Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Aurora and any alterations to the original storyline plot her presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
Magic Of The Golden Flower 2 Chapter 4
Needless to say, Shadow is royally miffed about the dirty trick Sun Eagle played on him. Shadow is basically sulking even when they settle down to make camp for the evening.
To make Shadow feel better Aurora gives him plenty of loving. Grooming his fur and cleaning the dirt and leaves out of it as best she possibly can. After she's done Shadow nuzzles her neck and tenderly licks her cheek in appreciation. Aurora then proceeds to work on getting the dirt and knots out of her hair with a brush made from wood.
Meanwhile, Raka is preoccupied with doing an inventory of their supplies while having something to eat and Noa is tinkering with that electric staff. It's assumed it's broken because the raiders left it behind in the desecrated village without a second thought. Despite not really knowing anything about it Noa is still giving it a go to get the device working again. Might be useful in the confrontation he knows is coming to get his clan back. Kids going to need every advantage he can get. It, also, appears to be some sort of safety net for him, a way to cope.
Aurora can't exactly blame him for taking that approach in the first place. He's pretty much engrossed in the activity.
Taking a bite out of an apple, Raka said "Strange weapons."
"Broken," said Noa, scrutinizing the inner wirings and workings closely.
All at once Shadow lifts his head from his forelegs, releasing a low growl in his throat. He'd heard a stick snap close by that didn't come from any of them. He'd swiveled toward the sound with his ears perked as he tried to figure out what was making it.
Simultaneously, Aurora and Raka glance in that direction while Noa continues in his work.
It's the scavenger.
Shadow tenses as if he's about to chase her off, but Aurora places a restraining hand on the canine's back to stop him.
Raka has a different approach. Digging into one of the packs he tosses two apples over the fire toward the scavenger. They cease rolling in range of the fire, so she'll have to come out to get them.
Slowly, movements weary and fatigued the scavenger decides to take her chances, pausing briefly to stare at Aurora's hair. As the scavenger tests the waters of how close she can get without putting herself in direct danger Aurora narrows her eyes in scrutinization, getting a better look at her. It's a young girl in between her late teens and early twenties for sure. Skin and clothing are completely covered in grime and dirt. It's the clothing that draws Aurora's attention. Her initial suspicions were correct. This young lady is not wearing animal hides like the feral do. No, she's wearing a worn tank top and some old dark and faded jeans with holes in them.
There's definitely more to this scavenger than meets the eye. She can already tell this just after a few seconds upon laying eyes on this kid.
Upon this realization, Aurora's gaze hardens as she continues to observe.
Raka's action finally draws Noa's eyes. He asks in sign why Raka is doing this.
In answer Raka tosses a third apple over to the scavenger.
The scavenger recoils, shying away from the offerings reflexively.
Pointing to each of them carefully in order to not frighten her, speaking loudly and clearly to help her understand, Raka said "Raka. Noa. Aurora. Shadow."
Raka gently rumbles at the scavenger, encouraging her to come out.
Surveying the situation, the scavenger quickly scurries out of the darkness and snatches the apples before they change their minds. She then shuffles backward in retreat taking rapid bites out of the apples.
"She follows because she is hungry," assessed Raka.
Noa sniffs indifferently, aiming an unpleasant look at the scavenger he views as a pest and bringer of trouble.
Contrary to her proximity to the warm fire the scavenger is noticeably shivering in the cool night air.
Hoping to make it easier for the scavenger Raka goes to throw the blue shawl Noa had been carrying on his person over to them.
"No," said Noa, frantically reclaiming and holding it close to his chest. "This is important."
"They get cold," said Raka, nodding at the scavenger as her trembling became more pronounced as she huddled for any small added warmth, imploring Noa to do the right thing. "Show mercy."
"Noa, my kind doesn't have fur to warm themselves like you do," said Aurora, softly.
Eventually, Noa relents. He hands the shawl over in begrudging reluctance. This time the scavenger doesn't hesitate. She snatches the shawl, wrapping it around herself.
In spite of her initial misgivings Aurora motions for Shadow to go over to the child to give her a better chance of keeping her warm from the cold. Shadow obeys his mistress, sniffing the scavengers as soon as he gets close enough. The child flinches but soon relaxes when she figures out Shadow means no harm. Shadow lays down and she tentatively reaches over to stroke his fur.
"She is smarter than most," said Raka, smiling, pleased.
Aurora doesn't doubt that.
"Why did Caesar care so much for Echoes," asked Noa, curiously.
"Legend says he was reared by them. Impossible as that may seem," answered Raka.
"Our stories say that Caesar lost his chimp family when he was just a newborn infant. A human family adopted and raised him in safety and love following that. Treated him as one of their own," added Aurora.
Nodding, Raka said "Caesar Legend is important. He was the first elder. He led with decency. Morality. Strength. Compassion."
All are attributes Caesar always held dear. Ones that Raka and Aurora are keen on passing onto Noa from this point forward.
"Caesar never had to share camp with this scavenger," countered Noa, shaking his head with a small sigh, corners of his lips upturning slightly, sniffing playfully.
Chortling with a grin, laughter mixing with Noa's, Raka admits "Smell is potent."
"Hey," said Aurora, lightly smacking both of them on the back of the head.
Raka and Noa just dissolve into laughter even more.
It's late so everyone tries to get some sleep.
At some point during the night, Aurora is awoken by Noa getting up to take a walk and explore his new surroundings. Because he's never left his family's lands before everything outside of it is new to him. Aurora trusts he won't stray far, choosing instead not to stop him. But she does stiffen somewhat when she catches the scavenger silently rising from her sleeping position to trail after him.
Aurora patiently waits until she's out of view before getting up to follow them just in case this fraud decides to do something to her charge. Shadow wants to come, too. Aurora signals to Shadow to stay and guard Raka while he sleeps. Raka is undisturbed by all this. Aurora isn't surprised. With how deeply Raka is snoring the great big lump could sleep through a thunderstorm.
Noa ends up making his way inside a decayed, old, and ingrown planetarium observatory. He ends up locating a massive telescope with the skylight wide open to the stars. Noa marvels at the device awestruck, shocked and astonished when he peers through it and sees multiple blazing lights in the sky clearer than ever before. He climbs the telescope all over, examining it and trying to figure out where the shining light is coming from. Aurora smiles in amusement watching this, intending to explain the concept of a telescope later.
Noa's investigation is interrupted when the scavenger appears. She approaches the telescope and looks through the end same as Noa did. When she pulls her head away from the lens obvious tears is brimming in her eyes. Noa absorbs this in thoughtful wonderment.
For Aurora, this is further confirmation that this stranger isn't a feral human at all.
Time to confront her about it.
Noa makes his way back to camp.
Aurora chooses to block the scavenger to have a private conversation without Noa noticing.
Aurora strikes wrapping her hair around the scavenger without warning to prevent her from running away.
The scavenger does put up a struggle, but it doesn't last for very long.
Checking to make sure they're alone, Aurora said "I know you can talk. Your clothes gave you away."
Alarm blazes in the scavenger's eyes and flashes throughout her body at being caught out so soon.
Arms crossed, smugly, Aurora said "Don't worry. I'm not going to force you to talk. I assume you were going to let us know in your own time. Right now I simply want you to listen." A protective fierceness overtakes Aurora's tone of voice. "I don't know who you are what your purpose is or how you've managed to retain your intelligence after all this time and frankly I couldn't care less. I'm here to deliver a warning. If you do anything to endanger my boys in any way whatsoever, I guarantee you won't live to regret it for long. So I highly suggest you either take a hike or be honest with Noa and Raka. If you choose to stay with us and don't come clean soon, I'll do it for you. I trust I've made myself perfectly clear."
Glowering distrustfully at Aurora, teeth gritted and deeply shaken, the scavenger nods to show she's heard everything.
Grinning toothily, Aurora said "Good. Glad we understand each other."
Aurora then heads back to camp, the scavenger eyeing her uncertainly as she leaves.
Authors Note:
For those of you on fanfiction I'm sure you've been facing the many unwanted ads when you're reading a story. Well, yesterday, I finally had enough, and I got an adblocker app. It worked! No more ads on any level! The one I got is Adblock Pro: Safari Ad Blocker. It really works. Just follow the instruction video that it attached to it.
Heads up everyone there's someone on fanfiction you need to seriously watch out for. Early a couple of months ago after I woke up I was checking my email and I saw I had a new guest review on my A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 2 sequel. I took a look at it and got a very big shock. Some random person I've never spoken to before on here or anywhere else in my life was basically threatening me. Intimidating and practically ordering me to write a threatening letter to someone on their behalf, telling to stay off of for life or else they and everyone else close to them would be killed, disgustingly telling them to kill themselves. And at the bottom of the message this crazy person wasn't done. Warning me that if I don't send the letter then they would kill me and for confirmation to email them to make absolutely sure I complied with their demands. Of course I did nothing of the sort. Instead of doing what they wanted I reported them to the website, sent copies of this deplorable guest review message to police officer cousins of mine so they could have it on file, and I went to a nearby police station and reported it.
When I spoke to the police officers and they checked everything on the message they saw, that while the address and names of business were accurate the people and their names were not. They agree it was more than likely a scam because of the email address on the bottom in order to perhaps get access to personal information or potentially hack my computer. Despite that I'm still very happy they took it seriously as I showed and told them everything. All the same I'm still very happy that I brought this to the attention of law enforcement. Even though the entire thing might be fake I'm still very happy to have brought this to the attention of those who can do something about it if it was legit in some way. This may have been a scam, but it's obvious these people are beyond irresponsible if they try to goad people into sending death threats to random strangers just to get access to info.
Be that as it may if this does unfortunately happen to you do not send any messages to the email addresses they put down and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you bring the message to the authorities immediately whether it is legit or not.
Because it's a guest review it might not be visible for a couple of days as it loads if it is sent to you. But when it does you should definitely pressing the report abuse button and send it to the email that leads to the support staff that is available.
Just a heads up to those of you who aren't aware of this yet, Email alerts for this website are now only active if Email opts is enabled in account settings.
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.