Alessi and her mom followed us to our skull-home. All together we processed the collected berries. It was a job that took the first half of the day and involved crushing the berries into patties, collecting the juice in skull-bowls and then laying out the berry-pancake on the sun-baked rocks to dry. After finishing off that task, I was free to "have fun" as my mother walked inside of the dragonskull to work on other house stuff. I went inside our home and emerged with my dangerous-looking nightcrawler foot.

"Are you ready to hunt nightcrawlers?" I asked Alessi, waving my obsidian blade at her with a grin.

"This is not what I expected," the small, silver-haired chimera gulped, looking at the long, sharp, jaggedy appendage in my hand.

"You know what they say, 'expect the unexpected'," I chuckled.

"What? Who says that? I don't understand..." she trailed off.

"Nevermind that! It's time for our lesson," I declared.

"Lesson?" She blinked. "Are you going to teach me magic?"

"No," I shook my head. "I'm going to teach you… hunting."

"How could you possibly know anything about hunting? You're a girl," she commented, observing me curiously.

"Lets just say, I picked up a few things in the Still Forest between the thread of life and death," I winked.

"Oh!" She clasped her hands together. "You remember being there? ...What was it like?"

"Like living a whole other life, elsewhere," I said.

"Elsewhere?" She curiously tilted her head.

"Yep," I nodded. "In my... other life I learned how to hunt with traps!"

"Traps?" She blinked.

I walked around the skull, pulling at various trees and roots, trying to find a springy tree.

"Animal trapping, or simply trapping, is the use of an armed weapon to remotely catch prey," I narrated as I pulled out the black saw-shaped claw out of my belt.

"An armed weapon? Like a bow? None of us are strong enough to use one of those effectively against a nightcrawler," she said, looking at the sharp, obsidian appendage in my hands. “Only a male can pull the bowstring far enough to effectively strike through the nightcrawler’s skull from a distance. They're very dangerous monsters up close!”

“What does a nightcrawler look like?” I asked.

The chimera girl went on to describe a giant centipede as black as darkest night with a hundred blade-like legs. I nodded. It was about what I was picturing.

“Belassi will die if she goes up against a nightcrawler in the dead of night, even if armed with its own blade-leg. It can move very quickly,” she commented, glancing at her mother. “I hope that this is not your plan.”

“Nobody is going out at night.” I shook my head. “None of us will need to be present outside for this. The weapon will strike the nightcrawler on its own.”

"On its own?! I don’t understand. How… is this possible?” Alessi asked, looking more confused than ever before.

"With a specific type of an armed weapon... which we will now make out of trees and bow strings," I nodded, attempting to saw the thick tree off with the black claw.

It worked extremely poorly and my hand got tired pretty quickly. I paused, looking down. I was a weakling. My sawing barely made a dent on the bark. I noticed that my hands were shaking and felt that I was out of breath. I sighed.

Maybe… I should have invested in strength, not dexterity.

Alessi eyed what I was doing curiously. She saw that I was panting and struggling. "Do you need help?"

I nodded.

"Belassi," Alessi turned to the despondent-looking, white-haired chimera. "Take over. Help her cut that tree down with that claw."

Alessi's mom nodded without saying anything. She took the black claw from me and started to cut the tree apart. She was working persistently and diligently and the claw actually started to cut through the springy bark. I smiled. I got lucky to make a friend today. If it wasn't for Alessi and her mom's presence I'd likely fail at building the trap - my own arms were just too damn weak to cut down even a single tree and my own mom most likely wouldn't want to help me with something as unorthodox as making a spring weapon.

I directed Alessi and she in turn directed her mom. Together we worked throughout the day to make a couple of very primitive traps. Unfortunately, I didn't have wires and mom refused to let me take any of dad's bow strings or knives.

Thankfully, I knew how to make bow strings out of animal hides and those were aplenty, drying in one of the outer storage rooms, secured only by a rope knot which I easily untied with my extra-dexterous little fingers. I didn’t bother asking mom if I could take a few small hides to make bowstrings, worrying that she would deny me access. As an urban explorer who entered abandoned properties nearly every weekend, I believed in the “It's easier to ask forgiveness and pay off a fine than it is to get permission” slogan.

Alessi and Belassi helped me carve up chipmunk-like hides into thin strips, which I then soaked in a skull-shaped bucket. Yes, we used skulls for everything. It was a bit macabre.

While the hide strips soaked, we went on a hunt to find a large bug for the bait. It took us about two hours to find and catch a humongous, noisy, ladybug-like beetle. Belassi broke off the ladybug’s wings and front feet with her claws so that the bug would not simply fly away. We carried the bug and contained it in a thick basket, while we weaved hide strips into a very long, strong, tight string.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Alessi got over more of her shyness with every hour. Her hands weren’t anywhere as effective as mine at making the string, but she certainly tried to help. I could see that she was very excited to learn something new. She was curious, eager and keen. She watched everything that I did, asking questions and showing interest. She was smart and incredibly quick to learn. Chimera spawn were definitely superior to human children.

"How long do chimeras usually live?" I asked her as I expertly weaved my part of the string, greatly enjoying my fantastic new dexterity.

"Thirty three winters," she replied. "When the shine begins to fade from our crystals... the memory and strength of a chimera begins to fade too.”

Just thirty three years? Unless the local year was three times longer than on Earth… it meant that I got myself a bad deal here compared to a human lifetime!

Alessi paused, twiddling her fingers nervously.

“Where are all of the elder chimeras, Alessi?” I asked. "I haven't seen any at the grove except for Eunice."

“The elders gift the remnant of their fading life to the high-cendai and leap into the Chasm to embrace the All-mother in the deep, so as not to burden the tribe," she replied after a somber pause.

I gulped and realized why I had no grandparents to speak of and why there were no old chimeras in the tribe. The oldest chimera I've seen was Eunice. Hang on… if the high-cendai was the eldest chimera, then was Eunice in charge? Did that make chimera society matriarchal?

"How many winters old is Eunice?" I asked.

"Hundreds," she replied. "As our high-cendai she is the exception. Her magics and the sacrifice of the elders lets her cling to the world for a very long time."

"She must be really powerful then," I murmured, my mind rolling over the words.

"Yes," Alessi agreed.

"Does the high-cendai direct the tribe? Tell everyone what to do?" I asked.

"The high-cendai conducts ceremonies, heals those who are hurt, predicts the future and protects the tribe keeping monsters away with her magics," the little chimera shook her head. "She does not lead us."

"Then who does?"

"The chorus of our ancestors leads us," Alessi explained.

So, chimeras are led by tradition?

"The chorus?" I asked.

"You do not hear it at all?" Alessi squinted at me.

I shook my head.

"Strange," she muttered. "You must be very... lonely."

"Lonely?" I asked. "Why would I be lonely?"

"I am young and the chorus is weak in me," she said. "But with each passing day, the voices get stronger, louder and I can remember... more."

"Will you remember your mom's love for your dad?" I asked, worrying about her. "Could you become... broken and sad like her?"

“I don’t think so,” Alessi shook her head. "The chorus guides and protects. It is made up of vast knowledge, a great tree of many mothers merged and unified, stretching all the way back to the All-mother. The chorus does not pass on personal… feelings. It is akin to a soft fur carpet, decorated with a thousand singing, little, warm stars that aid and protect me. Every girl chooses what to add to it, what to pass down. I need only to reach out to it to recall something. In time it will merge with me completely."

"How specific do the memories get? Do you... does anyone remember the All-mother?" I inquired.

"No," Alessi shook her head. "Like I said, I simply sort of... know what my female ancestors feared and understood. I can recall what is poisoned or dangerous and what is safe and tasty. I know what to avoid and what to collect. In time I will remember how to make tools for my future husband and how to take care of a home. If I see something, I can recall its name and know whether it will hurt me. In time, I will know the names of every rock, plant and creature as far down into the Chasm as my ancestors went."

"How far down is that?" I asked.

"I don't know," Alessi said. "Our tribe emerged from the depths of the chasm long, long ago."

"I see," I muttered, pondering over what she said.

It seemed that the chimera Engrams were a "semantic" and "defense" type memory, not personal. From an evolutionary standpoint it would indeed be awkward/useless to remember the parents private feelings or personal life moments.

"Is the chorus against you learning how to fly?" I asked.

She nodded. "Flying is for boys. Girls do not fly."

I sighed. If the chorus got stronger in chimera as they grew, then eventually I might lose Alessi as a friend with my overly-radical ideas. I wasn't looking forward to such a prospect. I already felt pretty alone. If I lost my only friend I would be utterly devastated.

We continued to chat about various other things Alessi could recall. Belassi was directed to make wooden stakes of various size using the nightcrawler's leg as a carving tool. The sun was starting to set, painting the Chasm in orange tones.

I bound the oversized ladybug with one of the twines we've made and staked it to the ground so that it would not escape. It would function as bait in one of the skull-cavern-rooms open only to the outside. Then, I made a small cut on my hand and sprinkled my blood on the angry bug that was unsuccessfully trying to flee. As I bound my bleeding cut with a cloth, I hoped that the chimera blood-covered, screeching bug would make for an excellent bait for the nightcrawler.

Belassi was directed to bend a large tree down, making a powerful spring engine. I tied a noose at its end, placing it around a small cavern entrance and set up a notched trigger that would activate once the nightcrawler got its head into the cavern.

Inside of the cavern itself, I used Belassi's strength to set up a Spear Spring with a very large wooden stake.

Once the beast's neck was trapped by the looping twine, the wooden stake would be flung forward by a bent tree positioned across the cavern into the nightcrawler's head.

My dad descended from the sky on his shimmering bug wings, heading inside the skull through the mouth entrance. Since all of my traps were hidden inside the cavern at the top left side of the skull he didn't notice anything out of place.

I went into our home and asked my parents whether Alessi and her mother could stay for dinner and overnight.

"At least you're finally making friends," mom nodded with a sigh.

Dad eyed the silver-haired pair curiously, but didn't say anything. A few times over dinner he attempted to talk to the despondent-looking Belassi, but gave up after she ignored him and failed to respond.

Alessi explained their situation to him.

"I understand. Your father... Kizijs was a great hunter," dad looked down to Alessi. "The loss of a hunter is tough on the hearth-caretaker. Alone... you cannot pull your mother out of the shadow of dark sorrow," he nodded, chewing on a steak cooked by my mom.

Alessi nodded, her head bowed. My dad rubbed his chin.

"Here is my offer - you two can stay in our home and make it stronger. I would not mind a pair of hands around the house to make my wings shine twice as bright. Perhaps in time, your mother will speak once again!"

He smiled at the silver haired chimera. Belassi did not respond nor acknowledge him.

"Thank you for the offer, Acadius," Alessi bowed to my dad. "My mother cannot speak as she is saddened by her loss, but I accept your offer of hearth-keeping on her behalf!"

She turned to her mother and spoke in her ‘bossy’ voice. "Belassi - bow to your new hunter."

Belassi bowed, not looking at anyone in particular.

"She agrees to the match," Alessi declared with a clap. "The high-cendai shall officiate us when she is available for the ceremony."

Dad grinned widely.

"Excellent! I shall tell the others good news tomorrow!" He looked very pleased with himself and continued to loudly boast that he would now have two hearth-keepers in his household.

Mom didn't look too happy about this sudden development. Her eyes became thin, angry slits.

Alessi slid over to me and hugged me. I looked at her and then at the face my mother was making.

Wait a minute... Did I just gain a sister and another mother?

Well, that was rather unexpected.

I glanced at the smiling Alessi. Was this her plan from the beginning?!