As Asiu awoke, she was welcomed back to reality by a large grin on her brother's face.

"Do not panic, Asiu. You are safe" Tchumnetu assured her, with lips unmoving and a careful touch of his palm to her forehead "I have brought you back to the mountain".

"My osa? What of it?" She asked him drunkenly, still fatigued and not fully recovered, as she attempted raise herself.

Gently removed his hand from her forehead and placing it onto her chest and cupping her head, he lowered her back onto the bed.

"It is where all osa lay, with the osani, in the cleansed water. You need not worry. Restore yourself, then you may visit it, if you wish". With that, her brother respectfully put his forehead to hears before averting his sight from her as he exited her hut. The last time he would gaze upon her until she was with her offspring.

She lay there, on the bed of rock and grass, staring at the cloudless, grey sky through a small hole in the roof of the hut. Through this sight and the slight smell of moisture in the air, she already knew that rainfall would fall upon her tribe this night.

As she stared at the sky, a hazy image returned to her which then developed into a memory.

In such weather as would soon fall upon the tribe, Asiu once sat in a large, orange field; not too far from her tribe but further than most were willing to go alone.

In this field, she silently waited as small droplets of water delicately dribbled down her black face. She waited patiently. A long inhale and even longer exhale. One after another. She did not look out to the fields but instead lowered her head and placed her hands to the soil below her. With this calm rhythm of breathing, she allowed the chuka, small organs within her palms, to slowly vibrate and pulse.

With each of these pulses, she was able to see more of the landscape around her; though colourless and plain. This skill, sense through vibration, was one that all Atsiuni had, as all Atsiuni have chuka, but only very few had mastered such a skill so finely. Asiu's talent was rare.

Through these pulses, though slightly disrupted by the increasing droplets of rain that had begun to fall, she could see so much more. She could feel, just a few centimetres below her, the long, string-like insects that thrived and swam through the soil. She could see an distant creature pecking this soil only to then gracefully sweep into the air. Even better though, she discovered another animal not too far away from her location. She listened delicately as the mother tended to its children. She could hear the squeaks of its children as they delighted in playing with eachother. Here she focused harder.

With this patience and focus, she could just hear the beating within the chest of the mother. Slow but with quick flickers of strength. The mother was nervous, as one would need to be in the wildlands, but completely unaware that its presence had been noted. Another potential issue that this sensation meant that this animal had recently been bitten by a more ferocious predator, the venomous Sugr. A tough contender.

Asiu knew the target animal well. Far to long had she hunting these down. However, never before had a mother travelled do far from the great lake with it's offspring.

These animals were light grey in colour with a thick line of fuzz that followed the spine. A herbivore with a rounded head and bulky body. A large shield on its forehead allowed for it to attack prey or defend from predators. Incredibly strong, able to topple a small tree with enough force. But this strength and weight came at a cost. Where these animals were strong, they were slow and often easily frightened.

Asiu could only assume that this small family had travelled from the lake, their usual habitat to eat in a territory that had not already been taken by others of its kind. A risky choice but such is the burden of parenthood. Or do she believed.

Asiu imagined the scenario of attack and was instantly faced with two problems- although one was more likely than the other.

The first possible, but more unlikely, problem would only arise if the mother was ready to battle. These animals, although not as big as many other predators of the wildlands, were still larger than her when fully matured; just as this one was. The children were sure to cower or scamper. But the mother may have been more bold. Asiu would, in this case, have to be prepared to rely on finesse and speed to dodge and look for an opening to attack.

The second, and more probable problem, was that though her senses were keen and clear, they were incredibly limited to a certain proximity. She could see no father with the mother and children. Neither could she see any of the other predators that may already have been watching this mother. This meant only one thing.

She would have to take a risk herself.

Carefully, as not to scare the beast away, Asiu crawled through the undergrowth of the field, watching for any small mammals or reptiles that may have hidden themselves in the mud. She had little interest in these but still needed to remain cautious.

Plus, she was focused on a bigger meal. One that she would bring back to her tribe to feast on that night.

Unfortunately, moving caused Asiu's senses to weaken. Too much sound and not enough focus. For now, she would rely only upon sight hearing and smell to survey her surroundings until at last she would be in a suitable vantage spot to attack the beast. Though the latter sense was one that was incredibly limited and not as finely tuned.

As she moved, she made sure to scrape her body through the dampened mud and would occasionally turn so that her back would also be muddied. Covering her self in mud, soil and animal faeces would hide her scent from her prey's strong sense of smell as she crawled closer.

She drew nearer until a point where she could hear the snorts of the mother and the squeaks and yaps of its immature children directly in front of her. Here, through a small gap between the long grasses of the field, Asiu could see the grey, wrinkled body of the beast.

The beat of Asiu's chuku steadily rose as a confident adrenaline coursed through her. As she stated at the beast her breathing, although controlled, grew heavier.

Asiu however, although a smart hunter, did not have a strong idea of strategy and had been told repetitively by the other hunters that she was often too brash and independent. Instead of thinking thoroughly through a plan, Asiu instead believed that instinct and feeling were strong enough indications.

So, when the adrenaline coursed through her veins and her chuku began to pound in her chest, this indication was offered to her and she leapt from her position and sprinted to the side of the beast and quickly, without allowing the animal to run from shock, sunk her fangs into its neck and clawed at its face, instantly cutting through its right eye and causing it to shriek in pain and stumble in an attempt to escape. Already its children had ran into the grasses. All but one at least, with lame legs and obvious malnutrition. Clearly too weak to travel anywhere quickly. It instead tried to hide by shrinking into itself.

The mother had begun to gallop away whilst attempting to shake Asiu off but Asiu simply clung onto the body as it ran and shrieked. She gripped its large back and side with her sharp nails and climbed the body so that she was closer to the head. Then, with incredible speed, such speed as only a skilled hunter could have, Asiu lengthened her nails and clawed through the beast's throat, spraying blood onto the grass and herself. Chunks of skin and muscle fell from the beast as it tried to roar. Blood loss already took its toll on the beast as it began to slow and sharply swerved and tumbled onto the floor, on top of Asiu; trapping her indefinitely. It shrieked and whined as it tried to kick its feet in the air until, at last, the oxygen left its lungs.

Asiu hurriedly squeezed and squirmed under its weight as its blood still sprayed from the wound but with only one arm, her shoulder and her head free, this was most challenging. She struggled furiously. Noise did not matter to her so much now. She would be easy prey whether or not she made noise. She would just need to be quick before any animals of the wilds found her in such a vulnerable position.

Despite her fighting, Asiu was already completely unaware that she had already been discovered and as she struggled, her observed edged closer, watching her with a gentle grin.

"Gaurdwa, hunter. Degara ta?" He said with a condescending whisper.

Still on her bed of rock and grass, she found that her mind wandered after seeing part of this memory unfold before her. She found herself trapped within a steel trance. Her mind, without intention, scrolled through her memories from that incident up until this point in time. A sad sensation filled her as she watched these memories in sequence. The room seemed to darken and her chuku slowed dramatically. It had been so long since that day. The day that her life changed.

Within her thoughts, she did not notice as children passed her hut to look in at her; muttering to eachother. They stared at her with curiosity as many questions swan through their heads. They wanted to step toward her and have her share knowledge. They waited for her to notice them despite knowing that they would be in trouble if she had. But she did not notice them. Nor did she notice as the children were quickly scolded by other tribe members and taken away from Asiu's shelter. Not a glance, even a caring glance, was given to her by the older members of the tribe.

She lay for a while until finally, her hina, her energy, had been restored enough and she decided she was strong enough to venture out. But as her legs left the rock and her toes dangled over the blue grass and small weeds that covered the entire floor, she became aware of a deathly heat and, looking up, she scrambled away from the floor with horror and sunk against the wall.

Her hut had disappeared and flames danced ferociously around her, roaring and snapping. Bodies covered the floor, ashes flew in the air, orange fire roared upon burning huts and the infant in the very center of the chaos held its mother's corpse. It looked at her and screamed loudly before erupting into a ball of skin, blood and muscle.

She looked away and found herself hugging the wooden wall. Looking back to the entrance she found that everything had returned to normal. No flames and no corpses.

She cautiously rose from the bed and peered outside from the entrance to her hut.

The grey sky had indeed grown darker, as she had predicted, and not one cloud, not even in the horizon, could be spotted. A sigh of relief left her dry lips

As she began to walk walk through the tribe, she was instantly reminded of her loneliness and captivity. Not even a passing glance would be given to her until her infant had hatched from its osa. Whenever she passed another member of her tribe, they lowered their sight or busied themselves.

A belief that was followed with dramatic strictness. One should not speak or interact with a new mother until her egg had hatched. To look upon her meant great disrespect and would filthy her newly purified body. Only the chief, osani, the egg cleanser, and pandu, the partner, were exempt from the rule. Asiu's brother had only just been a short replacement needed to help deliver the offspring and his story to the tribe.

Fortunately, the osa would hatch soon and she would be a member of her society once more. As she walked, she appreciated the moisture in the air, it allowed her good memories to relaxed her as she made her way to the cleansing waters of the osani. She licked her lips and her palms with her pointed tongue and cleaned her face as she walked.

She reached the sacred pool not shortly after leaving her hut. Within the pool, only two osa lay. One pure black, and the other a lighter shade of grey. A mother sat by the grey osa. Only the black osa was alone.

Asiu examined this osa. Large and black with a soft membrane which covered a hole on a side of the shell; just as all osa had. She sat beside it and gently dipped her toes into the cold water and relaxed. Here at last. A place that she had never expected herself to be.

She wondered about the life inside of the shell. The miracle of its existence. She pondered about the shape of the offspring inside. Would it be powerful or weak? Would it be a hunter like her? Or a chief? Just by the colour of the osa, she already knew that the offspring would be pure black just as she was. But would it have the same abilities? She was excited to find out.

The other soon-to-be mother left her osa and returned sometime later, often taking intervals to walk into the tribe and spend time with her pandu.

Asiu promptly decided against this. She had already promised herself to stay beside her offspring as soon as it would be hers to hold. Moreover, she would have no one to join in the tribe. Even her brother would now not speak to her until the osa had hatched. Only the Osani and chief were available to her, but both were currently busy.

She instead waited with patient excitement. Her first child. At last. No longer would she be so alone.

Asiu stayed at the edge of the sacred pool, watching her osa, watching the other mother come and go. On this first night, the rain fell tremendously, cold and strong. Asiu shivered but did not move. Her foe had always been the animals of the wild. Now it would be nature. This would be her new challenge. She would remain unmoved.

At times, when Asiu became tired, she would request the osani wake her if even one crack appeared on the surface of the osa. After each time Asiu awoke, she immediately checked the osa for any changes and would often clean its surface, removing bugs and dirt.

Days went by like this to the point that at each dawn, the osani would offer her fruits and meat and would talk to her. The two would discuss the offspring within the osa but with each mention of the offspring and no changes to the osa, Asiu eventually began to become desperate and impatient.

Soon, another osa was introduced to the pool. This one was also grey, although much lighter than the other. The osani watched this egg closely and would often clean the surface with the water of the pool with the sincerest delicacy. Asiu wondered whether the chief had blessed one of the tribe's females with his seed. She had heard that each of the chief's osa were treated carefully. Unfortunately, as of yet, not one offspring of the chief's has survived the hatching. Perhaps this time would be different.

A little later, a mother joined the pool and sat with the new osa. Asiu knew both of these mothers well but decided not to communicate with them; despising the idea of forced conversation with others. The osani was sweet and caring. These two were not. Additionally, they also did not wish to converse with her. Asiu was known for her lack of talent in socialising and disinterest in social situations. The two mothers instead communicated to eachother secretly. Asiu could see this happening but could not hear them. She stated again at her osa.

She watched one day as the osani signalled for a tribe-member to collect the mother of the darker osa, the mother that had been here for a similar time that Asiu had, when her offspring was ready to hatch. Never before had Asiu felt so much jealousy when the osa hatched and the child was bathed in the cleansing water before being handed to the mother. Never before had Asiu tasted such disdain for a mother. Within she felt a threatening envy inside her stomach. She watched the mother joyously hold the offspring as the osani examined the body as it cried. Then after the examinations, the mother gracefully bound away from the pool and back into the tribe where she shared her creation.

The nights that had once been short had grown long. She was sick of her surroundings and tired of waiting.

Still, Asiu waited impatiently as many moons passed, looking to Ukut or sometimes staring intently into the clear, reflective water of the pool as small glowing bugs floated and skimmed its surface.

One night, at a time where the other mother was now with the chief, she stared at her own reflection and remembered the way she had once been. Feisty, wild, ready for a challenge, to face the animals of the wildlands, to fight, to feed upon the meat that she herself had slain. Was it the consequence of her birthing cycle that she looked so tired and haggard? Or was it that she had, over all of this time away from herself, lost a key component that may never return to her?

She thought about her future. Of raising her child. The day that it would learn to climb into the caves and learn about darkness and how to hide within it. The nights that perhaps they would sit together in the hut during nights of storm and harsh winter. A time, if it was strong enough to survive, when it would be old enough to hold its own infant.

But most important to Asiu, more important than anything else, was the day that she would teach her infant to hunt. Pictures arose in her thoughts of a black infant on her back as she hunted again. Similar to the older times. An image of a healthy and athletic infant crouched in the orange fields beside her, waiting for the opportune moment to attack.

Asiu could see herself in this scenario, watching her young with a genuine smile.

A feeling of warmth filled her being.

Author's note 🤔

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