Second chapter already~ I'm so happy that I've managed to get everything dolled up, now it's just for writing the chapters. I reckon that I should probably get an update up every weekend. Hopefully. : )

A shout out to my awesome new beta reader,Wednesday101, who is also my first reviewer. Thumbs up!

DISCLAIMER: I own Hetalia. All of it. Believable? Not really, huh? Oh alright then. I don't own it, just this humble storyline and the characters that sound weird. Yeah, those are mine alright.

Okie dokie, on with the chapter, then.

- Marinne.

Teva opened her eyes.

The sun had just come up, it was time to get going. Time with Nakka was rare enough as it was, keeping her waiting would just be adding onto the unpleasant situation. Even though most had thought it to be impossible, she had gotten even older over the last ten years, and not just in appearance. It had finally come to the point that she was too old to come down from her tree house—much to her constant disgruntlement—and was too tired to put up with the sound of Teva's voice for too long.

Still, she was anxious to talk to her mentor; this was the reason why she had returned so soon. Up until yesterday, Teva had been sailing, as was customary for a Spirit Speaker to do once a year. It didn't usually last long, just a week in solitude speaking to the spirits and fending for oneself in a place as plain as the sea. There had still been two days to go, but the spirits had excused her from them, telling her to be home immediately and talk to Nakka as soon as she could because it was time. Teva didn't know why it was now all of a sudden, after all those years, but that didn't matter too much now.

She had arrived late into the previous night, and her mother had told her to wait until morning before going to see Nakka. Well, now was morning; so that was exactly what she was going to do.

Pushing the deerskin blanket off of herself, Teva hopped to her feet. Her legs felt a littleweak from the sudden and brusque movement, but she didn't really care; the anticipation building up in her belly masked anything and everything else. Not many people got up at dawn—her mother, for example—but she put faith in the spirits that Nakka would be awake and waiting for her.

The scenery was beautiful outside of the tent. The golden sun had tinted the sky pink, purple and green, the rays bathing everything in a precious light. Just the sight of it brought a smile to Teva's lips, as it had done many times. Her world was beautiful. Jungle and sky were both at peace, the hubbub still quite quiet, the bustling of daily activity not started yet It didn't take long to make her way to the thick tree upon which Nakka's tree house was built, lost to the eye amongst the vivid foliage. Grabbing the spindly rope ladder, she was quick and agile in climbing her way to the top as she had done this so many times before over the years. Just as she had hoped, the smell of a crackling fire greeted her nostrils, paired with the thousands of spices that Nakka loved to keep around so much.

"Good morning, Teva dear. To what do I owe the pleasure this time?"

Nakka's frail voice called out from inside, and Teva didn't waste time stepping inside to greet her mentor. Nakka was old. So much older than she had ever been before. Her entire head of hair was white, her skin etched with wrinkle upon wrinkle. Time affected her so that she hadn't been a Spirit Speaker for seventeen years. Still, the ever-present mild smile was still as young as ever.

It filled the girl with happiness to see the woman; if she had missed someone at all during the past few days, then it was doubtlessly Nakka. Walking over with a broad smile, Teva took her seat next to Nakka beside the purple fire.

"Oh Nakka! They told me that it was time, he's coming to get me, Nakka!"

Teva had thought about it a lot, and it made her heart flutter to think about that white man that was to be her Soul Sharer. She imagined him with hair as golden as the sun's rays each morning; with eyes as blue as the mid-afternoon sky, and with an easy smile that was as contagious as laughter.

The longing to see him had gotten stronger over the past four years; all of her friends had found their Soul Sharers in prior Sun Festivals, and they would often look at Teva with slightly pity as well as sympathy as she sat alone. For the sake of simplicity she always pretended not to notice these looks.

Nakka's lips curled in a soft smile, the corners of her eyes wrinkling. "Oh Teva, it's wonderful to see you so excited. I wish you the best of luck, but," why must every good thing have a 'but'? Teva didn't understand, nor did she particularly want to, in all fairness. "I don't advise you to be too hasty; though the spirits have said that the time has come, it won't happen today and it may even take some more time."

As much as it annoyed her, Nakka was right, as usual.

Even though she waited all day and was in soaring spirits until nightfall, nothing happened; no golden haired white-man came. Nor did he come the next day, or the next. In all truth, when Teva was starting to honestly believe that she would be waiting for months on end, a ship was finally spotted on the seventh day.

She had been sulking after her latest talk with Nakka—in which she had kept saying that there was nothing left to do but wait, which irritated the silver eyed girl to no end—at the beach, with the sun beginning its descent over the horizon. She was sat on a rock, her feet dangling over the crystalline seawater with nothing but a silly gull to keep her company, when movement in the waters of afar caught her attention.

She looked up, only to be met with the sight of a huge ship. It had billowing white sails, with a red cross painted in its center, and a colourful flag dancing in the wind. She had never seen a proper ship, just the canoes and little boats that her people were good at crafting, and it blew her breath away. There was no way that she would ever forget the sight of it, with the sun in the background and the sea below it.

It was beautiful.

Teva hurriedly scrambled to her feet, her black hair whipping in her face so that she had to fight with it to keep it from her silver eyes. The ship was still very far, an hour's sailing from her position, perhaps, but she could still make out little human figures oddly dressed at the front. If she could see them, they could see her. Upon thinking that, Teva immediately dropped down and stuck with her body close to the ground, eyes glued to the ship in the distance.

What should she do? It was common knowledge that other clans and tribes that had been eradicated by the white men, so they could very possibly be dangerous. She would have to warn everyone, and then Nakka would know what to do.

Without so much as another seconds thought, Teva sprang again to her feet and dove back into the cover of the jungle; sprinting, jumping, climbing—hurrying back to the village.

"They're here! They're here!"

She yelled out as she arrived, drawing the people out from within their tents to look at her with confusion. There wasn't a single soul here who didn't know what she meant, yet they had all managed to convince themselves that this wouldn't be happening for a long time.

Whispers broke out amongst the people, and children held onto their parents with uncertainty. The chief of the clan—Wirggun, a tall middle aged man with a gruff voice and a strong build—came out almost at once, his wife Etereah following close behind with a creased brow.

"Send for Nakka; we'll need her advice," Wirggun barked at his three children. All of them were older than Teva, and of similar, strong builds to their mother and father. Two of them headed off straight away, whilst the last one told her parents that they would need even more help, since moving Nakka was a delicate task.

Teva considered helping out with the task, but Etereah simply called to the two nearest kinsmen and the three set off with Hallanah to fetch Nakka from her tree house.

"Teva!" Wirggun called, striding over to her with meaningful, swift strides. Instantly, the entire clan seemed to be closing in on them, perhaps to hear Teva speak. It was pretty intimidating. "What did you see?" He asked briskly.

The chief wanted to know facts, not details.

Mainly, Teva knew that he wanted to know whether he would need to call everyone to get into their battle gear or not.

"It was a massive ship, still far out in the ocean, but they should be arriving within the next hour. They had white sails, with a red cross."

Unlike many of the other young ones of the clan, including Teva, Wirggun had encountered white men before. He knew that the red cross hardly ever brought any good. His features darkened for a second, face becoming stony.

"We cannot fight them, not in our state!" Etereah whispered fiercely.

Although everyone knew her words to be true, it didn't make anyone any happier about them. The clan had sent warriors to help another clan fight against the invaders, but only a handful returned to tell the tale of their vociferous failure.

These recounts had felt like horror stories; with fire spitting weapons on their ships and huge battle daggers that didn't look like daggers at all. These men had been dressed in iron, making them unbeatable. It had been a massacre.

"No," Wirggun agreed seriously, looking up at the darkening sky. "Fighting will get us nowhere this time." His eyes flew back down to the people gathered, now landing on Teva, alerting her. "Is there any chance of figuring out what they want?"

Although the question was directed at the thin girl it wasn't her voice that answered. "Nothing is impossible for a Spirit Speaker."