"Xiao Luo~" She heard Tiv after the flap of the tent fluttered down, peeking around the partition like a mischievous kid.
"Grand Uncle Tiv, Marvena's going to beat your tail when she catches you." Hong Luo said helplessly, watching her grand uncle walk over with a playful smile.
"Tsk tsk tsk, as much I would very much love that~ it will have to wait. Those oldies rushed out of the tribe a few hours ago. So my tail's still safe until she manages to drag them back." He bundled her blanket into his arms, and plopped it to the side. "Sit up. Cross your legs. Xiao Luo~ when did you become so obedient?"
She just rolled her eyes, feeling the bed sink. "Disobedience will lead to headaches brought upon by whining, so much whining, which I would rather not have, thank you very much."
A breathy chuckle was felt on the skin of her neck as her uncle lifted her, sitting her in his lap, his arms wrapped around her. "But grand uncle prefers your disobedience. You growing up is not fun. Who am I to engage in whining wars with? Who am I to tumble around in the mud with? No one else has a backbone as sturdy as my sweet Xiao Luo. Their courage, so flimsy. Their arms are like wet noodles. Their legs are like twigs. And their heads, why are they filled with so much air?"
"Grand uncle Tiv, your backhanded complimenting skills hurt."
He mushed her cheeks, but with no meat to squeeze he grumbles, "let it hurt. Let it sting. Perhaps then you can regain all that fluff you lost, the muscle, the bronze! The smarts to learn to not get hurt and to bite back when someone dares to show their teeth. How could anyone dare let you lose all of what you had, how dare they, how dare they! Let this grand uncle find them to ring their necks, snapping their backs, and turn them into fertilizer!"
The rage under his breath was darn near ready to burst into flames and explode! Tiv was beyond unhappy, you could even say he was enraged. But with no heads nor tails on who to direct his fury to, and stuck in this tent due to an injury he didn't need to have, all he could do was steam himself to death.
One must understand, when he saw his little grand niece being carried in, seemingly on her last breath, looking like she did, a living breathing skeleton when compared to her usual extraordinary health, no one could hold him down to rush to her.
Pushing everyone to the side, kicking the tribe leaders out of the tent with ease, he snatched her from Halona's arms. When he felt her near nonexistent weight, he had nearly lost his mind! Yet holding her, feeling her heart beat beneath that bone tight skin, only with that was he able to retain a thread of sanity. Yet that beating heart that signified life did not stop his tears from streaming down his cheeks.
Oh how long it took to pry her out of his arms and to put her to bed. He did not want to let her go. His grand niece means the world to him. She was the only reason he came back to this lowly place. There were so many other important matters he could be attending to but he chose her above all of them.
And as much rage as he feels, there is equally as much self blame.
It had been a month since he returned and although he knew logically that all he read on that log was done over several years, that a month would make no difference, dammit even still it would be a month less of pain!
Why did he leave it to others to find out where she was? Why didn't he just do it himself? Why! Why! Why! She could have died and he'd have never known! Dying all by herself. In a cold place that had sucked out all the warmth from her small body.
Tiv was darn near drowning in self blame at this point.
But tiny hands rub circles on his, pulling Tiv out of his boiling emotions. Suddenly he burst into laughter, and pulled hard on those cheeks. "We'll leave that for later. You've got to get healthy again so we can turn these cheeks into putty again. These arms and legs into rocks. And that pasty skin back into its beautiful bronze color."
"Not bronze, wheat, my skin's not naturally that crispy." She pushed his hands off her stinging cheeks.
"Bronze sounds cooler."
"But it is inaccurate."
"Still sounds cooler."
"Bronze is still more crispy than wheat- yow!"
Grand Uncle Tiv bit her ear and nearly got a hand to the face. "Xiao Luo~ you are making me hungry."
"Be that as it may, you can't just straight up bite me! That's against the rules!" Why does her dad's side of the family always like biting people?! Even her mom who's a tyrant won't go that far!
"Hmph!" Grand Uncle Tiv pushed her down and started tickling her sides. "And whose rules are those? Certainly not this uncle's. Xiao Luo~ you know grand uncle doesn't follow rules that aren't his own."
"Lies!" Hong Luo swatted to the air, unable to reach but still trying to connect to that rude grand uncle of hers. "Grand Uncle, you don't even follow your own rules! You make new ones everyday and break them the next!"
Grand Uncle Tiv just burst out in bellowing laughter at hearing that.
The grand uncle and grand niece tumbled around on the small bed, nearly falling off multiple times, but then fighting the next moment.
How lovely. This scene should have been wholesome and sweet. A type of family love, a kinship that many individuals would praise and even feel envious of. So many people have complicated relationships with their family. Too few have simple and sweet ones, that even passed the surface it's just as warm as it appears to be.
But for these two, something felt off. You wouldn't know what just by watching, you'd just feel a strange sense of disconnection. Like two pages placed side by side. Both have words, the font the same, the page color and ink identical, even the calligraphy seems to be done by the same person, but when you read the words neither makes sense next to one another, but at the same time you can't say for certain that they don't go together.
The nameless man watching as he laid there seemed to know why. His eyes moved between the two several times until they stayed paused on Hong Luo. He seemed to pay particular attention to her face.
Slowly he closed his eyes and Tiv moved his sight to him. Neither had spoken, nor had their eyes met, but it was almost as if they had, for when Hong Luo was in a position where she couldn't see, Tiv looked at her with a complicated expression. Heartache, anger, and several other emotions twist his face and muddle his eyes.
When Hong Luo looked back up they were all gone, her grand uncle Tiv still looked as smug as before. So smug she had the urge to follow his example and mush his cheeks, but she didn't get the chance to do that.
"Look who's having so much fun that you've set the whole tribe a blaze in gossip. Kid, how rude of you to play around without this uncle as company."
Hong Luo drops her head to the bed and looks up. A man much larger in mass covers her with his shadow. Those muscles bulging from his sleeves, his strong jaw attached to that massive neck, and that teasing smirk with its lifted brow causing his red hair to burn as if alive. Standing there in all his muscular glory was her uncle Istaqa.
"I'm only teasing and you've already been stunned stupid. Even after eight years this quirk of yours is still the same. Tell me kid, why is that? It only took my boys a year to grow out of such nonsense. Why are you so la-ow!!!" That smug look turned into pain as he turned himself back to yell, "Halona! Stop hitting me!"
Halona just glared at him, "when I am no longer required to repeat myself on an endless streak, ah, your boys are unlike Luo'er and I shouldn't even have to remind you of this."
Istaqa had no way to retort and just grumbled, "my boys are normal boys, I don't see anything wrong with them."
Halona ignored him and stood in front of the bed. She raised a brow at Tiv but did not bother with him. Instead she straighten Luo'er up to sit, and pulled up a seat and sat down in front of her.
"Wrists, palms up——– open mouth and stick out tongue——– close, don't blink——–." She places her hand to the center of Hong Luo's chest and the other to her back. "Breathe in through your nose, now out through your mouth——– Again——– again——– Stop. Now breathe normally."
For the next five to ten minutes Halona did a full check up on Hong Luo. Most signs were pointed at normal. The only issues were her stomach and her temperature. Her stomach due to malnutrition had swelled slightly due to fluid retention. It had been drained but it was currently building up again. As for her temperature, although it had significantly decreased, it was still on the high side compared to her regular body heat.
While this was going on, Istaqa leaned against the wall while Achak stood quietly against the partition, preventing his nosy children from going any further. Both Catori and Hiamovi sat on the bed while Chogan sat on the ground digging holes. Every once in a while they'd look up at their father, but then swiftly look away when he squinted his eyes at them.
"All done." Everyone perked up when hearing that. "You're stable enough to leave the medical tent, but you are to return here to rest at the end of the day. Until all of you, mainly your stomach is brought back up to health this will be your resting place. Also you are not to overwork yourself. Stay out of the rain. Stay dry and warm. Your diet will be managed by Marvena and you are not to complain even if you are given something nasty, you understand?"
Hong Luo nods.
Halona sighs, "use your words."
Hong Luo jolts but then complies. "I understand,"
Halona softens but then swiftly becomes serious. That look on her face caused Hong Luo to look anywhere but on her. She had a rising suspension that Halona was about to talk about something she did not want to talk about.
And she would be right.