A gift

Alvita sat on top of a rock next to a river and dipped her legs in the water. Typically, she wouldn't be tired from a walk to the village, but Alvita had taken the longest path to avoid going to the celebration.

The Niola family had chosen to live far from Ni Village because of their difference in tribes. Although Alvita's father was from the Ni tribe, he had married a woman from Bagua. These tribes were quite similar, both had believed that the water was a special territory and chose to live nearby the sea. Soon these tribes had a few disputes over the land and how the other behaved culturally. The small disagreements later developed into violence between the tribes. The previous leaders of the tribes had a deep hatred for each other and once they got word of their people being attacked, they had waged war. The Ni tribe had won the battle and pushed the Bagua tribe onto another island, keeping their territory and power safe. Some of the Bagua women that were kept prisoner had later been released by Tiburon and Ya out of kindness. Most of the women chose to leave with their tribe while others stayed in the Ni village and married Tiburon of their free will.

Alvita looked into the water and saw her calm expression reflected back. "Ugly." She threw dirt in the water and continued to stare at herself. This time, the water reflected a frowning face.

"Why do I have to celebrate her birthday? They probably don't even want me there." Alvita said, mumbling. Not only did she hate the caique and his daughter, but Alvita had also developed a hatred for the village people. When she was younger, Alvita had been mocked by other children because of her mother's blood. This caused Tiburon to start hiding Alvita whenever they returned to the village. Though Tiburon didn't want to force Alvita on her own, Alvita had 'become a woman' and had to stop being so dependent on him to protect her.

Alvita was just about to cry until she heard a twig snap. She instantly whipped her head around and saw one of the Ni Village's shamans. The shaman tilted his head and walked over to Alvita, still keeping a respectable distance.

"Child, what are you doing in the forest all alone?" The man had an androgynous voice with a slight lisp, almost like a snake's. Alvita had only stared and looked the man up and down. He had a feminine face but a muscular body with scars on his shoulders and neck, all of them were clearly done with a blade. He noticed Alvita staring at the scars and smiled, "Do you think I'm scary because of these?" He said, covering his shoulder. Alvita continued to not speak and only shook her head. This amused the shaman and he laughed.

"Why so silent? I had come into the forest to gather some wood for the little chief, but I noticed you sitting near the lake and wondered 'My what could she be doing here?'" As he smiled, his eyes turned into crescents. "The celebration has already started and yet you're still here so I decided to check on you."

Did he say 'still'? Was he watching me the whole time?! Alvita's eyes widened and she stood up to back away from him. She ended up standing too fast and fell right into the water. Despite her obvious embarrassment, the man only laughed at her misfortune. "Silent and clumsy! No wonder Ya was worried about your absence." He came over and picked up the now-soaking girl and turned to leave. "Come, he'll give you a change of clothes once we return." Alvita only nodded slightly and began trailing after him.

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Yari was thrilled seeing all of the gifts the villagers had given her. Some were marvelous like glistening shells and meat while others were simple clothes and a few weapons. She had taken a liking to the knife that a warrior had given her but was instantly shut down when Ya had taken it from her. "Yari…you're not old enough to have this." Ya could only sigh and shake his head at all the men who had chosen to give her dangerous items. This didn't ruin Yari's fun though, a group of children her age had come over and started playing with her near the fire and some even taught her how to play some games like batey.

While Yari was enjoying herself, Ya had been overcome with stress and began questioning the guards.

"Where are the Niola's? It's dark already and I have yet to see Tiburon and Alvita." One of the guards stood up straight and nervously spoke, "C-chief, it could be that they left late!" The others quickly agreed with nods. Ya shook his head and sighed, "Tiburon is never late. Perhaps he-" Before he could finish his sentence someone had shouted for him.

"Brother!!! I've found the child but she has a slight problem!" Ya looked over and saw the shaman and Alvita walking over. He didn't spare a moment and instantly ran over towards them. This caused Alvita to flinch and hide behind the shaman. "Adio, what took you so long?!" The concern on Ya's face only made him laugh. "Ah, you see…this one had come alone and must've ended up lost in the forest." As Adio said this, he pulled Alvita out in front of him and patted her head. "She was so scared that she ended up falling in the water! What a pitiful thing!" It was obvious he didn't actually feel bad for her because he was laughing to the point of holding his stomach.

Alvita's previous embarrassment instantly flared up again. She began trembling from not only the anger from being made fun of but also because of her drenched clothes making her cold. Why me? What have I done to be cursed like this? Ya saw her obvious discomfort and shook his head. "Adio, your behavior has tormented this child. Go and get Yari." He grabbed Alvita's hand and slowly brought her towards his home.

The other villagers saw Ya bringing Alvita into the house and shook their heads at the sight. A foreign-looking girl drenched in water with a terrified look on her face being 'dragged' into the chief's home was of course not uncommon due to tribes going to war and taking female prisoners, but to think their chief would participate in such a crime had disappointed the people deeply.

This was of course only an assumption and wasn't Ya's intention at all. Ya had gone into a separate room and pulled out a new set of clothes for Alvita. "It may be a little tight…Yari is smaller than you.." he walked out of the room and waited for Alvita to finish getting dressed.

Not only was Alvita stricken with fear, but she was also confused as to why the chief was being so respectful toward her. Not only had he hospitalized her and given his own child's clothes to her, but he had even defended her when that off-putting shaman had made fun of her. Alvita quickly put on the dress given to her and left the room, but when she left she was only greeted by a short girl mindlessly carving a piece of wood on the floor.

Yari looked up and squinted at Alvita. "Are you the one Papa wanted me to meet?" She put down the poor excuse of a frog sculpture along with the knife and walked over to Alvita. "You're tall!" Yari said looking up with a gleaming smile.

Alvita quickly walked away to the other side of the room and glanced around the place. "Where's your father?" Maintaining eye contact was never hard for Alvita, until now. Yari's eyes widened and she began to giggle, "You sound funny! How'd you get your voice like that?" Alvita frowned and didn't respond. The silence only made Yari more curious and she started to walk up towards Alvita again. "Why won't you talk now? I like how you talk! It's like a frog!" Yari had closed a considerable distance between the two and locked Alvita's hands into hers. Despite the height difference, it was clear that Yari seemed to overpower Alvita.

Alvita shot Yari a look and stammered, "A-a frog?! What kind of compliment is that?!" Despite her discomfort, Alvita didn't try moving from Yari again.

Everyone in this village is so weird. They don't know how to talk like normal people!

Alvita was lost in her thoughts and hadn't realized Ya walked in. Yari instantly let go of Alvita and ran over to her father happily. "Papa!!! This girl sounds funny! It's like a frog's croak!" She pointed over at Alvita and Ya frowned. "We don't say things like that." He said, patting her head. Yari looked at Alvita and looked back at her father, "Why? I like frogs. There's nothing wrong with it!" Ya smiled and nodded and glanced at the frog sculpture Yari was making.

"Is that so? Why don't you give her what you made?" Yari blushed and shook her head. "No!!! It's not done!!" She ran back to her unfinished sculpture and began carving again. "You weren't supposed to see it yet, Papa!!" She said pouting. Alvita stared at Ya and sighed, "Thank you for giving me new clothes. I'll be going home now." Ya watched as she left and suddenly spoke, "Ah, it's quite dark out, isn't it? You should stay the night…it's not safe out there!" Alvita paused her steps and began walking back towards Ya.

"My father will be concerned about my absence…" She waited for Ya to respond but all he did was smile and pull her back into the room. "Your father knows that I will make sure you're safe. Just stay the night and I will escort you back home." Alvita could tell that no matter what she said, Ya would still find a way to keep her, so she simply nodded and sat down next to Yari. Yari's focus was unwavering, she didn't spare Alvita or Ya a glance and continued to perfect her frog sculpture. Ya smiled at this scene and silently left the room.

Alvita had sat there in awkward silence until Yari exclaimed, "I'm done!!" She turned and held a frog the size of her hand and smiled. Alvita glared at Yari and scooted away from her. Yari's smile fell when she saw the unfriendly manner and looked down sadly at the frog. "Don't you want it?" The shaky voice coming from her made it obvious that Yari was about to cry which only frustrated Alvita more.

You're always crying. What a big baby. Alvita furrowed her brows and slapped the frog sculpture from Yari's hands. "I obviously don't want it! Stop trying to say I'm a frog!!" Yari stared at the frog sculpture and went over to pick it back up. She didn't say anything as she pouted, holding back tears until she remembered the flower crown her father had given her. Without saying anything, she threw the frog to the side and quickly ran out of the room. Returning with the crown, Yari seemed nervous and thought about what she should say. "I-if you don't want the frog then…maybe this? It's an apology gift!" She sat back down next to Yari this time keeping a distance between them.

Alvita stared at the crown and looked Yari up and down. She noticed the flower crown also on Yari's head and realized that both crowns were the same. Alvita grabbed the crown from Yari and mumbled, "Thank you…it's your birthday and yet I didn't get you anything. My apologies." Seeing that Alvita accepted the gift, Yari smiled and shook her head quickly. "No, it's fine!! Meeting you is a gift in itself!!" Yari blushed after realizing what she said and began to stutter, "Ah!!! What I meant was uh…it was nice to meet you!!" Seeing that Alvita continued to stare at her blankly, she instantly covered her face and spoke in jumbled words.

Alvita didn't understand why Yari was acting like that and tilted her head at her. She ignored Yari and got up to walk towards the side room. "I'm going to bed." Yari quickly got up and also headed toward the room.

"Y-you can sleep on my bed!" Yari said, getting ready to lie down on the floor. Alvita didn't wait for permission and had already lain on the bed. "You're small enough to fit with me on it. Just sleep on it." As she said this, she scooted over and patted the open space. Yari got up and nervously laid down next to Alvita. With her back turned, Yari's mind was racing, and couldn't force herself to sleep like this.

"What's your name?" Alvita couldn't believe what she heard and sat up in shock. "You don't….you didn't know my name?" Yari felt Alvita sit up and turned around to look at her. "Why would I know your name? We only just met." Alvita's brows furrowed as she glared at Yari's confused face, "We have met before!! How bad is your memory?! Only four years have passed!" Alvita couldn't understand why she was upset about this and just let her emotions run wild. "How could I know your name but you don't know mine?! How self-centered could you possibly be?!" It's not like this really mattered to her, the fact that the chief's daughter hadn't known her name yet behaved so strangely towards her is what frustrated her even more. Yari's mouth was agape and seemed to find it hard to respond. Alvita saw this and continued to yell at Yari, "Alvita! My name is Alvita Niola!! How could you not know this?!" At this point, Alvita had gotten up from the bed and stomped out of the room.

"W-wait where are you going?" Yari scrambled out of the bed and ran after her. "I'm going home! Why would I sleep in the bed of a 'stranger'?!" Alvita started to quicken her pace and left the house completely ignoring the guards. Yari tried to run after her but was stopped by the guards' hands. "Alvita, I'm sorry!!!" Yari yelled trying to get her attention but it was ultimately useless since Alvita had already taken off running. Yari pouted and went back to her room and noticed the flower crown on the floor.

She picked up the crown and placed it on her bed and solemnly stared before laying down.