Waking to the usual sounds of morning in the village, sunlight is streaming through my windows and lighting up the interior of my hut. Sitting up in the bed for a moment, I swing my legs over and place them on the ground. I'm just gathering my thoughts now, making last minute mental preparations. Time to get up and get dressed! Looking out the door, I watch the activities of the villagers as they prepare for their day... hey, I'd better get moving! Well, I think I'll leave my backpack here and pick it up on the way out of the village when we leave. Stepping out the hut I'm on the way to Trem and Leea's home.
As I arrive, Sar comes up to greet me and grasps both of my hands warmly. Well brother, did you get a good nights' sleep? "Yes, it took some time to fall asleep but after that I slept very sound." He says, let's go in the hut and have some breakfast. We enter and find that Leea and Terra have made a breakfast for us of fruit and sibannac pudding. Trem says, Good morning Zhimm! I respond; Good morning all... looks like we have another nice day weather-wise. I appreciate you taking the time to prepare a good breakfast for us! I hug Leea, Terra and Maeya and we all take a seat. Sar says as we are eating; I do think you'll have a good first day of travel. Before nightfall, you should be able to make your way to the first village. That village is where Giff and I grew up. We have family there. When you enter the village, ask for a man named Romm. He's my father. Greet him, and tell him that Sar has sent you to him. Ask him if he will let you and Maeya use my old hut for the night.
"That sounds like that will work out fine for us Sar. I'll tell your father that you and Giff are still doing fine here in the village and that you send your love." Trem says; I know you and Maeya will have a wonderful time, and have many things to tell us when you get back. Zhimm, I helped Maeya finish packing her backpack this morning, putting some dried fish in the food pouches. Of course, you will find plenty to eat along the way. I tell him, Good! So Maeya's pack is ready ... my backpack is near ready and in my hut.
Finishing our breakfast, I help the women clean up. Leea walks over to Maeya and hugs her for a minute or so, not saying anything, but I notice tears are in her eyes. Trem and Sar take turns clasping my hands and patting me on the back. After Leea finishes hugging Maeya, Terra hugs Maeya for a minute and says, Sis, I'm so happy for you and I know you'll have a great time! I love you so much! Trem gives me Maeya's backpack and I carry it by the straps in my hand out the door. Stepping outside the hut, they watch as we make the first steps toward my hut. We turn towards them and wave. They wave back smiling. I can see Leea wiping her eyes with a cloth while Trem has his arm around her shoulder.
I really feel sorry for Leea, knowing how she must feel that her "baby" daughter is leaving her for longer than she's ever been away in her life. Maeya again waves back to them and smiles. We make our way to my hut, and as we look around, others in the village are smiling and waving to us. Most likely, word of our leaving the village has traveled around and they're wishing us well along our way.
Entering my hut, we finish packing some dried fish into food pouches in the backpack. "Well Maeya, we're packed except for the water." She smiles while wrapping her arms around my neck and kisses me. Hugging for a moment, we grab the packs by the straps and head out for the path to the creek.
We make our way down the path that leads to the fields. Looking around at the sky as we walk, everything still looks like a fine day is ahead. At the creek, we set the packs down and take a water pouch out. We each fill one up and place it around our waist, and the other two we leave dry in the backpacks for now. Placing our packs on our backs, we're on our way! I don't think we'll have a problem with water, from what I've seen of the land so far, but as they say in the scouts... "Be prepared".
We have the sun to our backs this morning as we travel along. She says; I've been to the village ahead of us with my dad about seven years ago. We'll be traveling mostly through the forests, but there will be grassy area like you see when you travel from our village to the lake. We look about and see some of the villagers already in the fields working. We're walking alongside of the field, roughly several hundred feet away from it, and we’ll keep walking past it as we enter the forest.
Upon entering the forest, we can feel the temperature drop slightly, and the breeze moving slowly past us is really refreshing. The conditions in the forest will sure make the journey much easier on us along our way. She's looking around, taking everything in. I watch her take a deep breath, closing her eyes; she lets her breath out slowly. I know she feels as at home here as a fish does in water. I'll carefully observe what is going on around me to keep my bearings, but I know that she's been here before and we won't have a problem with getting lost.
Later in the day...
During our travels, we have crossed over several creeks and refilled our water pouches. We took a few breaks where we spent a bit of time chatting and just sat down side-by-side, watching the wildlife around us. At times we watched the small primates, (my namesakes), and often see deer and other similar species of mammals traveling in small herds. We stop and eat some vegetables that we gather as well as tree nuts, and some of our fish.
Walking along, she says, there's a break in the forest up ahead. The break will lead into the grassy area that I told you about, we'll be there soon. About five minutes later, sure enough, we see the forest thinning and the sunlight increasing. The sun is in our eyes now since we are following in the direction that it's setting while traveling; besides it's getting later in the afternoon and getting lower on the horizon. She's right about the grassy area. It's much like the one near our village... so much beauty in the many varieties of flowers! There are a number of large and small mammals inhabiting this area. They tend to gather near the numerous water holes around. Flocks of birds making all sorts of noise are flying in and out of the water. Sometimes the large mammals take off in a run on the waters edge and the birds have to scatter for their lives!
We are following a path, probably used when the villagers up ahead travel between our village and theirs during special occasions. So far, we have met no one else on our way.
We must have traveled about five miles now, and the forest can be seen up ahead. The sun is dropping ever lower on the horizon, and I'm getting worried that we won't make the village by nightfall. "Maeya, how much further does this forest go on before we reach the village?" She stops, takes a quick look at our surroundings and says; the village is far enough away that we won't make it by nightfall. We must have taken more time than we should have on our breaks. It really isn't a problem anyway. We can just spread out the hammock and sleep here in the forest.
She was right... We have gone as far as we can, darkness is closing in fast and the village is not in sight. Looking around her, she says; "Let's move away from this path somewhat and set up camp while we still have some light. We're near the village, but it's getting too dark to go on further. Besides, we would arrive while the villagers were going to sleep". I agree, and we detour from the path by about a hundred steps to the right. I pick a site that has trees growing close to each other. Opening up our packs, I take out a hammock made for two people. This one is made with four rope cords, one on each corner, to tie off to multiple points. Taking the hammock, I secure the four cords to different tree trunks. We'll sleep comfortably about four foot off the forest floor. After securing the hammock, we take a drink of our water while we can still see the pouches. We're not really hungry, since we have eaten our fill of some nuts that we had gathered on the way as a snack. Maeya says; wait here… I’ll be right back. I watch her walk, maybe ten or twenty feet away from the hammock. She’s looking closely at the vegetation around us as she walks. I see that something has her attention as she bends over and removes leaves from what appears to be just a weed. She brings those leaves back with her and hands me half of them. She takes her leaves and rolls them up while twisting them. A clear liquid is expelled from the leaves as a delicate scent fills the air. She discards the leaves, and with moist hands, applies the extract to exposed skin. She takes on the faint scent of the leaves, not objectionable at all. She says; your turn! Maeya; what are the leaves for? “Well, this application will keep the insects away from us as we sleep”. I’m all for that Maeya! … doing the same as her with my leaves. I wish I had known about this when I spent my previous nights in the forest!
With that out of the way, we tie the backpacks on the branches of a tree about six feet off the ground, and place a rolled up blanket along the foot of our bed. Disrobing, she unties her hair and we stretch out on the hammock. Lying on my back looking up... she turns on her side to face me, her head on my shoulder with her arm resting on my chest. It's nearly totally dark now, and all we can hear is the noise of the insects around us. After a few moments pass, she whispers in my ear... "Zhimm, there are no stars visible here in the forest, the canopy of leaves is too thick to see them." I detect a bit of humor in her voice as she says that. I only wish I can see the look on her face! She says; Will you turn towards me? I start to laugh just a little while I turn towards her and say, Maeya, I was just... as I turn towards her, she wraps her arm around me, places her hand behind my head and kisses me. I put my arm around her and pull her close. We become as one...