I SEE YOU | AVATAR

13

(I recommend that you play the music. It's on a loop)
<3

"You know her, don't you?" The blond boy says to me.

I stop and watch the three boys in front of me walk towards the village, which is only a few dozen metres away. I roll my eyes and turn to face the boy.

"I don't know her." I say, crossing my arms over my chest. I adopt a hostile attitude, hoping that he will move on.

"I didn't see who she was but I'm not deaf. I heard you talking to her. She knows you." He states with a serious face.

He clenches his fists and clenches his jaw, which makes me arch my eyebrow. This boy doesn't believe me and doesn't want to. I don't think he'll stop looking for the woman who tried to kill him. I understand him, the situation is too ambiguous for him to swallow my words.

"I am the daughter of the clan chief. Of course, it's not just this village that knows me but that doesn't mean I know who she is.

— She mentioned someone else." He frowns as if thinking. He looks up to the sky as if the name he was looking for would fall from above. "Ro..."

I put my uninjured hand on his shoulder to cut him off in his thinking.

"Listen kid. It's better for everyone if you forget what you heard and saw. You were with the humans, that's why the villages that were burned want to take revenge by killing you. From now on, you don't leave your Marui if you are not accompanied. You are still alive because I was in the right place at the right time but this chance will not come twice. I think you have already brought enough problems. Is that clear?

— Crystal clear." He murmurs, lowering his head.

He sighs and walks towards the village to join the boys who have stopped at the entrance. They look at us from afar. He runs to join them and I follow him at a slower pace. The minimum would have been to say thank you. Now I have to go and find Mother. Her behaviour is not something I should let pass. And that fucking bitch Mi'niri... when I get the chance I'll-

"You, come with me." Roxto says cutting me off from my thoughts, he grabs my arm.

"What are you doing? I have to join Kiri and Tsireya.

— Heal your wounds first.

— My Marui is on the other side.

— Mine is closer."

I don't add anything. He seems determined to take me to his home so I follow his pace.

"You can let go of me." I shake my arm. "I'm not running away."

He stops and lets go of me. I walk past him towards his house. He speeds up to walk beside me. My gaze lingers on him for a moment. I had never noticed that he had grown taller than me. Nor that his arms had become so strong. He has always been only Ao'nung's best friend, I have always paid attention to him without really paying attention to him. When we arrive in front of his house, he enters and I stop in front of it.

"Come in." He says from the inside.

I squint my eyes, jaded, knowing full well that I can't leave. I reluctantly put one foot in front of the other and join him. He points to the floor and asking me to sit down, which I do. Roxto stands with his back to me, kneeling in front of a low wooden table. I watch him crush a plant in a bowl. He uses sharp blows to crush the plant to a pulp.

"Take off the bandage."

He puts down the wooden handle he was using to crush the plant and turns to me with the bowl in his hands. I untie the knot with my teeth and my left hand and remove the cloth wrapped around my hand.