Chapter One | Island Spirits Welcome page | Chapter Three

Nork’s feet hurt. He was tired of following Utel through the wilderness. A chance to stop and rest sounded perfect, and as they arrived, the two of them parted wordlessly to go about their own business. Utel went off on her search for plants (At least, that’s what Nork figured she was doing…) and he set up the camp and got out his fishing gear.

He grumbled inwardly about having to set up the camp by himself, but his highest priority was his growling stomach.. so fishing it was. He fished… and fished… and fished.

For a while, all he caught was weeds. At least he was spared the humiliation of Utel laughing at him over it. She still had yet to reappear.

In fact, she didn’t come back until he had gotten so desperate he was catching frogs for bait. Of course, she laughed at him and offered him some of her infernal strawberries. He refused on principle, and went back to fishing.

The shadows were long by the time he had finally caught a fish big enough to be worth eating, and he sat down wearily to cook it.

Utel wisely left Nork alone, feeling that he was as prickly as the cactus they’d passed in the desert. She felt much better herself – refreshed, even, after paddling about the stream for a bit to get clean and taking care of other business in a handy bush. She worried about her strawberry supply lasting for the whole journey, but she’d seen some bushes with almost ripe berries on them – perhaps they would be ready to pick tomorrow. Leaving Nork to his hard-won fish, Utel turned in for the night.

The next morning, she was up early in the rain. She played happily for a minute or two, then went about her morning business. She had berries to pick. Sure enough the bushes she’d seen had ripened overnight, and there were some flowers and herbs to pick, too. She wasn’t sure if they had medical applications, but she dutifully picked them anyway, planning to experiment with them once they had arrived at their new home. It was afternoon by the time she finished, and headed back to the camp.

Nork was fuming. The rain was incessant, and had made catching a fish for breakfast way less than fun. And where had Utel been off to all day? He had had to tend the fire in the rain and try to catch his breakfast all at the same time. He thought tending fire was a woman’s job, beneath him… but he needed that fire for when he caught fish.. so he tended it all the same.

After finally catching a fish, he sat down, ate it, and continued to tend the stupid fire in the stupid rain. Waiting for Utel. By the time she came back, Nork was utterly done. Done with the rain, done with this place.

“We GO.” Nork said simply, putting out the fire in one dash of water and beginning to pack up camp. Luckily, Utel said nothing, just pitched in to take the tent down and get the fire to a transportable state.

They walked in silence for the rest of the day, watching as the trees slowly grew taller and covered in vines. Utel was fascinated by the plant life, but she didn’t see much that she could harvest, so most of it she left alone.

Before long, the trees utterly dwarfed them. Utel scavenged for some rock crystals, never knowing what they might be useful for, and felt very small indeed.

They stopped for the night deep in the forest. There wasn’t a fishing area to be seen, and Nork, who was still out of sorts from the constant rain at the meadow, had to partake of some of her precious stock of berries. His grouchiness made for a long night, but a short morning as they made quick work of picking up their camp and moving on.

Finally, they came across another fishing area, and while they didn’t want to stop for the night yet, Nork insisted he be given time to get a “proper meal.” So Utel set up the fire and waited.

Luckily, the fish were plentiful and Nork had no trouble catching a decent sized fish. Neither had ever seen a fish like it – but it was certainly food. Nork cooked it, ate it, and then helped dismantle the fire so they could move on.

The deeper they went into this jungle, the more perilous the way became. There were many sorts of creatures the like of which they had never seen before. Bright green snakes, strange hooting creatures hanging from the trees, and the feeling of predators lurking around every corner.

Neither dared to stop long enough to do more than eat a few berries and continue. After a particularly scary near miss with a black jungle cat, they decided walking through the night was the best course of action, and Nork made makeshift spears for protection, and on they trudged.

At another point, Nork got attacked by spiders, and got a couple nasty bites. Utel worried about them, but hoped the town mystic would have some sort of medicine to help him out. Nork didn’t like being worried over, of course, so he brushed aside her concern, and on they walked into the lightening sky.

The longer the walk, the shorter the trees… and slowly, the terrain underfoot turned to sand. Soft, lush beach sand like Utel remembered from her dream. Somehow, without missing a beat, she knew exactly where to go… and they emerged from their jungle trek nearly on top of the mystic’s hut.

Saelua was thrilled to see them, and hustled them to her warm fire to hear the tale of their journey. Upon seeing Nork’s spider bites, she tsked to herself, and went into her hut for a while. She came out with food for both of them, and herbs to put on Nork’s wounds. They all ate peacefully, relating the tale of their trek as they ate. Uacro played not far from them, pretending he wasn’t interested, but Utel could tell the boy caught every word. This was a story of adventure he would surely embellish and tell all his island friends. Utel smiled to herself just thinking about it.

After eating, Saelua took them through the village, up a hill, to meet the chief. They needed his permission before actually joining the tribe or even camping in the area.

The chief’s name was Guar Doknen, and he seemed reluctant to let them stay. However, he did see the wisdom in allowing them to at least set up camp on a nearby island, and gave them directions to find it. He also told Nork where he could find the village fishing camp, should he want to help out in the morning in return for the Chief letting them camp here.

It was dark before they got to the camping place Guar had mentioned, and they quickly set up camp and went to sleep. It had been an EXHAUSTING journey. One they were glad to have over. Now they just had to make sure they were accepted into this tribe.. but only good skills and personalities would do that.. and right now, their only skill left was in falling asleep. Perhaps tomorrow would be better. Utel had faith that Saelua also would put in a good word for them, and that things would turn out well.. while Nork saw the more pessimistic side, and was sure they would be out on their rumps by morning. Figures, Utel thought. That’s Nork for you. She chuckled to herself, and slid into a dreamless, deep, restful sleep.

Chapter One | Island Spirits Welcome page | Chapter Three