^^ George the Basket

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"Because, you're coming with me."

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"Like this?" I asked, holding the basket I weaved up for Emut's approval.

He lifted his gaze from his own masterpiece, his eyes carefully examining my work. A small smile graced his face and he moved closer to me, from his seated position on the floor in front of me.

It had been a long and grueling hour, in which Emut had led me to a secluded hay hut and showed me the basics of basket weaving and, another 40 minutes for me to construct my own, under his watchful care.

"It's good, Hanna, but remember what I taught you. You have to choose either coiled, twined or plaited and use that weaving style for the whole piece." He explained gently, brushing his fingers against the different entangled fibres of the basket; his eyes alit with amusement.

"You've combined all three into one basket." He added with an airy laugh and my cheeks heated up in embarrassment at his words. I pulled the basket back defensively which only made his laughter increase two-fold and I huffed loudly.

"I know the three styles. I just wanted to- I wanted it to look really extravagant." I explained sheepishly and rather pathetically, might I add.

Emut smiled at my explanation, nodding his head and I rolled my eyes at the smirk on his face. Taking the basket from my hands, he lifted it close to his face and inspected it yet again. He rotated it in his hands, biting his lip in thought.

"It does look extravagant." He commented jokingly and I leaned forward, nudging him in the arm before snatching the basket yet again and tucking it behind me protectively.

"I don't need to sit here and let you make fun of me. Or, George, for that matter" I rambled out, only realising after what I had shared and I groaned in annoyance as his hazel eyes lit up again. Burying my head in my hands, I listened as he let out a long-drawn whistle.

"George, huh?" His deep voice muttered and I could practically hear the smirk on his face, despite not looking at him.

"Go away." I said simply, the sound muffled by my hands and I heard him laugh again at my words.

Raising my face from my hands, I glared at him with all the intensity I could muster, but I could not help the smile that was tugging at my lips. Emut raised his hands in a form of 'surrender' before leaning back and leaning on his palms.

"Well, can you at least tell George that his choice of design means he is very unstable and he will most likely fall apart by the end of the day." He commented, a serious tone to his voice and I gasped loudly, jutting George closer to my side.

"At least try to lower your voice, he's right here!" I scolded jokingly, a small smile on my face and Emut let out a laugh before hauling himself up and jutting out a tanned hand in my direction. I took it with a muttered 'thanks'.

"I'll try to be more conscientious of his emotions next time, I promise." Emut murmured with a smirk before reaching down to grab the baskets he made and putting them on a clay table at the side, along with a few dozen other baskets of either similar or more intricate design. I giggled at his words, glaring playfully at him as I watched him pick George up and turn to me.

"I can't tell you honestly that he'd be of any use in the festival, but take it as a souvenir of your first attempt." He consoled handing it over to me and I grimaced at his words, snatching the basket from his grasp.

"Geez, I think it would have been less painful if you just told me flat-out how awful it was." I commented and Emut laughed before turning to walk.

'I don't know what 'geez' or 'flat-out' means, but duly noted. Next time, I won't try to spare your feelings." He promised, looking over his shoulder at me and I walked faster to get in pace with him. I followed as he exited the hut, ducking slightly as he had done to walk through the door. I marvelled at the beautiful greenery as we ventured on down a muddy man-made path towards the centre of the village.

"Oh, I keep forgetting, you're not from Earth." I remarked, with a frown. He gave me a pointed look before looking forward.

"You say 'not from Earth' as though it's a bad thing.' He let out and I shook my head vehemently.

"No, no, it's not like that. This- it's all different for me." I let out honestly, soothing the callouses on the palm of my hands. If I had known that basket weaving was such a strenuous task, I would have offered myself up to help with another job.

Emut regarded me with an amused side glance before shaking his head slightly.

"I would have brought some honey if I had known you were that fragile." He joked and I let out a small scoff.

"You should have brought it anyways; I've been feeling hungry for a while now."

Emut let out a husky laugh at this as we walked, but the words he spoke next were drowned out as we reached the end of the muddy path and the sound of laughter and conversation emanated across the village.

Weaving our way through houses, I turned to Emut, making sure my voice was loud enough to be heard over the hubbub.

"Is this how loud festival preparation usually is?" I almost but shouted and I watched as Emut raised an eyebrow before gesturing forwards.

"Well, if it isn't this loud then I doubt I'd want to attend." He joked before weaving through a marketplace. The sweet smell of dried up goods hit me and I marvelled at the various golden and silver trinkets across the bazaars.

I revelled in the shade from the odd cloth-canopies hung above food stalls, but the heat was still merciless, beating down on me relentlessly. I fanned my face, but this only increased the rush of heat to my face and I suddenly felt exhausted, my walk slowing to a dull stop.

Thankfully, Emut noticed this and I watched as he walked towards a sand-made building and grabbed a small clay bowl. In its place, he left 3 oddly shaped gold coins, which he had pulled out of his pocket.

"What's that for?" I questioned as he walked over to me and only then did I notice how hoarse my voice was. I let out a cough to which Emut frowned.

"There's a reservoir up ahead with trapped water. Will you be fine until then?" He asked, his deep voice gentle and I nodded in response before following him as he walked.

"It's much hotter here than it is back home." He explained and I knew by 'home' he meant his own home, not mine.

"Why? You have air conditioners?" I joked despite the fact that I felt as though even talking was making me more lethargic. It was worth it, in the end, to see the confusion on Emut's face at the foreign words 'air conditioner', but he waved it off with a shake of his head.

"No, but we do have Sycamore. Plenty of it." He said almost proudly before pointing towards a small mud-brick well that lay ahead, mounted on a small sand hill.

"Am I supposed to know what that is?" I muttered, distracted more so by the prospect of quenching my thirst. Emut leaned slightly into the reservoir, his bicep flexing as he used the clay plot to gather water and suddenly he was up; long before I could marvel at the broad muscles of his arm.

"I'll just call it a sun-shade to skip the boring lecture." He joked before carefully handing over the pail of water. It wasn't even in my hand for 5 seconds before I greedily took it to my mouth and gulped the contents, quite enjoying the small bits of water that splashed onto my heated neck.

Emut allowed me to drink in silence and, for that, I was thankful. But, not long after it left my lips, Emut let out a laugh, brushing his brown hair away from his eyes.

"Slow down there. I'm in no hurry." He said between laughs and I merely resorted to glaring before turning and stepping down from the small hill of sand that the well was settled on.

Emut shadowed my movements and we walked in silence. Well, silence in this case being the nearing sound of villagers screaming and laughing. The silence wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable either, so I bumbled for words inside my head to start a conversation.

"Are you scared of Anouke?" I asked Emut before I could even process what I had said and I cursed myself for thinking of such solemn conversation.

Emut didn't give any indication that the turn in conversation had upset him. Rather, he shrugged almost casually and I wondered how this type of thing was normal for him.

"I'm more afraid of what would happen to Aaru; to the people." He said and I noticed how the look in his honey-coloured eyes had shifted to something more serious. It only lasted for a second before he let a small smile grace his face.

"I remember, when I was young, back when I didn't understand it all. The children in my village, we used to have these games where we'd hide and the seeker would pretend to be Anouke or Baken. It was all games then, nothing else." He let out, his tone sombre and I realised how vastly different his childhood must have been from mine.

"Baken?" I asked curiously, rolling my eyes when a teasing smirk lit up Emut's face, no doubt finding my accent of the word funny. He shook his head at this as we rounded a corner and I listened as his deep voice took on a more tense and firm undertone.

"It means servant as in Bakenanouke. When Anouke used the eye of Ra, she created slaves from clay- the Chigaru. But, that wasn't enough. Anouke chose to defile nature's laws as well and set the eye of Ra on the four elements bestowed to us by the gods- Earth, Fire, Air and Water. From this, the Bakenanouke were born. Four frightful creatures that our mothers would use to put us to bed at night. And, their allegiance lies with Anouke."

Emut glanced every so often at me as he spoke, almost as though he was trying to gauge my reaction; to see how the prophecy was taking the truth. But, I didn't know what to feel or what to show to him, so I merely nodded numbly before turning my gaze towards my shoes. Emut took this as a leeway to continue.

"It's the Chigaru that do most of the work- looting, pillaging and taking women for pleasure. The Bakenanouke each sit on the four borders surrounding althueban province- that's where Anouke lives. No one's been able to get to her; no one has ever lived to describe what the Bakenanouke even look like." He said before looking towards the sun, a terse look on his face.

"It's impossible to get to the althueban province. My grandfather had tried and failed. He said it was made impenetrable with ancient magic that only the darkness would possess. Even without the Bakenanouke, Anouke is untouchable." He continued simply but I could sense the burning agitation in his voice. He sounded helpless and what made it worse was that some part of him thought that I was the solution.

Me, the girl who could break a sweat, tying a shoelace.

I didn't allow myself to ponder nor panic at even the notion of it. I couldn't even if I tried because we had then reached the centre of the village and I looked on, speechless, at the sight before me.

The preparations were in full swing with crowds and crowds of people helping with the festival. Villagers were laughing, carrying around various items or helping hang things up. I watched in awe as we walked past what looked to be the preparations for food where several females were toiling over a small cylinder hole in the floor. Smoke was pouring out in clusters and I backed away slightly from the heat.

"We use it to cook our food." Emut explained, following my line of sight and I nodded in thanks before looking around, fascinated by the different lifestyle they had here as opposed to Earth.

I heard the laughter of children and watched as a group of them sat huddled on the floor throwing what looked to be bones into the centre of the circle. They shouted as they played and I turned to Emut.

"Were you just like that as a child?" I gestured towards the group of kids and Emut laughed before nodding.

"I guess I was, but I began training and living with Negus from when I was 7, so I had to forget all of this." He nodded towards the games before walking up ahead.

I felt sorry for him then and reached out to comfort him, but the sound of my name being called stopped me in my tracks and I turned to see Ayla, a bright grin on her face.

Her blonde hair was drawn into a high ponytail, showing her slender heart-shaped face, save for the few flyaways that were matted to her forehead due to the heat. Nevertheless, she looked both unfazed and beautiful, despite the heat.

She waved enthusiastically and I smiled before waving back in the same manner. She was currently helping a little girl draw a bow, but upon seeing me, she nudged someone next to her to help and raced over.

"Hey." She said breathlessly, resting a hand on her hip as she looked at me.

"I'll let you both catch up." Emut spoke, an amused look in his eye before heading towards a group of male villagers who showered him with hugs and greetings as though it had been centuries since they had seen him. I briefly let my thoughts drift to my life at home where I had no such company and was met with no such greetings, but before I could dwell any further, Ayla was pulling me along.

This is going to be a long day.

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Hello guys! Hope you liked the read m!

I know it is a bit boring now, but it will get more intense and exciting soon *wink wink*

Please, vote if you like and comment what you want to see.

Much love,

S. A. A