Living Antiquity

~22~

Two days later and Drakka and the others were appalled by the fact that I was literally peeing chunks of dead skin off in couple-inch pieces.
The Quen, a man named Rolv, about thirty-ish years of age, was going to be here soon, the squad Jetakka was helping escort him reporting that is was shaken from being transported so far across the continent in a rush, but fascinated by how connected we seemed to be with how "barbaric" the Tenakth seemed to him.
I follow the others ti the west door, hearing Jetakka and the squad encouraging him up the cliffside.
"Don't worry, its a short climb. Twenty paces high, and then the door is just there... Enokka, help him." Jetakka ordered.
"Here, outlander. Brace there..." a feminine voice said.
We opened the door and Drakka and Erend walked over and helped everybody up the last couple of steps.
"Hello!" I grin.
Jetakka chuckles and shakes his head, "Fir a while I didn't believe that they'd taken us up on the offer of safe haven so soon. But I assume you're glad to be able to help them." He nods to me.
The Quen man, wearing simpler clothing, his hands marred a bit from climbing the cliffs, and dirt sunk deep in his clothes from the trek across Tenakth lands, "L-Living Ancestors! Balist said that y-you were the Sleeping Ancient?" He looks at me, eyes wide, "And that there are two reincarnations Elisabet Sobeck?" He says softly, wringung his hands.
"Yes. Here, come get out of the elements. You guys can come too," I look at Jetakka and the squad, "Have a rest before heading back for Scalding Spear?"
"I assume the Commander won't be returning with us?" He asks, giving Drakka a knowing look.
"Uhhhh... heh..." Drakka rubs his head then sighs, "Nope."
"Is there anyone other than me that you can trust to be in charge? Bearing in mind that I am the Chaplain- I am supposed to counsel, not lead." Jetakka points out.
"You, maybe Pettonakk." Drakka shrugs.
"Fair. I have also been counseling the village leaders alongside Stanley. He's making progress with reprogramming several overridden Bellowbacks to filter water. Bleeding Mark is experiencing an unprecedented flood, but all of the water is polluted with ashblood..."
"Damn..." Drakka's shoulders droop.
"Your c-clan struggles with getting water?" Rolv asked, looking at Drakka in confusion.
"The territory leading up to hear that you passed through, the desert? That's my clan's territory. We've always relied on the Wound in the Sand, an old reservoir for what used to be a solar station, for water, but its systems were damaged a while back," Drakka points out, "We've been looking for a way to get reliable clean water for some time now. Stanley Chen is part of the efforts to do that"
"The Waterbearer? But he's an ancestor, how is he..." Rolv asks, frowning.
"Here, come sit down and we'll tell you how everything's been going on our end," I say, leading the way through the hallway to the commons.
"A ruin, so well preserved...!" Rolv looks around, "You live here..?" He asks.
"And so will you, until we can find a way to unseat the Ceo." I say gently, "What skills were you taught for the mission?" I ask, letting him sit down, and retrieving one of the Focuses from our cabinet store.
"I was a chef, Ma'am- trained by the Emperor's personal chef, as well. I was set to be executed because the Ceo decided I must be poisoning his meals when it didn't taste quite the same from one day to the next- d-due to shortages of my spices, mind you!- but... Balist and the other guards... When they took me to be executed, they revealed that they had all... somehow acquired Focuses! They explained that Diviner Alva was also informed of this, and that they had a safe place for me to go. They talked ti someone I couldn't see... a Commander Atekka? And escorted me offshore during the night. Imagine my shock when we were met by a troop of barbarians and I was passed along! They were quite kind... Some things were explained to me, but I was so shocked... I could hardly listen." He says softly, "I was told I'd likely be given a Focus so that I could help out?... but that's so..." he stops, looking around at us, no doubt seeing that every one of us, minus the squad; had Focuses.
"I can understand your misgivings," I say, sitting on the bench across from him, "But a Focus isn't some divine tool- its just a tool. Like the knifes and cooking implements that you've always used in the kitchen. A tool is meant to be used, to serve its purpose." I say, holding put the focus to him, "Welcome to the team. We have plenty of these to go around, so if you happen to accidentally break one, don't worry- we know how to make more, now, and we've got ways of finding ones left behind in the ancient times. But the things you learn will likely shock you..." I say with a sigh, "Any information you wish ti access, you are free to- that room over there is an interface to the entirety of our database. Information your Diviners describe as lost and forbidden is just information that their focus wasn't updated enough to read. Think of it like some data is written in a language that was common before, but then the whole world started speaking a new language, and while people that spoke the new one could still understand the old one, some people weren't able to learn the new one and were left in the dark," I smile, "Which hand is your dominant hand?" I ask.
He raises his left hand, frowning.
"The Focus goes on that temple, then, so that you can use it more easily," I explain.
He gulps and attaches it, flinching as it expecting it to explode on contact. The sins he must think he is committing...
"There!" I smile, "Let Zo show you around and then we'll introduce you to Beta. The guards didn't meet her- the one that was with us in the Greenhouse was Aloy. Aloy is more of a fighter. Beta was raised learning how to work the terraforming system- we'll get there, don't worry." I explain.
He nods weakly, following Zo.
"Poor man. His head's going to pop when we tell him everything..." Varl sighs, leaning over the back of one of the makeshift couches.
Drakka laughs, "I'll say."
"Wait til I show him my food and travel show collection," I grin.
"Y/n, no, you'll break him." Erend groans.
"Hey!" I pout.
--
Several hours, a few panic attacks on Rolv's part, and a few bowls of soup later, the Squad followed Jetakka back toward Scalding Spear with a new supply of Focuses, and Rolv was significantly more relaxed, listening to Beta explain her life prior to landing in Earth, listening and nodding, gnawing at his fingernails as he listens.
"Our most revered ancestors... so evil... but the Waterbearer is still..."
"Alive and well, besring as much good intent as it takes to fix everything in the region and ready everyone to defeat NEMESIS." Stanley says from the doorway, making Rolv jump to his feet.
"S-Sir Waterbearer!"
"Just Stanley... please..." he says nervously, holding up his hand defensively, "Ah, Y/n! Progress on coding water carrier Bellowbacks is well underway. Abadund actually took to coding quite well. His mind for numbers is good for more than counting money and party preparations," he chuckles.
I nod, and relax, "Good. I heard about bleeding mark, how did that go?"
"Aloy made a detour in her way to meet her friend at the coast. She's been working to find survivors. There was a couple of casualties..." he frowns, rubbing his face, "Hell of a mudslide..."
Drakka frowns, "Survivors?"
"A woman named Nitikka, several dozen other clansmen, but a man named Kentokk is still missing." Stanley frowns.
"Shit..." Drakka stands, "I'll go help her. Can I borrow Avalanche?" He looks at me, frowning.
"Uh, what are you going to do?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Fly."
"She'll have to carry you in her claws, their backs aren't big enough. If she can lift you, go for it..." I activate Avalanche's call signal and follow him outside, watching as he paces until Avalanche arrives, hovering by the edge if the cliff, "Don't drown in muddy chemical water, kay?" I ask.
He laughs and grabs me, pulling me in and fucking kissing me for a few seconds before stepping back, letting Avalanche grab him and fly off.
"Seriously, you jackass?!" I yell, hearing him laugh his ass off as Avalanche carries him off to the northwest.
"Love you too, desert flower!" He yells back, waving and dangling from Avalanche's talons as I fume.
I call his Focus, still fuming, "You are sooo lucky I can't launch spikes that far, you absolute-"
He chuckles, "But then you'd hit Avalanche and then how'd she feel? Oh and I'd be dead... You'd miss my pretty face."
I fume, giving him the Tate salute from the cliff's edge.
"Thank you, may I have another?"
"Uh, what happened?" Varl sticks his head out the doors.
"Nothing." I fume and head back inside beelining for my room as I hear Rolv talking to Olin and Enasha.
I just sat on my bed and stewed, holding my head. Didn't even ask and it was so sudden... I mean maybe he just did it for the shock value, but...
Everything was quiet for a few hours, until finally I got a call from Aloy, panting.
"I assume that Drakka falling from the sky straight into the water was your idea?"
"He must not have told Avalanche to fly lower so she could set him down instead of dropping him..." I groan and rub my face.
"He went to check the gouge, but hasn't come back out yet... Natikka is waiting up top with me- oh, he's yelling. Hang on-"
Drakka finally thought to join the call, "HeMs down here, hurt bad. How do I make him not bleed out?"
"Hold pressure to the wounds." I say, sitting up, "Aloy, you should see if there's a way to help them back to the surface."
"Careful, blood-hair, the water level's low but there's a drip somewhere." Drakka said.
"We might be able to use that, I'm coming... Natikka, be up here and ready ti help drag him out."
I listen, hearing splashing from both ends, Drakka encouraging Kentokk to lay still and breath. "Ribs?"
"Yeah. How do I hold pressure without killing him?"
"I'm gonna send you some holos." I say, sending some emergency medical aid videos.
Several minutes of muttering and splashing from Aloy, and then I heard it- a boom, and the rush of water.
"Shit! Hold on!" She yells, and I hear more splashing.
"Alright. Hey. Breath. Focus on breathing..." Drakka says, and I hear slapping.
"Don't hit him!" Aloy snaps.
"How else am I going to keep him awake? And alive?"
The most Tenakth style of thinking i have ever seen-
Aloy sighs and I hear them both grunt, presumably lifting Kentokk.
"Ugh...!" He groans.
"Kentokk?!" Natikka yells, and I hear running footsteps.
"Hey... you know... I should have told you... A Tenakth's duty... is always... t-to- ugh.... serve their... clan... I shouldn't have..." he groans.
I frown and stand up.
"Hey, you guys need any more help?"
"No, you stay there, Y/n... You're still recovering from your sunburn, how'd it go the last time you over-stretched your burnt skin?" Drakka points out, clearly worried I'd come do something as stupid as what he did.
I sigh, "Fine..." I sit back down, running a hand along my basted-looking shoulders.
"I'll be back soon. Unless you want to come along when Aloy heads for the coast?" Drakka offers.
"I still have ti catch up to Talanah. The Oseram at Camp Nowhere said she headed that way." Aloy says.
"Yeah, fine... I'll get my stuff and snag Piglet."