She asked him if there had been any bodies in a quiet hushed tone, and told him to burn them and bury them with grace before she turned her attention back to me.
"Let's get you looked over and make sure you have no injuries."
I turned to look for him, but he was gone again. His mother took my arm and pulled me along, swallowing the uneasiness I had. I allowed her to keep pulling me along. The other woman smiled at me and looked over at me.
"May I touch you?"
I blinked for a moment before realising she was talking to me and I said ok. She took my left hand and held it in her right hand and set her left hand on my head. She said nothing, she just hummed peacefully.
"Nothing too bad, just some bruises that will heal in a few days' time."
"How did you know that?" I shouted, shocked.
"I have a little gift. It helps me identify and fix wounds."
"Gift?"
"Yes, everyone that comes to this island gets a gift. You have one too, but we don't know what it is for now."
"Wilder has one too?"
"Oh yes. He has a spectacular gift, his eyes. He can see in the darkest dark and the lightest light, even underwater." His mother said, smiling.
"What is your gift?"
"That comfort you felt, that is my gift. I can relax even the most troubled creatures."
That was a cool gift to have, but it seemed a little farfetched to me, even if the women before me knew I had bruises and was otherwise fine.
"You're probably having a hard time believing all this. I know I did, so I'll show you some of the other's gifts. That way you can see first-hand some more things."
She took me by the hand and took me out of the hut. The other women followed us, too. She seemed happy to just be around. For the first time in days, I smiled too, but only slightly. I could hear singing as we got closer to where everyone was. It was beautiful and seemed to lift my entire soul up. I didn't understand a single sound they made, but it was like soul did.
"Beautiful isn't it?"
"Yes."
One man had a bird resting on his finger. While he sang along, too.
"That is Cyan. His gift is speaking to animals. Though not all of them can speak back to him, and Liv is our healer. Those two twins, they have the same gift. They can speak to plants, but not in the way we do."
I nodded, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the whole thing. The Chief took my hand and held it softly. Her warmth spread to me and helped me calm down a little. The music seemed to die down when Wilder showed up with a few other men. They all looked tired and sweaty. Wilder passed by me without a second word. He seemed to be headed back to his hut.
"Go along with him then." She smiled, letting go of my hand.
"Thanks."
I rushed along behind him; I know he noticed me right away, but said nothing. He opened the cloth door and held it open for me to go inside, too. He dropped it after he stepped inside. His clothing and furs he had on were damp. He sat on the ground, after setting his spear aside and pulling off layers of wet clothing. I closed my eyes in case he wanted privacy. After a few moments, I opened them again, and he was bare-chested, in just pants. I had never seen another fully grown man in that manner. He pulled a string out of his hair and it fell down over his shoulders in long midnight black curls. I never figured his hair would be that long.
He pulled a wooden handcrafted comb from somewhere in the hut and pulled it through his hair roughly. I couldn't even consider that to be a good feeling on his scalp. I took the comb out of his hand, not realising fully my actions until I had done them and was just standing there with the comb in my hand.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to just take this!"
Instead of giving it right back here, I was waving it around like an idiot. He sighed, looking at me with those deep silver eyes. I held the comb out to him, but not before asking if I could finish combing it. He nodded, but looked a little apprehensive about it.
I was dying to touch his hair; I had no urge to touch another person's hair like this. It was perfectly curly and the deepest black, and you could see how smooth it was. The first comb pass through his hair was smooth and there was no reason to use as much force as he did. His hair was still damp in some spots and had a very light coconut smell to it, much like coconut water. I wonder if he used that to wash his hair.
The ends were rough though, much like he used a knife to cut it, and he probably had. I held on to each section well and combed it. I wasn't paying any attention to him, but just his hair. Even after combing it all, I fluffed my fingers through the lengths and watched it fall out of my fingers. He cleared his throat, and I felt my face go all warm as I realised this wasn't normal.
"Sorry. Here's your comb."
He took it from my fingers and set it back on the ledge. Rummaging through a weaved basket of clothing, he pulled out a t-shirt, pulling it on before he tied up his hair again. He didn't look at me the whole time and I wondered if I weirded him out or offended him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to play with your hair. I don't even know why I did that."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't say a single thing. Every part of me just wanted to sneak off back to the beach. When he turned his back, I slowly backed towards the door and slipped out of the cloth. I honestly don't know what way the beach even was since he had led me here in the pitch black of night. My bare feet made no noise on the dirt trails as I walked down one that seemed to lead away from the huts. I did not know where it went, but it was a trail, which meant they used it often.
Surprisingly, at the end of the trail was a lake. You could see all the surrounding land. Getting close to the edge, I looked into the water and was surprised to see fish swimming around just under the surface. I'd never seen an island like this one before.
Touching the edge of the water with the tips of my toes, it wasn't cold, but really warm. Compared to the ocean, this was bathtub water warm, and I wanted to touch more of it. Rolling up my pant legs didn't do it for me, but taking them off altogether did. The sweater was the next thing to go. I stepped into the water, the fish scattering, but not that far.
The water cooled slightly the deeper I went, but not enough that it was uncomfortable or frigid. The fish returned when I stopped splashing about. I was only in waist-high water; I didn't want to go out too deep. The sun felt great reflecting off the water onto my face and arms. This was a good way to get a sunburn. I knew this all too well.
"You shouldn't just sneak off! You don't know the island."
Looking back at the edge of the water, Wilder stood there, his spear in his hand, a look of annoyance on his face. I wondered if he was sick of playing babysitter for me. He had looked after me last night and today, surely; he wanted it to end.
"I'm ok!"
He sat on the edge of the water and just watched me. I wondered if his mother asked him to.
"You don't have to watch me!"
He ignored me and just continued to watch me, this time less noticeable than before. Plugging my nose, I dropped into the water and then stood up again. Wilder was standing by the edge of the water, and I watched him spear a fish. He did it with such fluid movement. He backed up from the water before pulling the fish off his spear. I wanted to catch one too, but not that way. I would hurt myself.
I tried for a few minutes in the shallows with no luckiness. Growing irritated, I got out of the water and clutched my clothing, being careful not to get them wet because I was dripping wet. Wilder openly smirked at me, not rudely, but almost bragging about his catch.
I followed him back to his hut.
"Stay here."
He went inside and grabbed an actual towel. He dropped in on my head and took my sweater and pants from my hands.
"Take off the wet clothing and I'll find some dry clothes for you."
"Like all of it?"
"Yes, all of it."
"But I can't change out here!"
"Strip down behind the hut, then."
He went back inside, and I stood there for a moment. Sighing in defeat, I went behind the hut and stripped down. I wrapped the towel around me as tightly as I could get it. Wilder held the cloth door open and let me inside.
"There are under dressings and a t-shirt on the furs."
He went outside and dropped the cloth. I grabbed the boxers, pulling them under the towel before dropping the towel to put the t-shirt on. Both were loose, but it was better than being naked. Wilder came back in after a few minutes and grabbed his own damp clothing. He took them outside, and I followed him. There was a cord between two trees where he had clothing hung out, blowing in the wind.
The level of skills all these people had were amazing. They were thriving on their own without needing outside interference.