When Leo opened his eyes the fog was already bright. In fact, this high up it could already be considered mist, because by looking up through the thick foliage he could discern the bright disc of the sun. Of course, it didn’t shine as if it would on a cloudless day, but the fact alone that it was there somehow filled Leo with strength.
The sun was up, the birds were chirping and, what was even more impressive, he had woken up to an angel singing somewhere nearby. With how injured he was, Leo wasn’t surprised he would have hallucinations thus instead of struggling he simply enjoyed the melody. It was slightly sad and at the same time happy, but no matter the tune – the voice was the most melodic he had ever heard.
When the song abruptly stopped, Leo sighed in regret and sat up only for his jaw to drop at the sight. As it turns out it it has not been a hallucination, but a beautiful lady singing on a platform built on a nearby tree right next to him.
She was currently standing not further than twenty, twenty five yards away, completely naked and from large, bell shaped plants poured water on herself as if taking a morning shower. When she finished rinsing her hair and started to wash the rest of her slender, slightly pale body, she began to sing again and Leo gawked his eyes out, mesmerized by the view.
She didn’t have the wild, godly beauty Anna had, but her stature more resembled that of an angelic being. Maybe it was the singing or the mist that added some mysteriousness to her, but no matter what Leo was afraid to disturb her even though all he wanted was to go over and offer her a towel.
“Uga mana mata fakas?” An aged voice rudely brought Leo back to reality.
“Good morning!” Leo gave the old doctor a sad smile, from the corner of his eye still observing the beauty finishing her morning ritual.
The old person was still saying or explaining something, but Leo couldn’t hear them because for the second time today his mind was frozen from shock.
On the platform next to them the beautiful lady finished washing and began to dress, and Leo’s mind blanked out seeing she actually wore something that resembled trousers and shirt made from tree bark! These were not some wood-bark creatures – these were actual humans who lived in the treetops!
‘Smack!’
The old doctor noticed Leo wasn’t listening and forcefully gained his attention as if the youth was his naughty grandchild. They clearly weren’t happy because of the patient’s behavior, but Leo was all smiles. He was among actual humans!
From that moment on everything finally began to make sense.
The old geezer apparently was something like the village elder, everyone called him Old Hebe, and from what it looked like his word was the law around here. The paste he used last night was clearly very effective because most wounds were already scabbed after the night’s rest.
Unfortunately even though it was a great medicine, it didn’t have magic power. It was inevitable that the greenlander bites would leave large scars all over Leo’s body, but since he couldn’t do anything about it, there was no reason to worry.
Truth to be said, Leo’s mind was busy with completely different things. He was soon surrounded by a bunch of kids, probably the ones he scared last night, and they currently all as one tried to talk to him. It wasn’t enough he couldn’t understand a thing, the buzz made his head spin.
Luckily Heavens were on his side. Few moments later the beautiful lady whom he observed taking the morning shower brought a large leaf with small green flowers on them. She put the leaf in front on Leo, bashfully smiled and sat nearby to observe him.
“Thanks … I guess …” Leo said with a nod trying to understand her reasoning.
He really hoped this wasn’t some weird marriage ritual and just because he saw her naked didn’t mean he would have to spend the rest of his life with her. She was rather beautiful, but he was probably sixteen this year, at least according to his own estimate, and didn’t intend to settle down yet …
Fortunately it wasn’t as serious. Turns out the flowers were only some kind of food, judging from what the laughing kids were gesturing. Leo picked up one, smelled, but it didn’t look too enticing – all green except for the white stamens in the middle it resembled an apple that was not ripe yet.
Being afraid to appear impolite he bit off a small piece of petal, but his action only caused another wave of laughter among the kids. Seeing the guest put himself in an awkward position, Old Hebe barked at the younglings, piked up one of the flowers and then one after another put the white stamens in his mouth showing the right way to eat.
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The village in the trees the locals lived in was actually huge in comparison to their numbers. From what it looked like there were close to forty children who during the day gathered in four groups and each was looked after by one of the village women. The group Leo spooked off on the first evening was one of such and the pretty woman he observed washing was one of the ‘kindergarten teachers’.
There were around hundred and twenty grownups, including elderly, which mostly were busy gathering food and repairing the pathways and the little huts they lived in. That is – the women either looked after the kids, gathered food in forms of flowers, buds and bird eggs or crafted clothing from tree bark, while men were continuously repairing something.
The main water source were the bell-shaped plants that had the property of condensing the mist into water during the night. It was ‘almost’ pure and the locals drank it directly while the alien used an antidote every time he consumed the water to clench thirst.
During the first days there Leo explored the whole place and came to a conclusion that the seemingly simple people were actually genius handymen. They didn’t have any complicated tools, but somehow managed to build sturdy bridges stretching between treetops and craft clothing from tree bark which on the first look seemed to be a completely impossible feat.
Leo’s idea was to stay until his wounds healed up and then go back to the Aurora mortal realm, but the angelic singing in the morning managed to keep him around. It was kind of hard to get used to eating flower stamens and raw eggs, but soon he learned a simple trick.
Because of the humidity it was still impossible to make a fire, but Leo still had his innate elemental affinity. Even though he was not found of the purple lightning residing in his dantian, he remembered how he cooked the oversized chicken’s egg in the lake by the lightning tree. He had a suspicion that if he channeled Qi enriched with the lightning into an egg, it might cook in his palm.
The first couple attempts were complete failures and the eggs exploded covering him in green, snotty mass, but after adjusting the mindset and focusing on the Qi control, Leo could sample the first boiled egg of the Greenland realm. From then on he could finally enjoy the local cuisine and the only downside remained the pitiful amount of food everyone consumed. Obviously he couldn’t stand out by eating much more and felt constantly starved, but he tried to compensate it with cultivating through the night and absorbing Qi which here, contrary to the Dreadlands, was incredibly rich.
The biggest problem, or rather – inconvenience, was that Leo couldn’t carry the Cleaver. Even if one ignored the fact that it would be strange for the weapon to appear from who knows where after he had spent days here without it, the weapon was incredibly heavy.
It was inevitable for the relatively sturdy bridges and pathways to break if Leo stepped on them with the Cleaver on his back, no matter what movement technique he used. They were living up along the treetops and not on the ground after all.
The days kept passing by and Leo got used living with the simple, but kind villagers. The methods Runamata used to teach him the main dialect back in the Voodoo sect were similarly applicable in the Greenland realm and after the first month he was being able to freely communicate on the basic subjects.
The locals also got used to him, even though they kept calling him ‘alien’ instead of ‘Leo’, but it was also fine. He spent days with the other men learning their craft and spent the nights on the ‘kindergarten’ platform he arrived first at. Obviously the highlight of the day was to watch Maya take her morning bath and listen to her sing, but that was his own secret no one needed to know.
Besides working Leo continued to cultivate, but mostly it was in a form of killing the endless amount of mosquitoes with the new lightning technique. In fact, he became so proficient in it he instinctively killed them the moment he got bitten, even without directly seeing the precise spot.
Locals watched the dying insects fall off from Leo’s back with wide eyes while the youth was busy crafting ropes or repairing bridges. It looked as if he was the poisonous one and not the poor insects, and even Old Hebe could not explain others how the alien did it.
After spending a month in the village the biggest mystery to Leo was why Maya lived alone in her hut. His language skills were lacking, but even if they weren’t it would be too impolite to ask.
She was young, pretty and her voice was beautiful, but for some reason no one wanted or dared to woo her. She could be considered the perfect woman by the standards of any realm, including Greenland, but somehow she still lived in her hut alone while taking care of children during the day.
In comparison to Anna … well … she was different. Anna was this explosive, beautiful beast while Maya was more like a fairy. Especially if one compared their characters – one was wild and domineering and another – kind and compassionate.
‘What the hell beauty has to do with the character?’ One morning while expectantly observing the entrance to Maya’s hut Leo suddenly caught himself thinking the ‘wrong’ way.
Obviously the poisonous fog had corroded his mind and not only he has started to think nonsense, but even forgot the area of expertise he was most proficient in! This had to stop! At this thought Leo drank the usual morning antidote and resolutely went over to Maya’s platform.
The young woman had already taken off her bark clothing and intended to let the water from the bell-like plant on her, when Leo arrived, in his hand appeared a piece of white cloth and he began to water her and gently scrub from head to toe.
At first Maya was thoroughly shocked, but then blushed, her pale skin turning bright red all over, and let the alien do his ‘job’. Obviously she was too stressed to sing, but Leo didn’t mind. After a long break he finally did his favorite exercise and there was no way he would rush the process.
When he was done, just like he did with Anna during the ‘good old days’, he helped her to put on her clothing and then slightly bowed and went back to his platform, leaving the confused Maya behind, her mind in a complete mess.
During the day the villagers did throw more curious glances his way, but Leo didn’t notice and helped to build a new platform along with the rest of the men. For the night he returned to his usual spot and the next morning went back to fulfilling the most pleasant duty in the world.
The cycle continued for a dozen or so days, until one evening Maya came over to his platform, took him by the hand and said, “Come!”
She brought him to her hut and ordered to lie down beside her and that was it. Initially Leo hoped she would offer him a tasty flower or something, but unfortunately, just like every other hut in the village, hers was completely empty besides a hard, bark covered bed which was useless, because sleeping on the floor felt basically the same.
They lay down facing each other, but it was already dark and Leo couldn’t see her face, but her familiar scent was sweet and pleasant and soon he fell asleep.