Wayde felt that Astri's energy changed. He looks to her on his back and she's deep in thought with her eyes looking nowhere specific. He stops walking and she breaks from her thoughts, to look at him.
"Is everything all right?" She asks. He points at her with a move of his head. "Do you want me to get down?" He denies it with his head. He does the same movement with his head. "Are you worried about me..?" He finally nods. She smiles softly. "I'm all right. Thank you."
Her smile was little, but it was enough to lighten the mood. Wayde keeps walking almost until the end of the day.
Wayde shifts into his human form and then carries Astri princess style, he jumps to a tall tree and puts her there.
"Stay here and be quiet. I'll hunt dinner, and I'll be right back."
"Sure. Thank you." She says softly.
He smiles and passes his hand on her head. He doesn't know what is making her feel sad, but he hopes he can help her forget it somehow.
"You need to teach me how to make fire when I come back. I don't want you to get sick by not cooking the food." He says.
"Sure. I'm sure it will be easier for you."
He jumps down the tree and shifts. Astri loses the white tiger from sight. She needs to be thankful that he's helping her, he's a quiet person but he's not rude.
She needs to admit that he's very handsome too, she wonders if he has a line of fans. In the human world, he would be women's favorite.
She wonders what Claud looks like. His voice doesn't sound like an old man's, but for being as powerful as he is he must be around his 40's? She doesn't have an idea.
And what does she look like in beast form? What kind of beast is she? A tiger like Wayde? Her endless stomach makes her wonder if she's a big kind of animal.
When Wayde is back, he brings a boar. He removed its skin and then had it cut into many pieces. She teaches him how to make fire, he had some hard times creating the first sparkle, but soon he understood how to use the rocks and keep the fire going.
As they wait for the meat to roast, Wayde notices that Astri is deep in thought looking to the sky.
"Are you all right?" He asks. She looks at him. "You look gloomy all day. Is there something I can do to help?"
She smiles. He is kind for worrying about her.
"I just have many things on my mind. Too much, to be sincere." She answers.
"Bad things?"
"Not necessarily. I'm thinking about how weird it is to not know about yourself, about what you know of the world. I was raised not knowing about who I am, I never even shifted and don't know what beast I am. I have no idea how to shift. That all makes me sad, I think." She says, then looks to the sky again. "I'm trying to think about this from another perspective because being sad will not solve anything."
"What is perspective? I can help you find it to help you." He says. She chuckles.
"It is not a thing. It's a point of view." She speaks.
He loved her laughter, but he was still confused. She takes her notebook and raises it to their eyesight, one side facing each one of them.
"Here. What can you see from my notebook?" She asks.
"A black thing." He answers.
"A black thing. That's your point of view. My point of view is yellow. If you were where I am, you would see that." She says and then turns the notebook for him to see that it is yellow. "This is an object, it's easier to change the point of view, you just need to move it. But when you're trying to see another perspective from a thought, it's a bit harder because it's not something you can touch and move." She explains.
"And how can you get another perspective about a thought?" He asks.
"Time. Or talking to someone and hearing what they have to say about it. For example, what do you think about fire?"
"It's hot and burns."
"What I think is heat, meals, power, light."
"I think I understand now."
"Good! What do you think about what I said before?" She asks him.
"I understand that you might feel powerless or lost not knowing about anything, but maybe that's a good thing. At least you can learn, it would be a problem if you couldn't learn." He speaks.
She smiles. His thought was so simple, but it made her feel better.
"That's a great point of view. I feel better. Thank you." She says. Her smile made him smile too.
"You're the most beautiful female. Even more when you smile."
She blushes and looks at her notebook again.
"Don't lie just to make me feel better." She says.
"It's not a lie. For me, you're the most beautiful." He affirms again. She chuckles.
"All right. I'll believe you."
She carefully puts her notebook back in her bag, and he wonders what she cherishes so much in that bag.
"What's inside of that bag that you're so afraid of losing?" He asks, curious.
"For someone else, this is just trash. But for me, it is the most important thing… I don't know if I'll be able to find more of it around here, so I need to protect it and use it only when I really need it." She says.
She pulls out three books, two notebooks, and three big pencil cases.
"What are those?" He asks.
"These three here are books. They tell stories."
"Do you know how to read?" He asks, impressed. She nods. "And write?" She nods again. - "This is a knowledge almost no one has. If you don't be careful, people will use you because of this."
"That's why I need to keep a low profile." She says softly, when noticing his questioning eyes, she changes her words. "I need to try not to call attention."
"I will protect you, but it's good for you to hide your abilities." He says, passing his fingers on her soft hair. His heart got warm again when he realized the female trusted her secret to him. "Thank you, for trusting me."
"No. Thank you for helping me."
This man can easily play with her heart, she needs to be careful.
"Since I can remember books and drawing have been my best friends." She says, opening one notebook and giving it to him.
Her drawings are amazing, and look real. Astri always liked to draw animals the most, and now she knows why. She could also draw a person in detail, also a scenery.
"Who are these people?" He asks.
"Have no idea. I saw them passing where I was. - She says. It's not a lie, but she hides that they're from another world.
"It's amazing. They look real. How is this possible?"
She shows him her art supplies and shows a little how to use them. Seeing how much she gets happy talking about that he understands now why she doesn't want to lose those things.
They eat together and Astri feels full, something hard to happen. He was going to trash the rest of the meat, but she stops him saying the roasted meat won't spoil so fast. She asks him for higher sticks to put the meat above the fire to smoke the meat.
"This way the meat won't spoil too. We won't have to spend the whole day hungry." She says.
Her knowledge is already something he's getting used to, but he can't wait to test if the food will be good to eat the next day.
"What kind of beast do you think I am?" She asks, lying down on the ground and watching the stars.
"Your smell is very different from the beasts I know. Sometimes I smell bird on you, but I'm not sure." Wayde answers, lying down on her side, wondering why she's looking at the sky so much. "Why are you looking at the sky so much?" He asks.
"The stars. The moon. I'm trying to fix them in my mind and their locations."
"Why? There are so many."
"The ancient people used the stars to direct their way at night. Not everyone has a great sense of smell like you." She says. She points to the stars explaining. "They would define patterns or shapes with the stars, the same ones are there every day. A group of stars that has a shape is called a constellation. I don't know which is which, so I'm trying to create my own so if something happens I can locate myself through the stars at night."
"Interesting. I can't see the shapes there. Do I need to change my point of view?" He asks. She chuckles.
"Maybe. Try to focus on the most shining ones or the bigger ones. I could see a bunny, so I'll call it Hopping Constellation. When I look at the Hopping Constellation, I know I'm looking East." She explains.
"East?" He asks.
She keeps teaching him things almost all night, and he's a fast learner and loves to learn new perspectives from his female. Yes, he's decided that she is his female.