dusa joined in the al, though not before putting her blindfold back on to prevent her trait from harming her companions. It was a friendly dinner among friends and even family, since Atsa was technically related to Luna, and they all listened to what the old man had to say in silence.
More than enthralled, Uriel was absolutely srized by the man who spoke of the ancient tis where cities cities were built wherever the land was fertile, where n had the chance to stand out from their peers with their heroic deeds or to set off and explore the unknown.
The man himself didn't look like much, but to Uriel he was akin to a repository of lost knowledge and long forgotten wisdom. His voice and manner of speech was calm and peculiar it managed to also keep everyone's attention towards him, everyone's but Luna that is.
"Stop gobbling up for a second, would you?" Uriel scolded the petite huntress who was about to get a third serving.
"But... I'm hungry." Luna's puppy eyes would have lted Uriel's heart if he had any.
"Gluttony is considered taboo in the Navajo culture, you can always eat later. This is about whatever information we can squeeze from him." Uriel explained through whispers and Luna nodded as she reluctantly stopped filling her plate.
By the ti their short interaction ended, Atsa had already shifted the topic and was now talking about his first wife which didn't hold any interest to anyone but Uriel.
He had no care for how did he et his first wife or his bragging about how strong he was in his youth, but every word that ca out from Atsa's mouth was evidence to a fact Uriel already suspected.
"So, hunters existed even before the arrival. What is the reason for their disappearance?" Uriel asked trying to make it sound as though he was disinterested in the topic, when it was actually one of the biggest mysteries he needed answers to. The fact that cryptids existed before the arrival was already proven, but that would have also ant the existence of hunters.
"To my knowledge, hunters never disappeared. Even now they like to mount the heads of their ga on their walls like it was an achievent. They should try saving soone's life for a change!" Atsa scoffed.
"I ant people with traits, as in... abilities that can't be explained." Uriel insisted.
"Everything can be explained, child."
"What about supernatural abilities like this?" Uriel summoned his pocket knife from his trait and passed it on to Atsa who looked at it with an amused expression. He toyed with it with his bony fingers and wrinkled hands and his face shifted once he realized there were several tools inside the knife.
"There was a ti where this knife could have earned you a kingdom, but I'm afraid there is nothing supernatural about it. It's just..."
"I ant the ability to make it appear or disappear at will." Uriel glared at the man.
"Oh! That! There is nothing above the rules of nature. They can be bent, but never broken." Atsa explained.
"Don't play dumb, he ans power, as in the magic healing you used on ." Bella exclaid in exasperation.
"Healing? I need so of that." Nika said as she placed her swollen ankle at the center without a care for the food.
"Ew, that looks gross." Bella gagged, for once she was grateful for her wind barrier that kept her from suffering injuries like those without knowing that if she had attempted to stop one of the rolling boulders like Nika did, she would have fared much worse.
"Nika, you're being disrespectful." Uriel too glared at Nika. The sight of her injury didn't faze him, but she was keeping him from exacting answers from the first person who ever gave them freely. In fact, there was no way to stop Atsa from telling his stories.
"I can take care of that, for a price..." Atsa muttered, the ancient wisdom in his eyes disappearing at the sa ti he directed a lustful glare at Nika's thighs.
"Sure." Nika shrugged in reply.
"He ans you have to pay him with your body!" Bella explained in disgust.
"Whatever, I'm in a dry spell if you know what I an. I don't mind it as long as he can deliver." Nika nodded to a now flabbergasted Bella who couldn't even close her mouth.
"I'm not the man I used to be, but when we marry we can have many children." The man said as he extended his hands towards Nika who imdiately retracted her foot.
"That's not going to cut it. These days I'm up for a little fun with pretty much anything that moves, but marriage is sacred and I don't intend to ruin this body with children, ever." Nika said as she passed her hands across her waist in what would have been seductive, if not for the still aching swollen ankle.
Atsa looked at Nika who seed to be healthy, young and above all, pretty. He then turned to look at Luna, dusa, Bella, finding that they all shared the sa perks to a different extent, then turned to look at Uriel with an intrigued look.
"You travel with them, but they are not your wifes, correct?"
"Correct." Uriel assented.
"Why? Are they not to your liking?" Atsa insisted.
"It's complicated." Uriel replied leaving Atsa more curious than ever.
"I really need so healing, though." Nika pouted.
"Just wait a minute, I can get him to heal her for free if soone takes my place in holding this rock in its place." Bella bore a malevolent smile, but this ti Atsa didn't flinch.
"There is another way you can pay for my services, in fact, you're already taking care of it. As long as you promise that you will keep this chanism from moving for eternity, I'll heal your friend."
"No way! I'm not staying that long!" Bella stomped her feet at the sa ti she shifted to her left hand as her right one was already stiff.
"Don't be silly, you're not ant to do that all by yourself. You can get help from the rest of your tribe and then your sons, and the sons of your sons can take that task." Atsa explained.
"I'm sorry Nika, but the price is too steep. I'm afraid you'll have to do without healing." Uriel said in a not so apologetic tone.
"But... it hurts." Through Nika's behavior and tone it was impossible to tell if she was lying or not, but that was only because she endured the pain like she was trained to do.
"It's the only thing I want and you can provide . The truth is, I'm old and even if I was to marry, there's no guarantee I will have enough sons to pass on my duty. That's why I need soone to carry my burden for ." Atsa lowered his gaze towards the fire. The blue light coming from the camp stove felt cold to him when compared against the campfires his tribe used as gather spots.
"What does that thing even do? What can be so important it needs people to take care of it for all of eternity?" Uriel asked fearing the answer.
"From what I was able to see in the gear room, it's a kinetic device. Think of it like a clock, the movent of a single gear is passed to the ones attached to it, then the sa happens with the others. It's a work of incredible precision that doesn't match its looks. I an, this is supposed to be old but its precision is nanotric." dusa excitedly explained.
"Nanotric ans it's really tiny." Luna explained to Nika.
"Like you!? That's cute." Needless to say, Nika's mockery went over Luna's head and she felt conflicted. Luna didn't know if she needed to be angry for being called tiny or flattered for being called cute, which is why she settled with having another serving of food while dusa continued her explanation.
"Studying the placent of the gears I was able to find the source of the kinetic energy and also its output, but you're not going to like this. The gears are connected to homokinetic bars which lead to the central island and I think it's safe to assu the other floating islands possess a chanism similar to this." dusa continued her explanation.
"It doesn't sound bad. I an, we could just fix this one and then..." Uriel attempted to speak but was cut short by dusa.
"Didn't you hear? The precision of this gears is nanotric, they can't be tampered with. It ans, whatever the source is for this malfunction doesn't co from this end, but either from the source or the receiver. In other words, there's nothing we can do to fix anything here and soone will have to stay behind to keep it pressed."
"Will soone ever explain what does this thing do!?" Bella shouted.
"It's not a thing, but Crockett's legacy. It's sothing he devised to keep the evil inside." Atsa's expression beca somber and his eyes seemingly lost their luster.
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