The Red Reaper

3 - Name

Months went by as Alice befriended the boy all over again. She sometimes crossed paths with hunters, just passing by, showing them she was not a threat. But most of her time was spent following Tsu'tey, who learned to sense her presence and got used to it. He wanted to approach it but it always ran away when he closed the distance between them. Alice was worried he'd get scared by sudden movements she could have made, so she kept her distance for now. Sometimes Neytiri interacted with the boy, making Alice delighted to see another one of her friends. However the girl was still grieving her older sister's death, sadness showing on her face. If only she could console them with words...

She growled lowly as she sighed, having to hide immediately afterwards as the two children looked in her direction.

"Did you hear that Tsu'tey?"

"Don't worry about that, that's Laip'xi"

Neytiri frowned in confusion.

"It's a what?"

"It's the creature that's been roaming around"

"You named it?!"

"Uh...yeah"

"Why?!"

"Cause it's my friend now, it keeps hanging around me often"

"Isn't that stalking its prey?"

"No, it runs away when I get close"

"...Alright..."

Tsu'tey waved at the forest where Alice was watching from before returning to the home tree with Neytiri. Alice left for her abode, looking forward to tomorrow. She was finally going to let him get close, hoping it would be okay now, after all, he had given her a name!

She jumped happily through the trees before reaching her favourite one. It was the tallest tree around, second only to Omaticaya's home tree a few kilometres away. Up in the tree, where the trunk parted into branches, was a big, cosy, circular indent where she slept almost every night. It was her safe space, her den, her home. It was the perfect size for her, with enough room to stretch nicely in the mornings.

She laid down on her side and exhaled slowly, melting from the comfort of familiarity of the surface she was about to rest on. Her body emitted soft red light from the antennae and her eyebrow thingies. It always glowed in the dark or when she was excited.

Laip'xi...

So he had given her a name. She was no longer going to be Alice. It was something she was okay with. As mature as she was, she was still young and hadn't developed attachments to anything she left behind. She could still see her mom and her friends and that's all that mattered to her really. 

Was that a reasonable mindset? She didn't know. What she knew though, was that thinking about it wouldn't help, only make her sad. Her current body was cool and she felt a little bit like a superhero! She formed an image in her head. Tsu'tey sitting on her back in the chieftain gown, they were standing on a cliff overseeing the clan as the sun was setting. He looked so heroic and she looked so badass! Together they would be unstoppable.

Snapping out of her fantasy, she reminded herself she needed to sleep. She cannot miss even a single bit of energy tomorrow. She focused on sleep. Trying to fall asleep led her to ultimately not being able to sleep until she got distracted by her thoughts and passed out without a warning.