eyes of the forest - a kingdom of the planet of the apes story

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚇𝚅𝙸𝙸𝙸

The soft pelt beneath you brings some solace to your aching body, the fur brushing against your arms, providing both warmth and comfort. The apes had made small tents throughout the day for others to rest, nothing permanent, but enough until they can get the towers rebuilt.

Your fingers mindlessly trace over your side that's still a bit sticky from the herb poultice the Elder had rubbed on your ribs earlier. It had a bit of a minty earthy smell, but it did seem to help with the pain a bit. She had left you in a section of the healing tent, insisting you sleep there so she can keep an eye on you for the night. You figured it was disrespectful to argue with an Elder, so you agreed.

The sound of the curtain swishing open draws your attention to it, and to your surprise, Noa steps through. You sit up, slowly as to not aggravate your ribs more, and Noa hesitantly walks in, stopping a respectful distance away from you. "Hey." You whisper out to him and he nods back at you.

"Something wrong?" You ask, seeing the worried look on his face. He sighs and sits on the ground, his eyes avoiding you. "No, just wanted to, see how you are feeling." He grunts out quietly. You smile softly. "I'm feeling better, Elder Luna is a good healer."

The torchlight coming from outside flickers across his face, and you see all the cuts and bruises across his features. "Did you not get taken care of?" You point to his face and he looks away. "Don't need to. I am fine." He says bluntly, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes at the stubborn ape.

You crawl out of your soft bed and grab the bowl that Elder Luna had made your poultice in, some of it still leftover. "Come 'ere." You instruct him, grabbing a small cloth aswell. Noa eyes you suspiciously but obeys, moving to sit in front of you on the bed.

You wet the cloth in some water and gently dab at his wounds, slowly wiping away the dried blood. Noa winces every now and then, but he doesn't stop you. Instead he just stares at you, studying your features intently and you start to become nervous under his intense gaze.

You focus on keeping your hands steady and being as gentle as possible. Once most of the blood is wiped off you dip two fingers in the poultice and begin spreading the paste on his wounds. Your thumb spreads some on his busted lip, and you know the sting of it must hurt, but Noa doesn't even react.

You catch yourself staring at his lips for a moment longer than necessary and you quickly pull your hand away. "There, that should help keep it from getting infected..." You say a bit breathlessly, trying to come up with anything to break the tension.

Noa simply stares at you, his eyes full of thought with a far off expression on his face. You wonder so badly what he could be thinking about right now, but you ignore it, deciding to change the subject instead. "I wanted to thank you, for what you did for me in the vault, saving me from the gorilla. For a second i thought we were gonna get torn apart in that water..."

Noa's eyes rake down your face and stop at your neck. You feel your face and chest heat up but realize he's probably looking at your bruises. "Then, i guess i should thank you, for jumping in after me." He mumbles out, and you look up at him with wide eyes, not expecting him to be thanking you for anything.

"I didn't help much, really." You say shyly, averting your gaze to the bowl in your lap. "You did," he begins "more than you think." He says in a low voice, his eyes fixed on your fingers that are fidgeting with the edge of the bowl. He finally looks up at you, your eyes meeting that vibrant green that sends chills down your spine. Your pulse picks up, and you wish you could tell what's going through his head in this moment, if he was as nervous as you are, if he could hear your heartbeat hammering against your chest.

"Thank you," he finally interrupts the silence. "for the medicine." He nods at the bowl, breaking eye contact with you. "You're welcome..." You mumble out, so quiet and breathless that you almost didn't hear yourself. Noa stands up, making his way to the tent opening and glances back at you. "Get some rest." He says in a neutral tone, and with that he exits the room, leaving you alone to let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding.

~

The next morning Elder Luna looked over your bruised ribs before putting a fresh paste on them, this one making your skin feel tingly. Then she told you not to do any heavy lifting, as it will only make the swelling worse. You pouted at first, hoping to help the apes rebuild more but eventually you agreed, not wanting to get on her bad side.

She finally let you out of the tent and you immediately smelled the cooking meat over the fire pit, a few eagles flying through and dropping more fish onto a nearby rock. You look to see a few apes turning some rabbit and fish over a flame and they glance at you with a glare, almost daring you to walk up and take some food.

You decide skipping breakfast might not be so bad, it wouldn't be the first time you've had to. Walking further into the field you spot Noa, sitting with Soona and Anaya, the last of which sends you a bright smile and waves you over to them.

You feel yourself relax a bit as you near the three apes, all of them munching on some kind of cooked meat. "Sleep well?" Soona asks kindly as she moves over to make room for you. "Yes, thank you. Did you?" She nods and goes back to her food. Anaya notices your lack of breakfast and questions you. "Not hungry?"

You glance at the apes cooking the meat, a couple of them still watching you with piercing glares. "No, i'm okay." You say, hoping to take the subject off of you. Noa however, sees right through your lie as he looks at the scowling apes. He stands up, walking confidently over to the firepit and takes two fish off the stake. He walks back over and hands one to you, looking at you sternly.

You gratefully take the fish and nod in thanks to him. You try to focus on eating instead of the feeling of the stares from the other apes around you. Soona and Anaya seem to notice, as Noa purposefully ignores them aswell. The two turn and give a glare to any other ape that's still staring, managing to take most of the eyes off of you.

The three apes share a glance before Soona turns to you. "We were going to explore woods, today. Want to come, with us?" She asks you with a soft smile. You glance at Noa, who's looking at you expectantly. You take a deep breath as you contemplate her offer. "Sure, i'd love to."

word count: 1234
there will be more noa and y/n scenes soon, i promise!

- raine