Taghna and Færn were waiting at the edge of the forest. As usual, they woke up first. Or rather, Taghna had woken Færn from his sleep to enjoy those few moments alone. They liked to move away from the village centre which, in a few days, had become unbearably familiar to them. They usually headed towards the back, where the trees started to become more numerous.
They scanned the mataïg and took the opportunity to observe the deer's skin stretched over the opening before continuing their journey. So close to the trees, the depth of the forest attracted them with strength and Taghna had to pull Færn by the sleeve because he was too scared to follow here further.
Both of them imagined that they had to get rid of this fear. Maoïr had told them that they would soon be looking for plants for an important ceremony. He had made them understand that they were free to do as they pleased when he did not tell them about plants and their uses. The children had jumped with joy but their spirits had quickly dissipated when they had approached the gigantic séarach trunks around the village.
It took them several days to decide to finally cross this invisible barrier, which was so tangible to them. Maoïr kept going back and forth between the village and forest, certainly to show them that they were safe, but he remained silent, his gaze half absent, and was content to go about his business. It was thanks to Asgeül's initiative that the group of children made their deepest incursion. Taghna had been angry because she had been doing the same for a long time only it was while everyone was snoring.
Since then, she had made it a point of honour to always go in the opposite direction of the group. There was no question or her to walk on her eternal competitor's steps, whose charisma had only grown like a mad herb. This rising in power had become clearer after Branach's accident. The boy had tried to prove that he was the strongest and had taken off his big fur jacket as he walked around the clearing. That same evening, he had caught a high fever that made him tremble like a leaf. Maoïr had hastened to take him to the mataïg where he had to stay for several days to be cured. The group quickly allied itself with Asgeül who seemed at least as brave but certainly less of a hothead.
Taghna was following a trail that had taken her far enough for her classmates' cries to disappear between the branches. She didn't know if they were fresh but their dotted shape twisted between the roots and made circles that puzzled her. Færn followed her closely and they exchanged remarks to break their loneliness and reassure each other.
After a while, the tracks multiplied and seemed to reach a leafless grove. They crawled on all fours to try to follow the path clearly visible on the icy ground. They tore out small bushes and dug up the snow. The ice cover was much thinner around the trunks and it took them only a short time to reach the frozen ground.
A thick, brown moss stretched under the snow cover. Here and there, holes the size of their hands were visible. Not thinking twice, they set about widening one of them with the help of a branch. Underneath each piece of turned soil, a multitude of small insects fled in all directions, seeking to reach the safety of the depths. Færn and Taghna, who were rushing to gulp them down, were happy not to have to chew a piece of stringy bark instead. They also understood the instinct of the arthropods because they were born as close to the earth as possible.
The two children shared each new discovery, like the tiny silver filaments running through the ground whose origin and function they could not determine. Digging a hole of such size in the earth as hard as a stone was tiring and they took turns to have time to blow or catch their precious food.
Taghna found once again that things were not moving fast enough and she planted her stick very deep into the ground. After a series of grunts and exhausting efforts, she uncovered a series of galleries that she quickly expanded. Some tunnels led to dead ends, some kind of large empty holes, while others widened and plunged deeper into the ground.
They eventually came across three huge beetles, stacked one on top of the other. Two of them had an impressive horn on the top of the head. It took them a while before they began to gesticulate in all directions. Their hooked legs scraped the ground and, visibly angry, they made screams that twisted the eardrums.
Taghna threw herself on the cattle as fast as she could and threw at Færn:
- Hurry, hurry up and find something to capture!
The excitement of the little girl captivated Færn, who had been frozen since he heard the screams of the beetles. Taghna shouted at him more loudly, which took him out of his torpor. He first took off his jacket, wanting to use it as a bag, but quickly changed his mind by feeling the bite of the cold on his bare arms. He hastened to unravel the thin bark of the shrubs they had torn off to make a cord.
Meanwhile, Taghna was fighting with all her might. She put all her weight on the two animals on the ground, one in each hand, the third having managed to escape inside a nearby gallery. She regretted taking off her gloves because the black, spiky shells scratched her palms and penetrated her flesh. Taghna was holding onto them stubbornly and urged her friend to hurry. After a particularly violent movement by one of the insects, she gave in to the pain and released her hold.
Seeing her two preys fleeing right and left, she kicked the one with a big horn and sent it flying against a tree. Stunned, the insect took a little too long to recover and Taghna jumped at him with a war cry worthy of the stories told by adults. She couldn't take it anymore and told of Færn:
- What the hell are you doing?! They're all escaping, quickly!
- All right, I'm done, I'm done, I'm coming!
The excitement made the actions of the two children clumsy and the last beetle almost managed to escape. Taghna, who was dripping with sweat, and whose lacerated hands were painful, poured her anger and fear on Færn:
- You let two go away, that's unbelievable, that's two! I did all the work for you!
She continued to blame him while the boy, focused on his task, tied the legs of the bug, taking care to go around the body several times to seal the moving forewings. Taghna's resentment quickly subsided as she watched her friend's precise gestures, obviously much more skillful than she was at this kind of thing. The rope was woven with an expert hand: the bark was divided into tiny strips before being tied to form a long, flexible string of great strength.
She grumbled, a little guilty of her over-reaction:
- Well, it's true you were busy. Well done for the rope...
Færn, true to his self, simply smiled as he watched the defeated insect, which, seeing that he was a prisoner, had stopped struggling with the energy of despair. They began their return to the village by talking about how they would prepare the beetle.
They came across their classmates who had given up looking for edible foliage to play one of their games. As Taghna and Færn arrived nearby, Asgeül shouted at them:
- Ah, there are archféar! Stop right there!
It only took a moment for the other children to understand that the game had changed and they surrounded the so-called intruders. Taghna and Færn looked at each other, realizing that they were arriving at the wrong time and that they had to take the role of the enemies. Taghna, who was not very happy to take on the role of loser, took matters into her own hands:
- You're talking nonsense, Asgeül. We are inhabitants of Séaroën, and these lands are ours. Then let us through.
The little girl, spotting an opportunity to prove her authority once and for all, was determined to continue until the end. Her competitive spirit was also multiplied in front of the one who kept contradicting her.
- Shut up. You're strangers and you're trying to steal our food. Give us back what you took from us, and we'll let you go, she replied, pointing to the beetle that was waving its legs in the air while Færn kept it tied in his hand.
She was also quite proud to have found a reason that justified her position and extended the game. Taghna felt that things were going against her, but she wanted to fight it out. She remembered all the times she had been the victim of injustice.
Her relationship with Slavan and Asgeül had deteriorated rapidly since the end of the Hir. Taghna felt that the long moments she had spent with them turned into resentment for reasons she could not quite explain. In general, even the other children were too slow and fearful for her taste. Worse, they followed Asgeül without questioning her authority. Taghna, on the other hand, only accepted Færn's company. Despite the shy personality of the little boy, she saw that she could count on him at any time.
Asgeül's charisma was spreading to other children who were happy to follow her in her games and the advice she gave. She was not strictly speaking their leader since everyone could do what they wanted as long as their actions would not harm Séaroën's sustainability, but they still tended to follow the most skillful of them. That's why adults respected the elders so much. Their authority was based entirely on the skills that they had honed through their long lives and everyone accepted their advice for that reason.
Taghna, alone against Asgeül, didn't think she could lose. She had won most of their heckles, even when Slavan had gotten into it against her. She still saw that the group's influence gave her opponent a sense of superiority that could quickly become problematic.
The two little girls looked at each other with an angry look and the tension grew. While Taghna wanted to push Asgeül into her last trenches, Færn cut her off:
- Asgeül, you know that it is forbidden to steal food. And playing invaders is not a good reason to take advantage of it. On the other hand, we'd like to share, if you don't mind.
The little boy, usually shy and silent, had spoken these words calmly and their truth dispelled the conflict as if a soothing breeze had blown between Taghna and Asgeül. The two girls, caught short, were destabilized. Seeing that she could get by without putting her honour at risk, Asgeül nevertheless made it seem like she was thinking about it with reluctance, just for the sake of form. She accepted the offer with one condition:
- That's all right, but you have to give the beetle to Ranie, to prove your good will.
Ranie, who was not used to being put in the spotlight, looked at Asgeül with surprise. At her insistence, she walked a few steps towards Færn who handed her the cord. As soon as they exchanged it, the prey started to struggle with violence. The insect had waited for the perfect time to try to escape. Ranie jumped and let go of the string.
The beetle fell to the ground on its back. With furious movements of its legs, it threw small snow crystals in all directions, so much so that it managed to turn around and began to run towards the nearest bushes. It made high-pitched screams that paralyzed the children. Caïséan, a little girl who had remained in retreat, came to her senses and threw herself on the beast. Her reaction woke the other children from their torpor, who all started to work together.
The melee was an utter mess. Everyone was struggling, shouting that they had something in their hand while someone else was saying the same thing. From afar, Taghna and Færn looked at the pile of their comrades, a flying glove here, a hat falling there. They watched the scene wondering if they should intervene, but they understood that they had better stay in their place.
Finally, the children, out of breath, calmed down. They realized that they no longer had to fight; the beetle was lying at their feet in a very bad state. It kept moving slightly and tried to escape despite three missing legs, which forced it to run around in circles despite all its efforts. Part of its shell had been torn off while the other part was split all along. It was a poor sight to behold.
Taghna could not help but make an ironic remark:
- Well, what a great job, it was very useful...
But the atmosphere was no longer one of quarrels. The insect had fought with courage and tenacity and the children had had to use all their strength to overcome it. The animal deserved an end worthy of a real hunt. So girls and boys gathered around him and paused for a moment in silence. Then they touched the insect with their fingers, one after the other, whispering solemnly:
- Lorgá, we thank you for your donations. Beetle, we thank you for your help.
Caïséan took a branch and thrusted it through the body of the insect that was no longer protected. He stopped moving, finally defeated.
Slavan interrupted the respectful silence and said in a calm voice:
- Tonight, we'll grill it and then eat it. All together.
Everyone nodded, as if they had found some semblance of peace after this victory. Far from being sad, they considered themselves closer to adults and proudly believed that they were contributing to the survival of Séaroën. So they spent the rest of the day looking for roots, tubers and larvae in calm, two or three of them, one carrying bundles, the other keeping a stone of strange shape that deserved to be seen later.
Taghna and Færn were trying to find other traces of animals or insects to decorate their dinner. She smelled the air, observed the trunks for clues. Invariably, her gaze spun towards the top as if she was following the path of the sap walking towards the buds that were beginning to appear. Unlike Færn, who preferred to focus his attention on the soil and roots, the girl was naturally attracted to what was high up.
She was aware that she was wasting her time, because the adults had told her that the sky was somewhat useless. The villagers did not eat birds, which they considered to be bad and disease-carrying. The emptiness above their heads also did not lend itself to an interpretation of the nature around them, unlike the forest, which was full of clues, the very hints that the children were enthusiastically seeking. Faced with this obvious lack of usefulness, the sky was not considered in the best eye for the villagers and Taghna felt a little guilty about being so attracted by the blue expanse.
When the light dimmed, the children returned to the central fire of the village around which they gathered. They gathered everything they had collected and began to prepare the ingredients, as Maoïr had told them. The adults were invisible. Only Séacas, who walked past them with his lame gait, nodded his head in approval of what they were doing. He walked away whispering:
- That's good, keep it up...
Despite Séacas' attitude, the sharing of resources was the basis of the bond that united the community. Some excelled at collecting plant food, others preferred to hunt. Each inhabitant knew the strengths and weaknesses of their neighbours and made sure to contribute to the survival of the village without any judgement.
Slavan placed the dead beetle on a dried oran leaf, a fern often used to smoke meat, giving it a distinctive taste. He dipped it in a bowl of water to make it supple and wrapped the bug in it before pushing the package under the burning embers with a small stick. The children continued to feed the broth with all the herbs they had picked. They also shared their discoveries about nature. The atmosphere was light, even though Taghna and Asgeül turned their backs on each other and hadn't spoken since their collision.
When the beetle was cooked, Stær took it out of the leaf and began to remove the pieces of shell that were too hard to eat. They detached easily and she found herself with beautiful pieces of flesh whose smell was impregnated with the scents of the oran's aroma. The meat was reduced to a pulp and added to the soup. Each one served a portion in a bowl and they sucked the broth with loud noises. They saw their strength grow thanks to the energy of their prey and imagined that they were more suitable for hunting.
That evening, Rissar did not come to tell them a story. The small group fell asleep with more difficulty, the agitation of the day still present in their bodies. Taghna saw branches waving in the wind. In the sky, the stars shone brightly and it seemed to her that some parts of the sky were less dark than others. Without knowing what the lights hanging above her head were, the little girl simply watched them with delight. She felt like she was slipping into sleep when adults arrived. She captures bits of conversation:
- ... the short season... Grathar.... after the ceremony...
Each word seemed to be linked to something bigger, more important, but she ended up falling asleep without realizing it, dreaming of hunts that kept failing because of her lack of training.