Earth: 14 Days After Descension, 2148
"Hold this here..." Laina took Natalie's hand and adjusted it just so on the bow she held. "Pull the string back like this..." she demonstrated with an imaginary bow, her slender fingers bending how they would if they were actually holding the string of a bow. Natalie did as she was told, but was only able to pull the string a little bit before it twanged back into place.
"Ow!" Natalie stuck her finger in her mouth to soothe the sting, letting loose a string of expletives.
"You almost have it, trana nodataim." the Grounder repeated the phrase like she had for the past two days, 'try again', with the patience of a proper teacher. Which, if Natalie thought about it, she was a proper teacher, teaching the newcomer how to hunt and how to speak the language of the land.
So far, she could say 'try again', 'fire girl', and a few curse words that Drane accidentally lets loose whenever he's frustrated. She's also learned 'please', 'thank you', 'yes', and 'horse'. A few phrases have also stuck, but she's a long way off from speaking the language.
Natalie sighed and shook her hand out, gripping the bow again and pulling on the string. Her muscles quiver, but she pulled it a bit farther this time. She managed to hold it for a moment, then released it without catching her fingers.
"Radon!" Laina's lips pulled into a grin, prompting Natalie to do the same.
"Eat something, Leina, Fayagada." Kay motioned towards the meat she had just finished cooking. "We will teach you more Trigedasleng while we rest. And after lunch, Drein and Deks want to train you."
Natalie nodded and helped herself to the food, sitting down to eat. That's another thing she had been doing. In the afternoons, she would train with Drane and Dex, learning how to fight with a sword. When she finished with her meal, she joined Drane and Dex near the treeline.
Drane circled around Natalie, kicking at one foot and then the other to get them in the positions he wanted them. He moved her hands to hold the stick differently, and adjusted her posture. "Always pay attention to your opponent and to your surroundings." He backed away and looked between the redhead and his brother, then nodded. "Start."
Natalie licked her lips and waited for a moment, then lunged towards Dex. She swung the stick towards his head and followed through, even as he dodged and spun around. Dex continued his spin and brought the training stick down across the redhead's back, sending her staggering forward. Natalie hissed and spun around, brandishing the stick again. She circled the tall man slowly, adjusting her grip on her weapon. She launched herself at the hunter again, and landed on her ass as she was knocked back. This dance of theirs repeated a few more times until Natalie found herself flat on her back and out of breath.
"Jok..." She coughed out the swear and stared up at the darkening sky for a moment, her arms outstretched on either side of her and her legs lying straight. She heard laughter and turned her head to find Laina grinning at her from the fire. "I'll pick it up eventually." Natalie grinned back, sitting up to lean back on her hands.
"Eventually, sure." Laina chuckled and tossed over a water skin, shaking her head. "You fight like an inexperienced goufa."
"That's because I've never had to fight before. On the Ark, we either learned to get along, or ignored those we didn't like." Natalie shrugged one shoulder while she opened the water skin, taking a long pull of the cool liquid. She stayed quiet for the rest of the evening, going to sleep a bit earlier than she had been.
The group woke before the sun rose to pack up their camp. Everything managed to fit into the packs the Trikru hunters carried, and Natalie carried the few extra items in her own pack. She wore her new clothes and her coat, the only thing she owned in her pack was Raven's shirt. She rode with Laina again, and they reached a small village by midmorning.
"Fayagada, let us do the talking. We do not want others to know of where you are from before our Heda does." Drane hopped off his horse and handed the reigns to his brother before walking up to a woman standing in a stall of sorts.
Laina twisted in her seat to check on Natalie before hopping down herself and following her cousin. "Nomon! Shopta?" She greeted the woman with a hug and a smile.
Natalie climbed off the horse and stood holding the reigns while the group chatted for a minute. Soon, the woman was hugging Laina again and waving her off with a package wrapped in cloth. Laina laughed and took the reigns from Natalie, grinning. "That is my mother, Thalia. She is the wife of the village leader."
"We will be staying here for tonight, Thalia has given us a hut to use on the edge of the village." Drane took the reigns of his horse and started to lead his party to the outskirts of the bunch of huts that made up the tiny town. "The horses will be tied up near the hut."
Natalie walked alongside Laina and looked around, taking in the small village. People walked around and conversed, children ran around and played. A few animals wandered freely, a dog and a raccoon. A few rodents that kind of looked like squirrels ran along the roofs of the huts.
The hunters tied their horses to a horizontal pole loosely, giving them some food and water. Then they brought their packs inside, and Laina went straight to the back. Natalie stood awkwardly in the middle of the front room of the little house and studied what she saw. There was a tall partition directly to the right of the door, blocking off part of the room. Drane and Seg both dropped their packs there. A crude firepit was stretched across the immediate left wall, with fresh dry wood stacked and ready for lighting. A hall could be seen from where the ginger stood, which is where she saw the young girl go. A minute later, Laina came back out and grabbed Natalie's hand with a roll of her eyes. "Come on, Fayagada. You're sleeping back here."
Natalie followed silently, ignoring the way her hand felt nestled in the other girl's. Ignoring the way the callouses on the hunter's skin sent shivers down her spine. Ignoring the images and thoughts that flitted across her mind that were entirely inappropriate.
She was led into a room at the back of the hut with a double bed, a small table, and a trunk inside. Laina's pack sat on the floor at the end of the bed, leaning sideways a bit. The taller girl let go of Natalie's hand and plopped herself onto the bed, opening her pack to dig around for something. Natalie raised an eyebrow as she took in the simple furniture in the small space, and the nonchalant way the younger girl sat there going through her things. "So. We're sharing a bed?" Natalie dropped her pack to the floor and leaned against the doorjamb, crossing her arms. She smirked when she saw a flush of pink on Laina's cheeks.
"Drein en Seg will sleep in the front room. Deks en Kay share the room beside this one." She shrugged one shoulder and pulled out a change of clothing. "Either you sleep on the floor in the front, or in here with me." The last bit was mumbled as she stood and turned, stripping off the clothes she had traveled in.
Natalie stood and watched for a moment before turning to give Laina some privacy, after catching the shiny line of a large scar that slashed across the hunter's shoulder blades. "Where'd you get that scar?" The redhead inquired, too curious to think about being rude. She chewed on her lip as she waited for an answer, and when she didn't receive one, she turned back around. Laina was dressed now, in a simple white T-shirt and black pants. Her hair was loose and lay down her back in soft black waves. Natalie tilted her head as her eyes swept over the younger girl's form. "Sorry, was that rude? I'm just curious."
Laina shook her head and lifted her chin a bit, meeting Natalie's gaze. "It is alright. I just don't like to talk about it."
Natalie let the subject drop, shedding her coat and laying it over the back of one of the chairs at the table in the room. "So, any place worth exploring around here?" She grinned.
Laina's shoulders relaxed as she smirked, sitting on the bed to pull her boots on. "Sure. There is a hole in the ground a couple miles from here, with a house in it. You might find it interesting."
"A house in a hole? That does sound interesting." Natalie stretched a bit and left the room, heading towards the front door.
The two go out to explore, Laina carrying the package her mother had given her. "The hole was discovered recently, by a couple of goufa that were running from their chores." Laina smiled wanly as she walked. "They stepped on the soft ground and it collapsed under them, revealing the house underneath."
Natalie huffed out a soft laugh, following the younger girl closely. "Reminds me of myself when I was a kid." She smiled softly, her gaze fixed somewhere ahead of her in the throes of a memory. "I used to explore the Ark when I was... when I was avoiding things." All those explorations was how she met her friends, and discovered Octavia living under her floorboards.
Laina nodded and continued forward, not pushing the subject.