Aruá was sitting at the edge of the platform of her house. She was sorting a string of river-pearl mushrooms, dipping her feet leisurely in the water, when a sound made her entire body stiffen.
The river had changed its song.
Yariova River was very unique in several ways. In a world where mana pollution was the norm, it flowed clean, as if the apocalypse had never happened. It carried with it pure, crystalline mana, having the effect of purifying the places where it ran through.
Some women of the Yarikari tribe were able to hear a faint song coming from it. Aruá was one of those women. And today a new note had slit under it.
Yariova's music was usually low, and as familiar to her as the voice of her 'mother.' That was why she was able to notice the subtle change.
"Na-ta sowa mena-ta."
She whispered. 'I feel the water calling.'
She stopped what she was doing and focused her attention on the river, taking her feet out of the water.
Tiny globes of soft green light were floating in the air above the river, like they always did, pulsing like fireflies. The rhythmic pulse stuttered for a moment, then went back to its normal flow.
Far behind her, someone laughed. She recognized the laugh, it was the boisterous musclehead Jara Low-Current. She was teaching the little ones to balance on the wobbling platforms, probably. At least that's what she should be doing at this time.
But she trusted the river. It was rare for it to shift like this. Something important must've happened.
"Aruá? Kona-ta?"
Suma of Broken-Branch was on another platform near her. She was in guard duty today and had also noticed the changes, both in the river and on Aruá's body language. That's why she asked if the girl was afraid of something.
Yarikari warriors weren't supposed to fear the river, so Aruá Tide-Sighted almost lied that no, she was not afraid. But she was afraid, and she felt that she had a reason to be so.
"Yari voa rakara-na."
'The river listens to someone else' was her literal answer. Someone, or something, had arrived by the river.
Suma's steps creaked on the woven reeds as she crossed over.
"Saha tari-na?" 'Another tribe?'
Aruá closed her eyes, listening to the song of the river, trying to interpret it.
"Hei. Sawa vera-ta… niva." 'No. Something… different. New.'
She didn't know how to explain it. It wasn't corruption, nor stillwater. It was a heavy presence, human-shaped.
Aruá opened her eyes and stood up, turning to the warrior woman.
"A-vena Saori. Taku vatu-vatu."
'Tell Saori, and take spears.'
It was an order, and it was promptly heeded. Though relationships between the members of the several houses were friendly, in times of crisis the hierarchies between houses were absolute.
Some time later, Aruá and the other Yarikari women reached the reedbed on the eastern fringe of the village.
There, the wrongness she felt in the river's song had finally gotten a face.
Suma and Kena stood on their boat. Near them, tangled in crushed reeds and wet mud, lay a man.
An actual, real man.
Not a story from ages past. Not a nightmare slipping out of fever dreams.
Nobody there had ever seen a man before, but they knew about them. They heard in the stories chanted by the Shamans, passed out from generation to generation since time immemorial.
He was taller than most Yarikari women, his skin too pale in comparison to their own. At least his hair was darker than night water.
His eyes were open wide. Wild, unrelenting, and inquisitive.
They met Aruá's, and for a heartbeat she forgot to breathe.
The wrong note in the river spiked.
***
To Caio, the entire world had narrowed to the distance between the tip of the spear and his throat.
He knew that instant that one bad move and he would be dead. He had no leeway to question the reality of the situation.
Another woman jumped from the boat onto the reedbed. She was a bit slender, not as muscular as the others. Her eyes looked softer and gentler, but he could see that she was by no means weak.
The paintings on her body were more intricate than the ones on the warriors, and the adornments she wore were flashier and more ostentatious. Her hair was braided with tiny glowing green spores, and her face was quite pretty.
More than everything, he knew the way she moved. She had the gait of someone who owns the place and is not apologetic about it, despite being probably no older than twenty.
So she's the one in charge here.
The girl frowned and inclined her head, as if trying to listen to some low sound.
The first woman kept her weapon steady. She said something in a sharp and resolute voice.
"Na-hu kona-ta, Aruá. Nuhu a-hu vi? Kana."
Aruá… Is that the girl's name?
"Hei nuhu. I-hanei ha-ra. Yari to-kona-ra."
Aruá answered in a voice that was soft yet carried certainty and command.
She knelt beside him, dirtying her entire legs with mud. She leaned closer to him, but he dared not move, as the tip of the spear was still in the same place.
She reached out as if to touch his shoulder, then hesitated, fingers hovering a few centimeters above his skin.
He dared to move his face just a millimeter to get a better view of what the girl was doing. The spear didn't react to that, which he was thankful for.
But he was not prepared to the sight of naked thighs so close to his arm, so he immediately moved back to his earlier position and looked at the sky. He didn't want to die for the silly reason of a volume forming at the wrong moment.
"Na-ta sowa mena-ta…"
The girl called Aruá spoke again.
Damn… could you have at least provided me with a translation right from the start, Overseer?
"Eu…"
He began to speak in Portuguese, then stopped. He felt somewhat ridiculous. He tried English.
"Can you understand me?"
The other women with spears had also jumped off the boat, except for one. She said something with the word 'kana' in it. Whatever it meant, it didn't sound flattering.
"Look, I don't know if this is… but I'm not here to hurt anyone. I promise."
Aruá watched his mouth as he spoke, paying attention to every sound. Yet, she couldn't make any sense of it. His words were like dissonant chords of a song played by a tone-deaf bard.
Then, a faint ping sounded in his head. Then a translucent pop-up appeared, already familiar to him.
[Contextual Prompt Available]
[Local Language Detected: YARIKARI WATERSPEECH]
[Auto-Translation Mode: LOCKED]
[Reason: Triaxis Seed Event – Consent Calibration]
[You may impose your understanding onto this tongue.]
[You may also listen first.]
[Force Comprehension] [Wait and Listen]
There were two buttons, two options floating in front of him.
No tooltips explaining what the options cause? Well, it seems pretty straightforward, but I don't like the word 'force.' It's like I would be using the System to override something fundamental. It seems to be worded like something that might have bad consequences.
He gulped, and the movement made the pressure of the spear feel very real.
The memories came out again. He was seventeen, coming back home from school. A group of rich boys was on the hunt for fun, and he became the target. The scar on his right cheek was nothing compared to the scars inside him.
No… This is not like that time.
He closed his eyes, just for a second. Curiously, the UI was still visible in that self-imposed darkness. He listened to the sound of the river, the women's voices, the chirping of birds…
At that moment, he felt like the speech of the women was somehow mimicking the flow of the river itself. Its consonants and vowels flowing with a natural, aquatic grace.
I'll listen.
The button on the right of the pop-up shone for a moment, then the two buttons disappeared.
[Choice Recorded]
[Listening Mode: ACTIVE]
He felt some warmth washing his brain, coming from the back of his skull. It was a gentle warmth, and he felt a bit of euphoria.
He opened his eyes again and saw that Aruá was still watching him. Her fingers were very close to his cheek, as if she was about to touch him.
"Na-hu kona?"
He didn't really understand, like a person fluent in the language would. But some part of his brain was able to get the overall meaning.
It was a question directed at him. A bit of tension rising at the end, like fear.
'Are you afraid?'
That's how his mind 'translated' her words.
He laughed, making the spear's pressure on his throat stronger.
"Yeah… I am. I am terrified.
He spoke in English with a strong Brazilian accent. But the words in his brain clicked.
The woman who still had the spear at his throat spoke. He still didn't understand her directly, but it was like his brain had turned on invisible subtitles.
"Kona-ta, Aruá. Vatu to, vi-nema sa."
He slowly tied words to meaning. 'Kona' was fear, 'vatu' spear. 'Vi-nema sa,' just in case.
So the spear is 'just in case,' huh? I mean, it makes sense. I just appeared here out of nowhere… WAIT. Am I naked???
He wasn't able to see his own body, but at that moment Aruá's hand retreated a bit and landed on his chest. And the feeling left no margin for doubts. He was, indeed, naked. Or, at least, shirtless.
The touch was warm, contrasting with the icy waters of the river. It was surprisingly soft, despite the callousness of her hands, and it sent shivers down his spine.
Shit, if I get an erection now, I'm cooked.
She let the hand there for just a moment, then took it out.
"I-hatu ha-ra"
He didn't know the exact grammar, but she said that his heart was beating. So she had been checking if he was a live being or an undead.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he moved his hand slowly, pointing to his chest.
"Caio. I'm Caio."
The girl paid attention to his words, then repeated his name.
"Kai-o"
The vowels were soft and stretched. She nodded once, then pointed to herself and said.
"Na Aruá."
Then she gestured to the spear-on-his-throat girl.
"I Suma."
Then to the other girls, naming them.
So, 'na' is I and 'i' is 'she.' Got it.
He repeated the names carefully. The girls softened a bit when they heard their own names in his voice.
Baby steps. This feels like a tutorial level. Though I would've preferred a tutorial without a spear pointed at me.
As if noticing his discomfort, Aruá made a gesture to Sauma, and the spearwoman took the spear off his throat, allowing him to breathe again.
It was at that moment that another person arrived.
The women present parted ways for the newcomer. Even Aruá took a step back and lowered her head.
Oh? The commander of the commander arrived?
He mused a bit about hierarchy in tribal societies as he sat up and watched the new woman arrive. He confirmed that he was fully naked but forced his embarrassment to the back of his mind. This was no time for it.
The new woman was older than Aruá, her hair heavy with woven shells and a belly that showed the early stages of pregnancy. Her body was full of adornments, and she carried a staff made out of braided roots with a big, glowing yellow gem on the tip.
He felt her gaze raking over him, measuring him from tip to toe. Her gaze felt like probes scanning his mind and body.
"Aruá. Rakavoa-ta?" 'Do we listen?'
Aruá hesitated for a moment, then she nodded.
"Tana-voa. Yari voa kara-na." 'We listen. The river listens to him.'
The newcomer's eyes narrowed. She approached until she was very close to him.
Caio was amazed about how these women dirtied their feet and legs in the mud of the reedbed so nonchalantly.
She lifted her staff and spoke some chant, then tapped its base into the mud right in front of him.
The gem at its tip flared a golden light for a brief moment, then settled into a slow, gentle pulse.
"Na-hanei a-hanei tiru."
His right brow twitched. He didn't understand it clearly, but 'breath' and 'join' were added into that new vocabulary forming in his head. It was a ritual greeting.
Well… It seems that they won't kill me just now, at least. That has to count for something.
The pregnant woman (Caio was purposefully avoiding thinking about how she could be pregnant if there were no men around, as he already had enough worries to add one more) turned to the others.
"Raka-soha."
We will.. Dance? No, not literally. And it doesn't include me, it seems.
"Tana-sai i-kiri ta Cirako. Tana-vena i-hanei yari-ne."
They'll take me… Where? A circle? And read me? Damn, translation over such big cultural barriers is a hassle.
One of the spearwomen, whose name he learned was Kena, stepped around to his side, hand closing around his upper arm with a firm grip. She helped him to stand up, but his legs didn't agree with the idea.
He felt pathetic as the world tilted and his body went limp into the water.
Later, as he entered the village carried on Suma's shoulder, he saw the translucent pop-up appear again.
[TURN 0 – ACTIVE]
[Civilization: "YARIKARI TRIBE"]
[POPULATION: 187]
[DOMAIN STATUS: HEARTH (DORMANT) * RIVER (NATIVE) * SEED (CRITICAL DEFICIT)]
Right, right. No pressure there.