The sky must have been gorgeous this morning as it always is right before the sun breaches the sea, splashing orange and pink hues in splendid vibrance across it. The sunrise has never gotten old for Aleia and Valhiki, who have made a small ritual of sunrise watching every morning since the day she had arrived.

Now, however, Aleia cannot bare looking at that same sky that they both have loved, for this sunrise would be his last. Instead, they stand side by side, looking over at the large hut that piqued her curiosity every morning and evening on her way to and from the beach. It was a dark structure in the soft blue light of the young rising sun.

“As you’ve probably guessed after all this time, this is my home.” Valhiki said, “And this is where it ends.”

The hut was beautifully crafted of glistening dark wood, sanded to smooth perfection and carved with different figures all around its circular body. The well maintained, soft, subdued yellow straw roof contrasted nicely with the dark wood.

Stepping up to his home, Valhiki runs his finger over a carved figure, a small smile spreading across his face.

“Each one of these carvings represent my people. We are a family. They are a part of me in everything I do.”

Aleia looks over the carvings. She sees Kog’lik, the tallest carving there, and Bunshida, who has a heart on her chest. She identifies some of the villagers, each unique in their carvings.

“This is beautiful.”

For a moment she wishes that she’d been shown this sooner, so she could have appreciated it more. So her heart wouldn’t be so weighed down by the cloud of Valhiki’s death hanging over her.

“Aleia, my friend, it’s time I told you the truth.”

Valhiki pushes the wooden door open and motions Aleia inside.

“Please, come in.”

------

On her first night in the village, Aleia had tasted her first sip of gluknuk: a strong, foul tasting alcoholic beverage that was served chilled. The barrels were weighed down underneath the cool sea waves until the weekly celebration had begun.

After the celebration concluded, she’d been assigned a temporary dwelling, a small room within Bunshida’s home after she joyfully volunteered her small space to Aleia.

In the days that followed, Chief Valhiki had given her a choice of work she’d be doing while living within the village. Each day she tried a new job.

From cutting trees into firewood to supply the village, to fishing in the Gorgaw Sea. She even went to hunt and forage with several of the orcs in the forest southeast of the village. She had also worked within the village itself with Bunshida to provide aid to the elderly and infirm, then teamed up with an orc named Derim and another named Wrog to patch up old dwellings as well as build new ones.

Finally, she spent time with Ravishi out in the field to the east of the village tending to the crops.

On the morning of the celebration, Aleia awakened unusually early to meet Chief Valhiki at the beach to watch the sun rise together. She’d spent the week sitting with him to watch the sunset, usually not saying anything to each other at all; however she knew that he spent every morning at the beach to watch the sunrise as well, so she wanted to take the opportunity to speak with him first thing. Of course before leaving, she peered out of her small room into the living room where Bunshida slept, making sure she was still in deep sleep. Then, she grabbed her flask and popped the lid open.

“Come, Ghillie.”

From the bottle sprang the green light that landed on her shoulder, morphing into a green rabbit that happily nuzzled her cheek.

“Morning, buddy.” Aleia whispered, planting a small kiss on his furry head.

Aleia started doing this two days ago. Waking before dawn and releasing Ghillie into the southeastern forest until night, where she would then collect him at the edge of the forest after watching the sunset with Chief Valhiki. She hated keeping him bottled up, and thought this would be the best solution for him, as long as he stayed out of trouble.

“Let’s go on out to the forest, okay?”

Ghillie ran into her hood and made his way to the back of her head, where he snuggled himself up nice and cozy for the ride to the forest. After making her trek to the southern gate and releasing Ghillie, she turned and began walking back toward the beach, her eyes landing on the big, round structure that sat so far away from the village. She assumed now that it was home to Valhiki, but she never saw him enter or leave it; she was first to leave the beach and last to arrive, and she’d been so busy helping in the village that she hadn’t noticed when he’d come and go. Nonetheless, she decided that it wasn’t her business, though somehow it called to her. Almost as if she’d seen it somewhere before. Passing by the home, she couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity.

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As she walked up the beach, she spotted a figure sitting in the sand and quietly walked over and sat down beside him. The sun was just barely beginning to peek over the sea.

“Good morning, Aleia.”

“Good morning, Chief.”

She noticed his breathing was heavy this morning, as if an infection was causing him to wheeze every time he inhaled. She thought of asking him about it, but forced herself to hold her questions as she’s put herself in his business far too many times already.

Silently they watched as the sky became pink and orange, with splotches of beautiful blue. The breeze started warming up and seabirds began their morning routine.

“Chief, I have been meaning to ask you about something.” Aleia finally said, reaching into her satchel and pulling Eli’s journal from it.

“There’s a reason I came to you and your village.” She flipped open the book and stopped at pages much more worn than the rest, pointing to a blue flower that had long started to fade.

“My friend wrote of this flower and something called ‘Tatsnatu’, I-I think it’s this blue pearl...” she paused pointing to a round blue object on the page, leaning the book toward Chief Valhiki. His eyes did not move to view the drawing.

“I don’t know the origin of Tatsnatu, and I was hoping perhaps you would know something of it, or possibly the flower? The orb?”

When Chief Valhiki did not take a single look at the pages, she brought it back to herself and continued, “he wrote here, ‘Tatsnatu...The Wood...He will help you.”

Aleia sighed in frustration as she looked over the faded, smudged pages.

“I was just hoping that the ‘He’ Master Eli...had mentioned was you, Chief.”

She had noticed that when she said Master Eli’s name, for a brief moment Chief Valhiki’s eyes moved from the sunrise in her direction. It must have sparked something within him. She flipped the page.

“And here, this is how I found your tribe. ‘Go to the village’ he’d written, as well as the instructions on how to get here.”

Aleia did not move the book over for the Chief to see, as there were words written at the bottom that she had not yet understood; words that she wanted to still keep to herself.

‘She will guide you the rest of the way.’

Aleia looked at Chief Valhiki with the journal resting in her lap.

“Chief?”

Valhiki inhaled deeply and began violently coughing.

“Chief Valhiki. Are you alright?” Worried, Aleia reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Should I call Bunshida?”

He flinched at Aleia’s touch and turned to her, his breathing now heavier than before.

“I know...nothing of...this...”

And with that, Chief Valhiki stood leaning on his staff and slowly walked toward the village, leaving Aleia alone in the sand.

-----

She’d now spent two months in the village, learning the Ora Way and how the Ora Tribe survived near the ocean for so long. She spent every day in the fields getting to know all of the crops the orcs planted, trying to identify one as the blue flower yet none fit its description.

On a particularly dry day, as Ravishi complained about how the soil was too fertile for the hundreth time, Aleia continued pulling weeds while chuckling at the grumpy orc’s grumblings.

“Not to be ungrateful for the fertile soil Goddess, but could ya give us less weeds?”

He was speaking of Ne’lyrna, the Ora Tribe’s goddess. A Goddess which supposedly lived deep within the Ora Forest and provided the perfect soil for crops that produced plump, perfectly ripe fruit and vegetables come harvest time. Not only that, but they gave her credit for the good hunting and foraging in the forest, where the hunting party would never come out empty handed.

As Ravishi went on with his rambling about the weeds which seemingly never ended, Aleia sat up and looked out toward the Ora Forest.

“Hey, Ravishi?” She turned toward the orc, who groaned as he stood from sitting on his knees to start heading over to another patch of weeds.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Can I speak to Ne’lyrna? I mean, face to face?”

He stared at Aleia through squinted eyes as the noon sun shone bright and warm above them.

“Speak to the Goddess?” Ravishi scoffed, “Well, no. No ma’am, I don’t think so.” He paused, then nodded to himself. “Not directly, I suppose... Unless you say your prayers at the end of the work week, I don’t think you can.”

“Has she ever spoken to you? Or anyone else?”

Ravishi’s brow furrowed in frustration.

“Now, what just are you saying here, Ms. Aleia? Are you questioning the Goddess?”

Aleia quickly shook her head and apologized, “No, Ravishi. Not at all. I’m just curious.”

“Our Goddess speaks to us through our bounty. The land we work. You don’t need to know more than that.”

Aleia knew that her questions would be left unanswered by the villagers, and although she felt that Chief Valhiki could provide her with more answers, ever since the morning on the beach, he’d been avoiding Aleia, only having said a handful of words to her in the two months since then. Though, during the celebrations she’s noticed him staring at her seemingly deep in thought.

Although she hadn’t gotten any closer to figuring out where the blue flower is or what Tatsnatu means, she decided - after a long day of pulling weeds and sowing seeds - to head straight to bed instead of celebrating with the rest of the village.

As she headed through the northern gate with Ravishi, who quickly split from Aleia to join in on the fun, a darkness came over her, and all her thoughts seemed to be drowned in a murky haze. Aleia felt as if someone was watching her and she almost expected to feel a warm puff of breath on her neck. Looking around, she didn’t see anyone on the path with her. Other than for the sounds of revelry from the celebration, Aleia was alone.

The feeling followed her into Bunshida’s house, and into her small bedroom.

“Hello?” Aleia said softly. Dread began to wash over her. Her knees buckled and she fell onto the ground.

“Hello.”

She began to panic.

With her body becoming weaker by the second, she could barely turn her head to look around. Who had replied to her? Where are they?

Her body went numb. She could no longer move her limbs, and though her eyes were wide open, her vision faded into darkness.

“You asked for me, so here I am, but first...”

The voice, was it coming from around her? Or inside of her?

“Let’s see who you are, shall we?”