10 - Chapter Ten - Adler Hain’s Point Of View.

Wilder left a little while after sundown. He and a few of the other hunters in the group were going to get some birds and things. Wilder was clear about me not going and staying in the village. I had no interest in going hunting with them, that was for sure. Looking at the fire in the centre of the village, I was enjoying the heat that was rolling off it.

His mother and her partner Liv were also here, sitting by the fire, enjoying it. From what I had seen in the couple of days of being here, it seemed all kinds of relationships were allowed among adults, and children were still being born. Wilder was a good example of that.

"Your parents? What were they like?" The chief asked, her eyes shining with care and concern.

"My parents? They were not great people, but oddly, I miss them. I don't regret leaving, but it makes me sad I didn't give them one last hug the night I left. I left because I didn't want them to have a chokehold on my future. This would never happen to me, you know. I mean, I knew it did. But never did I think it would be me."

"I'm sure your mother misses you."

"I don't know if that is an emotion she is capable of, but if she does, I just want her to know I'm alright."

"What about your father?"

"My real father left when I was a boy. The marriage my mother and him had was terrible. My mother got remarried and my stepfather helped raise me. He was a good father, but he and my mother became more like enforcers of their own laws than parents. They took control of everything. My parents didn't allow me to be part of sleepovers, after-school sports, nothing that they couldn't control to the fullest. They even controlled my schooling, they made me take courses they wanted me to, and that was the end."

"They trapped you. That's why you left?"

"I felt trapped, though, when you think about it, I really wasn't. Not in the proper sense of the word. But I don't regret getting out, not one bit. Even if I would have died on the beach, I wouldn't have regretted it."

The conversation switched, and Liv talked, explaining how they told the time and seasons and age.

"We tell age by the season you were born and how many of that season have passed since."

"Really, I was born in the fall."

"Wilder was born in the winter, twenty-eight, almost twenty-nine winters ago."

"So he is older than me. I thought so."

"Time passes differently here. I'm sure you have noticed."

"No, not really."

"Everyone ages slowly after they seem to hit adulthood. We really don't know why, but we figure it has to do with this island and our gifts. We all have just learned to live with it. In time you will too."

"I hope so. I don't want to be too much more of a pain for Wilder."

"Yes, I admit, it's strange he took you to his place and looked after you first before bringing you to me. He has never really cared for anything himself."

Her words bothered me even after she, and her partner Liv returned to their hut. Wilder had never cared for anything, and I felt like he was definitely using me for something. I didn't feel comfortable bringing it up with him though because I figured he would get annoyed. But it was also the reason that even though he had fixed the bed and made it softer to sleep on, I couldn't sleep. It didn't matter how many times I opened and closed my eyes, how many times I counted backwards in my head or switched positions. I couldn't fall asleep.

I didn't close the small side cloth on the window, so I knew the moment the sun rose and lit things up again.

The bed was warm from all the time I had spent trying to sleep and that was the main reason I just hadn't crawled out of it yet.

I heard Wilder well before I ever saw him. He was arguing with someone about something just outside.

"Keep your voice down. People are sleeping."

"We are far enough from the village."

"People are sleeping, Ash."

"Oh. You don't care about the people in the village, you care about the kid you're sharing your hut with."

"It doesn't matter who it is, but you're being loud and going to wake people up."

Pushing myself to get up, I stood up, going outside the hut. Wilder sent the man a look.

"Please, don't be quiet on my accord. I wasn't sleeping, I haven't slept yet. I'm going to enjoy the morning sun from the lake."

I stumbled down the path. The only thing I could hear down here was the birds singing. It was peaceful. The fresh morning sunlight felt nice on my face when I sat down and closed my eyes, sucking up the rays.

I didn't hear him even walk up, but I knew Wilder was there. Watching me, I felt him.

"Sit down. You don't have to just stand there and watch me."

"I was quiet. How did you know I was there?"

"I felt you."

"Whatever your gift is, it's odd."

"How do you figure?"

"Your gift is unique. You seem like you can use it multiple ways.."

"I don't think it's a gift thing. I can't tell when others are coming closer, only you."

"Hm."

"Exactly. Maybe it has to do with the accidental push of my feelings toward you."

"Maybe."

"I'm sorry about that. I panicked and grabbed your hand. I didn't mean to."

"Don't worry about it."

"How did your hunt go?"

"Fish, small birds, a couple of crabs. The normal things we get."

"Remembering that the guy called me a kid, I frowned.

"By the way, I'm twenty-two years old."

He frowned,

"What season were you born?"

"Oh right! Your mother and Liv explained this to me! I'm twenty-two fall seasons old."

"You're still young."

"Wait! What!"

"You are not even of age to hunt with us yet."

"What?"

"You can not hunt with the party unless you are in your twenty-fourth season."

"I didn't want to hunt anyway," I said sourly.

"If you are hungry, we can go collect things for breakfast."

"Alright."

Standing up, we went walking, but not back towards the village, but towards the trees on the other side of the lake. Keeping up with him took a little work, but I was doing it. He took paths that were feet friendly and even slowed down a bit when he noticed I was lagging.

He kept walking until we seemed to pop out of the jungle in a marsh or bog. The bugs in here were thick, too. I was smacking them away with both my hands, and I didn't miss the smile on his face as he chuckled.

"It's not funny! Why so many bugs!"

"It's wetland. What did you expect?"

I frowned, and he spoke again.

"Come here and cup your hands. I'm going to put some seeds into it."

He shook the fluffy ends of the plant and seeds fell into my hands; he did this repeatedly until I was up to my ankles in the muck and had an overflowing handful of seeds. Carefully, he pulled a sock out of his pocket and wrapped it over my hands.

"You can let go now and pull your hands out. This will hold the seeds."

I pulled my hands free and frowned at him.

"Look at my feet. They are nasty."

"Mine are as well. I'm just whining less about it."

I closed my mouth, not bothering to say anything back. He led us back out of the muck and we walked for a while back to the lake. He set everything down and stepped into the water and washed off his feet.

"Come wash your feet now."

I stuck my tongue out at him, but went and got in the water and scrubbed my feet too. I felt much better when they were clean and didn't smell like wet muck. Before I got out, I made sure they were completely clean.

"You are so picky. They are just feet."

"They are gross, and the last thing I think you want is mud in the furs on the bed."

"True."

He grabbed all of his things again and waited for me before we headed back up to the hut. I grabbed the cloth and opened it for him. This was the first time I noticed he didn't have his spear with him. It was resting against the wall.

"Why didn't you bring your spear? You look weird without it," I murmured.

"Do I? Why?"

"I have not seen you go anywhere without your long, sharp poking stick."

He snorted before setting the stock of seeds on the ledge and grabbing the pot of water, using a bowl to add some water to a pot that was nestled into the coals of the fire. He used one of the stone blades to remove a bird from the pot.

"Pour the seeds in."

I grabbed the sock and did what he asked, and he dropped the bird right back into the water. I could see it bubbling away.

"When did you start this?"

"Before I walked down to you."

"Oh, interesting."

He grabbed some other things and tossed them into the pot; He tossed some seaweed into the pot too. The weird bird was being turned into soup. I was just glad the head, neck and all the other bird features were gone.

I would never look at meat again if he had pulled that bird out of the pot in its entire form.

"What happened to the rest of the bird?"

"Fish food, bait for traps, things like that. We don't like to let any parts go to waste if they don't need to be."