12 – Tents, Tigerlily, and Spit?

Mira soared confidently with Peter by her side. She looked down and saw the trees racing past her and she powered forward as fast as she could go. Between the trees below, Mira watched as a handful of people sprinted along the forest floor, attempting to keep up with Peter and herself. Peter pointed out in front of them at a line of smoke rising skywards, just ahead of them.

"That's where we're headed." Peter shouted so she could hear him.

Within a matter of moments, they had reached a campsite with a burning fire in its centre. Mira coughed the smoke from her lungs as she slowly descended to the ground. She had accidently flown straight through the stream of smoke as she tried to slow down. As Peter waited on the ground for her to land, Tigerlily ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle. Peter buckled under the strength of the enthusiastic hug from the chief's daughter. A feather she was wearing in her hair tickled Peter's nose relentlessly; causing him to sneeze down the back of his admirer. She quickly pulled away in disgust but Peter merely laughed.

"Mira," Peter began, turned towards her, "this is Princess Tigerlily."

Tigerlily looked at Mira for the first time and brushed a pair of calculating eyes over her. The new girl Tigerlily had been confronted with was just slightly taller than herself but looked around the same age. In a developmental sense, that is. So Tigerlily, in an effort to show her acceptance, flung her arms around Mira in a similar breaking hug to the one she had gifted Peter on his arrival.

The pair were escorted into the camp by the princess and the scouts that had eventually caught up to them. Mira stood back and watched as Peter approached the chief, who pointed in the direction of one of the larger tents. Peter turned and beckoned Mira to follow him as he entered the tent. Mira turned and thanked Tigerlily quickly before hurrying in after Peter.

When she pushed through the fabric she saw Peter hurriedly whispering to an elderly woman with his hand outstretched to show her the feathered dart. The woman looked at it with familiar intrigue, as though she could not understand how he could have gained possession of such a thing. Peter leaned closer and murmured to the lady whose eyes shot up to look at him and then to Mira, still standing at the entrance. The sudden attention beckoned Mira nearer. The woman's eyes combed over her with intense curiosity before a surprisingly firm hand wrapped itself around Mira's wrist to inspect her arm.

"Mira, this is Gaho." Peter gestured towards the woman. "She says she has seen the dart before."

The woman started to speak to Peter, who replied in a tongue Mira had not heard before. "What happened after she was hit with this?" Gaho held up the dart.

Peter was stumped for a moment when he realised that he had no answer to this question; due to the fact that he had not been there when Mira received the dart. So Mira took the opportunity to respond for herself.

"I got dizzy and fell asleep. Then it got really itchy." Mira spoke fluently, giving the area on her arm another scratch in case she wasn't understood. Peter and the medicine woman watched her for a moment before Gaho got up and fetched a small bowl from a nearby table and walked outside.

"You can speak to them, too?" Peter exclaimed with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry, it just came out!" The look Mira received from him was so intense it sent a shiver down her spine.

The stale air between them shook free when Gaho returned with the bowl, now containing a handful of shiny red sediment, and sat in front of Mira again. She instructed the girl to spit into the bowl which made Mira question her translations but Gaho made a gesture and so she hesitantly did as she was told. The elder took the bowl back and began to stir with her fingers, before rubbing the mixture over the redness of Mira's skin. Immediately the itchiness faded and a wave of relief washed over her.

"Thank you!" Mira gasped, looking up at the lady who gently nodded her head. The three of them stood up to exit the tent but just before leaving, Mira turned back to see Gaho and Peter whispering again. Gaho stretched her hand out in a gesture toward the South before noticing their conversation was being watched. She snapped her arm back to her side and ushered both Mira and Peter out the tent. Gaho took Peter's hand and looked meaningfully into his eyes before letting him go to lead Mira back to the hide out. His face accommodated the same shadowed expression which distracted him enough to miss the princess Tigerlily's farewell. Mira waved at her and smiled before turning back to Peter, now charging through the foliage outside of the camp.

"I guess we are walking home." Mira muttered to herself, trotting to catch up with him.

Note: Growing up, we were always told to spit on insect bites to stop the itchiness – and it actually works! This chapter was inspired by that memory.