Heart~
Raya was tired, already. And so was Tuk tuk.
Riding her bike was the only mode of transport she had so she could reach the river ends faster, after 16 days of travelling, she didn't manage to find Sisu. "Come on Tuk look at the bright side—" she sighed as Tuk Tuk stopped rolling behind her, panting and whimpering, he couldn't keep up anymore. The bright side?? What is the bright side now?? Tuk tuk rolled his eyes and stretched out on the grass, he was just so tired —" at least we cleared two rivers, it's just 36 more to go... Guess I was wrong that there are hundreds of rivers to search..."
Their supply of food was running low, and the fact that Raya brought as much she could, that supply of food barely lasted them for about a week. For the other 9 days, they were eating one meal a day, drinking the water from the river. "Is this what is like to be living in the wild?" Raya whispered to herself, she was hungry, "Control it, you cannot finish up that remaining food, it's all you have left," she is training herself now how to endure that hunger.
"Let's go back first and get more food, once we are done searching Heart, we can get some money and go to Fang, that way, if we need food, we'll have to buy," Raya prodded Tuk tuk to start rolling back to the palace, they still needed to climb uphill, since their home was on the mountain.
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Fang~
"Namaari! What's up with you? You are eating lesser than usual, your coach told me you were tired already after running ten laps around the training grounds, and you look distracted from work,' Chief Virana asked her daughter, who was now resting her head on her table.
Namaari was trying to focus on her normal life, but she just couldn't. "I... I don't know...," she wanted to cry, she never wanted to disappoint her mother.
Her mother bent down beside her, she knew how her daughter felt, after all, this, after all was planned out by her...
*On that day when they went to Heart*
The royal army trudged behind the rickshaw carrying the Chief and the princess, meanwhile, Chief Virana have planned something to get the priceless gem. She believed it will help Fang greatly, the dragon magic could make the plants grow faster and healthier, the land could finally eat rice everyday.
Looking at Chief Benja's letter, Virana knew Benja had a daughter. Huh, a daughter, an easier way to get that Gem, the plan formulated in her mind. Turning to her daughter, the Chief said gently, "Namaari, I need your help for this, you will help me right? After all, it is for Fang's future."
Namaari looked questionably at her mother, her mother's plans were good, and successful, so she nodded.
After hearing that plan halfway, Namaari was thrilled hearing her mother saying about the princess of Heart, "The chief of Heart has a daughter too? Wow! If we become good friends, can I come here when I'm free?" Namaari didn't have close friends, her pet was her good friend too, but why Namaari really wanted, other than finding Sisu, is finding a friend.
Her mother sighed, oh no, "No Namaari, yes, you can be friends with her. Until she leads you to the hidden place where the dragon gem is, then you have to inform me, you... can't be friends with an enemy Namaari." She saw her daughter's face drop with shock then disappointment.
Namaari said softly, "That means I have to betray her...?"
"Yes," came the grim reply.
Namaari bit her lip, she has to do this.
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When they reached Heart at last, Namaari and her mother stepped down the rickshaw. Namaari looked to her left, there were the other lands, Spine, Talon and Tail. She was amazed by the amount of greenery and the magnificently big mountain behind the bridge, Fang looked nice to her, but this place is amazing.
The guards standing at the entrance of the bridge, sensing their leader coming, moved aside. And there the Chief and is daughter was.
The daughter looks cool, and pretty too, Namaari's eyes lighted up when she spotted the small figure wearing a blue silk dress beside the mightily muscled Chief. She observed every moment of the girl standing there, who seemed to be talking to her father. How nice, she has a father, she thought wistfully, she didn't have a father. Her father ran away, and that was what her mother said.
The chief motioned the crowd, and the chatter died down.
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That girl there's got a pretty interesting haircut, like her mom, but she looks nice anyway, Raya thought when she noticed Fang's princess. She didn't know Fang's Chief had a child. How lucky, she's got a mom, she thought with envy. Raya never saw her mom before, and was told had run away from the life of royalty.
"Things look a little tense Ba," she whispered to her father, after noticing all the people of the different lands staring at her father and her.
"Don't worry, I'm gonna open with them with a joke," her father replied, with grin.
"Please don't!" Raya warned, wincing, remembering the last time her father cracked a joke with his servant, the servant just looked at him, with a crooked smile and walked away. Her father never knew how to joke, and the only funny thing about his jokes is looking at the face of the person he was joking.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Chief Benja chuckled, then turned to face the crowd.
"People of Tail, Talon, Spine, and Fang—" he started— "welcome to Heart. For far too long we have been enemies, but today is a new day, and we can be Kumandra once more."
As Raya expected, silence, a clap came from the Chief of Tail, then a sarcastic tone, "Great speech Chief Benja, but why did you really bing us here? Are you gonna rob us?"
The Talon Chief then replied hastily in the same tone, "Why would he even need to rob us? Heart already holds the mightiest weapon of all the lands."
"Oh it's easy for you to infiltrate it on Kumandra," came the aggressive tone from the Spine chief.
Bad idea Ba, Raya bit her lip and looked at her father, the Heart chief tried reasoning with the crowd as a verbal fight aroused. Her eyes landed on the Fang child, which looked back. Raya smiled at her, looked at her Ba, maybe I can help.
She then made her way to the crowd.
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When Namaari was trying to block out the noise around her, she noticed the Heart princess looking at her. She stared back, and saw those beautiful dark brown eyes of hers, then the child standing on the bridge smiled at her, Namaari smiled a tiny smile back and looked at her feet.
She smiled at me, Namaari sang in her head happily and looked up. She then saw the princess of Heart make her way down the stairs of the bridge. What is she gonna do? She thought curiously, looking at her mother. Her mother shrugged.
The girl made the Pearl hands greeting gesture, raising them to her chest, meaning a greeting to friends. The fighting stopped, mouths shut, and there was silence. The tension was crazy, Namaari watched what she was doing next.
"I have something to say," she began and looked at the crowd, and everyone stared, all eyes on the girl.
She broke into a big grin and held her arms out invitingly, "Who's hungry?"
Namaari broke into a giggle, this girl is funny and amazing too, her mother noticed her, and asked, "Can I go?"
"Go on, don't be shy," her mother gestured, gently pushing her forward. Namaari face instantly blushed, her eyes glued to the ground as she walked slowly to the princess.
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That joke was stupid but at least someone laughed, Raya thought as she saw the girl slowly walking towards her. Okay Raya, no dumb words, she prepared herself, eyes staring at the princes of Fang.
"Hi... I'm Namaari, a Fang," the girl started shyly, her head lifting up a little.
"Hi Namaari, I'm Raya," Raya said gently, trying to find something else to clear the awkwardness between her, a glint of gold came from the pendant hanging on Namaari's neck. Sisu, that's Sisu! Raya exclaimed in her mind, and immediately pointing that out out loud, "Is that Sisu?" She regretted jumping to a random conversation like this, not a lot of people knew she was a crazy dragon nerd.
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She just saw the pendant I'm wearing? Namaari screamed in her heart, finally, someone who has a pure interest in dragons like her. Too excited for words, Namaari nodded her head vigorously and widened her eyes.
Seeing Raya's eyes widen with excitement, the girl in the blue dress sucked in her breath in embarrassment for her random question, "Sorry, uhhh... Ya... I might be a liiiiiiittle bit a dragon nerd." Meanwhile, all that was going in Raya's mind was: Oh my god did I just scare her or something. And I'm NOT a LITTLE bit of a dragon nerd. I'm a HUGE dragon nerd.
Namaari laughed at Raya's comment, she IS a dragon nerd like me oh my gosh yes, and pointed to herself, "Hey, I'm the one that is wearing the Sisu fan necklace." Raya breathed normally again and laughed, taking Namaari by the hand, she asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
Namaari shook her head, Raya then led her towards the place uphill, on the way up there, Namaari asked, "So, how old are you? I'm twelve."
Raya gasped, "No way! Me too! Birthday?" They then continued sharing their backgrounds, then starting a random game of who knows more facts of dragons of Kumandra.
"Okay, I'll start first, did you know that dragons have 4 fingers on each hand and hind foot?"
"Really?"
"Come on would I lie?"
"That's cool, me next, did you know Sisu has purple eyes?"
"Ooh I thought they were dark blue, or just blue, cuz she is blue too."
It went on like that until they reached the palace, Namaari stared in amazement, the palace was beautiful. Rich shades of blue were on the walls, with streaks of gold and elaborate patterns of dragons and clouds— anything related to water, was on cloth, shirts, everything literally.
"So, I am your tour guide, where would you like to go first, Princess Namaari?" Raya lowered her voice and teased Namaari as Namaari rolled her eyes hearing the word "princess". "Yucks, don't call me a princess, although I am, but you know it just sounds so... icky and girly," Namaari said, "Besides, Priiiiiincess Raya—" she was particular on dragging the word Princess— "it doesn't mean I want to be a boy, but whatever, you get it, lead me to the..."
Namaari stopped, she wanted to say lead me to the hidden place where the gem is hidden would you? But she liked Raya's company, and wasn't ready to give up on her, besides, she didn't think Raya trusted her enough to even bring to a forbidden place anyways. Instead, she smiled, "show me you room."
Raya's face turned hot for a moment, "Goddamn that place, it's so messy I don't think you will like it, plus, I won't call you princess only if you don't call me that too, because... yea same reason as you ahahah." Namaari laughed, "Damn, just show me, next time when you come to Fang for a visit I'll show you mine."
"Fine," Raya sighed, and added cheekily, "Race ya there, see if you can catch me." And she sped off.
"Ha! You bet," Namaari shouted before taking off after Raya, and the two ran to Raya's room.