Welcome to this story! The main character is an oc, an oc (SI-OC? Not sure how you call those) from the present reincarnated as Connor's twin sister. Hope you enjoy the read.
The Beginning
Inside the village of Kanien'kehà:ka there was a big commotion as everyone was preparing for the approaching winter.
Some people were working on reinforcing the wooden walls surrounding the community, others were getting ready for a hunting trip and even more people were drying up meat.
While the adults were busy getting ready for the incoming cold the children were playing without a care, happy and smiling, too young to care about the hardships that the winter would bring.
The children were playing at tag; their laughter rang through the whole village creating a peaceful and serene atmosphere.
Not far from where they were a playing, a woman with two black braids was cleaning the fat off a cut of meat. She briefly glanced at the squealing group but she did a double-check when her eyes couldn't find what they were looking for.
Her hands stopped moving and she scanned the group, a small smile forming on her lips at the sight of a young boy with shoulder-length hair, but still no trace of the little girl that she knew was up to something.
''Kaniehtiio!'' her thoughts were interrupted by a shrill voice; giving one last look at the kids she cleaned her hands with a cloth before turning to the source of the voice.
''What is it Kanien'tahawi?'' she asked the older woman.
''The clanmother wants to speak to you.''
Ziio was about to object but Kanien'tahawi stopped her ''Do not worry, I'll finish up here.''
She thanked her with a tight-lipped smile and she started heading to the longhouse that her mother resided in. Thoughts of the little girl momentarily forgotten.
From under a table, a small, curly head peeped out. The little girl watched the retreating form of Ziio, a big smile on her face; as soon as the woman vanished inside the clanmother's longhouse she came out of her hiding spot and sprinted towards their longhouse.
As she expected, the building was empty, all the grown-ups busy with various tasks and the children caught up in playing. She went straight to Ziio's bed and started rummaging through the stuff the woman kept under her cot.
A small shout of triumph escaped her lips when her hand met what she was looking for, a diary.
Since she found the book, two weeks ago, she's spent every minute where she was alone reading it. The diary of this stranger was the best form of entertainment that she has found until now.
She was about to sit and begin reading from where she left off when she heard the sound of voices approaching.
She hastily got to her feet and ran to the backdoor. Once outside she quickly sneaked out of the village, looking behind her to make sure that Ratonhnhaké:ton wasn't following her as was his usual whenever he saw that she was planning something.
She walked for a few minutes at a leisurely pace; making sure that the village wasn't too far away, just in case she ran into troubles.
She found a big rock and she sat on it, cross-legged and the dairy in her lap. With her elbows on her knees and her head lazily on her palm, she started reading, turning a page every few minutes.
She was so immersed in the reading that she didn't hear the voices nearing until it was too late and without the possibility to run back to the village she hid behind the rock, hoping that she wouldn't been seen.
The voices were getting closer and closer: she tried to relax her muscles and to steady her uneven breathing, all the while her hands clenching for dear life on the diary.
She heard a rustling of leaves from the other side of the rock; they must be hiding behind it too. The universe must have really hated her.
Now, at least, she could make out what they were saying. They were speaking English and the adults of the village taught her and the other children that the colonists they dangerous, not that she didn't already know that.
One needn't be a genius to know that relationships between Europeans and native in this time were bad, to say the least, for obvious reasons.
''You sure it's here?'' asked a male voice.
''For the fourth time, yes, I'm absolutely sure. The signal indicated this area and we've been searching for almost a weak and this is the only village we've found,'' answered a feminine but serious voice, sounding annoyed.
''Even if he's here, which we can't be completely sure of, how the hell are we going to find him? And most importantly convince them to let us take him with us? We can't go up to their doors and demand that they let us have a little chat with their children and maybe take one of them awa-''
''Stop your blathering, it's only distracting me. We'll find a way, but for the love of god, shut your damn mouth!'' the woman interrupted him, exasperated.
''Oh. I see, alright, alright. From now on, I'm not going to talk anymore, go on, concentrate and create a plan,'' he said offended.
A few, silent, minutes passed and the woman growled impatiently.
''Fuck, I'm not coming up with anything.''
The silence persisted.
''Come on, stop it!'' she ordered, probably speaking to her now mute companion.
''Stop acting like a damn child, we have a mission here, remember?'' she repeated, getting angrier by the minute.
''I'm just going to say…'' started the man calmly ''…that your nasty attitude is not helping at all. It's not helping with the mission and surely it's not helping with my mental health and wellbeing.''
She could not believe what she was hearing, what were those two blabbering about?
''Oh my fucking god...'' the woman growled then took a deep breath.
''Ben. The mission,'' she sighed.
''I know, Mary, I'm just saying that we would work a lot better together if you'd stop acting like you have a stick up your ass,'' he hissed.
She then heard a thud from the other side of the rock, followed by a cry of pain from the man.
''Maybe If you paid more attention to the missions and stopped going on about all your 'cool' and 'dope' things from the future I wouldn't be so frustrated with you all the time,'' she gritted through her teeth.
She almost couldn't believe what her ears were hearing, for a minute she felt as if she was back home, to her time, and just listening to a stupid argument between two idiots.
Wait a minute.
Cool.
Dope.
Future.
''I know what we're here for and I'd just like to remind you, that here, I'm the expert. After all, I've already been through this,'' he answered back with a cocky voice.
''If that's the case, why don't you come up with a plan, mister expert?''
There was a beat of silence and she awaited eagerly for his answer.
''We go to the village, we introduce ourselves and we ask the children if they know what a TV or a smartphone is,'' he instructed casually.
''Let me understand'' began the woman ''you want us, two white people armed with rifles, to just go to their doors, knock and start talking about your twenty-first century nonsense?'' she asked in disbelief.
''Do you eve realize that this is what you just said we couldn't do? This is ridiculous, it's so fucking ridiculous I can't even be mad at it,'' she laughed dryly.
She struggled to believe that the conversation she was eavesdropping was real and not the product of her mind. They were talking about TVs and smartphones, how could they know about such things? Unless…unless, they too, were in her same situation.
They were looking for a child, someone from the twenty-first century. They must be searching for her.
A glimpse of hope.
Maybe there was a way of going back, to her family, to her city, to her life.
She glanced at the village, the high-pitched and merry laugh of a child and the soft, kind smile of a woman came to her mind. She shook her head; no, she couldn't let this chance pass her by.
She would go with them and then…and then what? She didn't exactly know their intentions, for all she knew they could just kill her or worse. She couldn't trust them but at the same time they didn't sound all that dangerous or bad.
Maybe they were good people and they were looking for her to help her or for her knowledge of the future. And if she went with them they would leave the village alone.
No one would even know that these two strangers got near the community and no one would ever know what had happened to her.
Again, thoughts of Ziio and Ratonhnhaké:ton, the two most important people and her only family in this life, invaded her mind. She pushed them aside; she couldn't have doubts about this.
Dumb and dumber were still arguing over how to get into the village when she came out of the hiding spot; at first, they didn't notice her, so immersed were they in their argument.
''Ehi.'' She tried getting their attention.
In the blink of an eye she found herself face to face with two rifles, her heartbeat increased and she gripped the diary even harder.
The man lowered his gun; he looked tentatively at the woman whose weapon was still pointed at her.
''Ehi…can you understand me?'' he asked slowly and softly.
She nodded her head.
''Good, great, ok…ok…ahm…'' he looked at the woman for help.
The woman stared at him incredulous and her mouth opened as if to talk but she did not give her the time.
''My name is Esmeralda Brambilla, or at least it was, I was born in Milan in 1990; I don't know how much this matters now so I guess I'll reintroduce myself the right way; hi, I'm Karonhiokohe.'' She said all in one breath.
So here is the first chapter, which is more of a prologue, hope you liked and if you want to share your thoughts, please do. Constructive criticism is much appreciated, especially because English is my third language so if you've noticed mistakes in the syntax or that I've used a wrong tense, feel free to tell me. Also leave suggestions if you want, I have a vague idea of where I want this to go but I'd like to hear some of your ideas.