“Our territory is the Western Bastion. You crashed in the southwest of our territory, in the Cove of the Nose. This creek is not very far from the Heart of our territory, where our people live in the majority. About a hundred kilometers. But half of it is compact forest and swamp. It is dangerous and there is not enough space to take off quickly if needed. That's why these areas must be crossed in the sky.”
“How many of you are in your village? How is it?”
“The western lands are mostly made up of forests, from which emerge several rocky points of various sizes. Our main village, the Heart of the Western Bastion, is one of the highest and is like a small mountain with a plateau on top. Our people live either in the mountains or in the forest around them. Other villages are smaller and more remote.”
“And now, where are we going? You said we were going south, I think?”
“We go to the Southern Bastion, to talk with their leader, Azarr. We have some business to discuss. This trip was already planned before your presence changed our schedule.”
“This Azarr, do you know him well? Wouldn't he have the same reaction as the ugly one?”
“I don't understand this term,” I say.
“The one who killed Yohan and Yannis, the one with the gray wings . . .”
“Kryll? His name is Kryll and he acted rashly. Azarr will not react like that. First of all, because he's not like that. And secondly, because you're coming with me. I mean, you're with us. And then Lokk and I will protect you if we have to.”
“OK. You mentioned hazards in the swamp. What kind of dangers?”
“The most common ones lately have been attacks by vorks. These are animals that usually travel in small groups of four to six individuals and attack their prey by encircling it.”
“Is your vork a black animal with orange spots? And smells very bad?”
“Did you come across a vork?” Intervenes Lokk, who has been flying for a few minutes a few meters from us. “But how did you get out of it?”
“In fact, it was Eva, David, and me. We had gone a little way south to see if we could find something to eat. One animal came up in front of us, then others. David shot the first one and they all ran off with a horrible smell.”
I shudder to realize how close she came to disaster. If her David hadn't been there, if he hadn't had some kind of weapon, she would have been butchered by that group of vorks.
“You were very lucky on this one. But remember that there are many other dangers, of all sizes. Don't go for a walk alone!” I order her.
I see a large clearing with trees bearing fruit. I signal to Lokk and we veer slightly off course to land there. I grab a round, pink fruit. I open it in half and drop the juice into the flask hanging from my waist. I hand it to her so that she can taste it.
“A kind of orange with a passion fruit aftertaste,” she tells me, “but a citrus fruit for sure. Can we eat it?”
“No, only its juice is consumable. Its fibers are too rough and too difficult to digest.”
Lokk and I take advantage of the stop to refill water near a small tree whose thick petals are full of water.
“A kind of cactus,” she says. “We have similar plants on Earth. They keep large amounts of water in their petals.”
I take Sarah back in my arms, giving a dark look to Lokk who was approaching to take over. His grin does not escape me. I ignore him and take off again, heading south.
“That device you had last night in your ears, explain it to me,” I ask her.
“My iPod? So, the device itself, like the other devices we retrieved from our ship before it sank, is powered by the sun's rays.”
“Your device eats sunlight?” I ask her, slightly worried.
“Of course not, sorry, I misspoke. The device needs energy to work, as well as Sarc-11, our analyzer, and our tablets. It uses the sun's energy to work. And my iPod has several songs on it that I put in there. I listen to them to relax.”
I meditate on her words in silence. The sun is getting low on the horizon when I speak again.
“Can you make me listen?”
“What about?” she asks me.
“Well, your iPod!”
