“-Follow me!”

She’d turned around and started weaving her way through the din of people who now were getting back to their things after the parade of Hemerlain came and gone. She’d heard a call of protest leave Eli’s lips but she did not dare address it, not unless she wanted to risk standing there and listen to him talking for another ten minutes. It just happened that he was following her and the two that she wanted to talk to were still where she last found them.

Reaching the back to the village gate she found them. Two men guarding the entrance with spear and boomerang respectively. Muraco and Wapi she recalled Minda saying. As for which one was which she did not know. They were talking in deep hushes but that came to a stop when she approached. Meeting eyes with the two of them, Natalie remained silent. The man with the feather-like attire (the one with the boomerang. Muraco?) just looked at her, his face guarded and unreadable. Like a hawk watching a leopard from several miles high. Not afraid, but wary of the presence of another hunter in its domain. The man with the gray furred pelt however had a roaming wolf coming face to face with that very same leopard. A swirling pool of rage flickered in his eyes. Natalie could understand the rage to a degree given the circumstance but this one felt like it has gone beyond that. But that did not make sense.

The moment that was broken by the footfalls fast approaching behind her. Eli made it to her side and mumbled something to himself about explaining herself first and ‘some kind of eren boy’. As he got done grumbling and pattering down his clothes his eyes looked at Natalie and followed her gaze. They both looked at Eli now, features hardly changing in the process. Eli’s lip twitched in hesitation when she saw them before understanding took over his features. Giving an awkward wave and smile he greeted them in Alermuric. That came out as cheerful, almost too cheerful to be seen as earnest which did not help the situation any.

“If I’d known that you’d wanted me to talk to the shackled then I’d have bid you fair days and ran the other way!” he gritted under his teeth.

“Can’t you do it?” Natalie asked.

“I can do it, yes, but it’s asking for trouble. Nothing gets between them and their ordeal. To even think of disturbing a shackled one during their duty you need a very good reason.”

“How does stopping the village from being trampled on sound for a reason?”

Eli mumbled the word ‘trampled’ in open bewilderment. Shaking her head, Natalie simply ignored him and continued her walk towards the two young men. If he was going to translate then he would translate. Either way, Natalie had words to speak to them and she intended to make them understand one way or another.

“I need to talk to one of you,” she said as she folded her arms beneath her chest.

The two men who had already been eyeing her since she came into sight simply blinked their eyes impassively. The wolf pelted man with the spear turned his full attention towards her. Whilst the other with the boomerang simply watched her from the corner of his eye as he leaned against the village gate, like predators watching a potential rival coming to their riverbank. Natalie's steps were normal but silent with her natural leopard-like grace which added to the tension. Eli’s frantic footfalls however broke the ongoing silence. To add insult to the shifted mood Eli sighed heavily as if he’d just got done climbing a steep cliff face. He stopped as soon as he saw the shackled eyeing him but by then it was too late.

“T-tabarak alriyah!” Eli said, it was said too loudly and followed by an awkward chuckle as he pretended to dust himself off.

The so-called greeting hardly got a sniff from the boomerang wielding man and a blinked in front of the wolf pelted one. From the corner of her eyes, Natalie could see Eli reluctantly turn to look at her.

“What do you want me to say!?” he hissed with gritted teeth.

“I’ve said it already,” she grumbled.

With her arms folded and eyes glaring at them she did not want to back peddle. It took a second for Eli to catch on but he did get it.

“Oh! What you last said. Right. I-uhh...”

Eli proceeded to talk to them in Alermuric, translating what she’d told them Natalie guessed. That was until she noticed that he’d used too many words for it to be a direct translation. With a bit of floundering, Eli was able to get them seemingly on the same page. With a nod, the wolf pelt one pointed his nose to a low clay wall before talking towards it himself.

With a sigh, he leaned himself against it watching the onlookers with a tense silence. Natalie frowned, given his possession he would have her standing there with her back to the villagers just to see eye to eye. It was either that or lean side by side along the wall, all with him and the people-watch along like some mutual negotiators. Natalie gritted her teeth. She needed to see the expression on his face, most of all she needed him to see that she meant business by witnessing the one on her own face. Facing the shackled one and hopping on top of the wall Natalie gracefully fell into a sitting posture. Crossing her legs her knees hung off either end of the wall but thankfully the thin side of it was just wide enough to balance on whilst seated.

The young man glanced up at her from the corner of his eye with a raised eyebrow but otherwise said nothing. Eli himself stood there facing the wall between the two of them. Licking his lips he looked unsure if he wanted to even be there.

With a long sigh, the shackled one began. It was in Alermuric of course but even so, Natalie could have sworn that she caught a familiar word in there, with that alone Natalie had some slight inkling of what he’d asked. She turned to Eli when the wolf pelted man finished talking. Eli looked puzzled at first until he spotted Natalie looking at him, waiting. With a start, he stammered with himself before finding his words.

“‘You’ve come here to gloat?’ is what he said, he didn't sound happy. Did… did you actually fight a shackled?” Eli said.

“Tell him that he is a stuck-up prick that I’d have beaten if I had not been protecting the kids from his assault. In those exact words Eli. No sugar coating what I just said” Natalie said.

Eli staggered back, his hands shot up in the air in protest.

“Now wait a wind-gusted minute! You really expect me to help you start another fight with a shackled!?”

“If it must come to blows then let it happen, just make sure he knows that it’s said from me.”

“Oh, I’ll make that crystal clear!” Eli said. “But why?”

Natalie just glared at him. A part of her mind thought that she should have stopped and given Eli a quick rundown to help add context to what she was doing what she was but it was too late. They were now in the cooking pot, and Eli had to just trust her to navigate them out of the broth before they were boiled into nothingness. Eli eyed Natalie for a second, it was clear that he did not understand what she meant but dropping his head in defeat he played along.

The spair man’s stony face hardened as Eli translated what she said to him before but besides that, no sign of ill intent came off of him. When Eli was done he glanced up at Natalie and grumbled something at her in their native tongue. His voice sounded like that of a prowling wolf.

“‘Just be glad that you came shielded behind those children. Thanks to them we could not do our job properly. With them elsewhere you now have no protection.’ his words.” Eli shrugged.

Looking at Muraco or Wapi Natalie gave a raised eyebrow at him which earned her a rueful ghost of a smirk in return. So he wanted to play it as that did he?

“Tell him that I’d got done telling your stargazer how incompetent you all were when it came to saving one of your own, Chenoa.”

It was true to an extent. She did have a go at Minda about their role in affairs. What she left out was how her outburst backfired with the mountain of horrific news the Stargazer gave her back to debunk her accusations. In truth, she now felt sick at herself for jumping to conclusions. She’ll do better next time. But for now, she bottled that feeling up. She needed to test him, test how far she can trust him and she had no time to do it gently.

Natalie was pulled out of her line of thought when the shackled one suddenly jumped atop the wall and said something in a careful but threatening manner. Natalie forced herself to maintain her sitting posture and keep eye contact, having him loom over her was like being suddenly submerged under cold floodwaters. Every cell in her body wanted to stand up and break out of the water's surface but she did not dare make a move that showed weakness.

“H-he threatened to run you through, listen-if you guys are really going to fight then I think my role of getting that point across is clear-agreed?” Eli said off to her side. Natalie did not dear flash him a side glance.

She was about to tell Eli what to say next when she noticed that he was being questioned by one of the onlooking villagers, and not in a civil way. With Eli too busy making protested remarks and pointing at both her and the Shackled on the wall Natalie was left at a loss for when the shackled one began speaking seemingly to themselves. As Eli was too preoccupied to notice yet along translate Natalie's composure cracked a little more as she leaned forward as if doing so will somehow help her understand his language. She, to her small surprise, did catch something. A phantom taste of grilled sweetcorn followed by the sensation of vague thoughts, impressions, and feelings that she was able to put into words. Thoughts and feelings just like with that dieing guard in the base, just like some of them with the kids and Andrew in this village.

She was doing it again except this was not the shackled one's thoughts, neither was it Eli’s. It was the villager that was arguing with her translator. they spoke of indignation at a student (she guessed they were referring to Eli.) who was out here causing mischief right by their home. Although she could hear some others’ thoughts some way beyond them Natalie just could not get a read on him. With a number of whispers running through her skull her head began to ache once again. Forcing her eyes closed Natalie sucked in a sharp breath at the sudden migraine. When she made the effort to look up to not show her pain she noticed that the shackled one (Muraco or Wapi) was already off the wall and making his way back to the gate.

“Wait!” Natalie shouted, she stumbled off the wall and back to her feet. Shocked at how dizzy she felt Natalie almost toppled on her front. Maybe that stunt with her mind was more a cure than a blessing after all.

Eli gave a start as Natalie suddenly protested and took the opportunity to worm out of whatever tongue lashing the village lady was dishing him.

“Yatamasak!” Eli called sight beside her, he was back to translating she realized.

Neither her nor Eli’s voice was silent but even so, he ignored them as if they’d never addressed him. Stressed and frustrated Natalie dug her fingers into her palms before she ran and caught up with…

Who? Muraco or Wapi? She should have asked.

Another call fell on deaf ears, and now other people were watching the events unfold making her more self-aware. Brushes of some of their thoughts crossed her own mind jumbling up her already cluttered thoughts. Reaching for head Natalie staggered mid-step. Embarrassment fought with desperate determination. This was not going according to plan, she could not shut out the voices of others. Muraco, Wapi, or whoever was getting further away. Before she recalled herself, Natalie had up and blurted out a name. One of the two names that had been bouncing around her foggy head.

“Muraco!” Natalie put more than a call behind the name. She’d said it as a shout to banish the countless other voices crawling in her head, she did it because if nobody was going to stand up and look out for Andrew then she had to.

When Natalie opened her eyes she was vaguely surprised to find that it worked. The voices in her head had completely vanished. The spot they stood on was dead silent, with half the onlookers frozen in place in concern. Among them, the shackled one with the spear stood in place looking back at her in surprise. If she did not know any better Natalie would wager that she’d guess his name correctly.

“So you’d known his name this whole time? You could have started with that.” Eli grumbled beside her ear.

Ignoring the throbbing in her skull, Natalie walked the rest of the way towards Muraco. He looked at her as if she was a canvas that was tilted off to the side just a smidge. He then proceeded to speak.

“He said that you’ve shamed him twice now," Eli said. Natalie frowned.

Twice?

"The first was calling out his failure to do something about Chenoa, and the second is calling out his name as if a moon chieftess publicly declaring judgment for his failings. He... ” Eli’s eyes widened for a moment, looking at Natalie too as if seeing her for the first time. “He said that he would have skewered you at the end of his spear had you shamed him with the second before the first.”

Natalie, confused, raised an eyebrow at that.

“It basically means that you would have had your damn rematch if you did things the other way around!” he huffed as he fixed his hat on his head although it clearly did not need it.

Muraco continued to talk which made Eli blink in intrigue.

“Since you’ve exposed him he said that he owes you a debt,” Eli said.

Natalie’s eyes narrowed at that. A debt? She did not do anything besides try and push his buttons and see where his loyalties lay in all of this. That confusion must have been apparent on her face because Eli continued to explain.

“I think it’s because you called him out on the fact that he did nothing to save this Chenoa person. In Nuzi customs people’s roles in the village are segregated into concise paths. The hunter-gatherers hunt and gather, the crop growers grow crops, and the sun chief, moon chieftess, and stargazers tend to men, earth, and heaven respectively.”

“Each tends to their own field, of course, there is some overlap but each person’s role is their pride. And nobody else from another role can tell one how to do their job. To have to be told how to do their job in their own circle is one thing but to be told so from one from out outside is a shame.”

“But I did not tell him to do anything,” Natalie said.

Surely criticizing and being told how to do your job were two different things. She honestly felt stupid for second-guessing that for a moment.

”It is, and you're right. But I think that the shackled ones have it a bit worse. They are left with the task of protecting the people from harm. It’s their one ‘mihna’ their ordeal. To fail their mihna is one thing. But to be called out for it in public like that is an offense that can only be cleansed with blood. If the negligence was called out publicly by one of a slightly lower or equal ordeal then it’s settled with a duel. If the mistake was called out publicly by one of a higher mihna then that likely means execution for the one who is of the lower mihna.”

“That’s stupid!” Natalie exclaimed. “Then what if the one who accused them out of ignorance or lied to get them punished?!”

“If that happens then the wrongly accused can simply say as much. That will lead things into a trial, those are typically overseen by stargazers and both chiefs if possible.”

“That’s absurd,” Natalie mumbled.

“I use to think so too until I realized how rarely it’s used, it keeps the lines clear on who does what and when to criticize another poor job at something. In some roundabout way, that’s where this whole ‘I owe you is coming from.’”

In truth, Natalie did not grasp it, not fully. But if he feels that he owes her something then is he saying that this was a good time to call him out on something (that is, if Minda’s story was correct.) he had no power to even prevent?

“So he’s an idiot, it’s the only way I can see this making any sense,” Natalie grumbled.

Eli seemed to read the reasoning behind her words because as he studied her he smiled, surged his shoulders, and said. ”It’s either that, or this particular guy here is harder on himself for some reason.” Sighing to himself he sort of relaxed as he looked around at the people going back about their business.

“To be honest, we’ve come here to study them but then I still find their ways strange, there’s the separation of minha’s and how the hierarchy can change over season or circumstance. Then there are the rules revolving around it dealing with one when from another. Like the ‘samt aljabal’ or the ‘mountain silence’ approach. That might have been what you did by the wall but I was too distracted to really pay attention. I can explain it to you if you want.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Natalie sighed. She had enough on her mind as it was. “Just ask him why did he protect my friend back there.”

Eli looked grief-stricken but it vanished soon after.

“He said that your friend carries a heavy ordeal, he said that his and their struggle are a lot alike. As long as he fights it’s his mihna he is obliged to keep harm from happening to him just like anyone else. It’s a kind of warrior’s respect thing.”

Muraco continued on speaking right over Eli’s last words this time, he looked at Natalie as an equal now, his hard eyes glimmering with part amusement and uncertainty. When he was done Eli looked down at the floor thoughtfully. It was as if she and the shackled presence had melted away from his acknowledgment. Natalie had to call him before he realized that he zoned off.

“What did he say?”

“He said that you play at mihna like a moon chieftess, he’s really adamant that he pays you back for hiding his shame by the way. The questions you asked not going to cover it apparently.” Eli said.

Natalie gritted her teeth, she wished he stopped saying that he owed them one. Doubly so when it reminded her what her actions already cost this village, what it still could cost this village. If he’d known what Minda knew she brought upon them Muraco would say that she owed them a blood debt several times over. Natalie thought of the thousands of ways that the conversation could have gone very wrong. Well, what’s done was done. So long as those actions got results...

Just then Eli slowly looked up at her. Like seeing a piece of a greater jigsaw his mouth opened.

“You did not know a single thing about their ways, did you?” Eli said in amazement.

Her gut knotted up at that, realizing that her eyes had widened, Natalie tried to rain in her emotions with a sniff and a fold of her arms.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. And cringed at the lack of conviction she felt in her words.

Eli’s jaw just hung open all the wider, Muraco giving them a look of bafflement, she'd have kicked Eli with his big mouth if it did not expose her guilt. Imagining that she did so instead Natalie closed her eyes to shut them out.

“You got high praise from a shackled for navigating your way around the customs of the mihna when you yourself had no clue there were even customs.” Eli continued.

Now Natalie’s face became heated. She hoped that her growing embarrassment did not show through it but that hope was shattered the moment Muraco burst into a fit of laughter.

“He said that it must be the will of the cycle that things turned out the way they did, well if you ask me you just got extremely lucky but, guess it still boils down to the same thing,” Eli said before musing to himself. Seemed like he was doubting his own words.

That aside it took Eli speaking up to realize that Muraco had indeed said something after his lengthy laughing. She’d just been too preoccupied picturing herself kicking him and Eli across the street (maybe out of this village,) to realize.

“Well anyways, you can name any favor, if it’s within his power to make happen he will do it,” Eli continued with an exasperated sigh. Whatever he was pondering on did not lead him to happy thoughts.

“What does, ‘Iinah almumha’ mean?” Natalie asked carefully.

She recalled it being the thing that Aiyana said just before the crowd of villagers suddenly looked ready to trample or run a mile away from Andrew. For fear of not getting a straight answer out of Minda, she did not bother ask the stargazer. With Muraco here, however…

“I could tell you that much, it does not mean anything. Just a sentence. ‘He is eraser’? though why anyone would say that in any context is-”

“-Just ask him, exactly how I said it,” Natalie said, her eyes not leaving Muraco.

Eli did so after a brief blink and going by the furrowed look on his face she had the feeling that he himself was not sure what he was hearing from Muraco. Eli then went on to reply something back to the shackled witch earned him a shrugged and more explaining.

“He said the same thing I did, the exact same thing, except...”

“Except what?”

Eli grumbled.

“He spoke about the ordeals again, he said that some are more important than others depending on time and circumstance as I told you. A bit like the cycle itself, Things like darkness, air, water, and earth. They all have their time and place but it's never fixed one day rivers must give way to land, one-day forest must giveaway to flame, they must loop back onto themselves and have their time again. Like the day and night cycle.”

Natalie nodded and so Eli licked his lips and continued.

“With dark knights being the very first ordeals to break from despair it stands to reason that its return is coming. Because the cycle is wise, it knows all he said. It is said that after fulfilling their role the dark knights faded into myth. For even one of them to show up here now after means that a great shift as big as the breaking from dark pits despair is afoot. A great change or an end of an area is said to come at the return of the dark knights hence the name ‘eraser’.”

Natalie remained completely frozen. She knew that dark knight were rare simply by traveling with Andrew. Not that she made it her job to work out what affinity everyone had around her but besides Andrew’s father (and now Epimetheus,) she’d never seen one else with that power. She swallowed despite herself.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Natalie did not want to say what she thought it meant but her tone left her unspoken words bare.

Eli looked at Natalie in sympathy, he’d noticed the hanging words she dared not say.

“He’s not sure. And I’m not sure either, to the Nuzi people the dark affinity is a symbol of great change, a sudden shift in the status quo by ‘erasing the known status quo into something unknown. To them, there are a lot of things in this world that could be done with a good erasing. You… probably are aware that many here don’t think too highly of the people beyond Rahim aldhaakira.”

“I got some notion,” She’d put that whole conversation with Minda into the pits if she could but…

“Well, some take erase as the removal of the world beyond here. Most however think it more likely is the end of them and the world. So you see the conflict. They’d rally beside a man who was going to knock the rest of the world down a peg or two but I guess the small chance of their own world being erased also does not suit them well.”

Natalie hoped that the uncertainty in her chest did not show. So what if a few people believed Andrew to be an omen of great changes to come. Just because they believed it did not mean that it held weight, except. Gritting her teeth until her jaw hurt, Natalie shook her head abruptly. She will not think about that. No matter what grievances he had back then Andrew was not a monster and that was the end of it.

If there was anyone who fit that bill then it was Epimetheus, she had half the mind to mumble that under her breath but held against it.

Learning what little she knew about the Minhna having her spill something that Stargazer or chief have done so will come to bite her in the rear in shocking ways. She was half predicting that even this conversation will come back to haunt her and she’d had enough of changing it with their customs.

“How soon can I have that favor?” Natalie asked.

Eli seemed like he was waiting for something from her but once he realized that she was waiting on him to translate he sighed and turned around to do just that.

Muraco said ‘he can pay her back right now’ which made Natalie nod to herself as she began moving her way towards the hut that held the kids.

“Tell him to follow me and-”

“-wait!”Eli exclaimed.

Bouncing on the ball of her feet Natalie realized Muraco had been speaking for some time since she got moving. Eli holding out both hands towards them as if to freeze them in place listened intensively.

“He’s got to tell his friend first what's going on and get another shackled to cover for him on such short notice. Said he will meet you where this friend of yours is. He knows where it is.”

Recalling that it was Muraco who she witnessed looking back at the hut after Aiyana brushed by him she simply nodded to him in understanding. He nodded also before breaking off toward the gate. With a sigh, Eli looked back down the road back where they came from to get her with regret.

“It’s been going on for a while now, said I’ll be back before it did,” he mumbled to himself.

Confused Natalie narrowed her eyes at him, that was until she faintly heard the sound of drums and singing off in the distance. It had been going on for a while now, she was just too preoccupied to even notice.

“I wanted to ask you some questions, but I see that my use has come to an end,” Eli sighed.

Although he said it to himself it was apparent on his downcast face that every word was meant to be overheard by her to likely rouse a reaction that worked since it stopped her mid-run once again to look back. He looked up at her with a weary smile.

“What is it?” although she’d rather be getting on with leaving the village Natalie felt like she at least owed him something.

“I just wanted to know what’s going on beyond the memorial womb. Mainly to do with the Golden Dragon Empire, you see we recently heard that they had an incident in their capital city. Do you know anything about it?”

“No,” Natalie’s lip twitched, a small part of her was relieved that she knew nothing of it.

Eli winced before sighing and nodded to himself.

“I don’t spouse you have time to sit around and be asked more questions? I understand,” he sighed. “And after all the trouble I went through to get you and the shackled to get along too.”

“Sorry, maybe when I get back,” shrugging awkwardly, Natalie began to move her feet back towards the huts. “In the meantime keep what was said here to yourself!”

Taking one last look back she saw Eli staring at her with deflated shoulders before returning back the way he came.

~#~

For a second Natalie thought she lost all semblance of where the hut lay that held Andrew and the children was until she did a quick scan with her angel sight. Most huts were empty as the villagers gathered in the center to watch the singing and dancing that was going on. Seeing all of them laying on their side sleeping just off to her far-left, Natalie picked up her pace.

Swiftly stepping into the hut Natalie fell down to one knee and shook awake Edith as she told him to go wake up Damien, as Edith’s eyes flashed open his eyes met her in the dimly lit hut as if he’d merely had them closed. Only a tipsy head betrayed him followed along with a jaw-clicking yawn. He nodded in understanding before he clicked his jaw shut and crawled himself towards the boy in the far end of the hut.

Waking three others (Natalie did not know their names, two girls and a boy) Natalie told them to be up and ready by the door because they are going home. Two of them bounded to their feet faster than she could say jump rope, and the last claimed that he was in his room now until he blinked at the rest of what she was seeing and looked on the verge of tears when he realized where he really was. With most of them up and a half walking to the hut entrance where they waited for Natalie. Natalie felt that she could make it out to the guardian rock without a sinch until she heard an abrupt scream coming from the middle of the hut.

Edith was sitting over Walta, his hands hovering over her shoulder as if burnt at the touch of her but conflicted on whether to grab her anyway. Natalie rushed over at Walta.

“I just shook her awake just like Damien!” Edith pushed out defensively as he staggered back to get her through. Flashing him a brief glare she returned her eyes to Walta who continued screaming and flailing her arms wildly in dread.

Taking a grip on her shoulder Natalie tried to make their eyes meet the young girls and speak some sense into her but although they were open her eyes seemed glazed, as if they were someplace else.

Dreaming, Natalie thought. Walta was having a nightmare and a vivid one at that.

Tien, who was still sleeping on her lap, staggered awake as Walta rolled to one side leaving the back of his head to knock the clay floor.

“Walta it’s ok, it’s just a dream!” Natalie called at her but to no avail.

Her incomparable words became more concerned with each derry mumble.

“Please don’t- please stop! Don’t hurt him...” her voice petered out as she whilst her rampant rocking around died down and became a frantic panting and she looked up to Natalie, her eyes wide and locked on to her own.

Natalie hardly saw Tien uncontrollably switch from one foot to the other looking at them both afraid. She’d barely noticed the other children all up and staring at them from all sides of the room all except the unconscious Andrew. Being reminded she’d been trying to keep her distance from them. She could not help them through the grief. Partly it was because she did not want them to grow used to her guidance.

After all, each of them had their own lives to get back to, her part in that life had ended the moment she saved them from the kidnappers but… but most of all it was because of this. She could not bring their dead loved ones back.

She’d looked into Walters' eyes and saw in them her own pains, her own fears, and suffering. She wanted to tell her that everything will be ok but…

“You’re going home now,” she said.

Home will be better than promising them the impossible. Walta blinked in bafflement before she nodded and red-faced reached over to Natalie for an embrace. Stunned, Natalie slowly returns a hug of her own. She needed to distance herself from them. But she could not refuse her want for comfort in their time of need. Although it required nothing of her but to kneel there over her and even though it lasted only a few seconds it was perhaps one of the hardest things she had to endure.

The embrace was broken up by someone entering the hut. Looking over her shoulder Natalie saw Muraco stop by the mouth of the hut, his sharp eyes trained on her. Standing up to her full height Natalie rested a comforting hand on Waĺta’s shoulder. She saw most of the kids in the room shrink away from the shackles and so she quickly spoke up.

"He's not going to hurt you," she said loud enough for them all to hear.

Their retreating steps away from him slowed but Muraco did not pay any attention. At Least he made that out to be the case. That sudden pause by the hut however was a giveaway of his concern for the children.

Now if only that extended over to Andrew.

“Wait by the front,” Natalie told the kids.

Walking around Muraco carefully they slipped out of the hut leaving just her, Andrew, and the shackled alone. With them gone, Natalie allowed herself to look over at him now, really look at him. He looked like he was fast asleep just like last time and…

“Just watch over him while I'm gone, and make sure Minda doesn't approach him. At Least not when he’s like this.”Andrew was more than capable of speaking for himself once he was awake.

Turning over to Muraco she frowned. He did not understand her-not fully. Even so, he nodded as if understanding all that he needed before proceeding to sit on the opposite end of the hut to watch Andrew. With a sigh, she left the hut hoping that it would be enough.

~#~

“So if we are going home why are we sneaking? Don’t they want us to go home?” Tien said from the third row.

Natalie looked back in time to see Edith give him a blank glare which Tien shied away from only a moment before looking back to Natalie hoping for an answer anyways. Natalie gritted her teeth trying to think up something but coming up blank just shook her head.

“They do want you back home, but it’s not that simple,” she whispered.

Of course, that only seemed to confuse him even more. Before he could ask anything else one of the younger kids tapped his shoulder to ask him what Natalie said which quickly turned to bickering. Before it could escalate to a full-blown argument however Walta at the far end sushed them and to Natalie’s surprise, it worked. Tien, Damien, and the rest of the other kids just looked at her. Natalie thought that little episode in the hut played a part in the air of apprehension the other kids had around Walta. Edith had asked if she was ok but she simply nodded her head and offered to make sure none of them got left behind by taking the rear. Natalie would have believed her if only Walta’s face did not look so pale as she brushed off the others' concerns. She looked less pale now but that look of deep-rooted pain still remained in her eyes.

With them, all silent and looking at her Natalie simply picked up the pace and drew out a silent breath to herself.

“Could we have at least gone after we had something to eat?” Edith mumbled to himself.

That question got retorted by one kid asking if they want to see their loved ones, ‘not if it means I’ll die of hunger’ another one said with a chuckle. That got sniffles and rolled eyes from the rest of them but at least it was done quietly.

The sound of singing and instruments echoed on from the village center. Maybe Natalie was being too extreme having them practically sneak in what was an open street like they were still in the darkened tunnel of that base but she couldn't help it. In a lot of ways, this place was like that oppressive place except the rules on how to navigate it were far more vast and complex. Understandably the children slowly picked up on tension and began questioning everything.

This incident was just the third in line with said questioning. She could have come clean on her reasoning on why she had them move about like she had but it would just confuse them even more she knew. And besides… to notify her fears was to make it likely happen.

It won’t matter either way, so long as I can get beyond that hut…

She hoped that the ongoing singing and dancing would keep them occupied. And although it kept many people there it did not clear her worries completely. Between leading the children towards the village gates, Natalie kept an eye on the largest hut that she could see on this side of the village. It was only half a mile from their location where Andrew and the children were. Seeing Minda, the sun chief, and moon chieftess all sitting in there with a few of the Hemerlains besides the crowd at the village center it was the second location she kept a wary eye on. Natalie just hoped that whatever they were talking about would keep them busy long before she’d got the kids on top of the guardian rock and on the way to Lucas. To the few natives, they crossed occupying the street she must have looked like a strange entourage with her following of children walking in a line as if a mouse trying to sneak out of a cat pen. Besides getting weary stairs however none of the locals made any real fuss about them. If anything most of them seemed relieved that they were leaving.

Having walked past the street where the big hut resided with no commotion Natalie was feeling rather good about it all, that was until her eyes met with Aiyana standing by the exit. She looked to have just got done talking to Wapi before she turned back towards their street and saw them. Natalie and Aiyana froze on the exact same step as their eyes met causing Damien and some of the other children to bump into her back.

Being about a minute away it was hard to get a gauge of her features from where she stood but Natalie just knew what she was going to do if she got past her. Causing to herself Natalie slowly rose to her full height and tried to salvage some semblance of dignity. If she was going to get called out might as well not make it out like she was doing something wrong. Some of the kids recognizing Aiyana turned from looks of apprehensive to pointing and waving in relief until Natalie abruptly shushed them, which truly got a mix of tension and confusion from them.

As Natalie and her entourage of eight children walked towards Aiyana, Natalie held her breath. Aiyana walked with an air to her like before but her eyes betrayed the outward appearance as she gave each of the kids a brief glance as if doing a mental count before taking a look at her. Her eyes bounce away from Natalie's own gaze as if burned just from the act. She did not say anything. Had Natalie not met her before now she would have thought her simply a stranger who was a bit noisier than your average.

Glancing over her shoulder Natalie watched as Aiyana walked onwards without a single glance back. Some of the children sighed in disappointment. Seemed they’d grown fond of her in the short amount of time they’ve been here. Natalie was just hoping that her lack of interaction meant that she was pretending that she’d seen nothing. It was a vain hope but fanning ignorance could be a sign that Aiyana was willing to let them go without notifying Minda, it was stupid but she really did not want to deal with-.

“-She looked back! See!? She does recognize us!” one of the kids said pointing energetically at the young woman.

Natalie looked back in time to see Aiyana slip around a corner (the same corner that held the hut where Minda resides). She could have sworn Aiyaka’s back straightened up from arching back to look at them and as she turned around late. And the speed at which she vanished around the bend… didn't she move around that corner a bit too fast for the pace she was going?

Using her angel sight to peer beyond the huts between them all but confirmed her suspicions. Aiyana was all but running down the corner straight towards the big hut, hand gripped on skirt to prevent herself from tripping. Natalie only realized that she cursed out loud when three of the younger children gaped at her. Natalie’s head swiveled back to them now like a weary kitten hearing a mouse squeak for the first time. Ordering them to hurry she made a beeline for the front gate.

Seeing Wapi stand there watching them approach Natalie was worried that he'd do something to stop her but nothing happened. Not only did he let her and all eight of the children pass but he had an amused smirk on his face before he went back to guarding the gate with a slight shake of his head. The git found the whole thing amusing.

Anger aside she was just thankful that he did not get in her way. Getting the kids onto the head of the guardian rock one by one they continued to climb the rest of the way to its back. Some of them were more apprehensive about getting onto its back this time than the last time so it was a small relief when she’d finally gotten all eight of them on and there was no sign of Minda or the chief's insight.

Aiyana had made it to the hut by now she was sure. And yet there was no sign of them even getting up to leave the hut itself to investigate. Maybe they did not care, or perhaps Aiyana did hold her tough, either way, she had no intention of waiting around to find out. With hope, she will be long gone before she’d had a chance to complicate things and make her look like an idiot… At least that was the hope.

When she got on top of the guardian rock with Walta she hoped that it would simply acknowledge their presence and continue its journey to Lucas village but it just stood there. After an agonizing minute of waiting for something to happen Natalie jumped off its back and approached its face to try and draw its attention. She was too busy looking over her back at the time but she overheard some of the kids marvel at how idle it was when they climbed up its face. One of them even made a comment that its eyes did not even twitch when they accidentally touched it when scaling its face. Natalie looked into its eyes now. It was like staring into a raggedly cut ruby orb the size of her head. It’s sheen and splendor buried under soot and dirt. Natalie would have overlooked that it was a ruby altogether had there not been a warm glow emanating within it cutting through the grime itself.

Touching the eye brought no reaction just as the child said besides leaving her palm covered in soot. Ignoring it with a grimace Natalie leaned in to try and get its attention.

“They are on your back, what more do you want?” she said. Nothing happened.

Taking another look back at the village with her angel sight saw nothing worthy of her panic... yet. Minda and whoever she was talking to were still where she last left them. Except for Wapi and watching them from by the gate and the faint sound of singing changing from drum beats and native songs to hymns of the Hemerlains all was in order. Climbing back on top of the guardians she was berated with a bunch of questions from the children. All boiling down to ‘When were they going to get going?’ to a fashion. That, followed by complaints that they should have at least had a drink before they left the village. Beyond their complaints and questions, however, they all watched Natalie as she stood there biting the inside of her lip. She’d have chanced to take them back by foot even if the journey would be twice as long and three times as dangerous. She’d done it before, she could protect them from demon attacks and feed them… couldn't she?

All by yourself, without Andrew’s help? She’d had to go without him. But even that does not excuse the fact that she needed to at least get the guardian rock at least move away from the village itself. The last thing she needed was her actions being blamed for causing more problems.

So that left her stranded on top of the thing hoping that eventually, it will just move. For half an hour she stood atop there waiting with not a sliver of a chance. By then she tried everything short of screaming at it. Not that she did not want to shout at it. But by now there was a small crowd of perhaps twenty or so people watching her and the kids atop the thing with an air of anticipation about them. Perhaps they were hoping to witness the thing move first hand but as time piled up and the crowd grew Natalie knew that they would be witness to something else entirely.

For a full three minutes now Natalie had been eyeing the group of people that had left the big hut, and with a sinking gut, she readied herself as they made their way out of the village gates and walked their way towards them. The sun chief and moon chieftess, Aiyana, three middle-aged Hemerlains standing along with a troubled-looking Eli as Minda walked just ahead of them. It was the combination of her worst nightmare scenario that somehow made it even worse than imagined.

Natalie's mind was about to fall into a squirrel on what to do until she noticed that the guardian rock head lethargically turned and watched her walking nightmare approach its side.

So now it chooses to move?! And to pay attention to them no less! Breathing down her anger she instead chose to glare her building rage at Aiyana. Although she walked beside Minda with that regal posture she at least had the courtesy to at least avert her eyes when she saw the accusation within her own.

“Still here then,” Minda said bemusedly.

“In a fashion,” Natalie pushed out carefully.

Minda scoffed as she mocked her words under her breath with a snort. Just then Natalie spotted Eli standing there looking at her apologetically. It was hard to make out the words he was trying to voice out silently but going by the odd way that he tried to cover his mouth, the furrow of his brow at the embarrassment of what he was trying to convey and lastly, the refuel stare the elder Hemerlains gave him when she spotted his ploy Natalie had a strong feeling he was apologizing for something he knew he had to keep to himself.

“Again I'm sorry for what my student caused, he will be dealt with in accordance with your ways.” the elder Hemerlain said, fixing Eli a venomous glare.

That glare turned to Natalie but it held much less venom one than it did for her own student.

“Delving into other people's ordeals,” she tusked with a shake of the head. “Though I understand that she does not know the customs Eli here should have informed you.”

“I told you that she did not listen,” Eli mumbled, which earned him another glare making him stammer.

“Well I hope for your sake it was worth the trouble,” she huffed.

If there was any doubt that Eli was unable to keep what they spoke of a secret then this blew it out of the water.

“It did until I stumbled upon a new issue," Natalie said.

“Well let’s hear this issue then. And enough with the glares! I didn't come all the way out here to hold a scowling contest.” Minda said.

Natalie inanvertaly smoothed her face. She refused to accept that she let her emotions show.

“What do you want?” Natalie said.

In her effort to calm down Natalie almost missed the Sun chief whispering something in Alermuric to Minda's ear as she bowed her head as if in understanding. Although the moon chieftess did not say anything she nodded in agreement.

“I want the same thing you want, to put this whole mess behind us, a chunk of it at least. I hoped that I'd come out here and find at least that wish granted but it seems life likes to continue disappointing both of us.'' Although she huffed her tone indicated that she was not as disappointed as she claimed, at least in comparison to Natalie.

So she’s talking on behalf of all of them.

Natalie did all that she could to not show frustration at Minda’s words but seeing her aged face smirk up at her she knew that she’d failed. Minda took a quick glance at the sky before nodding slightly in approval.

“I guess not having the sky as stormy as your face is where all my hopes have fled to. Remind me to be more grateful the next time lightning doesn't strike twice when conversing with you.” The knowing smirk only grew.

Was everything a test to this woman?

“If you’ve got nothing to say that will help me, I need to get back to my business,” Natalie pushed out.

“That’s why I came here,” Minda said. Having just turned away from her and the others Natalie paused and looked back at them baffled.

“I thought this might happen so...” she gestured to her back, stepping out from behind Minda came Chenoa.

The brown ponjo and shirt were gone, now replaced with a white sleeveless woolen dress with patterns of red diamonds running across its top and middle. Stiffly Chenoa stepped a few meters away from Minda and the others as if rehearsed. She looked like she’d just got done crying recently. As she separated herself from them the guardian rock's head lethargically locked its eye on her by turning its head. On seeing Cheona's face reddened she looked to be crying all over again. It was not the guardian at least that upset her. Pushing that aside Natalie pulled her attention back to the guardian rock itself.

That was the second time it moved since she got here, she noted. The first was when Minda and the others arrived here. Seeing the Hemerlains mouth open in awe and moon Chieftess's back straighten uncomfortably as she flashed side glances at Cheona down at the far end Natalie quickly understood what had just happened. Chenoa was the key to getting it to move-perhaps even continue its travel to Lucas. That realization should have made her relieved but a thin veil of anger clouded her features.

“If you knew of this then why didn't you tell me?” she said.

“I had a suspicion child-nothing more. I had no proof of the case until now,”

“‘No proof’? You had me rush out here to do my part and you delayed me because you had no proof?”

“I had to fish out the exact thoughts Cheona had in her head when she will it to do her bidding. That, as well as some other small matters.” Minda said as she eyed Cheona carefully.

Chenona seemed to squirm under that gaze.

“The planet can be very strict on the ways it fulfills your desires, rock especially. Since this child pictured seeing the kids off at their village it will not move unless she is present to do just that. This fact along with cycles knows what else she conjured up the moment when her wishes reached out to it could complicate things. I hoped that little detail would not matter and you'd be gone already but. Well, when pressed for time, we can’t afford to be graceful,” there was remorse there as she watched Cheona sniff in sobs.

That explains the crying. Natalie’s heart went out to her. After all that she had thought she had been drilled and likely (knowing Minda,) pressurized for answers. She wanted to blame the stargazer outright but she knew this was a complex situation. If it had only been stronger-planned things better then perhaps this would not have happened.

Jumping off the guardian rock Natalie landed right in front of Cheona. The young girl stopped sniffling to look up at her. Seeing her however made her face darken and she simply balled her eyes out even more.

“She has to go with you, of course, you're coming back for your friend so that shouldn't be a problem, right?” Minda said.

Natalie was keeping her eyes on Cheona more so to avoid looking at Minda and the others. She understood the urgency of things but did they have to go and make her cry like this?

“That won't be a problem,” she said coolly. Picking her up, Natalie was about to leap back onto the guardian's head until Minda called out to her again.

“It’s going to take you at least a full day to reach Lucas. I take it that you are fully packed for the journey. Food, water, and the like.”

Natalie's face heated up as she heard it. Holding Cheona up by her face she hoped that her sudden pause was taken for nothing more than a moment to think than outright panic. Praying that’s how it looked like she pushed on.

“I’ll hunt along the way,” Natalie said.

“And will the wasi alsukhur wait for you whilst you do so? What happens if someone attacks the children whilst you are hunting? What happens if demons show up?”

Natalie stopped again. Minda, sighing to herself nodded to Aiyana to come forth. It was only then had Natalie noticed the white-clothed bundle wrapped around her back. Pulling it over her head Aiyana handed it to Natalie, her eyes sliding over Natalies as she offered the bundle to her.

“Food,” she mumbled.

They’d prepared something for the journey it seemed. Natalie was about to take it when Minda spoke up.

“You're going with them Aiyana. You and Kele.”

‘Kele’?

That snapped both her and Aiyana to attention. With their eyes mirroring shock, Aiyana matched back to Minda shaking her head in protest. One of the young men from the side stepped upfront as if ready to go along with them. Natalie was simply too speechless to say anything. Gobsmacked, she watched Aiyana’s in what she assumed (Because it was spoken in Alermuric.) was her futile attempts to convince Minda to stay but they all got dismissed like wind buffering a great mountain.

“Enough of your whining child! You're now going to fix your problems with her on this trip or bottle them and don’t bring them up again! But I won’t allow to you waste precious time sulking around just because your idea of your first meeting with someone beyond the samt aljabal was shattered-do I make myself clear?!”

“Naeam Muraqib,” Aiyana pushed out.

Placing the bundle back around herself Aiyana walked past Natalie and began climbing on top of the guardian rock. Kele in one bound jumped from the ground up into the guardian back with air time to spare. With him, on top of the guardian's back Aiyana took a few moments longer to climb the head of the guardian but she managed it alone. The climb for Natalie was a little more difficult with Chenoa on her arm but not by much. Standing up top she looked down at Minda as she gently placed Cheona on her feet.

“Since you’d rather involve outsiders in what we talked about, I take it that you have no interest in talking to me even after you return?”

Natalie’s silence was the clearest answer she could have given, understanding that Minda nodded to herself.

“I see,” she sighed. For the first time, she seemed truly troubled. Natalie would have felt proud for getting a leg up on Minda but something about the whole thing felt hollow. “I guess the same goes for your friend also, having the shackled keep me from seeing him alone indicates that much. I guess if it doesn't grow your corn...” Minda mumbled that last sentence so low that Natalie had to strain to even make the words out.

“So be it,” Minda perked up as if not deterred at all. “Then perhaps this is the last time we’ll see each other. I pray for you child, I hope that someday you’ll find what it is that you're desperately searching for.”

Minda said that as if mourning the dead, that confused Natalie. So focused on Minda’s back that she barely noticed the rock guardian had indeed begun moving. The landscape itself began to pivot as it turned its way south, past the mountains, and on towards the path that led them to Lucas.