"Hey little one! Wake up!"

"Hey! Can you hear me?", someone asked.

A dull pain spread across Kiyu's chest. Like a thousand hammer blows that fell on her again, and again. Plagued by pain, she opened her eyes, and saw a fist in the air above her, ready to hit her.

Her body still couldn't move well, but at least she could feel her arms and legs. At once she straightened her upper body and pushed back over the wooden floor below her.

As she tried to grasp the situation, her breathing became shallower and faster. She clutched her upper body with her arms and pressed her fingers into her skin. A moment ago she was at the bottom of the river, and now ..... where was she anyway?

Confused, she looked around and saw the two people in front of her, the boat below, and the river below the boat. The river rushed below them, and the two people in front of her were talking. Also, she heard the wood creak.

"Forgive me ..... who are you?" She asked, trembling.

At a slow pace, her body relaxed, and she got her breath back.

"Well, you woke up in the end," the strange adult laughed.

Behind him stood a girl who clung to the man's left leg, unsettled. Upon closer inspection, Kiyu realized she was about her age.

"Oh, that's my daughter, Laki", he said after realizing that Kiyu has spotted the little girl.

"Say hello Laki." After the man straightened up, he took care of the boat again. Laki, however, was too shy, and still hid herself.

"I'm Yorgen, by the way. We were on a fishing trip when we spotted you motionless in the shallow waters of the river." He pointed to the place where she found Kiyu, and Kiyu looked around for the first time.

However, she recognized nothing of her surroundings.

'How long have I passed out?' As she tried to remember everything that had happened, depressed thoughts came up. But the time to lapse into sadness wasn't there for her.

"Was almost worried that you wouldn't wake up. You had a fair amount of water in you, little one." The man grinned again, and Kiyu couldn't explain it, but somehow it seemed familiar ..... secure.

"Anyway. What's your name, little one? Do you know anything else?", he asked.

Although Kiyu didn't feel that she was in danger, she didn't want to trust him. At least not yet.

"My name is Rika," she lied insecure and released her crouching posture inch by inch.

"I'm also a member of the Kushik tribe. We live ... lived in the wilderness near Tarios," she admitted.

She was uncomfortable with it, but without more information for the man ... Yorgen could not determine how far Kiyu was from her home. Chances were high that the name Kushik wouldn't ring a bell, anyway.

Tarios was the closest village that had contact with civilization. This would not allow one to infer the Kushik's location straight, but it might be possible to estimate how far away she was from her homeland.

Out of the blue Yorgen let go of the oar, and looked at her with an open mouth. His eyebrows raised high.

"Did you say Tarios?", it slipped from him, and he ran towards Kiyu.

His hands grabbed her upper arms near the shoulders, and he looked deep into her eyes.

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"I don't know of any Kushik tribe, but Tarios is a long way from here. About a week on foot."

Realizing that he maybe was too close, he shook his head and leaned back, "I'm sorry, I was a little too shocked. But it's almost a miracle you survived, little one."

'One…. Week?', Kiyu repeated in her mind.

"One…. week…."

Tears formed in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. First individual drops, then small trickles. Seven days. That was how long she had been floating unconscious along the river. Under normal conditions she should have died, and Kiyu could only explain her survival through Cheryu's work.

Still lost in her thoughts, she felt a warmth. Not like when she and Cheryu united. No, it came from outside. Through her watery eyes she saw Laki, who was hugging her firm.

"It'll be all right," she said, hugging Kiyu tight.

Downright confused, Kiyu looked into the deep brown eyes of the girl in front of her. She was as old as Kiyu. Well, in contrast to Kiyu's light brown, short hair, Laki's was fiery red, and very long. Still, she was the same age.

And yet Laki hugged and patted Kiyu, who was a stranger, like a sister. This warmth felt so good, and she wanted to let herself fall into this feeling of security and compassion right now.

"Where are you heading?", she asked in her shy manner while still allowing herself to be hugged.

"We're just on our way home. From there I can help you get back to Tarios, so you can go back to your family.", Yorgen replied, as he considerate, and steered the boat downriver again.

But Kiyu just shook her head.

"My family ..." She paused for a moment. After all of Laki's efforts, she couldn't bring herself to mention that her family was perhaps dead.

"My family is no longer there, I'm afraid," she said and hold back her sobbing.

"I see," Yorgen replied.

His lowered voice almost seemed as if he had understood what Kiyu was trying to say.

"Well, how about that: We'll take you home with us first? Would that be okay with you?"

As he steered the boat to a small jetty, he looked at the two young girls. What Yorgen was feeling or thinking, Kiyu couldn't say, but she suspected it was a pity.

"Oh great! Then you will get to know mom!", Laki exclaimed. At least she seemed very excited about the idea.

While Kiyu and Laki got in a small transport carriage, Yorgen tied the boat to the jetty. Kiyu had crouched in the trailer's corner, pondering everything that had happened. Above all, she tried to reach Cheryu. She had never heard his voice since she woke up.

'Cheryu, can you hear me?' She said in her mind, but her question remained unanswered.

Depressed by this, she bowed her head, and buried it between her chest, and the arms that she propped on her knees. From time to time Laki had tried to speak to Kiyu, but for Kiyu it was again only distant noises. A slight whisper, which seldom reached her ear.

Only when the carriage came to a stop did she look up and realize that they must have arrived.

"Honey, we're back home!" Yorgen shouted toward a small hut.

When Kiyu looked around, she realized they were on a farm.

'Does this all belong to Laki, and her family?', Kiyu wondered.

The property extended over a few fields. They were on a hill, and she in the distance could even see an enormous amount of water that she suspected must be the sea. There were also several houses in the water.

"Welcome back!", replied a soft, calm voice that must have belonged to Yorgen's wife.

A few moments later she appeared, and Kiyu looked at her in amazement. Laki got her fiery red hair from her mother, for sure. They might as well have been sisters.

"Oops? Who is that?", she asked, surprised when she spotted Kiyu on the carriage while she was looking at the area from there.

Instead of answering at once, Yorgen took a few steps towards his wife, and whispered something in her ear.

Kiyu would never forget that expression for the rest of her life. The Woman's eyebrows drooped, the corners of the mouth didn't curl down, and the lids grew heavy.

Without a word, she came up to Kiyu, and opened her arms in a hug.

"You poor thing", she whispered as she stroked Kiyu's head.

It was the same feeling as with Laki on the boat! Mother and daughter both could make her feel safe, and accepted. Her! A stranger!

"You are very welcome with us if you want to stay.", She said a little louder now. "You can call me Samira.", the heartwarming woman finished, and continued to stroke Kiyu's hair.

If she had held back with Laki, it was now more than difficult for her. Without being able to get it under control, she burst into tears, and hugged Samira, clung to her, and let out all her pain.

While she was crying, Laki and Yorgen came over, and they hugged as a group. Her family was no more, but she was lucky to be welcomed by such a happy and warm family.

The first to break the hug was Yorgen, who turned back to the horse to free it from the carriage.

"I'll set the table then. I'm sure you will like it.", Samira consoled a little before she went into the house.

Laki was the last to stay with Kiyu and still hugged her tight. She loosened the hug and looked Kiyu in the eye. "Would you like to see our pigsrabbits?", she asked.

"Sure," Kiyu rejoiced, and wiped the last tears from her face with her free hand while Laki guided her after grabbing the other hand. Relieved of her pain, she looked up into the clear blue sky.

'Rika ... when I'm older, I'll find, and save you. I promise you!'