Gil smiled as he caught sight of a few Striders just ahead. More practice. As Eli quietly passed him, she held up a hand, the fingers spread out. Five Striders. She signaled for them to take cover, and they silently slipped into the auburn bushes.
They observed the Striders, then she turned to him. Her hands and fingers were a flurry of motion as she signed, 'What's your plan?'
They really had created a secret language of their own over the years, through some trial and error and lots and lots of practice. They had created signals for hunting, which was actually really helpful when silence was necessary. And they had created signals representing sounds, which they could string together to form words, then sentences. The Nora tribe relied on oral communication rather than writing, so it felt more natural compared to a written alphabet. They used this method for personal conversations. The unspoken language had been difficult to create, but thanks to years of practice they had mastered it. Of course, they still had to be careful that no one saw them communicating, but at least in this way they could converse in private.
Gil took a moment to assess the situation, then signaled back. 'We should set a trap. If you can lure at least two and take care of them without the others noticing, I can get the rest with a blast wire.'
She nodded her approval and within seconds she was sneaking over to another bush, then another. He tensed, watching as one of the Striders turned its back to him. Good... One less machine that had its eyes in his direction.
Eli whistled, and the closest Strider to her lifted its head, alert. She whistled again, and it headed in her direction. The other Striders continued grazing. Gil watched and beamed as he saw Eli assault the machine from her hiding spot, taking it down swiftly and silently in one go. One of the other machines heard the dead Strider fall to the ground though, and it made its way over to investigate the pile of metal. Once again, Eli killed it before it could alert the others.
It was his turn now. In theory, if one was patient enough they could simply kill the group of machines by doing exactly as Eli had: killing them with a silent strike, one by one. But Gil didn't have that kind of patience, and preferred to do things in a slightly louder way. He threw a rock over the heads of the Striders, and the sound of it landing made the remaining three look in its direction. He threw another one, and they plodded as a group to the mysterious object that had just landed.
He quietly emerged from the bushes and with his eyes still on the Striders, he reached the halfway point between them and himself, planted one end of the trap in the ground, then reeled the length of cable over a distance. He planted the second stake and returned to the bushes. He whistled and the Striders turned to face him. He whistled again and they followed the sound. When the trap went off it successfully killed two of them, but it missed the rear Strider and the machine bolted.
"Get back here!" Gil hissed under his breath, instantly swinging his bow from his back and nocking a fire arrow. He took multiple shots at the machine, and it caught fire. Within moments it was on the ground, a smoking heap of charred metal.
Eli met with him where he stood and gave his shoulder a firm squeeze. 'Well done.' He looked at her and she signed, 'It could have gone better, but you still got the runaway. It's a win!'
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but was it good enough for the Proving?" he asked, reverting back to speaking now that the machines were dead.
She shrugged and gave him a small smile as she signed, 'We still have another year yet. We both still have a lot of work to do before we're there.'
"You say it like that's a lot of time," he grumbled. "It'll be here before we know it."
She jokingly prodded his forehead. 'Only if you think that way!' She flashed another smile and walked over to the nearest dead Strider. As she began pulling parts off, Gil walked over to her and began to help.
"...Something's been on my mind a lot lately," he said, his voice quiet. She glanced up at him. He continued. "...I think you should finish training by yourself." She furrowed her eyebrows. "I know what people are saying about us. What they're accusing you of..."
He didn't go near the settlements that often, but on the occasions when he did, or when he passed other hunters in the territory, he overheard things. Rumors. And intentionally loud remarks. Their words echoed in his mind...
"It's that outcast. You know... The one with the machine eyes. Eli might as well be an outcast too, for as much time as she spends with him."
"If they ever catch her talking to him, she will be! She says she's never spoken a word to him, but she has to be lying."
"She's a disgrace to the Nora name, if you ask me. Who in their right mind even takes a second look at an outcast?"
"I hear he plans on participating in the Proving. I for one refuse to accept him as a Nora, even if he completes it. Those eyes..."
"The more she is with that outcast, the less of a Nora she is."
The message was always the same: He was an outcast, and she was a Nora. And the more she was with him, the less the Nora people respected her. If they lost all their respect for her, maybe they really would make her an outcast like him...
She waved a hand away, like she was swatting a fly. 'I don't care.'
"Look. I don't want to hurt your reputation any more than I already have. It's not... It's not normal for a Nora to be this close with an outcast. Even if you don't speak to me, you're still around me..."
She ignored him, yanking scraps of metal from the Strider and placing it in a pile by her feet.
Gil pried the machine's heart from its chest and set the valuable piece on the ground. "If they haven't already, people might be sent to spy on us."
Eli paused salvaging to sign, 'So?'
"But doesn't that bother you?"
'No.'
He gave her a baffled look. "How does that not bother you, Eli? People you've known your whole life are turning against you, and you're okay with that?"
'Yes.' She lifted her eyes to his, and furiously signed, 'I'll always be by your side, Gil. The Nora might be turning its back on me, but they've turned their back on you your whole life. For something that you were born with, that is out of your control! And that's something I can't forgive. We'll train together as we always have, and when it's time for the Proving, we'll do that together too. And when you're accepted as a true Nora, I'll be the first to congratulate you, because to me you're already one of us.' Her cheeks were red as she finished her rant, and she looked away quickly.
Stunned by her words, Gil didn't know how to respond. His own cheeks felt hot, and he had a warm feeling in his chest. She really... felt that way? About him? An outcast?
When he didn't reply, she lifted her eyes to him again. 'What?' she asked. '...What is it?'
The sun reflected off her beautiful leaf green eyes, turning them a brighter shade. The color reminded him of something, and as he tore one of the blaze cannisters from the Strider he stared at it. That was it. When the sun hit her eyes, Eli's eyes looked like blaze...
"...Nothing," he answered, smirking.
His answer wasn't entirely true. But they both knew it.