One month had passed since Arthur and his crew arrived in the New World.
Every day at high noon, Maiara and Aputsiaq left to go talk with Arthur and, on many occasions, explored the land with him.
Only, it wasn't Aputsiaq anymore, as of one week ago, he now wanted to be called Alfred. He never gave a specific reason why, but he was adamant about it and never responded to Aputsiaq when she called.
Maiara felt odd saying his name but slowly, after a month of learning some English words, she grew accustomed to it.
Said persons were now heading out to the buffalo clearing to meet Arthur, who wanted to go down by the rivers and see the sturgeon that they had talked of so many times.
"Arthur!" cried Alfred happily, and launched himself into the man's arms as they came into the clearing.
Maiara was left behind, walking slowly to the center.
"We go to see the lake today?" she said haltingly.
Arthur smiled and hoisted Alfred on his shoulders.
"Of course." They both started walking, Maiara leading the way, and Alfred happily chattering the whole way.
They soon reached the river and Alfred jumped off of Arthur and ran to the river happy to play with the tadpoles again.
Maiara sat down and took off her pack, watching Alfred stumble over a few rocks.
She looked at Arthur who was digging in the ground, seemingly trying to find something.
"You lose something?" she questioned.
Arthur jerked, a sheepish expression on his face, and he threw the small handful of dirt on the ground.
"Yes, actually. I'm looking for some gold." He looked away, embarrassed to have been caught/
"Gold?" Maiara was confused, she had never heard of "gold" before.
Arthur turned to her, "yes, gold, it's, well, it's small and a yellow-ish color and it can be shiny."
Maiara nodded, understanding.
"Oh, I have some right here!" She turned to her pack and rummaged through it.
Arthur blinked, astonished. Could it really have been that easy? All he needed to do was ask her?
He composed himself as she turned around, producing an ear of corn.
"Gold?" She pushed the corn into his hands.
He laughed out loud.
"No, this is not gold. Gold is smaller, valuable."
Maiara shrugged, "everything is valuable."
Arthur laughed again, louder, "Yes, to a savage like you, I suppose corn is valuable."
Maiara sighed angrily and got up quickly.
Arthur panicked, he needed to be friends with this girl, he couldn't have her angry at him.
He walked towards Maiara. She was picking up small rocks, twigs, and blades of grass.
"What are you doing?" he asked, unsure of what she was getting at.
"You'll see."