A Nagas tale

The Village

The next morning I wake up feeling my foot is uncomfortable from its injury. I sit up seeing Kogen checking my ankle. I fall on my elbows as he holds my leg over his lap with his back facing me. I hiss as he puts a bit of pressure on my ankle. I reach my hand out grabbing his clothes tightly. "I..it hurts." I complain wanting to pull my ankle away from his hands. "it seems you've only sprained it so getting some rest should help." he confirms what I had thought last night. He rebandages my ankle before letting me go. I sigh in relief and reach for my ankle. 'leave it to my clumsy ass legs to get sprained.' I let out a deep sigh. "I made some food, come and eat." he sounds like my grandma. I turn to the fire where Yyvonne sat eating her portion. I nod mindlessly trying to get up on my own. My ankle reminds me how stupid that Idea was as a shot of pain cripples my knee. I fall onto my knees and I double over onto my palms. "f..fuck... I..." I sob before flopping onto my side. I pull up my leg and hold my ankle in hopes of stopping the throbbing pain. "I'll carry you today," he states instead of offering. I take a deep breath and try to crawl over to the fire at least. The snowy ground is quickly pulled away from me. I look up at Kogen who picked me up by the belt of my pants again. 'ugh he makes me feel like a child.' The way he carries me and picks me up. They felt like an irritated father picking up their tantrum-prone child. I scrunch my nose at him "Can you not do that?" I ask. He ignores me and walks over to the fire. He sits me down before he sits next to me and hands me some food. I look at the food he hands me. I take the meat and start munching on the cooled meat. "If I didn't think better I'd say your fishing." I thoughtlessly joked just wanting to get my mind off my ankle. "Fishing?" he asked curiously but I was too busy eating to answer. He made me sit while they gathered up the camp, which was very boring.

Audrey has been very open about her thoughts and emotions. I could not understand if it was connected to her not knowing very much about the area, or if she was just that trusting. I look at her resting in my arm not fussing over how close I was to her. 'She seems more interested in things around her than me.' I feel her hand press against my chest. 'thats better than having her fight me the entire way.' I sigh accepting a sort of success. "Oh.. a white squirrel," she whispers as she lifts herself. I shifted my hold so she wouldn't fall. I grasped the bottom of her thigh tightly so she would not fall. "Oh...uhm..s..sorry did I move too much?" She asks shyly before leaning back the way she was before. "Audrey! look! winter sprouts!" Yyvonne points out the small buds. Audrey lifts herself again I grasp her thigh once more so she won't fall. "Oh! hehe, Violas! I can't believe they are sprouting so early." she whispers. I notice her face is a shade of pink. "Are you feeling unwell?" I ask curious about how pink her cheeks are. She looks at me and smiles "N..no I'm alright." she moves back to her original spot and keeps watching the world curiously. She stayed very still keeping her hand on my shoulder as she looked around. We take a break once it's noon. I sit her down on the snow for the time being. I gather some sticks and a few broken branches to start the fire. I turned to see what she was doing but her eyes simply watched me. She quickly turns her attention to Yyvonne who brings her a bunch of twigs. 'I should give her over to the chief soon.' I walk back to the camp tossing the bigger log aside as I start the bundle. Audrey watched quietly as I started the fire while Yyvonne danced about trying to catch snowflakes.

At first, I didn't feel much but, caution toward this guy. He was a stranger somebody I did not know and had no reason to trust. The first day he scared the piss out of me and offered me help. If I had not been lost like that I don't think I would have taken his offer. I look at the twigs Yyvonne gave me to play with bending the flexible little things. He has been very nice, and very helpful but, I can't help but notice his reluctance to talk with me any more than we have so far. If it is not related to my injuries or the path home small talk seems to be all we do. I twist the twigs together in my fingers. After that wolf nearly killing me I can't help but be more conscious of how close we are. Am I more conscious because I confirmed I had seen the right thing before? Or is it something stupid like a little crush? I look at my hand the one I've used to put even if a centimeter of space between us. I have tried my best to distract my head by looking for familiar markers that might suggest I am still home. I did not find anything familiar aside from a white squirrel and the violas Yyvonne pointed out to me. I hated how his grabbing my thighs felt 'Ugh!!! stop!!! you can't do this! He is a stranger! we don't know him!' I flop back onto the snow. 'I have nothing interesting to offer for anyone. Not my looks, not my conversations.' I feel the twig snap in my hands. I look at the now broken twigs in my hands. 'Ugh, I'm so gross.' I hide my face in the palm of my hands. 'so stupid... first guy to show you kindness and you're already crushing on the guy.' I sigh dropping my hands from my face and look up at the skies. 'no...nope... not gonna happen... there is no way... I mean...am I even his type? No! no! stop!' I push down these stupid thoughts. "Audrey." My ears perk hearing him call my name. I lift my head seeing him crouched in front of me. I jump up in shock as he hands me some food. "oh... is lunch ready.." I laugh nervously. I take the meat from him and watch him check my ankle again. I chewed on the meat carefully and rather unenthusiasticly. 'I miss some veggies... ugh a carrot or tomatoes.' I look up a the skies where I spot a large brown and white bird nose-diving for us. My eyes widen as it pulls out its talons as it gets closer it becomes larger. "Oh, what the fuck!" I shout shoving Kogen out of the way. I try to get out of the way but, it grabs my legs earning itself a scream. Its talons feel rough against my skin as it takes off back into the air. I let out a horrified scream as we got up past the tree line. I cover my eyes too scared of this height. "Audrey!!" I hear Kogen shout. I peek through my fingers when his voice sounds so close. My eyes widened seeing him jump into the air trying to grab this bird's leg. I reach for his outstretched arm but the bird speeds up. I grasp for his fingers as I am pulled away. I look up at the bird, with how it grabbed my legs, if it dropped me head first I'd be dead. I reach my hand up grabbing hold of its thick leg. It hurts being curled over rough skin but I needed to find a way to make it land. I was unsure of what this thing even was but I had no time to care. I spot a tooth stuck to the base of its leg hidden under brown feathers. I can see the tooth is still sharp enough but it seems pretty wedged in there. I grab the tooth feeling the edges of it cut my palm. I hiss out the pain as I put all of my strength into pulling out the tooth. The bird tucks its head towards me to get me to stop. I clench my teeth tightly as I let out a pissed-off groan. The tooth finally dislodged from the animal's leg. I swipe at the bird's beak to make it leave me alone. It lets out an annoyed screech before it drops its height. I gasp feeling the bird let go of my legs. "oh..no.." I try to hold onto its leg but I notice Kogen has somehow made it into the air climbing onto the bird's back. He wraps his arms around its neck in a death hug. I dig my nails into the leg of this bird hoping that I wouldn't die a splat on the ground. The bird seems to have decided I was no longer worth the trouble as it starts kicking at me trying to shake me off. It drags its claw along its leg drawing its blood. If these things could cut this rough skin I had a feeling my skin would not stand a freaking chance. I look down seeing we are now over a village. 'ugh if I'm lucky I can land on a roof or in something soft.' I close my eyes as I let go of the bird's leg. "Audrey!" Kogen shouts my name.