"Shhh, shh. Anka, stop giggling." A tiny voice said, sort of in a cloudy, unclear voice. "Stop, anka, stop- oh wait, look! He's waking up." A gasp was heard, and then expelled air could be felt sweeping on Noatak's cheek as he slowly blinked his eyes open.

Noatak sleepily turned his head slight to see two blue-eyed children staring at him, wide-eyed.

They just looked at him with a confused and almost incredulous look on their faces. Noatak did nothing but look at them back with a blank look, not fully awake from his sleep.

"Kota!" The boy shouted. "Ahhhh! Kota!" An echo of cries for Kahota filled the room as the younger girl copied the boy.

"Kota Kota Kota Kota!" The two scrambled across the room, comically rushing for the doorway, the younger one tripping several times on the way out.

"Anyuk, Anka!" A scolding voice was heard right outside the doorway. three pairs of legs could be scene under the curtain separating the room from the hall. One pair obviously belonging to someone much older than the older two. "Stop screaming, are you both crazy? You're going to wake him up!"

A small hiccuping voice followed after, barely audible, making it impossible for Noatak to fully understand: "but kota...already awake..." Kahota's swift hand quickly parted the curtain just enough for her face to peek through and see the no-longer-sleeping Noatak. It closed quickly after.

Noatak could see Kahota kneel down to be at the same level of the two kids. She murmured something in a low voice that he couldn't hear as he watched the little feet next to her shuffle and then finally scamper away. She stood up.

"Noatak, may I come in?" Kahota asked, peeping her head in one more time. He nodded, sitting up in his bed, and she hesitantly walked in, embarrassed.

"I'm really sorry if they woke you up... Anyuk and Anka can be pretty inconsiderate at times.." She played with the curtain behind her, not looking Noatak in the face as her cheeks radiated red. Noatak shook his head.

"I was already awake," he said. A bright smile of relief spread across Kahota's face.

"Well then I'm glad you're finally awake." Noatak's slight smiled twisted into a frown, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"finally?" Kahota, wrongfully assuming he would know what day and time it was, cocked her brow as if it was obvious.

"You've been asleep for almost three days." Her voice wasn't condescending or obnoxious. Not a hint of rudeness. just full of naivety and concern, perhaps a bit of confusion as well. "I guess the storm took more out of you than I thought."

Noatak looked around, trying to find a sign of what time it was. Through the side of the small curtained window he could see a tiny strand of sunlight shining.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"A little before sunset."

Noatak pondered the idea for a moment. Three days. It's been three days since he ran away from his father. From his home...

the light pitter patter of feet brought Noatak back from his thoughts. Once more he saw the small feet under the brown curtain, this time, accompanied by two faces peaking through.

"Kota.." said one mousey voice before the two children came rushing in, clinging to Kahota's pant leg. The boy buried his face in the blue fabric before signaling for kahota to kneel down. He whispered something in her ear, sneaking a glance at Noatak from the corner of his eye. The older girl turned to look at Noatak, brows furrowed again, studying his face. Then, a slight smile broke on her face as she shook her head.

"No, it's not him. But he does look alike, doesn't he?" She told the young boy. He buried his face in her pant leg again and once more signaled to her that he had to tell her something.

"Hmm?" Kahota questioned, not fully understanding the boy's quiet voice. he repeated himself much louder this time, cupping his hands around the girl's ear.

"...is he? ...hurt us, right?" Could be heard by Noatak, still sitting in the bed. He looked to Kahota. She shook her head, smiling.

"Of course not. He's a friend." She assured him. She stood up, placing a hand on his back, and the other on the back of the younger girl's head. "Here. Come on, you can meet him."

She slowly walked toward Noatak as the two children clung to her hesitantly. With every step, they tried to stay hidden behind her thin legs. "Come on, it's okay." She stopped and first looked to the boy who was nervously avoiding eye contact with the boy in the bed. "Noatak, this is my brother Anyuk. Anyuk, this is my friend, Noatak." The boy bit his lip, shifting his eyes from Noatak to the floor several times. "Do you have anything you want to say, Anyuk?"

"Hi." Anyuk said curtly, in a voice as big as he was.

"And this," Kahota began. "This is my sister." The girl held tightly to her sister's pants, peeking with one eye at Noatak. She held close as she attempted to hide, nervous to meet the boy in front of her. "Are you nervous?" Kahota asked, kneeling down to her sister. The little girl nodded, face still smothered in the fabric. "It's okay, he's really nice." Kahota's sister pulled on her and whispered in her ear. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll like you. Don't worry." The little girl thought for a second, nodded, and then let Kahota stand back up.

"You want to tell him your name?" She asked her younger sister. She nodded and hesitantly shuffled forward.

"Anka."

"And do you want to tell him who your friend is?" Kahota asked, making Noatak confused, not knowing exactly who she was referring to. Anka nodded and swiftly held up a small raggedy doll with two button eyes and long yarn hair that she had been dragging everywhere all along.

"This is my doll Eska. But she's not really a doll. She's actually a real person who pretends she's a doll." She hugged her tightly, a wide smile plastered on her face.

Noatak looked at the two children in front of him. They looked remarkably similar, both with a chubby-cheeked childlike face, wide blue eyes, thick lashes, round nose, and a rather large pout. They both shared a softness about them that their mother, Yena, had possessed unlike their older sister who was more striking like her father.

the boy was clearly the older one of the two, Noatak thought. He estimated Anyuk's age to be around 5 or 6, Anka probably 3. About the same age difference as He and Tarrlok.

Noatak, after a moment of not knowing how to react, finally got out of the bed and walked over to the two. They both stiffened a bit, a second away from retreating back to their hiding space behind their older sister's legs, but they stayed put. Noatak knelt down, bringing himself to their eye level, and gave an almost unnoticeably small smile.

"nice to meet you," He said, extending a hand. Anyuk eyed the hand, thinking if he wanted to accept it or not, and then hesitantly shook it, only grabbing his two top fingers and then letting go. Noatak turned slightly to Anka who had been suspiciously eying him. She studied his face with an odd intensity, looking genuinely confused as she shifted her eyes from his face to the picture frame behind him on the table top. Then, as if she figured it out, a huge smile spread across her face, and she leapt toward him, embracing him tightly around the neck, her doll hitting him in the back.

"Hoka!" She exclaimed, giggling and screaming. Noatak stood up, not even having to hold onto Anka who was hugging him surprisingly tight. He shot Kahota a confused look, not knowing what to do.

She quickly grabbed her sister and managed to pull her off of Noatak despite the wiggling she was doing, and set her on the ground.

"Brother," Anka told Kahota, still smiling wide. Anyuk quickly pulled on his sister's arm, turning her around to face him, and shook his head 'no'. Anka's smile disappeared as she looked once more at Noatak and then back to her brother. She gave him a questionable look, peered back at Noatak, studying his face again, and then retreated back to her shy, mousey self, embarrassed. She hugged Eska tightly.

"You two should go wash up for dinner. Anyuk, can you take her?" Anyuk nodded and dragged his sister out of the room, Anka glancing back one more time before blushing and running out behind her brother.

Kahota sighed as she watched her two siblings leave, and then returned to her cheery self once she looked back at Noatak. he gave her a confused looked, unsure of what to make of what just happened.

"I-" He began.

"We should probably get ready for dinner as well... I'll let my mom know you'll be eating with us tonight." Kahota said, disregarding her friends confusion, and then exited the room leaving Noatak still ridden with questions.

Sorry for this being so delayed! Hope you enjoy this, although it isn't too eventful. I've got a lot of ideas sorted out in the here noggin though, so look forward to that!

R&R

-Bea