Chapter Thirteen | Island Spirits page | Segue / TC Prologue

Utel had not been the only miserable tribe member recently, and yet another night on the hard ground in a tent had left Nork tossing and turning. He missed his bed. He missed his children. He missed .. yes, he had to admit.. he missed Utel. So, with his heart on his sleeve, he packed up his things yet again, and miserably trudged across the village to try to apologize to Utel.

He arrived mid-morning, and, predictably, found Utel out in the garden by herself. He cleared his throat as he passed the initial trees, noticing to his chagrin that someone had made raised beds for the rest of the plants.

"Utel?"

Utel spun about in shock, and just stood there, gaping at Nork. To her, it had seemed like her thoughts had materialized him out of thin air. It didn't occur to her to reply, either, so Nork screwed up all his courage, and apologized.

As his stumbling speech continued, Utel looked more surprised, not less, and caused Nork far more worry than he had expected when apologizing.

Finally, Utel broke into a silvery laugh. "Nork!" she exclaimed, "Stop!"

Bewildered, Nork stopped and looked at Utel in utter confusion. Surely an apology had been what she had needed? But if so, why was she laughing at him?

"Nork, it's not you who should be apologizing. It's me." Utel finally continued, and explained that she had been wrong in thinking he should have known her feelings all along, when she had not - not even once - uttered them to him.

Feeling rather vindicated, Nork listened, trying to figure out how to reply without offending the confounding female in front of him.

"Nork, I am sorry. I want you to come home. This fight has been horrible - not just for us, but for the children. I need your help. And I miss you..." Utel finished, trailing off.

Nork smiled, cleared his throat, and replied, "I missed you, too. And the children. I was wrong for treating you how I did, Utel. Can we just agree to no more women? I think you and the children I already have are more than I can handle, anyway."

A smile of pure joy appeared on Utel's face. "I couldn't ask for anything more, Nork. Welcome home."

They embraced, and Nork gave her a long kiss...

... which inevitably led to other things... and the children left them blessedly alone.

Things were once again all right with the world in the children's eyes. The toddlers were, understandably, confused - as they had clearly been hoping for some attention from their parents - and now they had just disappeared behind a closed door. Saazul wisely kept them occupied with the help of Nirraa and Gnaar, and put a Vegetable Feast into the pit for dinner later.

By nightfall, Nork was once again a happy member of camp life, and he pitched in quite readily to cleaning up camp and helping with child care.

Feeling quite magnanimous, and taking the weight of his fatherly duties seriously, later that week, Nork gestured for Gnaar to follow him, and walked across town to the chieftain's complex, and searched down Chief Guar.

Not long later, the deal was done. Gnaar was to mate the chieftain's middle daughter, Lyss, as soon as they were old enough. Feeling self-satisfied, and quite pleased that he had found a way to extend his family dynasty with a big step up in the tribe, Nork introduced the two youngsters, and left them to get to know each other a bit.

Gnaar and Lyss were confused, but deals like this were made all the time in the village, so despite their young age, it wasn't something unheard of. Gnaar found Lyss to be pleasant, and he watched her interact with her younger brother with a smile, seeing that she would probably be a good mother.

They then decided to watch the clouds, and discuss what they wanted their "dream hut" to look like... which, naturally, ended up sounding more like a tree fort than a home, but at least they seemed to be getting along well.

The chief's toddler son, and another daughter, had come over to get some of their father's attention, and Nork finally noticed the sun starting to set. Calling to Gnaar, he led the boy back towards home.

All this talk of getting mated and starting his own family inspired Gnaar, and by the end of the week, he was well and truly a teenager, spending most his time helping out the fishermen, and pitching in with chores around home.

Hoping he would be as skilled as Nork, he even began learning to be handier around camp, and to whittle small wooden statues. He, clearly, had a long way to go, but - if determination counted for anything - Gnaar would be a skilled carpenter and handyman before he was old enough to mate.

Saazul, also, spent quite a bit of time away from home, but she wasn't fishing. At least not for the denizens of the sea, as it were. When she was home, she spent most her time taking care of her younger siblings happily, relieving both Utel of toddler duties as much as she could.

Nork did his part in getting fish for both the village, and for their camp, and kept a wary eye on Utel's newest beastie. He didn't want this one to starve.

All was right with the world again. Utel and Nork tucked the children in and retired to their bed, cozying up against each other, and prepared for the next day of work around camp.

Unbeknownst to them, however, changes were on the horizon. Big changes. Ones that no-one in the village knew about, or were prepared for. But for now - things couldn't be more perfect with Nork and Utel's world, and they slept the sound sleep of safety and contentment.

Bonus Out-take:

Oh, dear.. apparently the future cube is "in-the-know"... and Chief Guar isn't happy about it.

Too bad the future cube shouldn't exist in their world, and these shots couldn't be used for foreshadowing....

Chapter Thirteen | Island Spirits page | Segue / TC Prologue