Since Dorséanan's ceremony, the children were free to roam where they wanted. Adults did not care about their comings and goings. The mataïg only remained prohibited. For most apprentice hunters, however, the large building was not a source of curiosity. Their daily lives were already well filled with it.
Taghna and Færn hadn't try again to enter the residence of the séalyar. With the new knowledge to be gained and the gathering activities that took up all their days, the attraction they had felt for the large building had faded over time. The two friends also regularly saw the deans enter and leave their homes without any form of ceremony, and this simplicity didn't awaken their desire to defy the ban.
The beautiful fur that blocked the entrance was also more and more often raised, showing the spacious and poorly lit interior of the mataïg. Thus, the kind of cave with secret and attractive contents had turned into a simple food warehouse, hardly more interesting than the houses in which the villagers had passed the Hir.
Taghna and her classmates rarely chose a particular place to play, train or chat. They preferred to spend their time exploring the area, which allowed them to familiarize themselves with their territory while performing the tasks they had to complete on a daily basis.
They had enough opportunities to visit the surroundings of the Tui river in the west, as well as the vast game forest in the east and north. However, they had never had the thought to explore further south. This was probably due to the fact that the cardinal point was at the back of the mataïg whose door faced north. Or perhaps it was because Rissar had explained to them one evening by the fire that in the south were the Great Plains, those huge expanses of tall grass where no trees grew, which were also the place where Lorgá had retired after the death of her love Muchach.
In any case, it took an adult at least three days to walk to reach this remote area. Slavan had set his mind to travel this part of their land. Branach had obviously quickly joined him. The boy never missed an opportunity to prove that his small size did not make him less brave.
The company's organization held long and heated discussions around the fire, when everyone was resting and eating the harvested food. Slavan promised the children, who were comfortably picked up on the ground, that they would find new species of trees, which Caïséan and Stær doubted strongly because they would remain too close to the séarach, their guardian trees that dominated this part of the forest.
Taghna's brataïr argued that the south would allow them to learn more about their village because it was from there that its origins came.
- No, you're wrong, intervened Caïséan. Our cratach is located to the east, beyond the Brichnern territory.
- That's true. Dannaï has told us this several times. But I still want to go south... hurried to add Branach.
- Yes, well, maybe, admitted Slavan. But aren't you interested in going to another place?
The boy had actually addressed Asgeül directly. He knew that with her support the rest of the group would follow. Asgeül stared at him for a moment and finally accepted his proposition. This way of closing the discussion irritated Taghna but she quickly forgot her resentment thanks to the prospects for future adventures. It was decreed that they would go in the following days.
The expedition left on a cold and grey morning. Throughout their exploration, the children spent their time reproducing the actions they did on any other day, catching insects and picking plants to prepare the evening meal. They walked for a long time without finding anything very exciting.
By the evening, when they returned to the village, the optimism of the troops had dissipated. No one was angry with Slavan, but the children would have liked to find something new. Failing to make them discover wonders, the excursion had the merit of opening up the south in their daily journeys.
It was during a session of an archféar game, precisely to the southwest, that Stær called her comrades:
- Hey, come see what I found!
All of them came back at a brisk pace. Stær was not in the habit of interrupting a game for nothing. When the children were reunited, they were able to see the size of the find. Just behind a mound only slightly rounder than the rest of the land, the little girl had discovered a cave.
The gaping mouth of its entrance was clearly visible. Two rocks framed it while a wormwood beam served as a lintel. The cave could have looked like a residence of Séaroën, more or less. On each of the two stones were engraved geometric shapes reminiscent of Dannaï's tattoos. The lines were softer, rounder than those of the other deans, and the children did not have to show any detailed analysis to notice the similarity with the oldest of the séalyar.
- What do you think it is?
- I have no idea, said Déan.
- I can't see anything inside, Branach added.
- I told you we had to go in that direction, said Slavan, who had not forgotten the failure of his previous expedition.
- Well, shall we go? asked Déan.
- We need torches, said Stær in a calm tone.
She did as she said amd rushed to make three rustic torches with the help of Færn and Ranié. All they had to do was harvest a sprig of séarach, some moss and some resin. It was more difficult to light their tool, though. Making fire had been one of the first teachings of the hunters. Even if they didn't need it themselves, the adults didn't want their offspring to freeze to death if they ever showed respect. It took Ranié several attempts to find herself with three beautiful flames at the end of their branch. They entered the cave one by one.
A long tunnel plunged underground. The walls shone with moisture. On their walls were running thin silvery wires that the children had already seen when they were digging holes for larvae or beetles. The corridor continued for a while and then opened onto a round and quite spacious room. A quick exploration revealed the absence of treasure, if not the presence of many wall paintings.
The drawings used the shapes engraved at the entrance to the cave, but their lines mixed with each other in a very complex way. When Slavan, Stær and Déan lit up the ceiling by putting their torches high up their head, the children discovered a magnificent fresco like they had never seen before. They had the strange impression of being under the vault of an old séarach while they were underground. They spent a long time observing the details of the drawings, amazed at the beauty that surrounded them.
Branach wanted to get closer to a wall. He took a few steps and his foot knocked down an object. The noise made him jump.
- What is it, what did you do? asked Asgeül in an authoritative voice.
- I... nothing, I didn't do anything, I just knocked over a rock, stuttered Branach, his heart pounding.
He stooped down to pick up the stone but realized that it was actually a small sealed terracotta pot. When he shared his discovery with his classmates, they realized that identical small bowls were placed around them. They were spread out on the ground or placed inside natural alcoves. Taghna could not remember where she had seen such objects. She was racking her brains when Stær said in a certain voice:
- These are our brataïr.
- What do you mean, our brataïr? asked Caïséan a little abruptly because she was not comfortable in the cave.
- I remember that Luiv, who lived with us, gave one of these pots to Dannaï when we went out at the end of the Hir. You can't know, Caïséan, because all your néach have given birth, but Luiv's child did not survive...
- Yes, I remember, said Færn. Easéan did the same thing. She put her child in the same jar as these.
- You mean our stillborn brataïr are here? asked Ranïe with a shiver.
The silence that followed took care of answering her question. The children suddenly felt humbled by the respect shown to those Lorgá had wanted to take back with her, outside of the security of the forest. They also realized all the work their séalyar had done, and obviously especially Dannaï, to ensure that their brataïr were not forgotten but were safe underground.
They didn't want to disturb the sacred space any longer and decided to return to the village. Their silence surprised the adults who asked them what had happened. They received no information.
Taghna was touched to see that Dannaï was perpetuating their rites. She rarely saw the old dean busy. She had imagined that Dannaï was staying indoors all day long, perhaps helping Séacas to dry and store food. Understanding that some adults were doing tasks that were not related to their survival made Taghna feel strange.
However, the little girl quickly forgot the traditions of Séaroën. She preferred to perfect her hunting techniques. One of them was the silent walk she had studied by watching the adults. All of them, without exception, had adopted this agile approach that made no noise.
When she wanted to imitate them, Taghna quickly realized that she had to learn to walk again. At first, she lost her balance after a few steps. She was upset because she could only move very slowly. Unrolling the sole of the foot from the toes required a great deal of concentration. At the end of the day, her ankles hurt very much and even her shoulders, which she had contracted with force, thronged when she laid down.
Taghna decided to never walk in another way again. She persevered day after day, ignoring the pain in her legs. Her will was put to the test when she had to be part of the group that was following in the hunters' footsteps. She would give in for a moment, run to join them when she lost distance, and continue her efforts.
Her behaviour attracted many mockery from her classmates. For once she was slower than they were, and they took the opportunity to make fun of her. Asgeül first admitted that the exercises of her brataïr were essential. The rest of the troop finally began to imitate Taghna whose ambition eventually bore fruit.
She often had fun playing hide-and-seek with Færn. The goal of the game was to create a track as difficult to follow as possible to prevent the opponent from finding the player. To win, the children were bursting with creativity. They distorted the tracks by retracing their steps, masked their body odor by soaking themselves in cuag and even went so far as to pretend to be an animal by spreading hair along their path.
Thanks to his knowledge of plants, Færn multiplied the olfactory traps. He took great pleasure in passing through groves from which powerful sweet smells emanated that completely masked his trace. On that day, he had simply created a few tracks that led nowhere before climbing on the roof of one of the village's houses. He wanted to observe Taghna to see how she operated. He was surprised by his friend's progress.
She had grown up, her body was thinner. Her néach had changed her clothes several times, enlarging the waist, sleeve length and legs at the stroke of a needle thanks to the ingenious cutting of children's clothes that only required small alterations. Her hair had grown a lot and the strands coming out from under her hat reflected beautiful golden colours.
Færn saw Taghna following the marks he had not been able to erase. The girl would lower herself from time to time and follow her path with her agile walk. Færn saw that his friend had adopted the rested and contemplative attitude of the hunters. Her eyes no longer tried to perceive the traces, they let themselves be guided in a floating path that found its way, as when a leaf lets itself be carried away by a current of water by avoiding the rocks blocking its path.
The boy lost sight of Taghna. He had let himself be taken in by his thoughts. He was certain that his friend was following a false trail, as he could not have missed seeing her in the middle of the empty village. He could not help but feel proud that he had succeeded in deceiving her.
Around the village, the forest was not very dense and he observed the trees for a long time before thinking that Taghna had definitely got lost. Doubting, he approached the edge carefully and observed the ground. Maybe she had hidden under the roof... He saw nothing.
As he was about to get up to search Taghna, he heard a voice behind his back:
- You're dead!
Færn jumped back and almost fell off the roof. He turned around and couldn't believe his eyes.
- Taghna?! How did you manage to climb up without making noise? I was looking at you from a distance and all of a sudden, poof! You're behind my back!
Taghna smiled with all her teeth, looking triumphant. She looked so tall, so strong that Færn was almost intimidated. Suddenly, he said gravely:
- I think you should try to follow the hunters.
- Do you think so? Every time we get closer, they end up spotting us...
- Yes, I know, but right now, I have a feeling you'd even be able to hide in the middle of the village. I swear, I've completely lost sight of you.
All it took was for Taghna to regain her childish face, excited as she was to know she was as strong as adults. Taken by a feeling he had never had before, Færn was quick to add:
- Okay, okay, you don't want to lose focus either.
Taghna just kept smiling. They went down from the roof and joined Déan and Ranié who were collecting fresh shoots nearby.