(Ugh I feel like my heads going to split in two.)
Lily grabbed her head and she slowly sat up waiting for the pulsating headache to slowly ebb away. Eventually, it finally subsided. She saw that her necklace had fallen out and held on to it for a while before tucking it back into her shirt. Then, she noticed that she wasn't alone in the room.
She turned her head and looked to see a couple of baby apes chattering and staring at her curiously "Hello." But, they quickly ran just after she finished signing. Lily looked around to figure out her surroundings but nothing was familiar to her (Where the heck am I? I got to get out of here. The others must be worried sick.) She stood up and walked towards the entrance and peeked out to see several apes walking around outside.
Then quickly pulled back before they noticed (How am I going to get past all of those apes?) She looked down and an idea flashed into her head (Bingo!) She bent down and scooped up the mud but cringed and made a disgusted face as she began to rub it all over herself (I am definitely going to need a bath later.) Once she was finished she admired her handy work. She was covered and caked head to toe in mud.
She crouched down on all fours then peeked one last time to see if there wasn't any apes nearby then quickly walked out into the blinding sunlight. She waited for her vision to return to normal to find out where she was. She was in an ape settlement. Then something caught her attention. She saw an huge Orangutan, Maurice, teaching a couple of children carving the Alphabet on a stone slab then he pointed at the rock wall behind him. She looked up to see that there were three things written on it:
"Apes together strong"
"Knowledge is Power"
But she frowned when she saw the last one had said and turned her head to the side confused "Ape not kill ape" While she was thinking she noticed that she was being watched. She snapped out of her thoughts to see the Orangutan and the children were now staring at her, looking at curiously . She quickly backed up then turned around and began walking away once she saw the exit. But, it was being guarded by two apes who noticed her as she approached.
The apes sniffed at her and started giving her suspicious looks. One of the apes, Fifer, questioned "I haven't seen you around here before." Lily responded "That's because, uh, I don't go out very much!" The other ape, named Ray, asked "Where are you going?" Lily quickly signed the first thing that popped into her mind "To gather herbs and berries!" Fifer looked at her surprised and hooted "Oh so you must be gathering them for Tinker! She and the other healers must be running short on supplies."
Lily smiled nervously and nodded her head "Yeah that's it." The two apes stepped aside to let her pass. She beamed feeling excitement overwhelm her (Almost home!) Just as Lily was about to walk out, Ray looked at Fifer then grunted softly and replied "I hope that Caesar's wife gets better soon. Ray hate seeing him like this."
Lily came to a quick paused and felt her chest begin to tighten and her stomach knotting up as guilt began to consume her (She's sick?) She turned around getting the apes attention "Do you mind telling me what symptoms she's been having?" Ray gave gave her a confused look and frowned and replied "You don't know?" then began to eye her suspiciously. Lily quickly responded and shrugged "Left in a hurry before she could."
Ray signed "From what Ray has heard she's been resting alot." Lily nodded her head trying gather up her medical knowledge (So she's has fatigue, possibly fever.) Then the other ape, Fifer, chimed in then grunted and signed "Oh and her breathing sounds weird. Raspy and wheezy every time." Lily smiled and quickly replied "That's all I need to know." and left to do some gathering.
Lily returned clutching a couple of herbs in her hand, covered in a few scrapes and scratches , breathing heavily as if she ran the whole way back. She gritted her teeth recalling the memory (That freaking mountain lion! She had to chase me almost all the the way. Luckily, she changed her mind decided to chase an elk instead.)
As Lily walked through the entrance and greeted Fifer and Ray. She frozed when she saw the same scarred ape that blocked her off. She continued, walking slowly, trying to completely avoid him, who looked like he would tear her apart if she got closer, and not looking directly at him, then continued on the pathway up the tree.
As she made it to the top, she saw the same ape with the shooting star birthmark sitting next to a female chimp who was lying down holding a baby, who was sleeping, surrounded by a few other apes wearing thin cloth masks draped over their faces. Some of the healers noticed her causing them to hoot softly getting Caesar's attention. He turned around to see the "ape" and snapped "Why are you here? I ordered everyone down below not to come. Leave!" Lily flinched at his harsh tone but held up the herbs that she had gathered and signed "She will feel better if she takes these."
Caesar gave the 'ape' a suspicious look not fully trusting them then he noticed Tinker approaching to take a closer look at the herbs. A couple of chamomile and lavender flowers but the other two she wasn't familiar with "I recognize some of these herbs but the others I don't. What are they?"
Lily signed and informed her "Yarrow to help with fever, fatigue. And the other wild cherry bark it'll help with the wheezing, cold." Tinker hooted happily "These should do just fine. Thank you!" and took them from Lily and went to crush them up to make into a tea. While she went, Cornelius had awoken from his nap. He recognized a familiar scent and looked up and started chattering excitedly when he saw Lily in front of him.
Caesar smiled and laughed softly, while Lily tensed up realizing that the mud she had on was beginning to dry (I need to leave now!) Caesar patted his sons head and replied "That's unusual." then looked at Lily and signed "Cornelius is usually shy when hes around apes he that he doesn't know. And...there's something off...about your scent. You smell wierd, almost like a-." Lily interrupted him and quickly signed "Id better go. Your wife needs her rest. Hope she gets better soon." and bolted leaving him and Cornelius confused as to what just happened.
Lily managed to make it outside and escaped by convincing the two guard apes that she had other errands to attend to. She felt the mud eventually began to crack and crumble falling off a little (That was close!) She turned around to see no one was following and let out a sigh of relief (Freedom! Sweet freedom!) and stood up stretching her arms up feeling a little sore.
She was about to leave when something hollered and screeched and pounced from out of the bushes landing on top of her and pinning her to the ground by her shoulders. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes to see Blue eyes glaring intensely down at her, slightly growling. She tried to push him off of her but he gripped her shoulders tighter not nudging an inch and hissed. She frozed and immediately stopped her attempts, scared to do anything else. Soon, Ash walked of the bushes and hooted when he saw them "Well, what do you know! You were right, Blue eyes! It was a human."
