Winter couldn’t believe the night she had with Fancy Hat. Her heart couldn’t stop skipping at the fact Fancy Hat had given her writing a chance. It was his first literature from this world he’s ever genuinely read, and she couldn’t feel more honored that her work was his first in that regard. Her day had gone from being shit with Neil, to fantastic with the mysterious man in the hat. Even after Arch Extent happily finished reading tid bits of her writing, the two stayed awake even longer to talk about Divon related cultures and influences in the world of literature. Eventually, the two respectfully went to sleep with Arch Extent on the couch, and Winter in the bed. Once awake, the two of them gathered their supplies and headed to the Hunter’s Lodge to collect Winter’s brother and Aiden.
There was the worry that Neil would start a heated conflict the moment he saw Arch Extent, but the Treetop held back his tongue, more or so thanks to the effort of Aiden. Few words were exchanged between Winter and her brother, informing him that she’ll ask him more about what he knew at a later point, once she feels a bit more settled about what transpired. There was apathy between the siblings, a cold distance that Neil knew Winter would eventually come around to understand. Aiden’s upbeat personality kept things lively as the four agreed to travel together to Knyocke, knowing it was half a day away on the Featherdusters.
Each hunter grabbed the reins of their respected mounts, giving a firm kick once they were mounted to take off on the dirt paths. Arch Extent sat on the back of Trot behind Winter, keeping his arms tightly around her as the creature leaped with great speed. Neil pushed forth at the front with his Featherduster, Heist, and guided the way to Knyocke. He and Aiden, who was also on his respective mount, conversed along the way with the Treetop hunter.
Hours pass and the Featherdusters begin to lose their energy. Upon noticing, the group makes a pit stop whether it’s to piss or take a few bites of food while their mounts recover. Winter sighs, taking a bite out of some food as she sits down on a log. She pulls her hood down, pushing her hair back as she feels Matrum’s heat make her swear. It’s awfully hot, not as tolerable for someone like her who is a Winterlance. She’s nearly chugging her small leather covered canteen with Arch Extent sitting next to her. Luckily, they’re alone, as Aiden and her big brother walked off to get more water for the group.
“Fancy Hat, I wanted to ask you something…” Winter leans back on the log she sat on, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
The scientist takes off his jacket and hat before turning towards her. “What is it?”
“I didn’t get to thank you earlier. For reading my stuff. I was wondering…Uh–do you think you could read more of what I wrote later? You had a lot of really insightful things to say! And…”
…And I want to spend more time with you.
There’s a soft smile on Arch Extent’s face, one that momentarily stuns Winter. He didn’t smile often, but with him darting one her way just like last night, makes her heart skip. Winter knew it was genuine. That man is doing things to me that I never had anyone else do.
“I don’t mind at all, Winter.”
“And another thing…” Winter swivels her attention to the ground, almost as if guilt plastered across her face. Arch Extent takes notice and raises his eyebrows. “I’m sorry I almost killed you. If I had, I wouldn’t have met my first willing reader.”
The scientist is perplexed. His eyes are wide for a moment. He didn’t expect to hear words like that, let alone an apology. Winter wasn’t vocalizing it, but he could see the mix of joy begin to display on her. She even retracts her hands, his vision keen on nearly every movement she performs, every minor facial change, to how she twirled her hands. He watched and observed her like a predator watches their prey.
“If you were able to read in Earth English, I’d be willing to give you some books to read.”
“What’s Earth?” Winter blinks in response.
“It’s the name of where I’m from. I probably shouldn’t have told you that. That sort of slipped out on my end. But I’ve already been telling you things I shouldn’t have, so what’s one more thing?” There’s a low-volume chuckle that emits from him.
The more he tells me, the more I get interested in this man. Fuck, I need to stop. Winter tries to mentally tell her to stop drooling affectionate thoughts. They’re just business partners. She shouldn’t be feeling like this. Hell, does he even feel the same? “That writing on your blue rectangles that comes out of the watch. Is that Earth English? I couldn’t read it but I saw it on lots of those floating squares back in the uh…the lab.” I think I got the name right. A lab.
“Yes.”
“Could you teach me how to read it?” That was probably a tall order from Winter, but she couldn’t contain her curiosity. The scientist takes notice and once more, the huntress is full of surprises. He’s never taught a native of the planet how to read or write. However, Winter already proved herself to be quite the intelligent woman, bold, and more so as a quick learner. She was proving to be more of a valuable asset to him besides what her biology dictated.
“Oh, uh, sure,” Arch Extent pulls out his watch to bring up his login screen. He taps a few things and shows her what the main menu looks like. “I’ll just pull up one of our files with Seraphic on the language conversion.”
“You’re able to translate both languages?” Winter scoots closer to him, her head nearly a foot away from his. The scientist blushes for a moment from the sudden proximity.
“Yeah. I think it would be easy for you to learn vice versa.” Arch Extent shuffles through a few menus, trying to find a specific employee level folder of files. He eventually finds the one labeled alphabet and Divon language, something he hasn’t visited for quite some time. He pulls up a picture showcasing Divon characters, with Earth’s English characters right under them to show the difference. “So this is A. The two A’s are actually quite similar, you just happened to have a shorter side of your A than ours.”
“And that’s B, C, D, and so on…It’s the same. Wow, we have really similar writing systems, but speak the same thing?”
“Yes, we do. Divon characters come from Earth’s English actually. It was used as a secret code between spies a thousand years ago on your planet. Eventually it was adopted into your writing system. You just don’t use things like uppercase or lowercase letters. Here, feel free to scroll through the images. Like this.” Arch Extent waves his fingers up and down on the screen where an arrow was. Winter pushed her finger forward, waving it through the transparent box. She lets out a little glee, having fun playing around with the cyan rectangles she saw so much of. She decided to try to even do other hand motions on it, instantly figuring out how to zoom in and out of an image.
“If Divon comes from Earth…Then does that mean…All of the tribes are from Earth?”
He doesn’t know if he should answer that question. He’s told her about Nexus, about Seraphic, even introduced her to Origin technology from Earth. He’s breaking a multitude of rules established about how to interact with the natives of the planet. She’s looking at him with pleading eyes.
I shouldn’t. I can’t tell her but…If I do, then I’ll truly know if the rest of Earth can migrate safely here. I want to tell her everything.
“I’m sorry, Winter. I really shouldn’t tell you much more. Not yet.” Arch Extent turns off his watch, pulling his sleeve back over. “There are things I’m not allowed to say or do, and I’ve already done them. I just need to be careful with how much you know.”
“You’re not at liberty to discuss that much. I know, that’s what you said.” She looks a bit miffed, pulling herself away to bring her hands to each elbow. Her arms are crossed and she hunches over while adjusting herself on the log.
“If we get to the Knyocke labs, I’ll tell you more. By then, we’ll have a sample of your blood, and I can show you more things about Earth. That isn’t out in the open like we are now.” He hopes that gives the Winterlance some reassurance. “And then once we don’t have to worry about Cosmos Plague, I’ll help you get an entire library worth of books.”
“Alright. You got yourself a deal, especially with that last part. Almost made me really sad there for a minute,” Winter jokes.”Don’t disappoint me then.”
“I won’t.” I’d love to see her face when she finds out what a Kindle is. Or even TV shows. I could see her binge those. I wonder if I still have those subscriptions. I always forget to cancel them.
He doesn’t realize he’s smiling, not feeling the weight of humanity on his shoulders, even if it’s for a few seconds. His facial expression is broken the moment he hears twigs snap in the distance. He puts down his holo-screen quickly, hand drawing over a gun. Winter’s head also perks up, adjusting herself at Arch Extent’s immediate reaction. He swears he can see a silhouette in the distance but it’s possible his eyes are deceiving him from the shading of the leaves.
It’s only when he hears the sound of Aiden and Neil return in the opposite direction, does he realize they’re in good company. He sighs with relief, glad it wasn’t some creature coming out to maul them in the forest. They’re back with a fresh kill to cook over a small fire that Aiden had started prior. It wasn’t something the scientist had tried, but he was more than willing considering he was hungry as well.
However, he couldn’t shake off the feeling like there were other eyes on them. Especially when he looks into the distance to see a light flicker then disappear.
-
Winter complains about the heat of Matrum for a great many times while Neil reassures her they’ll get there under shade soon. Arch Extent holds onto her corset firmly as Trot sprinted over a few bumpy humps of dirt. Eventually they reached the gates of Knyocke and entered the capital city of the Blazerock tribe on Featherduster back.
The buildings are tall, lively, and have many blazers decorating them with bright flames spewing out. There’s a few towers tall enough that it looks like half the size of a skyscraper on Earth from Arch Extent’s perspective; which is impressive for Divon standards. He’s been to the Knyocke labs next door before, but he’s never visited the actual city, which was astoundingly much bigger than he anticipated. The aroma of food floated through the air, from fish to what smells similar to poultry, to things like perfume and the shit from farm animals. It was a mix of everything, but for the hunters, it was normal.
The group arrives at the Knyocke Hunter’s Lodge, hopping off their mounts with Arch Extent left to the side. Winter reassures the scientist she’d be back momentarily just like in the previous town and wouldn’t take long. He watches as she leaves, adjusting the orange backpack straps over his shoulders and waits on the side of the building.
Minutes pass by and an unfamiliar woman approaches the scientist. She looks like any average Blazerock, red eyes being their key feature, and she possesses curly brown hair. She stares intensely at the Arch, and he’s a bit unsure of how to respond. She walks around him, eyebrows furrowing angrily at his presence. She wears Tribesfolk attire, just like the rest of the natives on the planet–nothing out of the ordinary.
“Can I help you?...” The scientist is confused. It isn’t until he feels something clock him in the head. Blunt force hits him, and he collapses to the ground. Before he loses consciousness, he gets a snippet of the woman and two other men with her. His body is lifted and dragged away. As he’s being carried away, his black hat slips off his head, gliding slowly to the dirt terrain. It becomes the only thing left of his presence before his kidnapping.
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