Sada observed as Winged King lazily slept sprawled over the grass. It seemed to prefer sunny spots to soak up the light, fanning open the feathers all over its body. Sometime its head or tail would twitch a bit, and it would open its mouth to hiss slightly before turning around and going back to sleep. Maybe it was dreaming? Did creatures even dream like people? By now it was comfortable enough to even sleep around her, and it would often follow her around while she moved, but still did mostly its own thing. It hadn't followed her to the village yet, but she had seen it fly around high in the sky.

Did it mean that even if so strong, it was wary of people in large groups?

She kind of wanted to bring it to the settlement with her... It would eat a lot of food, but to have something so formidable on their side... It would make hunting and fighting creatures so much easier.

And, if she could just manage one thing, it would make travelling also so much easier.

Sada wanted to ride it... Which was crazy, of course. Narjik loved to tell old stories of their ancestors that fought against monsters and evil spirits by riding on some creature, fighting together, but those were just... Fantasies. The kind of stories you told to entertain children or that the hunters loved to come up with after drinking a bit too much fiery berry juice late at night and nothing more, wildly exaggerating old hunting experiences.

"And then my great great grandfather totally jumped on that Roaring Moon and it helped him kill that Great Tusk! It was the biggest there ever was, you could carve a hundred spears out of its tusks and its skin was so big they made entire tents out of it for everyone!"

Stuff like that.

But... If she could actually do it... The problem was... How?

She walked up to the dragon; there was a spot right on its back where there were neither spikes or feathers, that seemed just perfect for sitting on its back... Taking advantage of the fact that it was much lower to the ground at the moment, she decided to simply try climbing on it.

Sada had barely gotten one leg over the creature's back when Winged King woke up, jumping upright with a growl and sending her falling back to the ground, landing hard on her back. It took her barely a moment to catch her breath, her body moving on reflex and rolling to the side when the dragon's great shadow covered her, and another moment to right herself in a low crouch, staring down (or, to be exact, up) at the creature.

It had simply turned to look at her, orange eyes looking almost offended at what she had tried to do; her instincts were still telling her to get ready to fight or to run, to grab a weapon, a berry, anything, but Sada forced herself to remain calm.

Winged King wouldn't hurt her. It hadn't done so the past days and it wouldn't start now. She was sure of it, she wanted it to be true.

She was proven right when the creature simply snorted and walked away a couple steps, plopping back down on the grass to resume sleeping.

Sada slowly got back up, grinning. Did it really think that she would give up so easily?

---

She tried to approach the creature from many different angles after that: from the side (it simply leapt away from her, with a strange throaty hiss that she could swear was its version of laughing at her), sneaking up on it from behind (it only managed to teach it to use its tail to playfully swipe at her legs), and finally from above. She crept along the branch of the tree she had climbed, staring at Winged King dozing off right underneath her. Curled up like it was, it was almost a perfect target to land on. Sada waited for the little signs that it had fallen in a deeper sleep: the feathered crest lowering until it laid flat on its head and the chest rising and falling at a slower rhythm, before springing into action. Leaping down from the branch, she landed right on the dragon's back. Before it could wake up completely and send her flying again, she pressed both legs against its side and desperately grabbed for something to hold on to, namely the feathered crest.

« Gyaaa-»

The creature started to buck wildly, trying to shake her off. The feathered tendrils she was gripping were literally vibrating in her hand, and Sada realized that the creature was trying to unfurl them like she had seen it do to fly away.

One of them snapped open under her grasp and almost whipped her in the face, the girl only managing to avoid it by ducking her head on pure reflex. With her hand now empty, she immediately looked for a new handhold to grab on to. Her eyes fell on a curved blue spike that grew from the creature's front leg, and she held on to it while the single opened wing flapped wildly, the creature still trashing and shaking its head.

After a moment of consideration, she quickly grabbed the opposite spike, freeing both wings. Winged King immediately jumped up, flapping both wings as wide as possible with a smaller "gyaa-".

Had she... Had she been hurting it by grabbing them like that...? It definitely looked like it was much calmer now that she wasn't grabbing its head directly, but it still growled and tried to shake her off, to little effect. Sada realized that she was probably in the most secure spot possible: it couldn't touch its own back in any way, unless it started to throw itself on the ground, or smash his own back against a rock.

It thankfully didn't seem to have hit on that idea yet, and Sada had no intention to let it think too much about it.

« If you let me stay up here, I'll give you some tasty food...» she whispered, caressing its neck. That seemed to get the creature's attention: it had learned really fast what the word "food" meant, mostly by her grumbling about it while it showed up at her camp to devour all her supplies the past few days. It went completely still, dropping back to the ground with a heavy thump and trying to turn around to look at her.

« Gya?»

« Yes, "gyaaa"»

She kept petting the creature, both because it seemed to genuinely like it and to distract it from the fact that she was still stubbornly seated on its back. Winged King started to slowly pace around, and Sada tried to get used to the weird feeling. It was simply walking, but... She was... actually doing it! She was riding it! Like in Narjik's stories!

Ooh, the look on his face if she would actually show up to the village riding Winked King! Nevermind him, the look on everyone's face! What would Turo's reaction be?!

She threw her head back and laughed, delighted.

---

The next day, she called Winged King with her bag completely packed with supplies from the village. She had made sure to pick all the things that Winged King had seemed to enjoy eating more.

Sada had been walking back and forth from the settlement to the place where she would meet up with Turo again in a couple of days, where three great flat rocks protruded from the tall grass. The red lizard arrived swiftly, already sniffing the air while eyeing her bag.

She made sure to keep it closed while she got up on its back, the creature immediately growing a bit displeased at it.

« All right, if you want some food...» she opened up her bag, took one strip of dried meat in her hand, and threw it a good couple of meters forward.

« Go get it!»

Winged King's head snapped forward, eyes following the arc made by the morsel of food before bolting after it, Sada barely managing to hold on. With two great leaps and one final jump, the lizard caught it in midair before it could even touch the ground; it flapped its wings a single time and landed heavily on all fours, licking its lips with a satisfied growl. Just like she had hoped, it had been so focused on the food that it hadn't cared about her riding it in the slightest.

« Gyaa-!»

« Good job!» she leaned forward to pat its neck, overjoyed, and it purred.

Yes! Good! This was working... If she could get it to associate letting her ride with getting treats, she could teach it pretty much anything!

It would quite literally eat a hole in their supplies of food, but if she managed to get Winged King's help during hunting expeditions... The problem would just solve itself. It could probably fight anything without too many problems.

« Let's try this now...» she got another piece of meat out and held it up high. Somehow, Winged King seemed to sense that she was holding something in her hand even without being able to see her, trying to twist around to get a look at it. That was interesting... Did it notice that she wasn't holding the spikes on its legs with both hands? Had it noticed the sound of her bag rustling open? That had to be it.

It was much more smart than what she first thought if that was the case. That just made her even more excited about it: was it a special case? Or was it possible that all creatures were actually that intelligent?

« Go!» the lizard's head immediately snapped forward again, expecting to see another piece of food fly through the air, only to growl with disappointment when it realized that she hadn't thrown anything yet.

« No, not yet... "Go"» she repeated, but it stubbornly dug its claws into the ground, refusing to move.

« Gya!»

She pouted, but she couldn't just let him have it if she wanted to train it.

Maybe it was better to change tactic for now.

« Go left!» she exclaimed, throwing the piece of meat in that direction. It immediately turned around to run after it, again catching it in midair. She kept doing it for quite a bit until her bag was almost empty, changing directions and making sure to praise it after every successfull attempt; she was starting to get used to switching quickly from throwing the food to keeping her grip on the creature's back.

Winged King, she noticed, also seemed to have quickly realized what was going on; it really was quite smart. It would turn its head this way and that, trying to anticipate her command, and before long it had started to change direction as soon as she had started to speak, already recognizing the two different words for left and right. It was a very... rough way of moving around, leaping from spot to spot through the tall grass and constantly starting and stopping, but somehow, it was working.

Eventually, she hoped that it would listen to her even without the immediate promise of food. With how smart it seemed to be, maybe it wouldn't take that long.

---

Finally, the morning where she would meet up with Turo again arrived; she literally couldn't wait to see his reaction to Winged King, and had set off from the village to reach the designated spot to set up the smoke signal. The elevated position also had a second purpose: she was... quite curious to see from which direction Turo would come from. Logically, unless he had stealthily moved around quite a bit these days (and this was Turo: the man looked ready to collapse in exhaustion after walking up a small hill), he should be arriving from the west relative to her position...unless he had used his more... "Flashy" method of travelling.

Along the way, she gathered some materials to light a fire.

After reaching the meeting spot, Sada spent a bit of time looking around, searching for Winged King. She hoped that it hadn't chosen this one in particular as the day to roam farther than usual; she couldn't find traces of the lizard in the sky, but maybe it was sleeping somewhere in the grass.

She set her weapon and supplies down and dug into her satchel, looking for the two flints she remembered she had packed inside to start the fire.

« Hey!»

The voice came not long after that, surprisingly, from behind her. She jumped up, startled, and turned around, and sure enough her eyes landed on Turo's figure walking through one of the narrow trails in the tall grass. Her surprise -why was he coming from the direction of the settlement?- didn't last long, soon changing into excitement. There he was! Oh, she couldn't wait to see his reaction! These ten days had seemed longer than usual with how much had happened in them, and she realized that she had kind of missed him. He was also wearing the clothes she had made for him, even if still with his usual white cape covering it, left hand hidden from view inside it.

She waved at him with both arms, impatiently waiting for him to reach her.

« Turo!! Ah... come here! Quick!» Sada hurried him along and he complied with a small smile, trying not to slip on the rocky surface. As soon as he was near, she took his arm by the elbow and pretty much forced him to sit by the fire she had just lit. Turo looked slightly surprised at that - but not displeased -, his eyes quietly wandering over her as he no doubt tried to guess what had gotten her so excited.

« Watch »

He raised a single perplexed eyebrow when Sada brought the little wooden flute she had carved to her lips, blowing three sharp notes into it. She immediately started to look around, trying not to laugh at Turo's absolutely dumbfounded face while he evidently tried to decide what was the appropriate response to the whole situation.

Just then, a familiar roar resonated through the air and behind her, and Sada hid a small smile after hearing the sound of Winged King making its way towards them. So it had been laying around here after all...

She had to admit to feeling a bit guilty in seeing Turo's expression change to fear and slight pain as he covered his ears; those roars could get quite loud, especially from up close. Winged King climbed up the rock from behind her. She heard it shift to its bipedal stance, rising to its full height and towering over them both. Turo managed to open his eyes again and seemed to freeze in fear, not unlike he had done against the Brutal Fang that had almost killed him, shrunken pupils fixated on the figure right behind her, not moving a muscle, breath caught in his chest.

All right... Now she was starting to feel really bad about the whole thing. She happened to move away right as he jumped up, arm outstretched and trying to grab her, and even as she neared the dragon she felt a small quick surge of warmth in her chest. He had tried to save her. Even while obviously terrified and helpless, he had moved to try and get her out of what he thought was mortal danger.

Sada quickly moved by Winged King's side and started to pet the lizard's head feathers to reassure Turo that they weren't in any danger.

It takes him a bit to realize that Winged King isn't going to hurt them; Sada smiled proudly, cheeks flushing slightly at Turo's short, incredule laugh. He slowly approached the creature, still quite fearful and hesitant, until he stood by her side, completely transfixed by the creature. The name seemed to confuse him, and she realized that he probably had no idea what King meant. Umm... How could she even explain it?

Ah, but did it even matter at the moment? There were definitely more exciting things to show him right now! One word could wait.

She turned back towards Winged King and tried to get him to lay down.

« Just get down a moment... "Down"» she caressed the leathery skin of its throat, where three smaller spikes seemed to protrude from it; the lizard seemed to like it, because it raised its head to give her better access to it, eyes squeezed shut, before opening them up again in disappointment when the petting stopped. It looked at her hand, and she immediately took the chance to point it at the ground to get the creature to lower its head.

« Down» it growled but obeyed, lowering itself back down on all fours.

She mounted it - still with some difficulty - and turned back towards Turo, smiling and encouraging him to get near.

« Come!»

She almost had expected him to hesitate and refuse, shaking his head while muttering something like he often did, but now it was his turn to surprise her. He approached the lizard, planted his boot firmly against a specific spot on the creatures hind legs, and jumped up quickly swinging his other leg over in a single, fluid motion she honestly didn't even think him capable of. He made it look so easy, like he did it everyday. Sada just stared at him, stunned, and after a moment he seemed to realize that something was off.

That he had messed up. His face became completely neutral, like it often did when she tried to approach some subject he wasn't comfortable with. It was almost like watching some of the wooden masks Narjik wore during some of their rituals slide right over his face, every single feature carefully crafted and controlled to not betray even the slightest hint of emotion. Their eyes met, and for a couple of long moments none of them both dared to move or even breath.

Then Turo spoke, trying to act like nothing was wrong.

He knew. He knew that she knew that he was hiding something.

She was tempted to question him about it, but decided against it after a moment. No use doing it right now. With a resigned sigh, she turned back around to direct Winged King. While the dragon started making his way off the rock, she listened for Turo's reaction, but even then, there was nothing but silence coming from behind her.

... Was he busy trying to come up with some excuse to give her later? Because she was going to question him about it. When the dragon sped up, Turo finally gave a reaction more in line with what she had been expecting of him from the beginning, trying to not fall off. What Sada wasn't expecting was for him to grab onto her to do it. She was suddenly acutely aware of his weight onto her back, his hands lightly pressed around her waist, and she involuntarily let out a startled gasp. "Focus".

She needed to concentrate in order to avoid both of them falling off the dragon.

She leaned forward on the dragon, starting to give him instructions just like they had practiced; without the promise of immediate food, the lizard was quite more reluctant to follow her directions, but she didn't exactly need it to be perfectly obedient at the moment. It was already incredible that it was actually listening to her: sometimes she still found herself in disbelief at it all. Just a couple of days earlier, and she wouldn't have dared to dream being able to do something like this. And now... Here she was! Not only riding a peaceful creature but one as amazing as Winged King.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

With a smirk, she gave it one last command: this one they hadn't had much time to practice, so she wasn't sure if it even remembered what she wanted him to do. So when the dragon suddenly started climbing a tree, then jumped off it and spread its wings to fly, she couldn't help letting out an exhilarated laugh.

The wind, it felt amazing! It was so much stronger up here, so much colder. Winged King's scales radiated a reassuring warmth as it flapped its wings and flew slowly over the forest before circling back to where they had come from. Turo's grip on her had suddenly gotten much stronger, the man probably worried at the idea of slipping sideways from the creature's back and plummeting to the ground from that height.

They landed quite rockily back on the ground, and she quickly jumped down to give a growling Winged King the very deserved prize he was probably demanding right now.

Turo jumped down with way less grace than when he had gotten up, looking a bit distracted.

Of course he would be! They had just been flying! She grabbed both his hands, elated. Did he have any idea what this meant?! They could explore places that were difficult for people to reach, they could see the world like no else had ever done before! They could even... She hesitated a moment when the thought struck her.

«We can... go to your people ? » she asked, barely daring to hope for a positive answer. If he said yes... Just a little visit! A really short one... She just wanted to see where he actually came from. What kind of places had creatures that could make paper and his weird stretchy clothes and that had writing and who knew what else...

Turo froze, and then slowly moved his hands out from hers, hiding them both in his pocket, eyes low, and she already knew what he was going to say.

No, obviously.

Both hands went back to her side, one balling up in the first surge of annoyance and real anger that she had ever felt towards him.

Did... Did he think she was stupid? What kind of excuse was that? That was the whole point of being able to fly now, so what if it was far away?! If he was scared of going back to his tribe or whatever fine, he could just show her the way once they arrived near there and she could go herself!

The anger didn't last long, quickly replaced by something more subdued, a quiet disappointment in realizing that even after saving his life, after all the hours they had spent together, side by side, slowly teaching each other words and talking and laughing... He still didn't trust her enough to reveal pretty much anything about himself.

Always disappearing at sunset. For every word he said, she had the feeling there were five more he had decided to keep to himself.

Just... Why?

What honestly deserved so much secrecy?

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two; Sada bit her lip, petting Winged King that had bumped her shoulder with its snouth.

« I...»

Turo was mumbling something, eyes fixed to the east, where the smoke of various campfires was snaking up towards the sky. She suddenly remembered that it was also the direction he had come from just before.

"Can I come to your people...?"

His question was so unexpected that she had to made sure she had heard right.

She stared at him, eyes wide. Did he... Did he really ask to...?

Had she been wrong? Had he refused because he was already planning to come to her settlement in the end?

Sada couldn't help hugging him, throwing her arms around his neck, laughing happily. She accidentally brushed against his chin and paused for a moment, surprised by how spiky his beard felt, then hastily let go, regarding him with an enormous smile.

« Let's go!» she offered, grabbing his left arm, mind already racing towards all the things she would have to explain to him about how the settlement worked, how they lived, and... And...

She heard Turo stutter something out from behind her, and she turned to look back him.

« What ...?»

He looked flustered, face slightly red. And nervous. Sada smiled, trying to reassure him.

« It will be fine!» she tugged encouragingly on his arm again, and he slowly, slowly brought his left hand out from where he had shoved them away just earlier. Sada grasped it with her right hand, and before she could consciously think about it, found herself interlocking her fingers with his. She squeezed them slightly, rubbing her thumb on the back of his hand. Turo flinched slightly, wide eyes never leaving her face. His lips parted and he seemed on the point of saying something.

« It will be fine.» she repeated, gently, and he stopped, before nodding slowly, eyes never leaving her face.

Sada led him towards the camp, walking half a step ahead of him like they often did, still never letting go of his hand. Winged King followed them for a while, before turning back around and flying away when it realized that they were going towards the settlement.

Along the way, she felt Turo trip behind her a couple of times and smiled feeling a surge of affection towards the awkward man. To distract him, she pointed out a set of footprints on the trail.

« These are from a Bushy Pelt » she said, before explaining as best as she could about their incredibly thick, white fur. They moved in packs, and would leave white strands of fur pretty much everywhere. Turo nodded along, but if she had turned around to look at him a bit more often, she would have noticed that he seemed much more interested in glancing at her instead of whatever she had been pointing at.

---

Turo seemed to become more and more nervous the nearer they got to the settlement and more and more traces of human activity showed up.

He stared with wide eyes at the large tents and temporary huts that had been erected near each other in groups of three or four, in a wide circle. Great bones and tusks were used to create the walls, with furs thrown on top and sewn together to create a barrier against the sun, the rain and other elements.

He didn't seem to be familiar with them, and she wondered what materials his people used to build things. Surely not that weird stretchy skin they seemed to use for clothes?

Smoke was coming out from a hole in the top of some of the larger ones, where someone was probably cooking something, judging by the smell that was coming out of it. A larger campfire, now still empty and cold, sat at the rough center of the settlement, this one usually used as a communal meeting point by everyone in the group to sit around at night and share stories, at least when the weather wasn't bad.

They were organized mostly in groups made from people that were related by blood, even if almost all activities at the settlement were communal. Hunting, gathering food, crafting tools and child-rearing were all done by everyone as a group.

They crossed a small group of hunters about to set out, Chalo and Fluffyhead among them. Sada greeted them with a sharp nod, lifting her spear and tapping the ground twice.

« Good luck!»

They answered her in a similar manner, cheering, before catching sight of Turo and stopping in their tracks, staring. Sada turned towards him, only to notice that he had very slightly shuffled to the side, almost trying to hide behind her. Since he was almost one head taller than her and draped in blinding white, he wasn't having much success.

« This is the shaman from the south I've told you about. He'll be staying with us from now on.» Sada opted to break the awkward staring contest between the two groups, missing Turo raising one eyebrow in a puzzled expression by her side.

« Ooh, finally the mystery man shows up.» Chalo was the first to react. The woman grinned, moving towards him only for the man to nervously take a step back, eyeing both the spear and Fluffyhead.

Chalo, meanwhile, stared him up and down, eyes stopping at their still locked hands.

« You weren't kidding when you said he's weird looking. What's up with his hands? »

Sada sighed while some of the other hunters expressed similar comments.

She was suddenly glad that he was actually wearing the clothes she had made for him. If this was their reaction when he was dressed exactly like them (well, cape aside), she could only imagine how they would have reacted at seeing him with his original clothes.

Sada looked up at him, pensive.

He didn't look that weird.... Did he?

Or... was she just getting used to it? She... She kinda liked it, actually.

Turo meanwhile looked ready to bolt, wide eyes passing between all of them with obviously no idea of what they were talking about. She squeezed his hand reassuringly.

« Chalo, not now...»

The girl just laughed and lifted her free hand to slap Turo on the shoulder. The man flinched.

« Riiight, you two have fun. Bye Terg!» and with that, she whistled a command to Fluffyhead and resumed walking, the rest of the hunters following suit.

« T- Terg? What's Terg?» Sada couldn't stop a short giggle at seeing Turo so confused by that of all things.

« It's... Nothing. It's stupid.»

He just looked even more confused, but at least not as terrified as before.

They resumed walking, and Sada finally ducked into one of the bigger tents, leading him inside. Turo stopped and looked at his feet, at the moss that has been used to cover the floor, and appears completely taken aback again, like he had never seen anything like it before.

She's similarly surprised by his reaction. Had he been sleeping on cold, hard stone before now?

That was... Sad.

The tent is at the moment empty, save for one figure sitting near the hearth, paying attention to some pieces of meat on the fire. The woman lifted her head in hearing them approach, and Sada couldn't help feeling suddenly a bit nervous. She had pictured the scene so many times in her head, having it actually take place right in front of her eyes now didn't feel real. She was so happy that he had finally decided to join the settlement, but what if people didn't accept him...?

« Mother, this is Turo. I've been teaching him our language, but there is still a lot he doesn't know so... try not to overwhelm him. » she explained, Turo's head snapping in her direction at hearing his name but clearly not being able to parse much else.

« Turo, this is my... "Mother"» she added turning towards him, thinking back on their conversation from some time ago.

« My... Parent.»

It took him a second, and then he suddenly looked even more terrified than when Winged King first showed up. Face completely white, Turo looked back at Mother, trying and failing to stutter something out as a greeting.

« Ah... Umm... H-hello...» he almost managed in a low voice, and it's so painfully awkward that Sada couldn't help but cringe slightly with second hand embarrassment. It's just.... So like him to fly into a panic simply at the thought of having to exchange a greeting, even though she could understand that he would be nervous. She probably would too, in a similar situation.

Thankfully, Mother didn't comment on it. She nodded slowly as an answer and just quietly stared at him, apparently studying his face.

« So this is the man you've been meeting with?» she finally asked.

« Y-yes. Can we... Sit down?» Sada offered. Turo sure looked ready to pass out from sheer nervousness, maybe sitting down would put them all a bit more at ease. Mother simply nodded, and Sada sat down on the opposite side of the fire. She patted the ground just on her right for Turo to sit beside her. He complied, sitting cross legged with some difficulty. He kept poking at the moss on the ground with one hand, playing with it nervously. Was it... Really that fascinating for him? The other, his left hand, was again firmly hidden in his mantle. He... Had been doing that a lot today, now that she thought about it. Was there something about his left hand that was different today, something he wanted to hide? But no... The only thing she could think of was his weird bracelet he seemed so protective of, but he kept that on his right wrist. And all the time she had just spent holding his hand, she hadn't noticed anything different.

« He... Looks nothing like the tribe from the south I remember meeting. » Mother spoke up after a couple of moments of silence, catching Sada by surprise.

Oh...? She had actually hoped that Mother would recognize something familiar about him. Maybe it had been... A different tribe?

« What creature does that come from? That doesn't look like fur.» her mother asked after a moment, pointing at Turo's mantle. Sada smiled, excited; of course she would be interested in it! That was good; if they could just talk about... normal, everyday things, that was maybe the best way to make him feel welcome here.

She brushed Turo's arm and looked at his face, ready to explain in case he hadn't understood the question, but he just shifted his weight slightly and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

« It is not... fur. Not a P-... a creature. » he opened them up again and answered, voice a bit wavering but clear.

« It's... umm... not a tree... » he squinted and scratched at his chin, seemingly having trouble remembering a word.

« ... plant! It's a plant. "Cotton". Not...from here. I think»

She felt a strange sense of pride in listening to him trying to make his way through the conversation as best as he could.

« A plant...? I guess you could twist the fibers like we do for baskets, but... Make clothes out of it...?» her mother seemed intrigued, but Sada couldn't help but notice that Turo looked completely lost at her answer.

« She is asking... "How" you make this.»

His face cleared up a bit, just to go right back to nervousness a moment later, eyes shifting left and right.

« Ah, I... D-don't know... How.» he muttered.

Mother raised one eyebrow, perplexed, before turning her attention back to her.

« He knows what it's made of, but not how?»

Yes, Turo was... Weird like that, apparently. That probably was just how shamans were in his tribe... Or... Something.

« Why don't you show her?» she asked the man. He just stared blankly, not quite sure of what she meant.

Putting her hand on his wrist, she pinched the white fabric and tugged gently.

« Your clothes. Can you show them to her?» she mimed taking the mantle off like he had already done one time to let her examine it.

She was sure that Mother would be as fascinated by them as she had been, and with how much more experienced she was, could probably figure out more about how they were made.

To her surprise, Turo stiffened at her touch. His eyes moved from her hand gently touching his left arm, to the space between them - and briefly her face-, then to his hips.

« Ah... N-no... Sorry.»

... What?

She stared at him for a moment, honestly confused. He had been more than happy to let her examine it last time, and had offered it himself.

Why was he suddenly so defensive?

What was going on with him today...?

There's complete silence in the tent for a couple of moments, the only sound that of the fire and the skewered meat that is cooking on it.

Her eyes wandered from his face to his side... And landed on the left pocket of his mantle. The one he had kept his hand in the whole time since this morning. They were pretty large pockets... At least large enough for his notebook and pen, and probably other things.

He wasn't hiding his hand from view, he was hiding whatever was inside that pocket.

Something else he didn't trust her to see, apparently.

Sada looked back to his face... And there it was again. The "mask".

Except that this time, he couldn't stop the rest of his body from betraying him. She can feel it, from the hand still on his arm, their knees touching sitting side by side, legs crossed. He is actually trembling, face inscrutable but white with panic.

« Sada... please...»

The mask cracked, the tiniest bit, and his eyes are begging, literally begging her to not delve further. To drop the whole thing and pretend that nothing happened. To play dumb.

For a short moment, she is almost tempted to just shove her hand inside his pocket and grab whatever it was he was hiding... But... She can already picture the panicked and betrayed look he would give her.

« ... Never mind. Maybe another time. He says he's cold without it.» she couldn't help but mutter under her breath, and Turo just hanged his head with a guilty expression, surely having recognized the word.

« Alright. There is no rush. » Mother pointedly looked at Turo after having witnessed their short exchange, before looking back at her, eyes narrowing.

« Are you sure you can trust this man?» she asked in a low voice.

Sada bit her lip. Yes, of course she trusted him, he's never shown the slightest hint of ill will towards her, there must be a reason for why he had been acting like that, but... did he even trust her?

« I'm sure he's just... nervous. »

Mother simply shrugged, going back to handling the fire.

« If you say so. Let's just eat.»

Sada nodded, relieved, and grabbed some of the skewers, passing one to Turo and biting into one of hers.

« Here.»

It's not the first time they have eaten together, during the hours they have spent teaching each other vocabulary and discussing different creatures and their powers, but it's usually been just berries, roots and similar things that she had gathered nearby before he arrived. It's not like she could go hunting and catch something while Turo was with her... both because the guy was so clueless in walking stealthily that he would have scared everything away, and because having to make sure that he didn't get his face bitten off by whatever she was hunting would have just made things more difficult for her.

So she isn't exactly surprised when his eyes go wide at seeing the meat he was being offered; it was probably the first piece of cooked meat he had seen since coming here.

If he had to survive all this time on roots and berries that he found... no wonder he was so scrawny.

Turo looked at both of them, almost like a kid making sure that yes, he was actually allowed to eat it.

« T-thank you... » he stared at it with a strange expression of puzzlement on his face, turning the skewer in his hand. He looked about to take a bite, before stopping again.

« W... what creature is this? » he asked, quietly. Sada stared at him, not really getting the point of the question. Why would it be important...?

Ooooh, maybe he was afraid that the meat came from those creatures his people didn't hunt? If they were considered special for some reason (not like she could understand why), then they obviously didn't eat them as a form of... respect, or something.

She simply pointed to the corner of the tent, to the Steady Glacier bones that made up the walls.

Turo got even quieter after he seemed to realize what she meant, and he ate in complete silence.

---

After eating, Sada decided to show Turo the rest of the settlement. He seemed pretty interested in the little enclosure they had built for Fluffyhead and a couple of other Spark Tails that Chalo had managed to round up in the meantime, even taking out his notebook to take some quick notes about it. Sada tried to glance at the paper, and he strangely didn't stop her. She quickly understood why: the symbols that should have been the same he had taught her were scribbled so hastily that she could barely recognize a couple of them. Turo smirked at her disappointed pout, letting one of the Spark Tails sniff his hand. He seemed familiar with them.

« Sada! » they both turned around at the voice that had sprung up behind them. Ari, one of the children, had come running out of his tent towards them.

« Jesraa wants to know when you are going to teach her the other- Oh.» the child stopped after seeing Turo, eyes wide. She couldn't blame him; he was probably the only other person from outside the settlement he had ever seen.

Still, his sudden appearance had given Sada an idea. She turned to Turo, an excited smile making its way on her face... and for once, Turo actually looked worried, like he had sensed that she had something planned for him.

« You teach them! »

Of course! Brilliant! What better teacher than the man himself? She had already taught Narjik, Chalo and a couple of other people, but she didn't have time to teach every single person and make sure they didn't make mistakes... but Turo could! It could be a way for him to integrate into the settlement, get to know people...

« T-"teach"...?»

... oh, right.

« Um... you show... all people here... writing.» she clarified, but his reaction wasn't quite what she had expected.

« You... showed them writing?» he asked, slowly, eyes staring straight into hers.

« Yes!! » she nodded, and Turo looked... conflicted. He muttered something incomprehensible to himself - "aw, shit-", then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, left hand covering one half of his face.

« Is it... bad...?» had she done something she shouldn't have...?

But what was the point of being able to write stuff if nobody else could read it?

He was silent for quite a while, before lowering his hand with another sigh.

Even if he was trying to hide it, she could swear there was the tiniest trace of a smirk on his face. A proud smile.

« ... no. It's... incredible...»

---

They entered another hut, one of the biggest ones used by the whole tribe as a meeting spot when the weather wasn't good enough to sit outside, that Narjik would sometime use as a place to teach the children or tell old stories. He was out at the moment, gathering herbs and other materials for his rituals.

Sada had been a bit disappointed - she was really interested in watching the two shamans meet.

At first, the children had been afraid of him, so she had sat down by his side near the fire and encouraged them to get near, translating when necessary.

Now, Sada smiled warmly while Turo traced lines on his notebook and held it up for all four of them to see and copy line by line. They were using soot to write, and it had predictably ended up everywhere, including his face, his hair, and the front of his mantle, now no longer an immaculate white but covered in black, child-shaped handprints.

He seemed much more at ease with the children than with adults; teaching seemed to come natural to him.

« Where are... the "others"?» he asked after a while, in a pause from their lessons. Jesraa, the youngest, had fallen asleep on his lap, but he didn't seem to mind. He's got his notebook open and propped up on one knee, and it looked like he was drawing the interior of the hut, pausing every now and then to study how the bones were laid out.

Sada blinked, for once being the one caught unprepared.

« "Others"...? »

« Your people. Are there "others"... » he pointed at the children and thought for a moment. « Um... small... people? »

Sada laughed a bit when she realized he didn't know the word for children and had to improvise.

« "Small people"... you mean children?»

He nodded, still looking at his notebook.

« Yes. Children. "Others", um... not... these children.»

Oh, all right. Now she got what he had tried to ask. Sada simply stared at him, confused.

« There is no "other" children »

There's a long moment of silence, then Turo suddenly raised his head to gape at her, bewildered.

«... what? »

... why does he look so surprised?

« These are the only children here.»

« But... only four... »

He went really quiet after that, his warm smile at watching the child sleep in his lap becoming pained.

---

« I have to go. »

Turo's words took her by surprise, again, for the second time in the span of a couple of hours. It's after midday, and the sun is already going down, now that the days have been getting shorter and shorter. Soon it would become much colder.

Sada looked at him while he stood up and tried to clean up his clothes as best as he could.

Go...? But he had said... that he wanted to come to her people, so she had thought...

« Where... ? You can stay here -»

Turo just looked at her, silent, and she knew that whatever she could say would have no use in convincing him. Well, now she suddenly felt really stupid, getting so excited about his coming to live with them... she stared at the ground, biting her lip, almost tearing into it, a mix of anger and embarassment and disappointment swirling in her chest.

Something gently touched her chin and lifted her head, and she finds herself staring into Turo's warm brown eyes.

« ... I'll come back. »

Sada glared back at him.

« Tomorrow. At dawn. » and he better not be late. If he really had to run off who knows where at night, the least he could do was run right back.

He nodded after a moment.

« ... tomorrow. At dawn. »

---

She watched him leave, like always. What was different from all the other times, was that he was leaving from her village. She knew the area so well she could navigate it with her eyes closed, and so she knew perfectly well about all the possible spots Turo could choose to spend the night. The little thicket of trees to the south. The stream they get water from to the north. The great fields of tall grass.

She gave him an advantage of a couple hundred meters before sneaking after him.

He was being extremely cautious; he kept turning around every now and then, making sure that no one was following him, then checking his surroundings.

Sada, however, knew perfectly well how to move unnoticed. How to keep a low profile, how to leave as few prints as possible, how to stop moving when he turned around to not alert him due to a sudden movement... she quickly gained back the ground he had covered. All the while, she is staring at his back, just trying to make sense of his behaviour. Why does he need to go this far out? What is he even looking for...? This surely is not a safe space to pass the night...

Turo suddenly stopped, and Sada freezed, crouching low to the ground to hide herself in the tall grass. He gave one last look around, then raised his left hand and started rolling up the sleeves of his right arm, revealing his usual purple clothes underneath... and the bracelet. Outlined by the last rays of sunlight, he touched the little object on his wrist, and she suddenly had to squeeze her eyes shut, hurt by the blinding burst of white light that surrounded him...

... and when she opened them up again, he's gone.

Sada is left staring at empty air, not a single trace left of him. It took her quite a bit to notice that she was trembling, frozen in place.

He had... really disappeared. She had tought about the flash of light, sure, but deep inside, she had always assumed that it had a perfectly normal explanation.

Sada had wished for it to have a perfectly normal explanation, because that would at least make Turo... easier to explain. To think of him as... similar to her, a kindred spirit.

But to actually see him do it, to disappear into thin air like he commanded the power of some strange creature she had seen... now she wasn't so sure anymore.

... what was he, really?