Earlier, Juno was at awe at the beautiful hues of yellow, green and blue that painted this brand-new world.
Now, they were jumbled together into one big mess of a canvas. Her head bobbed up and down. She was strapped to the back of a giant wolf, feeling the cold strike against her exposed shoulders.
They were rapidly speeding through the forest, dozens of birds, animals and other creatures opening their path, launching a cascade of sounds, visuals and noise that was overbearing for the newly born Juno. Though she tried, she could hardly make sense of anything.
Her crystal swayed in the wind, and that's the first thing that caught her eye. It was always magically tethered to her. And as she was looking at it, she caught her blonde captor staring at her. She rode another giant wolf, and didn't seem to care for the direction. In one single second, Juno saw something in the woman's eyes, before she flickered her gaze away.
Right behind the woman, the boys from before. Juno took notice of them. Their crystals, too, were held tightly to their face, and her heart skipped a beat. They were, in every sense, just like her – naked, bruised, disoriented, crystal-bearers. Caught in the same predicament, born from the same place. Wherever that was, they shared more than one thing in common.
It was not long before she realized the wolf she rode on was Fen, the one who licked her earlier. And its rider was Ba, the Hunter who captured her.
Juno couldn't see his face, but she felt a deathly stench coming from him. She could only see his back, covered in hide, and exposed arms, covered in scars, lashes, grime and filth. The bow and arrow now sat quietly on his back, whereas a moment ago, they were pointed straight towards her heart.
The flowing air of the forest cleansed most of her senses away. But she could never push away what emanated from this man. She didn't know the words, but her body knew it: dirt, metal, and blood.
…
The sun was beaming its last roars when they arrived. Juno fell out of the wolf, frail and limp – starving and thirsty, it had been a couple of hours since she was born. As the moon rose from her slumber, her body grew colder and colder.
She was on her knees when the Hunter grabbed her by the hair.
While she and the other captured boys were dragged through the encampment, all her hurt was quickly forgotten, substituted by bewilderment.
Huddled around the entrance of a cave was a group of 25, 30 people. All of them clothed in animal hide, children played in the mud, some men carving stone. There were women skinning animals and others nurturing babies.
Some arranged stones around the cave, and two or three tended to a big hearth inside it. Anytime they exchanged looks with Juno or the boys, they'd quickly hide their faces.
But a few didn't even notice them, too enraptured by the fading daylight. Juno noticed too, for the first time, this beautiful sight. The sun waving goodbye. An old woman stared at the edge of a cliff, her white hair glowing against the fading light. She turned her head. She noticed Juno and drew her a smile.
Juno could feel her body getting warmer as they entered the cave. She was drawn to the fire, her hands begged for it, and she tried to extend them, but her ropes were sealed tight.
Ba, the Wolf Hunter, took notice, and tightened his grip on her hair. She grimaced.
Around the walls of the cave, dozens of paintings and handprints were scattered. She could see small recipients, made of something she didn't understand, carrying liquids, solids, bones. Red and purple liquids, parts of plants, scattered petals.
She knew some of these things, but she didn't know how, or from where. And as she pontificated, she hit the warm, hard ground.
Ba dropped her and the boys in front of a group of four people. Three hunters, like Ba, each of them with the skin of a different animal around their shoulders, such as a Fox, a Stag and a Boar -, and, in the middle of them, an old man.
His body was weak. If he ever had hunted, his days were long gone. His skin was tan and dry, and his face drooped. Life was fleeing from this man, like the sun was fleeing from the sky. His body was the roaring reds, the rageful and beautiful displays of life clinging onto itself, though the passage of time demanded rest.
It could be seen in the way he arranged patterns on his face, or the beautiful arrangements on his head, made of bird feathers and beaks. The necklace made of teeth; a spike ran across his lower lip.
He sat on a rock and had a large stick in his right hand.
Juno didn't know what to do, if she even should do something. She looked at the other captive boys, who stared right back at her, just as clueless. Then, the blonde captive spoke up.
"Hello! I am Rhys, and-"
Ba slapped him and held his throat from behind. He forced the blonde boy to curve himself in respect to the elder.
Juno's eyes widened, she gritted her teeth and prepared to jump on top of the Wolf Hunter. She felt a strong need to protect Rhys, a primordial understanding that, if they were the same, they'd need to care for each other.
But the other boy, the dark-haired one, extended a look to her. "Follow my lead", his eyes beckoned.
And though having to gulp though her reaction, Juno agreed.
The dark-haired boy imitated Rhys and kneeled towards the Elder. A few seconds later, Juno followed suit.
And for a moment, all one could hear was the crackle of fire. Then, the cackle of an old man.
"BA, Ba! You amuse me. I don't need you to defend my honor. I need you to hunt! Release them."
Reluctantly, Ba let his grip go. Rhys raised his head and swirled his neck, feeling the pain.
"Now, children", the Elder raised his voice. "I am Orm. Start by telling me…hm…how about…how is life like in the sky?"
The three crystals – of Juno, of the dark-haired boy, and Rhys' – all reflected the fire's light. Not one of them knew what to answer.
…
The three captives stared at each other blankly.
"We-we don't…the sky?", Juno is the first to speak up.
"We don't remember anything. All I know is…my name", said the dark-haired boy.
"Yes! Me too! I am Juno!"
"I'm…Pascal."
"Rhys", the blonde-haired boy finished. And he continued: "So, you're Orm. You have names as well."
"Does that surprise you?", the Elder countered.
"Well, we have these…things", Rhys says as he gestures to the crystals, "and you don't. So, I don't know if we're the same."
The Elder smiles.
"I remember a lot of green, and waking up, and the sky, and all of these beautiful things, but…not much more", Pascal said.
"Sounds like falling", Ba interjected.
"What are you wearing?", Juno asked to Ba, with innocent eyes.
The Wolf Hunter averted her gaze. "Deer hide."
"What's that?"
"Hide?"
"No. Well, that too. But. Deer?"
Ba looked at the Elder, who could barely contain his laughter.
"I don't think they are as you say, Ba", said the Elder, between bursts of cackling.
The Wolf Hunter touched the lifeless crystals he carried on his neck. He gritted his teeth.
And then, the blonde woman enters the cave. Juno recognizes her as the one who accompanied Ba earlier, who exchanged looks with her while riding the giant wolves.
"They might not mean harm. But they still have value", she said.
The Elder reclined on his rock, taking her words and sight in.
"Oh. Tala. But what is that word? Value?"
The blonde woman rejected the meandering.
"You know what it means. The Redclay, Uragan, Saltstone, Gatara. Any of them would trade a lot for a touch of these Light Stones. Anything we want."
Juno's stomach dropped. Anything we want? She steps forward slightly, speaking in a hushed tone. "Are all of these different groups of people?"
Pascal glances at her. "Juno..."
"I want to know!" Her crystal pulsed brighter. "If we're worth anything, I want to know to who!"
The Elder pondered.
The fire crackled.
Then, he touched the Hunter with a Fox pelt on his shoulders.
"Doraan, unbind the prisoners."
Ba reached for his bow. Rhys noticed it in a flash and calculated how to tackle the Wolf Hunter from then and there. The Hunter raised his voice. "Elder Orm. These are my-"
"Yes, your prisoners. Anything regarding them is your choice. But I am advising the band in matters of trade, am I not?" He waits for a response.
The Fox, Stag, Boar Hunter all nod. Tala nods. Juno nods too, though she doesn't know why. Ba sighs.
The Fox Hunter breaks the fiber ropes that tie Juno, Pascal and Rhys. Then, Elder Orm approaches them, and with his sturdy and bark-like fingers, raises their thin, delicate wrists.
Juno was suddenly, acutely aware of how small she was. She could feel the old man's breath on her naked body; she could feel every grain of coarse dirt against her legs. How easily she had been manipulated.
Pascal's breathing had quickened beside her, and she could see Rhys tightening his fist. They could be children among wolves, but they were there together.
And then, the Elder smiles, while exposing the frail girl's wrist.
"This. This is value."
Tala looks downward, understanding his point.
However, just in that instant, Juno's red crystal floats right in front of her, trying to protect her – which captures the Elders' eyes. He stops. The crystal calls him. It lights his eyes bright red. It whispers to him.
For a moment, the old man's eyes went completely vacant. His weathered hand reaches toward the floating stone, fingers trembling. Juno clenches her jaw as his grip tightens on her wrist. The crystal tries to fight back, emanating an ever louder, ever stronger sound.
Orm's breath eludes him. His chest deflates. He could see the crystal, and only the crystal, and nothing but the crystal, and if he could just –
Ba's hand on his shoulder snaps him back to reality. The Elder blinks, confused. Frightened by his own reaction.
When he lets go of Juno, she breathes a sigh of relief. The Elder walks back slowly, repenting his actions, as the crystal falls and gently floats alongside its master once more.
And then, through the crackle of fire, Pascal hears something. Low hums. Chattering. Voices.
"Tala. See it that the sky children are fed and dressed. Give them a place to rest", the Elder pleads, in a defeated voice.
The Elder sits back on his rock. "Fox, Wolf, Stag, Boar Hunters. Stay. Much to discuss". He rubs his fingers on his temples.
Ba steps in. "And you would have these children join the others?"
Pascal could hear it clearly as day. From deep within the cave, muffled, but unmistakable - human voices. More than one.
Orm nods. Pascal quickly looks at Rhys and Juno, and whispers, in a hushed though excited tone.
"There are…others?"