Strawberry Dreams
Something about strawberries reminded her of Najya. She blinked, the sunlight was so bright that she had to shut her eyes again for a second as she felt a weight shift in her bed. Unlike Daenu, Najya was well capable of producing her own type of warmth, which was balanced by Daenu's permanent arctic temperature. Daenu usually woke up first and rarely moved in her sleep anyway, which meant that Najya had the freedom to sleep in whatever position she wanted and Daenu would like freshly fallen snow, shape herself so that Najya's dreams weren't disturbed. She snapped her fingers and one of her claimants, she couldn't remember their name set down a tray with breakfast, the aroma itself slowly but surely worked on Najya whose eyes opened, her hands beginning to search for the food despite being half asleep. Course, this was after Najya had already emptied three trays in a semi conscious state, Daenu had always been relatively impressed by the amount of food that her little cloud was capable of consuming at any given moment. Now that she was fully awake and stretching her arms, Najya could feel what felt like ice cubes touching her skin, Daenu was watching her intently… for the most part Najya knew when her girlfriend was paying attention to her, it came down to the intensity of ice she felt… she loved when Daenu was watching her adoringly it felt like snowflakes melting into her skin and leaving her at a comfortable temperature.
“Morning.”
“Morning.”
Najya turned her head, this was not the voice she knew. She jumped out of the bed and took the sheets with her as she crashed onto the floor, in Daenu’s usual place was a man that looked like Daenu but this could not be Daenu… had she fallen asleep in some stranger’s bed? She wanted to scream when this male, who was topless and looked like that Greek man Adonis. She looked around for a weapon, whereas this man, this beautiful man climbed out of the bed and adjusted his height so that he was now kneeling next to Najya.
“Cloud?”
“Who are you?” She squeaked
“Why, it’s me love. Do you not recognise me?”
“You… You… are a”
“A man. This is normal.” Daenu paused, gauging his girlfriend’s reaction.
“How is this normal!”
She wanted to pass out. Daenu stood up and offered her his hand, she could see the veins underneath his pale white skin, a stark contrast to her own. Taking it cautiously, still unsure of this person… Daenu.
“But when you went to sleep last night you were a woman.”
“Well yes, but sometimes I get bored being a female.”
“I..” Now she was red as a tomato as he picked up the sheets and put them back on the bed, before enveloping her in a hug.
“I have never shared a bed with a man before.”
“I know, Cloud. Breathe. You are not breathing, your pulse is terribly fast.”
Once the initial shock wore off, Najya felt the urge to investigate and to evidently learn to navigate this male version of her beloved, Daenu waited patiently and even offered to take his pants off if it helped – Najya flat out refused said that it could wait, she had to get over the fact that he was rock hard, there was literally no soft part of Daenu left in this new male version. Najya did not like the fact that Daenu’s eyes were now a version of light lilac? She much prefer the espresso coloured female eyes of Daenu, she occasionally placed her hand on a part of him, causing him to either hum or shutter – she wasn’t sure if either was a good thing.
Daenu downed a cup of coffee, as Najya watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down. Was this really the same person? Daenu acted so gracefully and with such poise that Najya felt she could never ever replicate… but this male version was more confident, standoffish and somewhat of a brute, not that she would voice any of this to him. He mentioned about needing a shower – and an offer to join, which she turned down, she had showered with Daenu and that had led to some delicious fun, but she wasn’t sure if she was comfortable enough around this male Daenu, Daenu seemed to understand and was in and out of the shower before she could even think to run, as they both changed – his wardrobe having been changed to suit his male preferences, Najya finally found the urge to speak.
“My village wants to meet you.”
“They do?”
“Yes, well I have not gone home in so long, they have started sending birds to look for me.”
“That’s cute Cloud.” Daenu helped her into her boots, they were still being worn in and the leather was still hard.
“So will you come with me?” He straightened her scarf
“If they’ll have me.”
“I think that they will.” He kissed her on the forehead, causing her to turn about as red as a tomato.
“Though my skin will be a shock.”
“I think there is a lot to you that will shock them.” She was trying to compose herself.
“True enough Dulce.”
“Dulce???” More blushing on her end. Why was he so good at this? About as good as Daenu was….this was Daenu, just a male.
“A new name, do you like it?”
“I think I prefer Cloud more.” She admitted nervously
“Cloud is your favourite, so we will stick with it. I will think of something better my little dew drop.” He kissed the top of her ear.
“I definitely do not like being called a dew drop.” She really was trying to remain calm, not helped by him kissing her like he was.
“Then perhaps my Star?” He whispered as he dipped into her neck to plant another kiss there.
“That is not so bad…” Would he give her some space to breathe…. He did smell really good… she blinked and he was now by the door to the wardrobe waiting for her. What a tease.
“Well it’s another option hmm?” Daenu fixed his hair in the mirror
“I…” she looked down at her hands
“Yes Cloud?”
“I prefer you as a woman…” she whispered
Daenu’s eyebrow rose and he cracked a smile, Najya would have thought he would be mad.
“I get that, but I promise. I can be just as fun as a man."
Keeping to his word, they did not get much done the rest of the week as Najya was spoilt beyond belief – and mostly because Daenu was hellbent on getting Najya as comfortable to this male body of hers as she had been with her usual feminine self, it had in fact gotten so bad that most of the Ice claimants who usually dwelled inside the Poles, vacated and headed for the human realm or to another realm just to get some peace and quiet.
Homecoming
“This is it?”
Najya nodded gleefully as Daenu inhaled the humid air, she had expected the village to be at least close to a capital city, the ones the humans liked to live in, but instead they had been trekking though the jungle, disarming the traps Najya had laid, avoiding the hunting party – who was being left puzzled as to why the traps were disarmed when they were set up perfectly. Neither had suffered any insect bites, seeing as no matter what Daenu tried to avoid touching… which was a lot, she seemed to leave a frozen path in her wake – the humans who were in the cities and towns were left baffled as to the sudden appearance of snow, ice and much more on their doorstep. Najya offered a hand to Daenu as they crossed a rickety trunk that seconded as a bridge… the only bridge for at least a thousand miles in both directions.
“I ought to get someone to see to building a proper bridge.”
“If you do that, people will know my village exists and we will no longer be safe.”
“I see… but there’s gotta be a better way to cross this river than crossing a nearly rotted to the bottom tree trunk.”
“Another tree will fall in its place.”
Daenu shrugged as they finally made it to the other side, Najya did a quick survey of the surrounding flora and fauna, and once she was sure they were safe they trudged on. Unlike Daenu who had dressed… rather inappropriately in a sun dress and sneakers, Najya was in full home gear, sandals and the ready, clothes that kept her nice and cool and made it easy for her to move around… hell most of the time was spent ensuring Daenu’s dress didn’t tear on some branch or unsuspecting animal’s horn, teeth or claws.
“How much further?”
“One more mountain and we will be there… elders really did decide to move us as far as as we could possibly be from the next tribe over.”
“Does this happen often?”
“No, just once every generation. Or so I am told.”
Daenu had found it so odd when the morning of their departure, Najya had taken all of her clothes off – not that the Ancient was complaining, harassed the claimant attendants for her belongings – they finally obliged after Najya promised she’d use their blood as paint otherwise, now she was completely different to the Najya that Daenu had come to know, in an outfit that suggested she was a warrior and completely utterly native… as in never been to the cities… nothing… and the headdress, Daenu couldn’t be sure what animal that was made of and the paint smelled of things that Daenu would rather not identify. She nearly tripped over another vine….
“Halt!”
A voice that sounded much squeakier than anticipated, had Daenu looking up at a hoard of men, women and even children who were up in the trees, spears, swords and all at the ready… and all aiming directly at her head.
“Uh Cloud?”
Najya was nowhere to be seen… fearing for her own safety, Daenu did the only thing she could do and that was to freeze the entirety of the near vicinity, placing her hands on the ground the people above her who had evidently never seen the Ancient of Ice before did not get a chance to react, nor scramble away as their bodies were frozen in place… just like everything else was. She stood up and decided that for the moment they could stay frozen whilst she looked for her girlfriend.
“Cloud… where did you go?”
It was easier to walk around when everything was frozen, she didn’t have to be cautious of the frozen leaves or what have you ruining her outfit, see whilst Daenu was sure she had covered her bases, she had not accounted for the fact that some of those ‘humans’ up in the tree were light Claimants… nor did she account for the fact that directly at this moment seven of them shot poison darts at this ghost woman.
Now, if they had hit the Ancient, it would have caused the destruction of the entire rainforest. Fortunately they did not hit the Ancient and rather the darts were returned mid air by Najya herself who was not pleased whatsoever that this was the welcoming party the elders had sent. Once the darts were dispelled and Najya was back in front of Daenu, she had to ask her girlfriend to unfreeze the humans and the area so that they could finally arrive at the village, course Daenu had plenty of questions.
“They did not mean any harm.”
Rainforest unfrozen, limbs and other body parts accounted for… a quick check up on the poisoned dart shooters – all of whom were fine just a little high from the toxins. It was only after that the ‘welcoming’ party started chanting Najya’s name, many of them running up and hugging Najya, examining for damage and looking at Daenu rather cautiously; most of them would secretly agree never to go near this ghost woman and her ice. Daenu was none the wiser as a small group of very old men and women, none of them smelled like Claimants… or maybe they did and they were just masking it? Approached, one of them hit Najya on the head with her cane and said something that Daenu did not quite hear, but rather than killing this woman Daenu held back – primarily because Najya was enveloped in a hug and tears were exchanged.
“Grandma this is Daenu.”
“You really must come home more often, dear. It does not bode well for the Lightbringer to be away for so long.”
Daenu offered a hand for the woman to shake but the woman hissed and the group of humans moved further away. Was this not a normal customary greeting? Did humans not shake hands? She looked to her girlfriend who was a bit pink in the cheeks and quickly mentioned they did not shake hands. She lowered her hand and decided it’d be best to just let Najya do the talking.
Once they were alone, inside a hut that was covered in memorabilia, the kind of memorabilia that resembled a lifetime of successful hunting and worship. Daenu was careful not to touch anything in case they had real sentimental value for her partner… she really was like a fish out of water and suddenly realised that this was what it was for Misnia when she first met her husband all of those years ago, sitting down on what she hoped was a mat meant for sitting, only for Najya to mention that, that was a family heirloom and that they sat on the ground rather than on the mat Daenu shifted and apologised for being so utterly useless at this moment in time.
“It is ok, perhaps change into our clothes? It might help you to not stick out so much?”
Daenu did not protest as Najya packed away the sneakers and sundress away, did not protest when her hair was braided by a less scared and more curious elder, did not mind when she was given a new pair of sandals or clothes to wear (none of it really fit her proportions and the comment was made that maybe a whole new beast had to be slayed in order to have the materials needed for Daenu to be covered appropriately.) The Ice Ancient did not so much mind the skirt or the uhhh shirt made of fur? More people approached but most of them spoke to Najya and gave Daenu looks of suspicion, some of them did wave and try to bring her into the fold but none of them could understand Daenu’s accent.
“They will get used to it.”
“I don’t think they ever will Cloud.”
“What is cloud?” One of the kids asked
Daenu pointed up at the sky and at a cloud
“Lightbringer is not a ‘cloud’.” The kids were confused by this concept of their champion being called something she was not.
“Well…” Daenu really wished she had a way to show that she was not a threat and that she really was trying to integrate herself into their routine and community.
Water Paint
Daenu ran her hand through her hair and winced at the knot she found, it had been quickly discovered that Daenu really didn’t have the best tolerance for the heat and so Najya’s grandma had suggested that for the duration of Daenu’s stay that she should remain by the cooler side of the village near the water. So it was that Daenu would then be found sleeping underwater in her own ice bubble, the first morning they had found her like that, the villagers really thought she had been killed or had died in the middle of the night and this was the end result – course when Daenu cracked the ice case and climbed out of it completely dry, they were relieved (Najya had already known that this was one of Daenu’s habits when they were camping otherwise and had wanted to head a hunting party that morning, and so was not at all there to explain to her family members that Daenu was utterly fine).
Then there was the matter of food, Daenu had been polite to decline… she had tried without fail to explain that unlike them she did not need food and was completely fine with just well you know being at the dinner table and not eating – that had not gone down well and the team of cooks who the village usually relied on, up and decided to quit (Daenu felt so bad that she had to apologise and promised she’d eat… even if the food wasn’t what she’d usually eat, and she turned every shade of the rainbow trying to make them happy that she was eating) afterwards she purged her stomach well and far away from the village and just begged Najya to tell the rest that she was not hungry – Najya refused and told her to stop being a big baby… which lead to the first spat between the two of them.
They did not talk for two days and in that time the village found themselves suffering through their first ever blizzard (which mind you nearly killed them). Najya had to summon the help of Eviax who came without question to lend some aid and to tell Daenu to calm down and talk it out with Najya rather than causing genocide. Daenu apologised only after Najya admitted that she was stressed out because none of the villagers seemed to be very accepting and that was hurting her, Daenu realising that she was not making it any easier apologised and promised she would not take her anger out on the village by causing another natural disaster. Eviax left only after she was sure no one was going to die as a result of this argument.
Now, they were where here at the waterfall, Najya was mixing paint and Daenu was watching the fish swim up and down; trying to keep cool underneath the midday sun. Daenu occasionally looked over at the bowl and what Najya was mixing into it, it was a light shade of green, the second bowl had something blue and another in a vibrant shade of purple. None of this Daenu noticed Najya applied to her own skin, what it was for then? Najya usually wore the colours of black and red.
“It means war, bravery, strength. But I guess it also means happiness and beauty. I wear these colours because I am the best warrior the tribe has and because I represent the connection to Alvax.” Najya had explained to Daenu when they had met for a second time under different circumstances.
Najya sat back and looked at the bowls, she picked each up and sat opposite Daenu who was touching the water and completely zoned out.
“Can I paint you?”
“Paint me?”
“You have made it fourteen days… grandma thinks that calls for celebration. I have been tasked to prepare you, but first we must paint you with colours.”
“What do the colours mean?”
First it was the purple, which felt like two thumb swipes on Daenu’s temple and a few dabs on her arms and hands. Mysterious is what Najya explained to the best of her ability. Green was applied to her chest, her cheeks, her nose, healing and endurance; last but not least blue which was applied seemingly at random but it was meant to show how much strength Daenu had - or more so the element in her veins… it was a loud reminder that unlike Najya who was bright, Daenu was darker… her ice colder and more harsh than anything the villagers had ever known. Once the paint was dry and they had some fun – interrupted by a scout who mentioned that the elders were ready… Najya had some green and blue paint still stuck in her hair and some purple on her clothes as they walked together hand in hand towards the fire that the elders seemed to always sit at, Daenu kept some distance away seeing as the heat made her nauseous and it just reminded her of Phita… which was a never good sign.
“Welcome, to our family.”
A loud shout and several bowls of grain and sand? Thrown at Daenu’s feet and general direction before the villagers started breaking out into song, Daenu looked at Najya who smiled wholeheartedly.
“Welcome home.”
