edited/ rewritten 02/21/19

Respite

Aria sat with a group of young woman busy at work. In front of her was a flat stone where she rubbed a chunk of ochre rock to make a pile of fine red pigment. The girls around her mixed it with fat and butter to make a paste and rubbed it all over their bodies giving their skin a beautiful red sheen. One of the girls Aria often shadowed began to apply some of the paste to her sun burnt skin while she continued to grind.

It must have been almost a month since Starscream brought her to the tribe. The first few weeks she spent bed ridden in the elders hut, spending long days and nights trying to entertain herself between visits from curious tribespeople.

Then one day a man walked in and handed her a walking stick. Not even an hour later, she was out of the hut and exploring the village. It was tiny, only made up of five huts that circled around fire that never went out. Nearby was a loosely fenced area with about a dozen sheep and goats.

They only ate an animal on special occasions though. She was lucky enough to see a wedding take place and between the dancing and perfectly cooked meat, it was the happiest she felt in a long time.

Day to day everyone ate something resembling porridge. It was made from some sort of meal and animal milk and fat. Aria didn't think it tasted very good, but always ate as much as she could.

Woman brought water from somewhere far off. It tasted like the water from the oasis she found, which wasn't great, though Aria thought little of it while she drank.

It was amazing to always have plenty of food and water available. She was grateful of these people for taking her in and helping her. In repayment, she helped out with what she could. She did mostly small things like milking, grinding the red ochre stone, and making clothes and jewelry.

Overtime the girls started dressing her in more and more of their traditional clothing. One night they even went as far as stealing her shorts so she would have to wear a goat hide skirt instead. She continued to wear her tattered tank top and her shorts underneath the skirt. The girl that was applying the ochre paste to Aria's back finished and went for her arm while she was still grinding the red stone into powder.

"And what do you think you're doing, Muchimba?" Aria asked playfully, exaggerating her tone.

Muchimba let out a hysterical giggle. From the first time she tried talking to Aria she was instantly amused by everything she did. She enjoyed trying to mimic Aria's words but only was interested in actually learning two of them: "Aria," and "No".

Aria on the other hand had a very difficult time grasping any of their language. It took her long enough just to learn a few of the people's names and a couple of greetings which she was most likely butchering.

"Aria!" Muchimba matched Aria's look with a mischievous one of her own.

The shared look turned into a weird kind of staring contest, both their glares turning into squints waiting for the other to give up. Muchimba won with a brow wiggle that sent Aria into a fit of laughter.

The quirky tribe girl never failed to make Aria laugh. It made her feel like herself again. Even though this life was nothing like she was used to, she felt joy every time she woke up and knew she could eat and drink and be surrounded by other people.

The tribe was extremely welcoming to her, if it was due to the intimidating Decepticon, she did not know, but she was thankful for it regardless.

Aria held up her arm for Muchimba in defeat. The girl said something in a cocky tone and lightly slapped Aria's upper arm, leaving a goopy red handprint behind.

"Ah, so that's how it is," she chuckled and began to smear the paste evenly down her arm.

The pair continued applying the mixture to their skin. Aria found it protected her skin from burning anymore than it already had and the oils soothed the raw patches on her shoulders and face.

Muchimba began to hum. Much like Aria, she loved to sing and dance. Aria knew it was only a matter of time for the girl to burst out in song. Many times she was joined by others in the tribe, and sometimes the whole tribe would chime in, it was amazing to see.

This time Muchimba stopped and looked at her. Aria, who was putting some of the paste on her good leg, stopped what she was doing and looked back at her.

Muchimba pointed at Aria. However, Aria didn't understand what she was getting at and shook her head. The village girl pursed her lips for a moment and then a look of enlightenment crossed her features.

She pointed at herself and sang a part of a song, then pointed back at Aria again.

"Ah," Aria smiled. She wanted her to sing.

A part of her wanted to show off her opera voice and nock her socks off. But no, that was unnecessary, not to mention she didn't have that kind of energy at the moment. So what else could she sing?

Aria's eyes wandered along the landscape until they landed on the Decepticon sitting on the outskirts of the village. Almost instantly a song popped into her head.

She made a show of clearing her throat, earning a laugh from Muchimba who was now sitting in front of her.

"Nature, nurture, heaven and home
Sum of all and by them driven
To conquer every mountain shown
But I've never crossed the river"

Her voice was quiet. Muchimba leaned in closer as if to hear better. A couple of other villagers looked over in her direction. She imagined hearing her sing in English was just as fascinating as listening to them sing in their language.

"Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
Yet I'm helpless by the river"

More villagers stopped what they were doing and began to gather around. It felt like an eternity ago when she last sang in front of an audience. Her voice grew louder and more confident.

"Angel, angel, what have I done
I've faced the quakes, the wind, the fire
I've conquered country, crown and throne
Why can't I cross this river?"

Despite the growing audience, Aria's eyes landed on the distant Decepticon. She wondered if he could hear her. Probably not, she was sure any talk of peace would scare him away.

"It'll take a lot more than words and guns
A whole lot more than rage and muscle
The hands of the many must join as one
And together we'll cross the river"

She finished the song and her audience began to cheer. She received a few pats on the back as the people began to disperse and Muchimba began to hum the tune. Aria smiled, it felt nice to sing again.

Aria picked up her walking stick and began her slow process of getting up. She kept all her weight on her right leg to keep the burning pain of her left to a minimum.

Not one to watch her struggle, Muchimba gripped her under the arm and helped hoist her up. Aria smiled up at her in thanks. Muchimba stayed behind while Aria limped towards the outskirts of the village. Towards Starscream.

He came and went as he pleased and had little to do with the village, preferring to sit against an old withered tree and keep to himself. Aria normally ignored him. She enjoyed not having to deal with his erratic behavior.

However, it had been a long time since she sent a message. Honestly, she didn't even know if it mattered anymore. It had been so long that she was surely they weren't coming for her. Deep down she already started to accept that this was her life now. When Starscream finally gave up, he would leave and abandon her here.

Maybe one day someone would come by, maybe from a town or a tourist, and they could take her back to a city where she could make her own way home.

"Ah," came Starscream's condescending voice, "The insect comes crawling back to its master."

"Hello, Starscream," she greeted, ignoring his comment.

Starscream crossed his arms over his chest that had long healed. She was jealous of the Transformers healing abilities.

Locating a nearby stone, she carefully sat down.

"Have you come to preach, girl?"

Aria looked ahead in confusion briefly before she realized what he meant. "No, I just came to talk."

"You have an entire village to talk to now."

"Well I can't really talk to them," she paused. "But I do appreciate you bringing me here."

Starscream made a sound that resembled a long, frustrated sigh. Aria bit her lip to hide her snicker. It was almost cute how he reacted to courtesy.

Whoa, where did that come from?

"I only did it because I had to, girl. I was not being nice."

"Well even if you didn't mean to be nice, it was a nice thing to do, so thank you."

"Stop talking like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm not the enemy! I destroyed everything you have, I captured you, I kept you on the brink of death, and you thank me?" he raged. "The lack of food and water must have gotten to you."

"I haven't forgotten, Starscream," she stated, looking into his eyes. "And I know you plan is meant to impress Megatron, but it won't work."

"You don't know me!"

"I know you won't get what you want from the Decepticons, no matter what you do."

"I will, once my plan is complete."

"Starscream, you are constantly alone, and the one time another Decepticon shows up, he attacks you for no reason. What am I suppose to think after seeing that?"

"You weren't supposed to see that, girl. None the less, I will triumph over him soon enough and rule once again!"

Aria just looked at him. Talking wasn't working, she was just pushing him further away.

Starscream, however, did not like the look in her eyes. He let out a growl and dug his claws into the tree. He slid his hand down the trunk causing a horrible tearing noise. Aria looked away hoping he would stop.

Silence filled the air as Starscream seemed to stop and collect his thoughts. She had a feeling there was a lot more going on with him internally and every time she brought up what she thought of the Decepticons it seemed to grow.

But why was she doing it? Why was she trying to help him? He didn't deserve it after all he's done, but here she was, trying to convince him he could be better.

She'd seen firsthand that Decepticons can change their minds. She knew both Jetfire and Wheelie personally. They both reached their own conclusion that the Decepticons were no good, and both becoming useful allies to the Autobots.

But she couldn't see Starscream as an Autobot. He wanted to rule, something he couldn't do on that side either.

The feeling stirred. Still, she felt like she had too…at least help him.

Starscream's voice cut through the silence.

"I heard your little song about peace."

"It makes me think of you guys."

"How quaint," he mocked. "Thinking a war great enough to destroy planets can be summed up in a little song about a river."

Now he wanted to talk about the war? He made no sense to her. But it was a way to find out more about him.

"Then how would you sum it up then?"

Starscream sent her a scrutinizing look before he answered. "Those who fight for what's best for their race, and those who have given up on it completely."

Aria's jaw loosened. She wasn't expecting such an objective statement from the Decepticon. She was sure he would go on about how the Decepticons were right and Autobots were wrong. But his answer was almost objective sounding, as if it were the opinion of a neutral party.

Now she wanted to know his stance on the war. Did he truly agree with everything the Decepticons did?

"It seems like the goals of both sides have changed though, at least since you guys came to earth. I feel like Decepticons care more about destroying humans and in turn the Autobots now focus on protecting them."

Starscream scoffed. "What a typical human response, making it all about you."

"Do you agree though, that it isn't as black and white as it used to be?"

"War is ever changing, girl, and we must change with it. Once I lead, I will make sure it changes in my favor."

"So you think Megatron's ways are wrong?"

A flip seemed to switch when she asked him that.

"They are wrong! Fixating on trivial things and coming up with convoluted plans that only end in failure. We should be focusing on rebuilding our race! But the others do not listen to me, they listen to him, they're loyal to him!" He wasn't talking to her anymore, he was talking to himself.

So that was the other reason he wanted to rule. He wanted the recognition, but he also wanted to rebuild his own race. Something that Megatron apparently didn't care too much about.

She felt like she had just pulled at another loose thread. But was causing him to unravel even the right thing to do?

She watched him silently seethe for what felt like minutes before he became aware that she was still there. He looked at her with his glowing eyes but she could not figure out what was going through his head.

"Be gone, girl. I tire of your presence," he said finally.

Aria painfully got up off the rock and began to limp back towards the tribe. After a moment of looking around, she caught sight of Muchimba playing with a group of kids. It looked like they were playing tag and whoever was 'it' held a strip of leather that the others tried to grab.

Muchimba's eyes found Aria and waved her over. Aria raised a brow and gestured to her obviously injured leg. She was in no shape to be playing games.

Muchimba rolled her eyes with a laugh and beckoned her again, saying words Aria could not begin to replicate but had come to know the meaning: come here.

Still weary of the girl's plans, Aria limped over to the group of five. As she got closer, the kids stopped running around and looked between the two older girls. Aria smiled at the kids, she knew them all.

"Chioto, Maipi, Kozo," she smiled at the boys. "Kombopi," she greeted the girl.

They all waved at her with bright smiles on their faces. Aria guessed their ages ranged between five and ten years old. She was no child expert though.

Muchimba lead Aria to a large rock not too far from where they were playing and had her sit down on it. Once she was seated, Muchimba took her walking stick and began to talk to the kids who had come over as well.

Muchimba then demonstrated by tapping the kids with the stick and having them sit down on the rock beside her. She then handed the walking stick back to her.

Aria nodded in understanding. She was meant to use the stick to eliminate the kids from the game. Or at least that's what she gathered.

Muchimba then pointed out the imaginary perimeter of the game as a large circle around Aria, and the game began.

Kozo, the youngest of the children started with the piece of leather. He stayed far away from Aria, more towards the outer edge of the invisible circle. The other kids played along with the boy for a while, keeping their pace deliberately slow. After a few more moments, the second youngest child, and only little girl, snatched the leather away with a shout of glee.

"Run, Kombopi!" Aria encouraged.

Kombopi employed a different tactic, and ran towards the middle where Aria was. The two older boys were wise to her strategy and steered clear of Aria's walking stick. Kozo, however, was oblivious and Aria used the full six foot range of her stick to tap him on the back as he ran past.

He kept running, totally ignorant to being tagged by the stick.

"Kozongombe!" Muchimba called through a giggle at the boys antics. She proceeded to talk to him and point to the rock Aria occupied.

The boy let out an overdramatic moan and trudged over to Aria with the biggest pout she'd ever seen a child muster. She covered her mouth to hide her amused laugh at the boy's sour expression. He sat down with a thud and let out another loud sigh.

"Don't worry, I'll only keep you here for a minute, then you can play again," she said lightly. Sure Kozo couldn't understand her, but she could still try to communicate through the tone of her voice.

Kozo looked up at her in childish wonder and then up to the sky past her head. Aria looked as well, the loud sound of Starscream taking off was hard for anyone to ignore.

When the Raptor disappeared into the distance the game continued.

Aria now only half focused on it, her eyes still drifting back up to the atmosphere.

Where did he always go?

"Aria!"

Aria jerked her head over to Muchimba, realizing she had just let all the kids run straight past her without tagging a single one. Oops.

She patted Kozo on the shoulder and nodded her head towards the playing kids. Within a second he was up and running again, happy to be back in the game.

She watched Muchimba play with the kids, changing direction and cutting them off at random, sending them scattering.

Was this truly her life now? She felt like she'd been here so long that her life before felt distant and surreal, as if it were a dream. Fighting for her life for weeks made everything else feel so insignificant, or maybe it was being around these people.

They had so little and yet were perfectly happy. Their lives weren't exactly easy, but not terribly hard either, or at least they didn't make it seem that way.

Women did most of the labor, like milking, collecting water, and grinding up ochre, but they had fun while doing it, always talking and laughing.

The men mostly tended to the animals, a leisurely job that they enjoyed.

When the adults weren't working, they were playing with the children, lounging in the shade, or singing and dancing.

Aria looked at Muchimba. She didn't need excessive clothing and a big house like Aria did. She didn't go to university to get a degree that they didn't use. She was perfectly content with her life as it was. Aria felt a pang in her chest.

A tear slipped down Aria's cheek. As happy as she was here, she still felt like something was missing. Obviously there was the fact she was here as a hostage, only kept alive as a part of his plan that was somehow working. Did that mean the Autobots were still looking for her?

A slap on her shoulder knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked up at Muchimba who was lecturing her most likely about completely checking out of the game. She then helped Aria up and pointed over to where lunch was being served. While they walked over, Aria watched as Muchimba took the strap of leather and tucked it into her skirt, she wondered if that was where it originally came from.

After lunch was done, Aria and Muchimba joined a group of woman sitting in the partial shade of a withered tree making beaded jewelry. She did her best to smile and laugh with the others, but she still bothered by the thoughts she had earlier.

Muchimba brought a thin piece of leather up to Aria's neck, measuring it out so it rested around the base of her neck. When she was happy with the length, she took it off and cut it.

Aria sized up Muchimba's wrist in exchange. She saw it was covered in many plain leather bracelets and decided she would try to make a braided one with her limited skills. She took the left over leather from the necklace and placed it around Muchimba's wrist, catching her off guard at first, and then a cheerful smile graced her lips. Aria smiled back.

Aria felt her mood improve as she sat with the lively women. She took her time making the bracelet, braiding it and tying incremental knots after. Finally she put a couple of beads on the ends, completing it.

Not long after Muchimba finished her necklace as well. She turned to face Aria and held it out to show her. Aria held out the bracelet and they exchanged the jewelry.

Aria looked at the beautiful traditional necklace. The entire length was covered in tiny beads. They were mostly brown with a white one after every twenty or so.

"Thank you," Aria said with a sincere grin on her face.

Muchimba smiled back and gave her another playful slap on the arm, clearly not one for sappy moments. She put down her bracelet and tied the necklace around Aria's neck. Aria then tied the bracelet on Muchimba's wrist. The other woman in the circle giggled at the exchange.

While the sun was still high in the sky, Aria helped pack up all the jewelry items in a cloth. It was starting to get uncomfortably hot and most people where heading inside their huts to escape the heat.

Aria followed Muchimba towards her hut that she shared with her husband, Kakuve as she often did. She preferred their company to the village elder whose hut she still slept in.

Aria was waiting for Muchimba to finish crawling inside when she heard Starscream's return. She looked up in confusion. He didn't normally come back so soon. He was coming in fast too, faster than she'd ever seen.

It didn't look like he was going to land near the village despite how low he was to the ground. Maybe he was just flying by?

Without warning, twin missiles shot out in front of the F-22 Raptor. Aria's blood froze. Her whole body went numb. Her mind filled with sounds of explosions, both from Egypt, and her house. The noise, the screams, the searing heat.

The missiles flew past the village and over the nearby hill, followed by a deafening bang. The ground shook under her, sending a sharp pain up her calf.

The entire village was out of their huts in a second. They looked as terrified as Aria felt. Muchimba was at her side in an instant, her shaking hand gripping Aria's arm.

What the hell was he shooting at? Aria clenched her fists to stop her own hands from shaking. In the distance she could see the jet circling back around, possibly to shoot at whatever again.

She had to know.

Lifting her broken leg up as much as she could, she took off towards the hill.

"Aria, no!" Muchimba cried after her.

"I have to go, Muchimba!" Aria called back over her shoulder without stopping.

Aria made it to the base of the hill when Muchimba appeared at her side. She looked scared, but Aria saw the determination in her eyes. She wrapped her arm under Aria's shoulder and helped her up the sloped terrain.

They were about half way up when Aria heard the whistling of incoming missiles over Starscream's jet engines.

Another loud boom made both girls huddle together. At the same time Aria heard Starscream pass overhead once again.

Muchimba looked at Aria and then back down to the village where the others were calling them to come back, some even daring to follow.

"I'm going up," Aria told Muchimba, gesturing to the top of the hill. Surprisingly she nodded in response and they pressed on.

Aria didn't know why Muchimba was determined to come with her, but she was grateful she was. She didn't know if she could make it up the hill without her.

It took less than a minute to reach the top with their combined efforts. Beyond the hill was a vast empty plain, but her view was blocked by a large billowing wall of sand where Starscream had fired.

Aria and Muchimba stared at the cloud. Was there something in it?

Slowly the sand began to settle, parts of it swirling oddly. Something flashed through the sand, like sunlight glaring off metal.

Aria's eyes narrowed, desperately trying to see what was hidden in the sand. And then, a noise. A whirring sound she knew well. The odd swirls of sand became more exaggerated until she could make out a blue glow.

Her heart drummed against her chest as his silhouette appeared through the dust. And then finally she could see him fully.

Her vision blurred with tears as she was overcome with a wave of sheer happiness.

"Ironhide!" she screamed."

Finally!

Did you recognize the song? It's The Humbling River by Puscifer. It was the trailer song for the Transformers game Fall of Cybertron and I fell in love.

Here's a link to it: watch?v=C3E358n7pcI