Chapter two- The hunter
The veil stood tall and strong, glimmering as each color to ever exist danced along it's sides.
Wara walked closer to it in awe.
"Yintoni idin il-ħaġa" Wara whispered to herself, not realizing she had spoken in a language she herself had never heard of.
Yet, she in her mind, had said the exact words
"What is this thing?"
It looked more beautiful than it had appeared to be in her dreams. More mysterious.
Wara could not think of any other thing to do than to immediately sit, grab a parchment paper, her quill and draw what she had witnessed.
Drawing seemed to be one of the best ways to express herself. To tell the story she could not put into words.
Her drawings seemed to capture her emotions and give whoever took a look at the picture a strong pull to feel what she felt.
Wara had only finished drawing the strange creature that was still staring at the veil in surprise when the strange object from before that had been stuck in the creature flew straight through it's head, instantly killing it.
Wara let out a startled gasp before letting out another.
She heard footsteps and an angry muttering of words that she could not seem to understand.
Wara immediately ducked behind a tree, tucking her dress in between her legs so they would not give away her hiding spot. She sucked in her breath and hoped whoever it was, was just passing by.
"Where is that deer? I am sure my arrow hit it." The voice seemed to be that of a male. Wara noticed that as the person got nearer, she could understand them better.
The language the person spoke was foreign but Wara could immediately understand what it was she was hearing.
The man came into view and Wara let out the third gasp.
The man was quite young, around the same age as hers but that was not the reason for Wara's shock.
Wara was a young lady in her early twenties and seeing someone her age in the forest was quite a normal sight but this young man was different.
He had the normal tribal marks of the Āsimati on his arms but not on his forehead.
His ears were like that of the Āsimati but a bit rounded instead of the sharp edge they carried.
His tribal marks were another unique case. Instead of a normal prominent color like every other Āsimati Wara had come across, his seemed to blend into his skin.
The man had not yet noticed her and when he seemed to turn his head to where she hid, she ducked behind the tree.
Unfortunately for her, as she held up her skirt, she accidentally stepped on a twig. The little snap could have been drowned by the soft whoosh of the veil but the man's hearing seemed to be sharp.
"Who goes there?" The man said, reaching behind himself to grab an arrow and bringing it to his front, slowly drawing his bow.
Wara held her breath and tried her best to slow her heartbeat but she couldn't hold her breath for long.
The man peeped at the other side of the tree and Wara turned just in time to find his curly mass of hair pop up.
They both let out a startled scream before the man screamed again.
"What is a human doing here?" He screamed.
Wara tested the words on her mouth.
"Human" the language seemed so strange and the word unique.
"I'm human?" She said in his language, curiously staring and the strange man.
"You do not look like the normal Āsimati too." She said in the language she was used to.
The man frowned, he couldn't understand her but something deep in him reacted to the word Āsimati.
"Who are you?" He asked slowly, realizing she may not really understand his language.
"Who am I? Who are you? And why are you in this forest? Did you kill that creature?" By now, the man's deep frown had softened and by the flurry of questions thrown at him, he realized she was just as confused as him.
"My name is Nạk l̀ā. I would appreciate it if you called me Nak. I am a hunter for my group and I came to the forest to find meat. Yes I killed the creature so I could use it's meat and skin" Nak knew that Wara could understand his language well now so he was not too cautious in breaking his words down as before.
"Nạk l̀ā " Wara tested the name on her tongue again like before then she looked up at him. "I am Wara. It may not have been a pleasure to meet you and I may never see you again but I do wish you well. I will be off now. "
Wara immediately turned to go. It was getting late and she knew Senior Frenvìr will be worried.
"Wait!" Nak called after her. "Would you not like to see what lies behind the veil? " This wasn't Nak's first time meeting people behind the veil. Normally, this enticing offer would have won them over and it looked like it was working.
"Maybe if fate allows us to meet again. I must get going now. Good day!" Wara stormed off without another word, forgetting her satchel.
Wara hurried through the forest and back to her home with the thought of the sun setting in mind.
"Poor Zola will be so worried and so will Senior Frenvìr."
With that thought, she hurried along faster.
She ran through the forest so quickly that the thought of her running faster than physically possible had not crossed her mind.
Just as the sun was about to set and Frenvìr was packing up his tools to lock up the hut, Wara wandered in.
"Oh thank the gods!" Cried Frenvìr in relief. " I thought you might have wandered too far into the forbidden parts of the forest!"
" I would never" Said Wara with a slight gasp to take in a breather." I however drew pictures of a peculiar sight. It is right here in my... " Wara paused, feeling her empty side.
" My satchel!" Wara cried out in alarm. She moved to leave the hut but with a stern look, Frenvìr grabbed her arm.
"You will not leave this hut Wara. It is late. You will go tomorrow to search for it." With the stern look and the finality in his voice, Wara had no choice but to comply.
She could only hope that she had left it with the hunter and not dropped it while she had run home.