Before Tala could thrust her sword at the attacking boar, it gave out a loud squeal, froze in midair, and fell dead on the ground. Within a split second, Tala rolled to the side and escaped being crushed by the wild boar.
Tala looked at the arrow that pierced the back of the boar's neck. A knowing smile appeared on her young face.
She looked around but did not see anyone.
"Show yourself." She said in a loud voice.
She counted up to ten. Still, no one came out.
'Hmp. Let me see if you will not come out.' She smirked.
"The idiot who shot the wild boar mid-air and almost killed me by letting the boar fall on me, show yourself," Tala said in a domineering tone.
"What did you just say?" A young, playful voice came from behind a tree.
Tala tried to get up but felt pain on her side. She hissed.
The young man came out of a tree, still holding his bow. The sunlight accentuated his facial features, and his eyes gleamed as the light rays reflected from them.
"I just saved your life, and you insulted me with your words. What an ingrate!" he said coldly, approaching her in big strides.
When he was an arm's length away from Tala, he tripped on a protruding root and fell toward the young girl, who was caught off guard. Though Nayou landed on top of Tala, his two hands supported his body and prevented him from crushing her.
Nayou coughed awkwardly and stood. He held out his hand and helped Tala up. It was the first time his heart started racing crazily when he looked at Tala in the eyes.
"I called you earlier, but you did not come out. Anyway, thank you for saving my life, but I could have killed the boar even without your help." Tala sounded aggrieved.
Nayou was indignant. "Hmp. What an arrogant child." He ruffled her hair before examining the boar. "Even if you killed the boar, its body will still crush you, looking at how you are positioned on the ground."
Tala can only agree with him. On top of being crushed by the dead weight of the boar, she would also be dirtied by the blood.
Lakan Lando came out from a huge tree.
"Is this your catch, Tala?" Lakan Lando asked. He was hunting a fox in another direction and did not see who killed the boar.
"It is supposed to be mine, Tata Lando, but Brother Nayou snatched it away from me," Tala complained.
"Let's bring this to the cave first." Lakan Lando told Nayou to pick up the boar while he carried the dead wolf on his shoulder.
Duwen, the family head of the midgets who decided to follow Lakan Lando was sorting the herbs he collected nearby. When he saw the three people who came back with a wild boar and fox, he started digging a pit in a clearing near the cave. He was not good at hunting big animals, but he was an expert in skinning them. He tagged along because their supplies of herbs had run out. His daughter Arwen also needed a special herb that only grew in Mount Batan to concoct a medicine for seasonal illnesses that plague the people of TerraCosta.
He skinned and cleaned the dead animals the Pharis hunted inside the pit. The internal organs and other parts that were not useful were left inside the pit and covered with soil.
For the injured ones that are still alive, they were put in a wooden cage, and he would tend to their wounds to prevent them from dying.
In the afternoon, Tala discovered a hot spring near their cave. She told Tata Lando and Nayou that she would take a bath in the spring. Lakan Lando insisted that Nayou come along to watch over her. Though Tala did not like the idea, she agreed as they were not familiar with the place after all.
"Turn around, don't peek at me."
Nayou looked at the slender girl in front of him. It was not his sister speaking to him, but his Princess Tala commanding him.
"But I'd like to take a dip too. We used to do it together." Nayou tried to protest.
"I'd like to take a bath on my own." Princess Tala insisted, and Nayou relented helplessly.
They heard a growl nearby.
"I'll check it out." Nayou offered.
Princess Tala took the opportunity to take off the cloth she had wrapped around her chest to hide her growing breasts, which had gotten bigger this year. She did not have another one, so she couldn't afford to get it wet.
Her Tata Lando always reminded her that she should wear boy's clothing the moment she left AndroTerra, even if they were still in Norden, though the chance of outsiders coming in was nil. Her Tata Lando was a cautious man, and she was an obedient girl.
She put back her upper garment, a loose white short-sleeved linen. She freed her hair from the black strip of cloth. She checked the dagger strapped to her left thigh before jumping into the water.
The water was warm, and it relaxed her. She sighed because the deepest part of the spring was just slightly below her chest. She submerged herself under the water for some time. She Intended to stay longer when she heard rustles in the bushes. She thought it was Nayou, and she unhurriedly swam to the shallow part of the water and intended to get out.
Unbeknownst to her, Nayou returned and had been watching her the moment she stepped into the spring. Tala has grown taller. She was almost a head taller than his younger sister, who was a year older than her. Her wet clothing was sticking to her body showing the slight curve of her waist and the two buds on her chest. His eyes swept across her and his face turned red. He looked away.
Tala was only ten years old. In five years, he would be eighteen and he could confess his feelings to her.
"Why the hurry? You can still bathe. I will watch over you." Nayou jumped over a rock and sat down lazily; his gaze was teasing.
"I am done bathing. It is your turn. I will watch over you." Tala smiled sweetly, beckoning him to jump into the water.
The childish face that was smiling sweetly morphed into the pallid face of a twenty-year-old Tala whose body emitted a bluish-white light and whose copper-colored hair, tinged with blue, danced like tendrils in the undercurrent before it dissipated into nothingness.
"No..."