Canillia slowly closed the last report, her fingers clenching the leather cover.
Words blurred before his tired eyes.
Always the same problems, the same tensions that plagued the region.
The Marauders were extending their influence, and Akila, at the head of the Hidden Spring camp, was consolidating his power with relentless brutality.
Failed attempts, ill-timed blows.
Chaos seemed to reign, slipping like sand through Canillia's fingers.
She had hoped for a sign, a breakthrough, however small.
But the reports left no room for optimism.
As if that wasn't enough, Léa had left.
An absurd argument, triggered by an unimportant spark.
A misplaced word, perhaps, or that tense silence she knew so well how to maintain when she was at her wits' end.
Léa had raised her voice, thrown her hands in the air with that familiar exasperation.
Then she was gone, her boots pounding the house floor like a knell.
- I'm going back home to Pyr. I'll be waiting for you...
Altarae, posted a few yards away, had seen everything.
The old hominin, with her hunched back but piercing gaze, crossed her arms over her wrinkled chest.
His face, weathered by years in the dust and shadows, showed an almost comical expression of disapproval.
She strode towards Canillia.
- Oh dear!
Are you out of your mind?
Léa, she's not just a figurehead you put in a corner when it suits you!
- Altarae, not now... sighed Canillia, exhausted.
- Well, S'rae hasn't got the time?
I'm not going to teach you that you can't become a boss by snapping your fingers, am I?
But if you think that work replaces everything, you'll end up alone like an old sock with a hole in it!
Canillia raised her head, surprised by the harshness of his tone.
- I'm talking about life, kid!
Altarae added, hammering out each word with her hooked index finger.
The real one, not the one in your bloody rubber reports!
You've got to get your head in the game before everything that matters gets away from you!
Silence fell for a moment. Canillia lowered her eyes, biting her lower lip.
- She said she'd wait for me... but not forever," she murmured.
- Well, what are you waiting for to join him, then?
A kick in the derriere? Grumbled Altarae with a smirk.
Canillia smiled in spite of herself.
Altarae had a gift for reducing life's complexities to a brutal but salutary truth.
- Maybe you're just a smart businesswoman," concludes the old hominid as she walks away,
Words blurred before his tired eyes.
Always the same problems, the same tensions that plagued the region.
The Marauders were extending their influence, and Akila, at the head of the Hidden Spring camp, was consolidating his power with relentless brutality.
Failed attempts, ill-timed blows.
Chaos seemed to reign, slipping like sand through Canillia's fingers.
She had hoped for a sign, a breakthrough, however small.
But the reports left no room for optimism.
As if that wasn't enough, Léa had left.
An absurd argument, triggered by an unimportant spark.
A misplaced word, perhaps, or that tense silence she knew so well how to maintain when she was at her wits' end.
Léa had raised her voice, thrown her hands in the air with that familiar exasperation.
Then she was gone, her boots pounding the house floor like a knell.
- I'm going back home to Pyr. I'll be waiting for you...
But not forever," she said in a cold voice.
Altarae, posted a few yards away, had seen everything.
All heard.
The old hominin, with her hunched back but piercing gaze, crossed her arms over her wrinkled chest.
His face, weathered by years in the dust and shadows, showed an almost comical expression of disapproval.
She strode towards Canillia.
- Oh dear!
Are you out of your mind?
Léa, she's not just a figurehead you put in a corner when it suits you!
- Altarae, not now... sighed Canillia, exhausted.
- Well, S'rae hasn't got the time?
I'm not going to teach you that you can't become a boss by snapping your fingers, am I?
But if you think that work replaces everything, you'll end up alone like an old sock with a hole in it!
Canillia raised her head, surprised by the harshness of his tone.
- I'm talking about life, kid!
Altarae added, hammering out each word with her hooked index finger.
The real one, not the one in your bloody rubber reports!
You've got to get your head in the game before everything that matters gets away from you!
Silence fell for a moment. Canillia lowered her eyes, biting her lower lip.
- She said she'd wait for me... but not forever," she murmured.
- Well, what are you waiting for to join him, then?
A kick in the derriere? Grumbled Altarae with a smirk.
Canillia smiled in spite of herself.
Altarae had a gift for reducing life's complexities to a brutal but salutary truth.
- Maybe you're just a smart businesswoman," concludes the old hominid as she walks away,
But when it comes to love, baby, you've got a lot to learn..."