It was a calm and quiet night. It had been a long time since the jungle had been this peaceful. It was as if the sense of tension and constant danger of the past few days had magically vanished. No more anguish. No more fear. No more violence. It was good. Really good. And yet, for some reason, Y'shaati couldn't get to fall asleep. She had been awake for almost three hours, lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling of the tent. Everybody was deeply asleep. It was difficult for her to relax with so many thoughts and questions floating in her mind. If a few months ago someone had told her about the grand adventure she was about to experience, she wouldn't have believed it. And now, all the roads led her to this moment. To be there with the people she considered a new family.
Family.
A rather simple but complex word with so many meanings regardless of the language.
After putting an end to the Mapinguari's threat, Y'shaati and Uyari returned to the site of the original expedition to reunite with Lucas, Isabel and Grandpa. The girls had accomplished their sacred mission. Amazonia and its inhabitants had been saved from a terrible fate. The event would be known from that day forward as "The Battle of Mura Nunka". The battle in which two wild angels of the jungle, a monkey and a jaguar, joined forces to stop an ancient evil from consuming everything.
Upon their arrival, they were welcomed by their dear friends with open arms, grateful and blessed to see them alive and well. But they hadn't returned alone. They brought with them a prisoner. As the Jaguar God Ek' Balam mentioned, two souls were to blame for unleashing this disaster. Faucault and his squad of mercenaries were dead, but Marco was alive. Just barely, but still alive nonetheless. The blond boy had to pay the consequences of his miserable actions. So much chaos and damage caused by just one person. Uyari wasn't very clear explaining what she had planned for him to the group, but Dr. Escudero and Dr. Isabel didn't oppose her decision. They agreed that he deserved a severe punishment. They would think of an excuse to justify his absence upon their return to Spain. The native girl said she would take Marco to a faraway place of Amazonia called Ka'irai. The travel would take several days, but she was confident it was enough time for her to get there and back before they could leave the jungle and return to Madrid. Wasting no more time, the brunette set off with the company of her feline sister Ikta. Y'shaati had no chance to say goodbye to her.
The camp was still in shambles, but everything wasn't lost. There were still useful resources that would help them resupply and survive a few more days. The boat still had enough fuel to make the journey, so that was one less thing to worry about.
Later, after Isabel gave her a nice bath and tended her wounds, Y'shaati couldn't help overhearing a conversation between Lucas and the female doctor. It was obvious from their tones of voice that they were both happy to know that they would soon be back at home. But Lucas sounded a bit nostalgic. However, Dr. Escudero suddenly interrupted the conversation with a bomb question that made Isabel sob and shed a few tears:
"Are you really gonna force her to go with us? Are you willing to take her away from the only world she has ever known?"
"I am... we made a promise. We can't leave her alone. We are her family now... I'm sure ye both think I'm being selfish, but... she's all I have left of him. Francis... I see him again everytime I look into her eyes... I just... I just want to..."
"Oh Isabel..."
Family.
That enigmatic word again. She went to bed with that in mind. And in just a flash, Y'shaati remembered.
The Naka'i monkeys that raised her. The Tahuayo gorillas that taught her how to fight. They were her family too. Her 'real' family. What made them so different? Their way of walking? Their lack of clothes? Their language? To her, humans and apes were very similar in many ways. She came to this conclusion by realizing that humans were capable of feeling love. Not all of them were the soulless evil beings the primates claimed. However, they were also capable of doing awful things, similar to when ape clans declared war against each other for power and position within the primate order. So... What was that missing link that separated apes from humans?
Y'shaati was already aware that she was human. A hard truth she learned to accept since she was a teenager. No matter how hard she tried, she would never be an ape like the Naka'i or the Tahuayo. So, she thought maybe this was her destiny all along. It made sense to a certain extent. She began to reflect on all the changes she had gone through since she first met Lucas. She now had people who understood and accepted her as she really was. They saw her as an equal. Wearing clothes was becoming less of a torture. She was even beginning to like being dressed like that. She was one of them. Could it be that each day she spent with these people, she embraced her humanity even more? And if so, would going with them to that unknown world they called 'Madrid' be the right thing to do? To start a new life there? Stop being Y'shaati... and become Iara, as Isabel called her? Probably... the facts pointed that way.
But saying goodbye to everything she knew wouldn't be easy. She had a great responsibility in the jungle, as her master K'uno used to say. She was the protector and queen of the monkeys of Amazonia. Could K'uno have been wrong about her? The primate order counted on her to guide them as long as she lived. Yet for the past two months, she had completely ignored that duty. Surely the leaders of the primate order were not going to be very happy with her inexplicable absence. She had no justification. And that previous incident with Na'ek... shameful. Perhaps they had already chosen a new leader. It would be too embarrassing for her to go back to them like that. She wouldn't have the strength to do it. Leaving the jungle without everyone to notice didn't sound so bad in comparison.
And then there was Uyari... she and the dark-skinned girl both shared the same purpose. Perhaps she could protect the jungle instead of her. She had proven that she was more than capable of doing so. But there was something she still didn't quite fully understand. After rescuing her from the Mapinguari's belly, she felt a special connection with her. She had never felt anything like this in her entire life. Not even with Lucas with whom she shared several intimate moments. On many occasions the boy tried to declare his feelings for the feral blonde, but his shyness didn't allow him. Then... what happened in that instant? Y'shaati didn't have the slightest idea. But it was beautiful.
Was this what true friendship felt like? Or perhaps it was something else? Something deeper? She couldn't have said goodbye without feeling the same way, could she? Would she really be able to leave something like that behind?
So many questions. No answers...
The only thing for sure, was that she wouldn't be able to sleep at all tonight... and the time to say farewell was near...
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