-Interlude-
She who Dances with the Sky
It took us two days of dangerous traveling from our village to find, but we finally managed to discover one of the abandoned human huts. Strange things these huts, always so different in their construction and often full of so many different colorful things. Built from rock and metal, and strange material that can be seen through but yet is so easy to break, their huts are so vastly different than the ones we build high up in the trees.
At least she assumes that the huts were built by the humans, they don’t even live in most of them. So many of their huts remain left to fall apart or to be claimed by the Green.
Humans are quite the strange creatures, but their huts hold such treasures, and some of them are even smart enough to trade with us despite not knowing the words. Always speaking with their weird noises, makes as much sense as the grunting of the small Smelly Ones.
At least the humans don’t smell bad, and they make tasty food! Good for trading, makes them worth dealing with.
With this trip, He Who Strikes from the Green, Son of the chief, proved yet again why he is fit to be our next chief with how he led us here. Navigating through the Green with such vigilance and having us hide whenever one of the monsters would come near. We haven’t even lost any of our kin on this scavenging run!
Truly our tribe’s future is looking bright, and maybe. Just maybe if I prove myself, I could become his mate and our pup will become the next chief after him.
Getting giddy with thoughts of her future, She Who Dances with the Sky continues to tear open the strange brown containers that humans like to store so much of their stuff inside of. I don’t even know why those weird humans store stuff in these. I tried using one to hold fruit before, but it fell apart in the rain and turned into a mess! Why not just use baskets? They don’t melt in the rain. She thinks to herself.
Shaking her head in disbelief at the human’s strangeness, she continues opening the containers and dumping their contents on the ground. A lot of the stuff they find is arguably useless, but flammable; good for keeping the huts warm on a cold night. Other things are merely interesting, their purpose unknown or just nice looking. These will be brought back for the smarter ones to figure out or used as decorations in the village.
The best finds are of course human food and metal tools or weapons crafted by the humans and left behind. The tools they find far surpass any made by her kin's hands and are much more dangerous. The chief himself possesses a mighty human weapon that he earned through trading with a human. He says that the human called it a ‘Monkey Wrench’. Whatever those strange sounds mean is beyond She Who Dances with the Sky, but she had seen the chief wield the mighty weapon the crush the head of a Smelly Dweller. It is quite powerful!
In comparison, her own weapon is nothing special, merely a sharp piece of metal she had found, that she strapped to a long human made wooden rod that used to have weird dangly bits hanging from it.
Speaking of human weapons, a big part of why they were so far out was because He Who Strikes from the Green is in search for his own human made weapon, one that could match his fathers in strength and power!
If I can be the one that finds the weapon and present it to him, I could make myself more valuable as a potential mate! I have to be the one that finds it.
Searching with a renewed vigor, She Who Dances with the Sky continues happily digging through brown containers until suddenly she and everyone else hears a long whistle coming from the entryway.
Everyone immediately stops what they are doing and grabs their weapons, questions start getting thrown around as a small panic breaks out among her kin. Soon their leader calls them all to be quiet and gather up. “It is probably just a human that wants to trade, be ready to scatter and flee if they end up being violent!” He calls out.
Once he has everyone under control, he turns toward the entryway and whistles back to the waiting human. Whoever it is, they probably have experience trading with our people, since they didn’t simply enter and try talking to us. If anything, She Who Dances finds this to be reassuring.
With bated breath they wait for the human to enter, now that she is looking for it, she can smell that it is only one human, a female… she thinks? The scent is slightly off from what she is used to smelling from their kind. Strange…
Everyone watches and then promptly freezes as a being vastly different from what they were expecting enters the room. Almost as if created from darkness itself, the being steps out of the shadows of the hallway and into the light. Its limbs and body exiting the veil of darkness as if being birthed from the void itself.
The being, while certainly possessing the form of a human, could only be seen as something other. Its skin is as grey as freshly fallen ash, the fur which covers most humans’ heads, cascades down this being like living shadows seeking to meld with the darkest corners of the world while horns of white ivory sprout forth from those dark shadows. Claws like shards of the void that whisper sweat promises of spilt blood rest at the end of its hands and feet. A long and sinuous tail gracefully flows from behind, hinting at the mischievousness nature of its host.
But most striking of all is those eyes. Resting atop black voids are rings of golden light like that of the sun and held within those rings are the eyes of a predator, a hunter.
Every instinct in She Who Dance’s body screams at her to run as the being scans over her and kin, a gentle smile growing across its face. But she can’t be the first to flee, if she does, she would be judged for it by the others. The leader needs to tell them to run, but even he, with all his bravery, is frozen.
But then something surprising happens that’s frees her and her kin from their trance. The being bows in greeting to them first, without being prompted. It, no she, she has conducted proper trading with her kin before.
Relief floods through them as they latch onto familiar territory. A mysterious being they have never seen before, that is scary, but someone that wants to trade? That is something they can handle.
Stepping forward, He Who Strikes from the Green clasps his hand together and returns a respectful bow to the mysterious female. She, like the humans, clearly does not understand the words of her people, but like many humans, conveys her desires through pointing and simple hand signs.
The request is a simple one, ‘It will be night soon, may I share your shelter?’ So polite! She clearly understands that we were here first and have claims to this location and offers trade instead of merely staying uninvited or trying to chase us out. While she may be different, this female is already much better than most of the humans She Who Dances has met.
He Who Strikes from the Green accepts her request and awaits her offer, the humans often have such wonderful things to trade, and She Who Dances can already feel herself growing excited. The female, looking rather happy, removes her pack and then pulls out something that instantly grabs everyone’s attention.
A clear bag of meat! The female then proceeds to open the bag and suddenly She Who Dances’ world is lit ablaze with the promise of flavor as the smell of seasoned meat assaults her senses. She can feel her stomach rumble and has to fight to keep herself from drooling like that oaf, He Who Speaks Loudly. Ah, she wants it! Please give us lots and not just a couple pieces, it smells so good!
And then the unspeakable happens, the female graciously hands over the ENTIRE BAG! Not just six pieces, which would have been more than fair for such a simple trade, but the ENTIRE BAG! Such Generosity!
Or perhaps the female simple does not understand the value of which she had just traded? It does not matter; the leader has the meat! The meat is ours now; all trades are final!
The following becomes a blur for She Who Dance with the Sky as her mind is flooded with the promise of delicious meat. By the time she comes to, she is standing in line with a handful of meat. Then the leader gives them permission to eat, and all self-control is forgotten. There is only meat, and it is delicious!
By the time She Who Dances comes to again, she has to remind herself that they are still in the middle of a trade, business hasn’t been concluded yet, have to be professional!
Everyone gathers themselves up and then the leader approaches, this time He Who Strikes from the Green is the one to extend an offer of trade, bowing deeply with respect to the female. With a gesture he asks the female if she would be interesting in trading for any of our goods, clearly hopeful that she will agree.
Regretfully, the female again indicates that her interest was only for shelter for the night, speaking in the same weird language as the humans, bowing deeply she shows respect and ends the trade.
All of us are understandably disappointed by this, but the trade is concluded, and our guest has been incredibly polite to us and has already traded very generously, to push further would be to show disrespect and ruin the tribe’s honor.
The female being, smiling and clearly understanding that business is concluded backs her way through the entryway. Stepping out of the light of our torches, she is swallowed up by the shadows and disappears from view with hardly a sound. If it was not for her lingering scent, it would be as if she had never been here at all.
With the very mysterious being having gone off to some other part of the large hut, She Who Dances, and her kin return to looting the area. They have all night to search for treasures and they are not going to stop until morning.
After some time, He Who Strikes from the Green speaks up to the rest of the group, drawing our attention. “What do you think that female might have in that pack of hers? With how freely she traded away so much meat, surely, she must have more on her, no? Even if she doesn’t understand its value, to trade so much. She must have more stored away.”
He Who Speaks Loudly pipes up, “Yes! She has to have more! No one would just trade away that much meat!”
In the corner sorting through a brown container, She Who Plays with Many Legged Friends responds, “What about things other than food, that pack on the females back looked like it might have many things. I also saw what I think some humans call a ‘doll’ on the side of her pack. The pups at the village are rather fond of them."
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The others quickly throw in suggestions about what the mysterious female could be carrying around with her, but She Who Dances with the Sky keeps her thoughts to herself. After all, what if the female has a weapon stored in her pack? If She Who Dances could get it, she could gift it to He Who Strikes!
With everyone getting excited, their leader speaks up and takes control. “Alright, alright, calm down. Now, as the host, I am naturally forbidden from trying to steal from our guest, but that rule does not apply to any of you.”
He continues, “However! The female, as someone who has admirably honored our traditions, she is under the Rules of Hospitality! While all of you will not be stopped from trying to steal from her, remember that you are forbidden from attacking her in any way! If you do attack her, you will bring shame upon the tribe and be left behind. If you are caught stealing from her, you will receive no aid from the rest of us and will have to accept whatever punishment she decides to give you. Lastly, you are only permitted to act on your own.”
He scans over the gathered group and makes sure that we were all paying attention as we nod our heads. “Good! Now, keep searching this area for valuables, if any of you decide to try your luck with the female, be sure to tell the rest of us first. Now get back to work!”
It doesn’t take long until He Who speaks Loudly eventually couldn’t wait any longer and loudly declares, “I shall be the first! She must be asleep by now!” He promptly leaves the room with a torch and goes to find the female.
Everyone simply looks at each other with the same look before returning to their work, the general thought being, “If she was asleep, she definitely isn’t now…”
He Who Speaks Loudly returns sometime later, squeaking rather annoyingly with fright. Upon coming back to the room, He Who Strikes stops He Who Speaks Loudly and starts asking questions.
“Stop, Stop! Calm down already, calm down damn it, what happened?” He asks.
He Who Speaks Loudly quickly responds, “The female, I found her! But she was still awake! She is sitting in the corner by the big viewing areas! But she is in complete darkness! I could not see her until she was in the light, and she was so quiet, if it was not for her scent, I would have never found her! And when I did, she laughed at me! She was watching from the shadows the entire time and I didn’t even know!”
He Who Strikes places his hands on He Who Speak Loudly shoulders. “Calm down brother, calm down. We understand, thank you for bringing back this information, you did a wonderful job. Alright everyone, it would seem that the female is even more familiar with our customs than we thought. I have to admit that I am very impressed.”
He nods his head and chirps happily. As the son of the chief, it only makes sense that he would be so happy to have met a foreigner so fluent in their traditions. He Who Speaks Loudly was clearly caught, however he was not caught in the act of stealing, so the female did not pursue him or try to punish him for his crime. Instead, she laughed and pulled a trick on him. She knows our people well.
While He Who Speaks Loudly was still a bit scared about the prank that was pulled on him, everyone was in agreement that their opinion of the female was steadily rising, even if she is a bit scary.
Even knowing what they do now, everyone was still set on giving it a try themselves. The female would have to sleep eventually, and the night is long, and with her being such a staunch follower of the rules, none of them feared being attacked unless they really messed up.
To think that this scavenging trip of theirs would turn out to be so eventful!
Following throughout the night, each one of us would wait a while longer than the last, and then would go out to check on the mysterious female, checking to see if they would be the lucky one to catch her while she sleeps. Each time they would come back disappointed or squeaking after having gotten ‘caught’ by the female.
She Who Dances with the Sky waited the longest out of everyone, if she is to find the female asleep, then it would only make sense to wait for exhaustion to catch up to her. When she finally announces late into the night that she will give it a try, she sets out without a torch.
For all she knows, it could very well be the light that is waking the female and alerting her. She is clearly a being of shadows and darkness, to bear light is to give yourself away.
Moving out into the hallway, She Who Dances waits in the darkness for her eyes to adjust. Her kin do not have the best of night vision, which is why they hide away during the night and wield fire, but so long as she moves carefully and slowly, relying on her sense of smell, she should be able to find the female.
Moving down the hallway and sticking close to the wall, She Who Dances slowly navigates her way through the human’s massive hut. Following the scent that the others left behind, it is easy to find the area where the female rests. Gingerly, she navigates her way through a maze of toppled chairs and tables, being extra careful to only step on the pads of her feet and keep her claws from clicking on the floor.
She Who Dances can smell it now, the female. While she can’t see her yet, most likely melding with the shadows, she can hear the sound of soft and steady breathing that becomes even more clear as she draws near.
She is asleep! I was right, the light was giving us away and waking her up! She thinks to herself excitedly.
Very carefully now, I need to approach her without waking her, but where is she? The scent has grown stronger, and I can clearly hear her breathing now. I should be close, shouldn’t I?
With a few more steps, she sees her. To her eyes the female looks like nothing more than a blob of shadows resting on the table. In some areas the shadow seems to mix and mingle with the surrounding darkness, pulling it in and suffusing it like a blanket that covers her person. How it is that a being could become so close with one of the elements was beyond She Who Dances with the Sky, she is not a shaman and was never raised with the intention of becoming one.
In the end, none of that matters. Unlike the very mysterious female sleeping before her, the pack is not covered in darkness. Whatever strange magics it is she’s using; it apparently only covers herself and not nearby objects.
With her objective right before her, She Who Dances reaches out to take the pack. Her little heart is beating out of her chest, and she worries that it may be so loud that it will end up waking the female.
Her hand is shaking as she touches the pack. There is no getting out of this now, if she is caught, she will be punished.
Lifting with one hand she tries to remove the bag from the chair, but it is unbelievably heavy! Why did I have to go and bring my spear with me? This pack is too heavy, I need both hands to lift it!
As she fights to lift the heavy bag, she fails to notice the shadow on the table move until it is too late.
Before she can understand what is happening the shadow is before her and all she can see is an all-encompassing darkness shrouding her vision, all except for two glowing halos floating in the air before her. In a panic she stumbles backwards, screaming out with a high-pitched chirp. Without thought, her body reacts in fear and stabs with her spear right in between those two glowing halos that seem to be burning full of delight and supreme confidence.
The spear stops as if it had just hit a wall. With confusion blocking reason, she pokes the wall of shadow a couple more times, it does not move, it does not bleed, it does not die.
She Who Dances’ spear is gently pushed aside by a shifting current of shadow. The Shadow says something and suddenly a row of white and sharp teeth makes themself know in a wide smile. It speaks something to her and despite not knowing the language, she can tell the being of shadow is taunting her and enjoying it with deep satisfaction.
Soon her brain finally catches up, and she realizes what she had just done. I attacked her! Oh no what have I done!? The Rules of Hospitality, what have I, the tribe, they will…!
I need to run; I broke the rules!
Backing away from the figure before her, she is forced to stop as the shadow grows in size until it is dwarfing her small body. Those shining eyes glow with the hottest flames and that smile of pearly white teeth grows even wider. Shadowed appendages grow from and expand outward from the Shadow’s body until they are all but surround her in a cage. All around her she can see as shadows shift and move, ebbing like a living current as the Being of Shadow and Darkness moves through its depths with a serpentine grace.
She wants to flee, she wants to run and scream, but those eyes. They sear through her very being and pierce her to the floor. All she can do is stand there and shake in fear and horrible fascination as she stares back into those eyes!
The Shadow speaks, the language is not understood, but the message is clear, “You will be punished!” The sheer joy delivered in that voice, the excitement! It’s too much for her!
Fear finally breaks her free from her bindings and she turns to run, but before she can even take three steps, She Who Dances with the Sky, is pushed down to the ground. Soon the Shadow is on top of her, she tries to squirm and wiggle away, to slip out of her grasp, to reach for her fallen weapon, but she is pinned. Shadowy appendages shackle her wrists to the ground, and a great weight and heat rests itself upon her lower half. She cannot move. No matter how hard she fights, her bindings do not shift, as if the very earth beneath had risen to restrain her.
With panting breath, she fights and resists, but she can see it. The darkness is surrounding them both in a cage, soon there is only her and the Shadow within the void. The outside world is gone, the large hut, her troop, her village, they are so very far away. She cannot escape.
She can only stare helplessly into those eyes, the eyes of a predator that has its prey right where they want it. Those eyes tell her all she needs to know. There is no running, there is no fighting, she is going to be eaten, and there is nothing she can do to stop it.
So, she gives up.
She stops fighting and accepts that this is where it all ends. Devoured by the darkness and forgotten by her tribe. Reduced to nothing but cowering prey in the void.
Seeing her give up, the Shadow leans in, ever so painfully slowly.
As she draws near, the darkness is lifted from the being’s face and body. Her face is flushed with pink, and she is breathing heavily. Below her waist, She Who Dances can feel as something long and sinuous wraps and coils around one of her legs. She shivers as the woman’s face draws near, cheeks brushing against one another.
Red hot breath blows into her sensitive ear and the woman whispers something to her with a soft voice dripping in honey.
A shiver run down her body as a heat starts to build in her. I don’t understand any of this, why isn’t she eating me. What does she want?
The woman sits back up and peers back down at She Who Dances, pinned and helpless below her. Her face is even more flushed than before, her meager chest rising and falling with every breath coming out hot and heavy. Those eyes, they are filled with madness and desire!
Ever so slowly, she slides her hands down the length of She Who Dances’ arms. Fingers gently gliding through her fur until they crest her delicate shoulders and reach her chest. She can’t hold it as a shudder runs through her body and the heat continues to build.
The way those fingers flow through her fur and down her chest, the feeling of those claws gently parting through her fur and sliding across her skin, almost as if begging for permission to cut into her flesh! She breathes in deeply and fights to suppress another shudder as it rips through her body like a blade of fire.
What is, what is this scent!? Is she aroused!? Wait, am I? What in the world is going on? This can’t be happening, were not even the same people, how could I possibly…!?
Her thoughts are blown away as the woman mounting her finally reaches her stomach. As her fingers glide down her abdomen and bury themselves in the soft fur that she freshly groomed; in the hopes of attracting another. As her soft voice again whispers those sweat words into her ears with those hot breaths that tear through her and assault her mind like lightning, leaving her shivering and panting. As those claws, ‘Oh those claws!’, find her navel and playfully threaten to split her open and spill her guts!
It’s all too much for her, an explosion of signals tears their way through her body like she has never experienced before in her life as confusion and fear are transformed into desire. Her body shakes and the heat growing inside her reaches a boiling point.
She’s going to be eaten; she WANTS to be eaten!
Her mind goes white, and she loses control.
The dark void of inky black that her whited out mind floats through soon becomes a world of pleasure as she gives into those hands that run across her body and tease her with the potential promise of split open flesh and spilled blood.
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She Who Dances with the Sky wakes up some time later, resting atop a table. She is covered in a warm blanket and her head is resting on a very soft pillow. The rising sun is shining bright outside and filling the large hut with the warm light of a new dawn.
The Mysterious Woman, the Shadow, the Female, whatever she is, is sitting comfortably in a chair next to her. One hand holding a tome while she reads, while her other hand rests atop, She Who Dances’ head. Her claws are gently scratching her behind the ear and her fingers are softly petting her fur.
She Who Dances with the Sky is confused, she doesn’t know what she should be doing and doesn’t know how to figure it out. So, she simply chooses to do nothing, to merely lay there and let herself be scratched and pet, to close her eyes and relax under the warm embrace of those wonderful hands as she falls back asleep.
She can figure things out when she gets up later.