With a swift movement, Mo'an pulled the dagger out of the sheath wrapped around her thigh. She held it by its blade, presenting the hilt to her brother. "Shi'an, can you cut my hair?"
Although long hair was pretty common for the men in their tribe, cutting it short would enhance the masculinity of her face. She wanted to have all the odds in her favor. Hence, she didn't hesitate to get rid of her long and beautiful hair. It had been her pride as a girl, but it was a burden as a man.
Staring at the dagger as if it was his worst enemy, Shi'an didn't immediately take it. A few seconds passed before he finally nodded, not daring to utter a single word for fear of revealing his emotional state. He grabbed the hilt, and with a movement of his hand, indicated that he was ready.
"Thank you," whispered Mo'an with gratefulness, patting her brother's shoulder before turning her back.
The moment Shi'an was out of her sight, a sad smile stretched his lips, and the feline ears that stood proudly at the top of his head turned sideways. Cutting the hair that Mo'an cherished was sure to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
His sister's hair was lovely. It was so long that it reached her tailbone, hiding the base of her feline tail. At the touch, it was soft like fur, but it also easily slipped through his fingers. Shi'an couldn't help but stroke her hair as if to delay his task. After a while, he finally put aside his reticence and asked, "Is there a particular hairstyle that you want?"
Mo'an seemed to ponder over his question, but in the end, she shrugged. "How about the same hairstyle as yours?"
"Sure," answered her brother, a small smile finding its way on his lips.
His hairstyle wasn't complicated. Overall, his hair was relatively short and messy. Some strands were even falling onto his forehead. There was also a longer strand of hair that fell at one side of his face. Usually, he braided it and tied the end with a thick silver thread that contrasted with the dark color of his hair.
Soon, Shi'an got down to work, and strands of charcoal hair kept on falling on the floor. When he finished cutting his sister's hair, there was a small mountain of charcoal hair at his feet.
"I'm done," said the young man.
The words had barely left his mouth that Mo'an bolted to the mirror. She didn't want to watch her brother cut her hair, so she didn't stand in front of the mirror. Thus, when she saw her reflection, it gave her a shock. She felt like the teenager in the mirror was a stranger so much so that she almost couldn't recognize herself.
After observing her new look for a few seconds, Mo'an nodded, satisfied.
"Don't you think I do a handsome teenage boy?" asked the girl, stroking her chin. Her black tail swung, showing that she was quite happy with the result.
Seeing this, Shi'an sighed and laughed at the same time. How come he hadn't learned his lesson after so many years? Worrying about his sister was only a waste of time and energy. No matter what, that girl always managed to find something good in the bad.
"Yes, you're the most handsome boy in the whole world," he agreed with a helpless tone as he walked up to her and kissed her temple. He took the opportunity to slide the dagger back into its sheath. "Come here. I will braid your hair."
"Thanks."
Because Shi'an decided not to cut the longer strand of hair, it reached her hips, and thus, it took him a moment to braid it. Contrary to his sister, his braid only reached his shoulder and was on the left, while hers was on the right.
Although Mo'an asked for the same hairstyle, it felt weird to do so. Thus, he made some changes. Nevertheless, it suited her so well that he was left speechless. It enhanced her long neck, and her golden eyes also seemed to shine brighter now that her hair wasn't framing her face. They drew all the attention.
Frankly, after seeing the result of the haircut, Shi'an felt wronged, and he shed silent tears. If he stood beside her, no one would ever question her gender. Instead, they would question his!
Oblivious to her brother's despair, Mo'an asked, "Are you done with your backpacks?"
"Of course! I'm not like you, doing everything at the last moment," complained Shi'an, glancing at her not-so-ready, messy backpacks in the corner of her room.
"Don't worry, don't worry! It's still early. We have all the time in the world!" winked the girl.
"Well, your 'all the time in the world' ends tomorrow morning, so you better do it soon," grunted the young man, wondering where his sister went wrong. Was he the only one who was nervous about their departure? Since a few days ago, there had been a terrible knot in his stomach and a lump in his throat. And he wasn't the one who had to hide his gender! So how could his sister be so calm?
"As I said, don't worry. I will be ready at dawn. Instead of worrying and pacing back in forth in the room, let's enjoy our day in the tribe. We will be gone for a long time, after all."
Shi'an bit his lips, and in the end, he could only obediently nod. Truthfully, it would do him good to busy himself with the tribe. For at least five years, he wouldn't be able to come back home, so he should enjoy the short amount of time he had left.
In the back of his mind, he also knew his parents were even more nervous and heartbroken than him. They had to send away their two children, and they didn't even know if they would ever come back. Their only comfort was that their son and their daughter were together.
Shi'an was only two years older than his sister, so three years ago, when the soldiers came by for recruitment and the mandatory military service for the tribal chief's sons, he wasn't yet sixteen years old. Hence, they couldn't take him with them back then, which allowed him to stay at home for another three years and accompany his sister for her military service.
He was grateful for this.
"Here, I'm done," softly said Shi'an, tightly tying the thread.
In response, Mo'an smiled brightly, a hint of mischievousness glinting in her golden eyes. She grabbed his wrist, and without a word, she dragged her brother outside, where they stood on a wooden platform. The terrace, which didn't have any balustrade, circled the gigantesque tree where her family had built their house, hundreds of meters high into the air.
Their tribe lived in the jungle, but they didn't settle their village on the ground. Instead, they built their houses in the trees. Some were built around the trunk and seemed to melt with the tree; others had been directly carved out into the trunk. Because the largest trees were around fifty meters in circumference, the houses that were built inside were quite cozy and spacious. They were also well hidden.
However, the tribe had to be careful not to arm the forest beyond its healing capacity. Thus, they tried to balance the number of holes they dug inside a tree. They made sure the width wasn't too wide, just enough to live well with their family. They also always made sure to carve out their house in the center of the tree were the tissue was mostly 'dead,' trying to limit the damage caused to the 'living' tissue that was closer to the bark. That part was the one who provided the nutrients to the tree and kept it alive.
Because Mo'an's tribe felt more secure hidden into the depth of a gigantesque tree, there wasn't a lot of houses built outside. They also didn't put too much effort into making those, so they seemed a bit neglected, if not on the verge of collapsing, which brought the scorn of the Empire's men whenever they visited their village. Little did they know that those houses were mostly used as playgrounds for the kids. Sometimes, they were only the entrance hall to their real home inside the tree.
When the missionaries or the soldiers came by, the tribe would bring them to the houses near the public square, and they would pretend that one of them was the chief's house. Since those houses seemed bigger than the one suspended in the trees, the Empire's people were easily fooled. After all, they were better maintained, and the decor inside was quite exquisite – those not-so-bad houses were actually the reception halls where the tribe celebrated their special days or reunited together to drink and eat when they felt like it.
Still, what those men found disdainful and of poor taste, Mo'an found it beautiful. The old, wooden houses, or more precisely, the entrance halls, were mostly made by their ancestors. It was a souvenir of their past, and everyone in her tribe valued it. To her, they were a part of her culture.
Besides the entrance halls, there were circular wooden platforms like the one Mo'an and Shi'an were standing on. The terrace surrounded the trunks sometimes wholly, other times, only a part of it. Rope bridges linked the platforms to one another, and rope ladders connected the platforms vertically. The bridges appeared here and there throughout the foliage.
Mo'an took the time to burn the image of her village into her brain. Her brother did the same, and both of them stood there without moving an inch. For a short while, they didn't say anything until Mo'an smirked and said, "The first one who arrives at the public square wins!"
Then, she let go of her brother's wrist and jumped off the platform, not giving him the time to process her words.
"Wait! Mo'an! Please, wait!"
She landed on a thick branch a few meters below the platform and lifted her head, looking at Shi'an from the corner of her eyes. Sticking out her tongue, she replied, "I'm not gonna wait!"
"What are you!? A little kid!?" complained Shi'an as he watched his sister run swiftly on the branch. "Hell, she is impossible."
"I heard you!" Her lively laugh resonated within the village, making Shi'an smile unconsciously.
"I know!"
Although Shi'an was complaining a few seconds ago, he still chose to play along, and with a leap, he also jumped off the platform. It was faster to jump from branch to branch to reach the public square than using the rope bridges. Since it was a race, he would do his best to win it.