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CHAPTER THREE

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A/N: I choose to not include the Technos or Amber's return to the Gaian's in this story. I needed the Gaian's to remain at the camp and not leave after Pride's death. The desicion to do so was hard thought upon, as I am a true believer of authenticity and wanted to stay true to The Tribe's plot-lines, but in order to stick with my intentions for this story, they needed to be altered.

Caliko bit her lip and scanned the valley below her. 'Still no sign.' She sat back down on a fallen tree trunk and continued waiting. It had been almost eight weeks since Lynx, Fox, and the others had left and they still hadn't returned, nor had there been any word from them or the tribes they had been sent out to check on.

The last few weeks, Caliko had begun leaving Oriel with Dove in the mornings and came here, to the ridge near the camp, and stayed all day, continously scanning the horizons for her husband and his companions.

"Up here again Caliko?" a voice called from behind her.

She turned, startled, and saw Hawk, the Gaian leader climbing the hill towards her. She didn't reply, but turned her head back to the valley, her eyes still searching. He came to a stop beside her and looked out over the valley. Hawk turned and looked the other direction, back towards the camp. "You can see the sea and just make out the city from here. It's beautiful, I never really stopped to take a look up here before. Do you mind if I sit?"

Caliko nodded her head and moved over for him.

Hawk sat down beside her. "Do you ever regret leaving the city?"

Caliko shook her head, her eyes still on the valley.

"Ah, well, good." He took an apple from his pocket and pressed it into Caliko's hand. "Dove says you've been coming here every morning. She also says she doesn't think you've been eating."

Caliko shrugged, blinked her eyes, and set the apple on the tree, beside her.

"I have a problem, Caliko." Hawk kicked a rock beside his foot then turned towards Caliko. "Do you think you've learned a lot from us here? Enough to survive on your own?"

Caliko turned her head slowly to Hawk. "Don't throw Oriel out...I don't know how I would take care of her. She's a true Gaian, born here--"

"No, no Caliko...I'm not going to throw you two out of the tribe, you're a part of it now. I just can't send anymore people out to look for your husband. No one has yet returned and the smaller tribes haven't sent us any word...I--I want to find them Caliko. I just can't spare anymore people."

They sat in silence for a moment, both of them scanning the valley, hoping to see their missing coming into focus on the horizon.

"But, I can spare two people..." Hawk looked at Caliko. "If you were willing to come with me."

Caliko stood up and walked to the rocky edge of the ridge and looked down at the sheer drop below her. "Do you even think we would find them?" She turned and looked at Hawk. "Everyone seems to have given up hope." She turned back to the valley.

"I don't know. But, you must feel he's still out there if you come here waiting for him everyday." Hawk looked down at his hands, the guilt was sweeping over him again. He had felt horrible ever since the the group had failed to return and it was getting worse with every passing day. He felt guilty that he had such little 'control' over his tribe. That he had managed to virtually loose a third of his tribe and he didn't know what had become of them. He felt guilt over the fathers, mothers, husbands and wives that just seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

"What would I do with Oriel? What if I never came back?" She walked towards Hawk.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. You do have a child to take care of.." Hawk picked up the apple and handed it to her. "I'll see you at the camp." He stood and walked down the hill.

Caliko stood there and rolled the apple between her hands. She took one look at the valley and confirmed that Lynx wasn't coming home before calling after Hawk. "I'll come with you!"

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The tribe wasn't happy about their leader leaving, but Hawk insisted. He even threaten to step down if they wouldn't allow him the freedom of going.

Dove reluctently agreed to take Oriel for Caliko. It wasn't that she didn't want her husband found, it just seemed to her, that in this uncertain world, he was more than likely dead and gone, as she knew Fox would never just leave her. She had started to slowly accept this and she couldn't stand to loose Caliko as well, but in the end, she knew that Caliko would never be happy, just hoping and praying Lynx would come back to her.

So, three days after the desicion was made, Caliko kissed her daughter goodbye, swore she would return , then, one last time, climbed the ridge.

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She stood there, staring into the rising sun, desperatly looking for Lynx. "I'm coming. I'll find you." She picked a dead leaf off the fallen tree. "We have so much to talk about." She let the leaf go in the breeze. She hoped with all her beig that she would find him...she knew she would find him. There was no other option.