Celestial Roots

Chapter 11 - A Mysterious discovery

Since Dorséanan's ceremony, the children were free to roam where they wanted. Adults did not care about their comings and goings. The mataïg only remained prohibited. For most apprentice hunters, however, the large building was not a source of curiosity. Their daily lives were already well filled with it.

Taghna and Færn hadn't try again to enter the residence of the séalyar. With the new knowledge to be gained and the gathering activities that took up all their days, the attraction they had felt for the large building had faded over time. The two friends also regularly saw the deans enter and leave their homes without any form of ceremony, and this simplicity didn't awaken their desire to defy the ban.

The beautiful fur that blocked the entrance was also more and more often raised, showing the spacious and poorly lit interior of the mataïg. Thus, the kind of cave with secret and attractive contents had turned into a simple food warehouse, hardly more interesting than the houses in which the villagers had passed the Hir.

Taghna and her classmates rarely chose a particular place to play, train or chat. They preferred to spend their time exploring the area, which allowed them to familiarize themselves with their territory while performing the tasks they had to complete on a daily basis.

They had enough opportunities to visit the surroundings of the Tui river in the west, as well as the vast game forest in the east and north. However, they had never had the thought to explore further south. This was probably due to the fact that the cardinal point was at the back of the mataïg whose door faced north. Or perhaps it was because Rissar had explained to them one evening by the fire that in the south were the Great Plains, those huge expanses of tall grass where no trees grew, which were also the place where Lorgá had retired after the death of her love Muchach.

In any case, it took an adult at least three days to walk to reach this remote area. Slavan had set his mind to travel this part of their land. Branach had obviously quickly joined him. The boy never missed an opportunity to prove that his small size did not make him less brave.

The company's organization held long and heated discussions around the fire, when everyone was resting and eating the harvested food. Slavan promised the children, who were comfortably picked up on the ground, that they would find new species of trees, which Caïséan and Stær doubted strongly because they would remain too close to the séarach, their guardian trees that dominated this part of the forest.

Taghna's brataïr argued that the south would allow them to learn more about their village because it was from there that its origins came.

- No, you're wrong, intervened Caïséan. Our cratach is located to the east, beyond the Brichnern territory.

- That's true. Dannaï has told us this several times. But I still want to go south... hurried to add Branach.

- Yes, well, maybe, admitted Slavan. But aren't you interested in going to another place?

The boy had actually addressed Asgeül directly. He knew that with her support the rest of the group would follow. Asgeül stared at him for a moment and finally accepted his proposition. This way of closing the discussion irritated Taghna but she quickly forgot her resentment thanks to the prospects for future adventures. It was decreed that they would go in the following days.

The expedition left on a cold and grey morning. Throughout their exploration, the children spent their time reproducing the actions they did on any other day, catching insects and picking plants to prepare the evening meal. They walked for a long time without finding anything very exciting.