Chapter Text
“If you keep carrying old bricks, you’ll keep building the same house.”
The phrase from her Shepp, Chayne, kept replaying over and over in Okira’s head. The red head pondered on the thought for a second longer before sighing and putting her songbook down. The people of Palia referred to her as a “bard” but truthfully, she just liked to write and perform music. Singing was her “oneness”, as Hekla and Einar call it. She had written three different songs about feeling heartbroken over Reth, of all people, who had decided instead of being truthful about who he was seeing, decided to start dating her worst enemy, another human who shall not be named, and she was crushed.
While the Majiri were completely accepting of polyamory, and she was too, its cheating once the other person is not made aware of what is going on. And when one person says someone is off limits, they are OFF limits. She had one rule. Do not date or flirt with the girl who tried to turn the entire village against her. Filthy lies were spread about Okira shortly after her rise to popularity and it was found to have come from her old best friend. So why the hell would he sneak out at midnight to go see her!? Okira couldn’t believe her eyes when she went out for a nightly stroll to see him, pressed up against the other human, caressing the girl the way he used to caress her. They had started getting distant recently, and she finally knew why. She screamed so loud she scared away an entire den Chapaa and threw the pin he had given her at him so hard it stayed stuck in his chest.
Now, months and multiples dates later, Okira was ready to process what was so wrong in all of her relationships that caused them all to fail. The main conclusion she came up with is that she got too emotionally invested too fast. She was a lover girl at heart, before and after appearing in Palia, and there was nothing in this world or any other world that could change that. She craved affection and intimacy how Tau craved being a menace to the mayor’s family estate. She couldn’t help it. It made her even more sad now that all three of her siblings were in happy relationships and she was the last one left single. They really did try to make time for her, but between being with their partners and the respected paths they had, squeezing in time for her had been a struggle. Okira tried her best to not let it show that she was upset by it and how lonely she was, but as someone who wore her emotions on her sleeve, she was failing tremendously.
While she obviously could never tell Chayne all the details of her flings, she said enough that made him say that phrase. What was it supposed to mean? She couldn’t just turn her feelings off, unless he meant for her to stop comparing new people to Reth, but how could she not? Okira wasn’t in love, but she deeply cared for the cook. And all his ruthless flirting always made her feel like she was on top of the world. But that’s all it was flirting. And flattery. He cared for her in a friend sense but was never there when she needed him the most and started inadvertently testing all her new dating recruits. Okira wasn’t one to play games with people, as she didn’t like when people did that to her, but she was so afraid of being hurt again she would set up scenarios or randomly get emotional to see how the person would respond. The second they didn’t comfort her or handle things the way she liked she called things off and never talked to them again. It was a pitiful cycle of her crushing on someone, them going on a date, her regretting the decision, then crying herself to sleep at night because her siblings were almost never home to listen to her rant about how horrible the date went. The dark cherry-haired girl decided to give up on finding love and just focus on her music, hunting, and friendships.
Okira wasn’t quite sure why she was so fond of hunting. Her past memories, which she didn’t have much of, showed her being an excellent fighter but fighting for sport wasn’t a thing here in Palia. Or at least she didn’t know about it if it was. She hated bugs and bug catching, but being able to tame beasts by shooting them down brought her a strange comfort. The first time she caught a Proudhorned Sernuk she nearly cried. Well.. she did cry when she had to carry it all the way back to her house to skin and de-antler it. That thing was heavy and her workout sessions with Sifuu, the village blacksmith, only went well on leg days. Arm day? Back day? Not so much. She was not proud of that.
The only part about hunting that she disliked was the brooding Hunting Guild leader that she had to deal with to get new recipes to make arrows and bows. She had no idea how her twin brother, Okino, was able to tolerate him enough to be best friends but they weren’t too different. Okino wasn’t an asshole to most people though, unlike a certain deep lavender Majiri. They both were pretty quiet and enjoyed silence over talking unless you were one of their preferred people. Okino only really cared for me, Hassian, his boyfriend Iruka, our older brother Ojiro, and our older sister Luna. Hassian seemed to not care for anyone outside of his Mother and Okino. And Tau. His love for Tau was unconditional and unwavering. What a strange, mean man. She frequently turned down every one of Okino’s invitations to hangout with them in the past, but decided last night that she should open herself up for more friends. Hassian had to have some sort of redeeming qualities, if he didn’t there’s no way in hell Okino would put up with him. She longed to be like her twin, not giving a care about whether he was liked or how many friends he had. He was horrible with affection though, only accepting hugs from Iruka and her. Iruka was also human who tended to cling to Jina, everyone’s favorite researcher, when he wasn’t with Okino. He’s smart and loved the library and learning almost as much as Caleri, which was hilarious considering her hatred of him. All of her comments on how he returns books left the twins in tears when they went to visit him.
Okira laughed to herself before pushing off the floor to stand and get ready for the day. She planned to give out some gifts, bake some goods, and hand out flyers today so people would know she had a performance coming up soon at the Maji Market. The Luna New Year brought out nearly the entire village and surrounding areas, so she did her best to pester the Mayor and his insufferable wife to let her take the stage for one night. After many cleanings of Tau’s messes in their home and gifts or food or pearls and silk, they finally agreed to let it happen. Okira made sure to give the hound extra Chapaa meat for leaving so much to clean up for her. She was eternally grateful.
After cleaning herself up and putting on her usual outfit, a green cropped top and pants with her favorite brown thigh high boots, she gathered all the things she would need in her backpack and began the trek down to Kilima Village. Her siblings had all already left for the day, so there was no one to say goodbye to but she yelled it out anyways just to feel something. After stopping a few times to hunt Chapaa near the Daiya family farm, she made her way to the village to start hanging up flyers. She had bribed her favorite Grimalkin to help her make attractive posters so the village folks would all come out and support her. Seeing them stop to stare at the posters and nod made her so happy inside. She loved singing for people and making it feel like the music transported them to another world, somewhere far away, where everything was good and life was great. She truly believed that’s what music should do for people. She loved singing and dancing while her siblings played various instruments. Okira was good at many things but was not coordinated enough to sing and play at the same time. It was a fact that pained her to admit. She wasn’t proud of it but her siblings made up for her shortcomings when she needed them to so it was fine.
Once all posters were hung and she had handed out all but three gifts, she made her way to the Inn where she knew the last villagers would be. She had spent a week straight trying to catch a butterfly that Auni wanted and would be damned if she didn’t get it for him. She loved the village kids so much she basically took them on as younger siblings. When she approached the boy, she saw that was completely focused on the card game he was playing with Hassian and Okino. She never understood all the rules of the game to ever jump in and play, but she also knew that the young boy only feigned bad at playing to not cause harm to the Hunter’s ego. Hassian was actually a terrible card player. Auni was clearly a skilled actor to have not given away that he was letting the man win. It was both pitiful and comical to watch. The girl pulled her last three gifts out her bag and sat the butterfly and a striped Chapaa tail on the table before going over to one of her favorite people in the village, Sifuu. She had no idea how this amazing and lively woman was the mother of someone so… opposite. Shifuu had casually mentioned that she wanted some iron ore at their last meeting, so she made sure to bring some to gift. Okira had no memories of her own mother, but she had hoped her own was like Sifuu, although she doubted she would ever go back to wherever she came from to find out.
Sifuu looked at the girl and slid her second, untouched cup of ale towards the girl and smiled, “What’s got you so down? Bad day in Bahari Bay? Cheer up kid, there’s always tomorrow!”
Okira chuckled and took the cup, taking a small sip before speaking, “Apologies, I’m just in my feelings today. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great! Got a huge order for swords from the Capital. They paid a pretty hefty price too. Here, buy yourself something to drink on me. And next time you slay a monster, tell it Sifuu sent ya!” The women then slammed her hands on the table and got up to leave for the night. Okira always enjoyed her company whether it was for a long or short period of time. She felt a little less alone with Sifuu around. Her loudness took up so much space the room always felt full and made the younger woman feel better. Now sitting at an empty table, Okira collected the coins left for her and the drink then headed over to watch the card game as it came to a close. A new game started immediately after and after some time, the glass was empty and Okino was bored of plating. “Say man, beating y’all was fun and all but I’m hungry and this soup here is ass. You got anything good in the Grove?”
Hassian looked up for a moment, in thought, then leaned over and shot a finger gun, “Yes, I do. I had a very successful hunt yesterday.” Okira resisted the urge to roll her eyes, considering she was still pissed that he had stolen the kill of the fattest Chapaa she had ever seen but didn’t even notice her. She would get him back for that. Eventually. He better sleep with one eye open for a few days.
“Mind if I tag along? I’m starved myself,” Okira asked, ignoring the looks of the two men who sat in front of her. They both exchanged glances and raised eyebrows before one spoke, “Sure.”
She nodded and gathered all the dinnerware from the table to take to the bar to leave for whomever was working today. To her misfortunate, it was Reth, but even after their split he was still friendly towards her, no matter how dirty the looks she gave him were. Today she merely sat them down with a small tip then turned to leave but was stopped by a hand grabbing her arm. In shock, she looked down at the hand then up to its owner before passing a look of disgust. “Look, Soup boy, you have two seconds to unhand me before you find an arrow in your neck. Do not test me.”
He gulped and pulled back, removing his hand scratching his head, “I just wanted to say hi, you looked so sad. I hope its not still because of me.”
She gave a look of confusion before busting into uncontrollable laughter that shook her like an earthquake. She wiped a tear from her face before finally being able to respond, “Me? Sad over,” she looked him up and down rudely, “You? Absolutely not. I have my own demons I’m fighting. You are no longer one of them. Have a day. Oh, and do keep your hands to yourself. I make no promises that I won’t stop my brothers from kicking your ass if you do that again. And if Okino fights, so does Hassian. So unless you want three against one… don’t do that again.” Okira proudly turned around, chin in air, and swayed off in the direction of two of the previously mentioned men. Reth pouted and went back behind his cooking counter, which made her lower her head a bit until Okino tilted her chin back up.
“Don’t you ever lower your head for anybody ever again, you understand me? Fuck him and his feelings. You hold your head proud. I mean it Kiri.” Okino only used the nickname when he was being serious, so she knew he meant it. He was the first one she confided in after the cheating incident, so he heard all of her raw and unfiltered emotions. It pained him so see his sister hurting so much but he had no idea how to handle it. He was bad at emotions and expressing them, Iruka reminded him of that frequently. He just wished he could squeeze her until all her hurt and tears stopped for good and she could be content with life again.
Exiting the Inn and heading towards the Bay, Hassian finally spoke. “Bold of you to assume I would fight in your battles. That has nothing to do with me.” This time Okira did roll her eyes and huffed her breath, “Two weeks ago I watched you two hunt down and beat the guy that smacked Iruka’s ass at the Market, now all of a sudden you want to mind your business. Cute.”
He passed a glance at his friend then looked off in the distance, “That was different. Someone needed protecting. You do not.”
Okira dropped all amusement from her face and walked up ahead so she wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. She knew what he was implying. One night out of pure loneliness she sought out Okino at Hassian’s Grove and after arguing for what seemed like hours, told Hassian to come outside and “fight like a man” which resulted in him calling her one and saying that’s why she couldn’t find a partner. He believed that she shouldn’t try and play soft with people then harden whenever she got mad. She did tend to get assertive when angry, but she didn’t think she hardened, necessarily. She just couldn’t be soft unless she was comfortable enough to, and no one outside of family had made her feel comfortable lately. He still was wrong for throwing that in her face. But she was also wrong for trying to fight the man who had every right to refuse someone coming in his safe space. She thought they had moved on past that but clearly, she was wrong. She was starting to regret asking to come along but decided to stay strong and just ignore him. He was very easy to ignore, being that he didn’t talk much. Okino said during their hang outs when Iruka was too busy to join, like tonight, they would just read together and look up at the stars. Apparently, the Grove had the best view of the stars, and she wanted to see for herself.
Sometime later, the three entered Bahari Bay and whilst walking saw a certain streak of blue running by, causing both of the hunters to draw their bows and best arrows. Okino did not like hunting, flat out refused, but the other two almost lit up with excitement. Okira drew her bow to release her newest dispel arrow and Hassian followed up with a slow down arrow before both chased and aimed final arrows at the limping creature. The humans who had scared it off into their direction had showed up but Okino told them to stay back, if they knew what was good for them. Hassian’s arrow hit it square in the chest while Okira’s arrow went straight through the head. They nodded at each other, acknowledging the good shots, before going to collect it. Okino offered to carry it and threw it over his shoulders so they could do their final ascent up into the Grove.
Laying down on one of the Sernuk hides the hunter had just freshly dried, the girl laid down and began looking for constellations. Okino, the best cook of the three, pulled out some meat to begin cooking steak dinner and grilled mushrooms. Hassian, the most skilled at carving out proper cuts of meat, began taking care of the new trophy they had just caught and sat near her on a log doing so. From time to time, she would look over and watch him, amused by his skill. He sliced through the Sernuk like a knife through butter. He was so smooth she was genuinely impressed.
Once all was done and they began eating, Okino asked his twin about how her week was going. They hadn’t talked much lately and he wanted to use the little time with her he had to make sure she wasn’t too depressed.
“Hmm. Nothing interesting really happened. I had flyers made and posted round the village, I had a couple hunting trips, nothing too exciting. Oh, wait! I found this super juicy letter by the statue garden. Phoenix, it was so good! I could have written it myself, it tugged my heart strings just reading it! Listen, I know what I feel for you is real, as sure as the sun rises every morning, steady as the stars in the night sky. It gets better hold on,” Okira pulled the letter out of her bag before reading the last sentence, “If you give me the chance, I am willing to devote the rest of my life proving it to you.” She sighed, dramatically, “Now why can’t I find someone like that? Willing to devote their LIFE to me? If I find who wrote this im stealing them from whoever the hell T is. Clearly, they don’t deserve H.” She closed the letter and sat it down beside them but regretted it after looking up and seeing Hassian physically sick. She tilted her head to the side and looked at Okino for an answer. He had shoved his head in his hands and mumbled curse words to himself.
..Had she done something wrong?