Chapter Text
The sun was high in the sky as the bells of Greenhaven rang. Abeke was humming a little melody as she trained her hits with Uraza as the audience.
Abeke grunted as she hit the targets in the near-empty training hall. She was alone except for a few other people in the back of the hall.
Abeke was confused as she hit the target. Not because of anything in her training, but because of her feelings. Her friends all had an attraction towards somebody; Rollan and Meilin had each other, and Conor was clearly honeymooning with Worthy, so why didn’t Abeke have at least some sort of feelings for somebody? She was 16; she should have one!
“Argh!” Abeke yelled. She had missed the target completely and instead hit the wall. Her foot hurt like hell, and she whispered some curse words before sitting down on the floor.
Uraza walked over towards her, and Abeke petted the overgrown cat. Uraza purred loudly and stretched her feline body.
Abeke walked towards her room. She had an idea, not sure if it was a good one, though. She just needed to clear her mind for a minute. Abeke walked into her room and took out her empty bag. She put a few shirts and pants into the bag and packed a few necessities.
After about 20 minutes of packing, Abeke took the bag over her shoulder and walked over to Conor’s room. She knew he
was going to be there, since she hadn’t seen him at training earlier.
Abeke knocked twice and waited patiently for the door to open. After a few seconds, Conor opened the door.
“Oh, hey Abeke,” Conor greeted, leaning against the door’s frame. “What brings you here?”
“Uhm. Can you maybe tell the others that I’m going to Nilo?” Abeke asked, giving Conor an awkward smile. “It won’t be long!” she assured, brushing an awkward hand through her braided hair. “I, uhm. I-it’s just family stuff,” she lied, feeling bad about lying over something so stupid to her dearest friend.
“Okay, sure!” Conor said, giving Abeke a short hug. He almost closed the door before stopping. “Have fun,” Abeke nodded, smiling, and walked down the hall towards the docks.
Abeke was waiting for the ship from Greenhaven to Nilo at the docks. The ship arrived every day at around 5 pm, so she would have to sleep on the ship.
Uraza purred behind Abeke, pulling her out of her thoughts. She patted the leopard, took out some dried meat, and fed her. Uraza didn’t like boats or any kind of ocean transportation, so Abeke would have to feed her before going on the ship, since Uraza would be in the passive state.
What am I even doing? Abeke asked herself. She hadn’t even thought her plan through! First, I’m going to put up a tent in the savanna and sleep there for the first night. After that, I’ll continue towards Okaihee, where I’ll meet up with Soama and Dad. Abeke nodded at her plan and sat down. The ship wouldn’t arrive for the next hour. Might as well do something productive.
Abeke pulled out an embroidery set. As surprising as that might sound, she had taken up the hobby. She wasn’t sure if it was to calm her down or just to give her something to do, but she liked doing it. The way the patterns looked at the end made the progress so much better.
When the ship finally arrived, Abeke had a feeling that the plan wasn’t all that great. But Abeke wasn’t one to give up. Even though sometimes the idea was very tempting. She took a deep breath and stepped onto the ship. It was only for one week. Only one week in Okaihee with her sister, dad, old friends, and memories. Memories she thought about every night before bed, to make sure she didn’t forget them.
Abeke walked over to the side of the ship to look at the water. When Abeke really focused, she could see fish swimming around down there.
After a few hours, Abeke called upon Uraza to feed her. The cat yawned and stretched, purring slightly. Abeke stroked through Uraza’s fur and patted her. Uraza’s purring became louder when she realized Abeke had food in her pockets. Uraza touched Abeke’s pocket with her nose, and Abeke pulled out a few pieces of fish.
“Saved some for you,” Abeke said while Uraza swallowed the fish in one bite. For herself, Abeke had some dried fruits. Abeke bit into the fruit flesh and tasted the flavor. Her first piece was some mango, directly from the farms of Zhong. It tasted sweet and had a distinctly tropical flavor which reminded her of their time at the Hundred Isles.
Abeke ate some other fruits with Uraza by her side before calling Uraza back to her forearm. Abeke yawned and looked at the sky. The moon was already beginning to show up in the sky.
In Abeke’s cabin, there was a hammock that would swing every time the ship hit a wave. It was going to be a long night for sure. She sighed and lay down in the swaying hammock. She felt the waves of the water hitting the ship and thought about Uraza. Abeke knew the cat hated ships, or literally anything to do with water, but she still wished she could call upon the great beast. Then she’d at least have somebody to talk to. Instead, she was alone in this small room doing the most spontaneous thing. Gods, why wasn’t she as calm as Jhi, or as wise as Conor! I’m acting like Rollan, she thought, laughing at the thought. When she had first met Rollan, he hadn’t trusted her. Now he was one of her best friends, and the same with Meilin. Conor had, of course, been skeptical, but he had been nicer.
Abeke lay there for what felt like hours, trying to sleep. Every time she was at the edge of sleeping, the ship would hit a wave, and she would be awake again. At one point, she gave up on sleeping and decided to just stare at the ceiling.
After about two hours of sleep, Abeke woke up to the sailors yelling on the deck. She groaned and got out of the hammock. Her hair was messy, and she would have to rebraid a few pieces. Abeke called Uraza out of the passive state, and the leopard stretched. When she noticed they weren’t sailing, she yowled and rubbed her nose against Abeke’s leg. Abeke bent down and rubbed Uraza’s ears before getting her bag.
Abeke had placed her green cloak in the bottom of the bag, wanting to keep it low-key in Nilo. She was there to clear her mind, not to gather attention! Abeke pulled out a tiny mirror from her bag and started rebraiding her hair.
After intensely braiding her hair while listening to the sailors rummaging through their shipments, Abeke left the ship. She breathed in the Niloan air, feeling the ocean breeze on her face.
As Abeke walked through the streets of the market, she bought a few supplies. Niloan made arrows and some flint. Abeke carefully studied the tips of the arrows. They weren’t the best, but they would work until she had made her own. She would also need to start moving. She had to hunt, then find a place to rest before continuing to Okaihee.
Abeke walked with long steps through the savanna, making sure to stay in the shadows. She didn’t want to get a heat stroke whilst alone. She could get eaten by hyenas!
The sky slowly faded from light blue to soft pink hues, the sun shining its last few rays before the moon took its place. At the same time, Abeke noticed a flock of big birds hanging around a body of water. Abeke thought that if she got at least two of the birds, then she could eat, then drink, and set up camp. It would be smart to do it around this time, and she would like to have a source of water.
She slowly sneaked up on the birds, aiming her arrow at the chest of one of the birds. Beside her, Uraza was crouching towards one of the other birds, looking ready to pounce. Abeke exhaled, and her fingers let go of the arrow. As it flew through the air, Uraza sprang onto the bird in front of her. Before the flock could react, two of them were motionless on the ground. The others quickly flew away, wings flapping recklessly in the air. Abeke let out a happy sigh and crouched down beside the corpse of the bird. She placed a hand on the lifeless body and pulled the arrow out.
“May your spirit go to peace, whilst your body stays here to feed the ground and the people,” Abeke said, closing her eyes. She smiled lightly as she opened her eyes. She felt the thrill of the hunt subsiding and felt calm surround her.
The fire Abeke had lit was glowing brightly, its flames reaching high towards the sky. Beside it Abeke was holding a piece of meat on a skewer, cooking it just right. She took a bite and savored the taste. It was even better than what she had imagined. The meat was juicy and tender, and Abeke had somehow cooked it perfectly.
Beside her Uraza was eating the bird she had caught. Of course she was eating it raw, since she wasn’t patient enough to wait for it to cook.
AFter the two had finished eating Abeke began setting up camp. She placed her bag as a pillow and took out a few blankets she had bought. She placed a tent over her makeshift bed and she sat comfortably on the blanket. There she took out her embroidery set and continued on the pattern she had made earlier. She wanted it to be a flower, but it wasn’t going that well. Abeke let out a small laugh at her flower embroidery.
“This looks so bad,” she giggled, continuing her artmaking. Uraza walked into her tent and looked at what her human partner was making. She meowed quietly before lying down next to Abeke. Abeke smiled and petted the overgrown housecat. She put down the embroidery set and lay down to sleep.