–3 days later–
I nervously stroked my thumb back and forth over the dark cloak in my hands feeling anxious and unsure. This cloak has become something like a shield for me, this and the rest of my disguise.
I glanced over to the remains of the charcoal powder in the bowl beside me, the makeshift horns kion made, and even the fake tail.
They were all laid out beside me on the ground. I kind of felt naked without them…
A hand coming in contact with my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts and I turned my head to the side to look up and see Elazar crouched beside me.
His eyes met mine briefly before moving to the attire in my hands. “Are you worried?” he asked, before moving into a sitting position beside me.
I returned my attention to the cloak with a scoff. “Of course I'm worried, I'm going to be walking into the home of over two dozen xandisians who could very well decode they don't like my hair color or some shit, and try to kill me.”
Elazar's brows furrowed as he took a lock of my hair between two fingers to look it over. “They will not kill you because of your hair color.”
I shook my head with a small smile curling on my lips. “I didn't mean that literally, it was just an example. Or metaphor?” I shrugged at my own question.
“I do not know what a ‘Matapor’ is- but I can assure you they will not attack you simply because you look different. Even talok would not stand to go against our traditions and attack a female unjustly.”
“But that's the thing, I'm human!” I exclaimed with a slight tremor in my voice. “Your people won't see me as you do, they will see me as a threat and-”
Elazar quickly cut me off. “They will not touch you, not while I'm still breathing. They will have to go through me first if they wish to do you harm, and they cannot do so without justifiable reason.” He reassured me.
“and me too!” Kion jumped out of the tree above, landing on the ground in front of us. “If they want to lay a hand on you they will have to deal with me as well!” He beamed happily.
“kion, I know you mean well but you can't put yourself in harm's way because of us.”
“It's okay! The tribe would only choose to attack if you are deemed a threat. Having me on your side will show them that you aren't a danger! And, no one would dare to harm me, not even ratha!” He gained.
I looked at Elazar, a bit surprised and worried but he didn't argue the matter at all. ‘We couldn't just use kion as a shield could we?!’ El’s gaze moved to mine once more as he cupped my cheek. “Don't fret, everything will turn out well. We will take things slow and work through the issues one by one. No one will be in danger, no one will get hurt.”
I felt my stomach churn as the anxiety continued to plague me. No matter how much they say things will turn out for the better I can't help but worry.
There was just this unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach that things weren't going to turn out like we hope tomorrow. My life has always been a struggle. A fight for the right to exist. I've grown so used to expecting the worst, that I'm not so sure I'll ever be able to live without fearing for the future. Closing my eyes I take a deep breath and throw the cloak over my head.
There's no point thinking about all of that now, I'll deal with whatever comes my way when it happens. Worrying myself now will only make things worse, besides I need to trust in Elazar and Kion. They know their tribe better than anyone, I don't have to rely solely on myself anymore because now…
I looked to kion and elazar with a small smile. I'm not alone.
Standing up, Elazar followed suit and gave me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder.
“Oh! What if we bring the tribe an offering! If we bring them a bunch of fruits and other things, we can show them that kora can be a useful member to the tribe, and we could maybe celebrate with a feast!”
Elazar thought to himself for a moment before glancing at the forest. “Kion is right, bringing in a festive offering tomorrow may improve the others opinions of you.”
“Well then we better get started, we've already spent half the day at the river.” I gestured to the sky.
“Kion, you gather any small game and help kora collect fruits, I shall attempt to hunt down a venshal or larger prey.”
“What if we go down river to gather some sacred fruit?” I suggested.
Elazar didn't seem to like that idea too much as a scowl made its appearance upon his face. “that's too dangerous-”
“We won't go too far and we’ll stay on this side of the river, the first sign of trouble and we will be out of there without anyone or anything finding us! Besides, you'll be close by if anything happens!” I tried to reason with Elazar.
He hesitated before sighing. “Fine but we leave before nightfall”
Elazar grabbed his spear and bow while me and kion rushed to gather some sacks to carry the goods in. Once we had everything we needed, we started walking along the river.
“So do humans lay eggs like other creatures?” Kion piped out.
I stumbled over my own feet, startled by the sudden and delirious question before stopping to look at him like he was crazy. “What?! No! Of course not! We aren't that different from you guys!”
“Sorry I was just curious! I've never seen a baby or even a youngling human before! Actually I don't think anyone has… do you have to go back to the stars to have a baby?”
“No, there's no special requirements for having a baby besides having a boy and girl together.”
“Then why aren't there any younglings of your kind?” Kion questioned.
“Because most of the humans who get sent down here are criminals who did really bad things in order to get sent down here.”
Kion paused for a moment, going silent as he walked beside me while following Elazar. “Then does that mean you did something really bad?”
I could see Elazar pause momentarily as he listened in, before continuing his walk, scanning our surroundings as cautiously as ever.
“No, yes? Kind of- that's why I said most humans… It's complicated. I unintentionally killed someone, but they were bad. I never meant for it to happen, it was just a mistake…”
“If it was a mistake and they were bad then why are you here?” Kion questioned again.
“Because no one knew it was a mistake and I didn't get a chance to prove myself as innocent. Another bad man who had more power than me, chose to send me here as punishment for what I did. Kind of like the situation with ratha, elazar and talok the other day. Only I didn't have someone like you to step in and defend me…” I admitted with my head down.
“Being sent here is a punishment?” Kion seemed surprised and even more confused by that statement.
“Yeah, humans aren't evolved enough to survive in a harsh environment like this, on our own. When they are sent here it's a one way ticket to an unfortunate and most likely painful death. I mean look at how soft and frail I am! I may have survived a short while but without Elazar-" my eyes moved up to El as he stopped in his tracks, staring ahead solemnly as his body tensed.
Kion’s look of curiosity turned to annoyance. “That's not fair! The one who chose to punish you should've been punished, not you!”
I gave Kion a small smile before stepping over to Elazar and grabbing his hand. His gaze moved to our entwined fingers then up to my face. “It's okay because even though I struggled and stumbled, in the end It all worked out because I found myself in a better place. With better people.”
El's silver eyes stared into my own and I could see him visibly relax at my words while Kion stood off to the side awkwardly.
“Okay before you two start ‘kizzng’ or whatever it's called, remember we are supposed to be gathering tribute!” Kion cut in.
I chuckled a bit before releasing El's hand. “Alright then, kion I'll let you hunt the small animals while I pick some fruits, nuts and roots.” Elazar took a deep breath before looking towards a trail ahead of us. He didn't seem to like the idea of splitting up.
Putting my hand on his shoulder I pulled his attention back to me. “It's fine we can handle ourselves, kion and I will stay close to each other, we won't do anything reckless and we will stay in this area.”
“It's hard not to-” he started only for me to cut him off finishing the sentence. “Hard not to worry. Yeah, I know…”
My eyes moved to some tree dwellers chirping on the overhanging limbs above us and an idea came to mind. “How about we use a signal?”
“A signal?” He arched his brow giving me a questioning look.
“Yes! A signal in case we are in danger, you'll know and can come back immediately.”
“What Do you have in mind?”
Glancing around I grabbed a leaf from a bush and took a deep breath before blowing into it and creating a whistle. The loud sound seemed to startle both of them as they flinched back and looked on with surprise adorning their faces. The sound rang out through the trees silencing the tree dwellers momentarily.
Once it was over, Kion was the first to react, seeming ecstatic. “That was awesome! How did you do that!?”
“It's just a little trick I learned as a kid, almost anyone can do it, the trick is to use your tongue…”
“Can you teach me!?” Kion was nearly bouncing with excitement.
“Sure- but I'm not so sure how it would work with you guys considering your mouths are a little different…” I pulled up kion’s lip slightly to look at his tongue and fangs.
Elazar cleared his throat to grab out attention as his features turned serious. “Fine if you promise to use the signal at the first sign of danger then there shouldn't be too much issue.”
I gave him a big smile and saluted with my hand. “aye aye captain!” He arched a brow questioningly before shaking his head and turning to walk down the path.
“I'll return before the sun sets.” He stated as he walked off. I waved by as he left and noticed kion watching me with genuine curiosity and confusion or like i was crazy, as his tail flicked behind him.
“What?” I looked at him and lowered my hand.
“is your arm having some kind of spazim?” He tilted his head slightly.
Rolling my eyes I walked past him to go find some food Like we had planned. “No I was just waving bye, now let's get to work, we've got alot of berries and such to pick.”
As I walked off kion's gaze followed me before dropping down to look at his hands. Holding his hands out in front of himself palms out he shook them back and forth wildly with a look of determination.
“Kion!”
He flinched and stopped what he was doing to run after me. “Coming!” He stumbled and jumped over a dip in the ground without paying it any mind as he tried to catch up to me and we both kept walking deeper into the forest oblivious to the large tracks behind us.