Through The Valley • Ao'nung

Chapter XIX

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̶̶̶̶  «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ 　 A Child and Only That        ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶  

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Ao'nung soon got to understand the girl wasn't as incapable as he'd hoped she was, but he dreaded she would look at him and think she could be a teacher for. Knowing the former chief's children wouldn't be as talent-less as actual new born babies, he was going to make her know that was her rank on his list.

His father had assigned him to continue taking Sully's oldest children along his hunting quests as the girl showed sign of knowledge in the field, and Ao'nung complied less antagonistic his sister was familiar with.

At'anau however was getting quite bored of the days she could predict and only seeing the same parts of the island day after day. She often scanned the sky for her banshee, wondering if she would have ever been roaming the air in search of the girl.

For a couple of days now she wondered if there would be mountains beyond the reef or behind the corners of the coast. If there were it would only take a schedule and conditioning for the two to finally be able to meet again.

"She seems like a nice girl, At'an"

The girl looked at her father as he passed her another sharpening blade to which she had to look up and rewind the words had been passing from one ear to the other. Her father had been going on about befriending children of the clan as he noticed how the girl wouldn't waste time after her duties to return to their pod.

The man had once caught her daughter exchange some words with a girl who had been asking her about her arrow crafting capacities and At'anau only accepted the request to providing her more before leaving the conversation.

At'anau hummed in confirmation as she realised the topic about friends had thrown her thoughts high in the sky with the one friend she had in the mountains.

"What you thinking about?" Jake couldn't fake knowing his daughter hadn't been listening and noticed how she was searching for a different topic on the spot than was on her mind. At'anau hated when her father asked said question, feeling like she shouldn't be doing so and whatever was on her mind would be classified as invalid as her father's words should be most important.

But the look in his eyes only showed curiosity and a hint of worry, but only the tiniest wrinkle.

The girl hesitated, before shrugging her shoulder lightly "nothing much," she kept her focus on her fingers wrapping the sharpened arrowhead her father passed her to the body of the arrow tightly.

The man held out the shaped piece of animal bone, but retrieved it once the girl reached for it causing her to look up at the man who tried meeting her eyes. "I'm listening."

At'anau pursed her lips together accepting the arrowhead her father held out again and looked out at the sea once. "You think they're still there?"

It didn't take a while for the father to understand who she meant, but he had hoped it weren't. The father turned back to shaping the stoned material and the girl felt stupid for voicing out her thoughts.

"you don't have to worry about that." Jake affirmed softly, eyeing up at his daughter once to see her stepped on another train of thoughts as her fingers worked around the material almost too well for him to catch up on.

"I do." At'anau mumbled, thinking of her home. She worried about the people holding her back from returning home, her people waiting for them to return home or the fact if they ever would be returning home.

"Well don't," the father demanded in a consoling tone "that's my job."

"When do we get to go back home, do you think?" The girl subtly blurted her throat burning question as she began grinding on the arrowheads like her father, who had slowed down, sighing at the request none of the kids had dared to voice again since the answer was always the same.

"darling..." but the girl continued eyes still down to her working hands "we are home," she repeated her father's often spoken words "but this one feels like a refuge" She was unaware where her urge to speak her mind had emerged from, but it didn't stop herself as she held onto the spark of confidence with graciously both hands.

"They won't find us, okay," Jake uttered, "I'll make sure of that." But it was like the girl wasn't listening to the desperate reassuring words of her father as she nodded her head but didn't seem to agree.

"I understand." she didn't meet her father's eyes that only looked at her as she collected both blades the two had finished and reached for the wooden bases and thread before welding both pieces together "When they do I'd rather it to be here than our home as well, but I'm not ready to engage in that. You need to tell me what to do." She missed the way her father kissed his teeth at the inconsiderate words of his oldest daughter.

"Nothing, and don't speak like that."

For the first time the girl looked up at the father whose eyes lost their softness. she gulped the lump in her throat as she felt it closing up when she realised her professed worries flew over the man's head.

She tried understanding why her father abandoned her in the dark after years of loyally fighting by his side as one of his mightiest warriors, only to descent as a troubled teenager in his eyes when she searched for his conformation now.

She tried dissembling the meaning of wanting to protect his children without preparing them for the inevitable, but the only thing she could wrap around a head were the sharp edged arrows the man passed her in silence. 

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