[Terminé] [L'Expédition] Les little big choses [Libre]

Anhydre “KKKKKKKKKK” the stone round and round fast. Soon it grew smaller and smaller until it was gone. In her “stomach”, the crushed rock would be grinded into ground sand and mixed into her body; also the energy center. She didn’t have very hard or shrewd teeth but just knew how to crack the stone efficiently. Probably, it was her innate ability. She licked the lips.
 
Tata was collecting her tools for the potion while replying her annoying questions. The thing was if the panther-man did as she said so, then he was a really nice person; especially, the help was out of his obligation. Somehow, she didn’t think Tata was lying.
 
“Humm…It’s nice of him then. Hope this is his first and last time… being a slave. Living under prison might have impact on one’s personality a lot.”
 
To her surprise was the existence of spirit. Never did she hear it before, nor she came from there.
 
“No, I haven’t heard it before but quite interesting. I came from nowhere. The wind eroded the stones in the desert and piled up sand day by day… then… poof, I was born. No father, mother, siblings… so I admire you have those who love you until the end of time. I never experience that blessing…the blood, the inheritance. Something called family and love.”
 
Sadness was expressed in her tone secretly. The melody of song Tata sang few minutes ago ringing in her ear again. Even though she got used to and pretty enjoy being alone, still, she dreamed it as the best blessing to have a person loved her forever unconditionally, someone called papa and mama.
 
Picking up the second-half stone… KKKKKKKKKK.... she was so famine that could swallow an elephant. Thankfully, Tata didn’t ask her: how does the stone taste?
Turning to Tata, she found she was busy in “tying” up her hair, which made her stop KKKKKK. Instead, Anhydre looked at her in stun… Beside the fire spark, her smooth long hair in shiny black was so beautiful, which was far different from that one slapping on her face in the camp. Wind blowing…
Tata combed her hair and gave a knot behind. Ponytail swinging right and left… Although it was not her first time seeing someone wear a ponytail, it was the first time watching the process from start to the end and was surprised by the shining and slithery hair. She didn’t notice Tata had finished the last word of transforming explanation. Unpredictable.
 
Without consciousness, Anhydre imitated Tata’s movement like a kid- fingers as a comb, stretched hands back, gathered her short hair and pulled it up. Unfortunately, it was short enough to slip from her hands… Once again! Fail again! Again! Fail!
 
Taking the two sides of few hair end, she connected them into a curve between her nose and mouth, staring at Tata and said:
 
“Tata, do you know how to make fish bones on the head?”
 
Apparently, she didn’t know it was called braid…

L'esclavage pouvait changer quelqu'un en profondeur...
Elle le savait bien, et c'était aussi pour cette raison qu'elle souhaitait retrouver Béhékine pour l'aider ou, au moins, lui faire comprendre qu'il n'était pas seul.
La chamane perçut dans la voix d'Anhydre une tristesse qu'elle essayait de cacher. Cette absence de famille pesait à la fille-esprit.

- Tu es fille du vent et du sable. Alors peut-être que tes parents sont toujours avec toi, dans le vent qui t'entoure, dans le sable que tu foules. Si tu y fais attention, peut-être que tu finiras par les comprendre et échanger avec eux.

Tapahari souriait, tandis qu'elle finissait d'attacher ses cheveux en une longue queue de cheval qui lui arrivait jusqu'en bas des omoplates.
Elle surprit du coin de l'oeil les gestes d'imitation de Anhydre et son sourire s'élargit. Elle ne comprit pas immédiatement la dernière question, ayant du mal à faire le lien entre une coiffure et les arêtes de poisson.
Puis, elle rit :

- Tu veux parler d'une tresse ? Oui, je sais faire cette coiffure. C'est long à faire, mais c'est pratique quand il faut travailler longtemps. Pourquoi ? Tu veux que je t'apprenne à tresser tes cheveux ?

Daughter of wind and sand… Anhydre was stun at Tata’s saying.
She never thought it before, only knew where and how she was made. The more she chewed the words, the deeper the meaning she got. Even though she looked like a human, to the button of truth, she was a pile of sand carried by the wind…so some parts of her, or to say most, came from her parents- wind and sand. And they were around her. Always.
Thinking to this far, Anhydre smiled and felt loved: Do they know they have a silly brat?
 
Anhydre’s stare fixed on Tata’s hair… braid! A sudden word came up and connected with her fish bones together… She didn’t know “braid” could mean such a complicated and beautiful hairstyle but she still loved her nickname to braid- “fish bones”. Once hearing Tata was going to teach her braid, she nodded in excitement.
 
“Yaaaaaaay! Fish bones, braid, Could you teach me? Even though my hair is short. I am ready now.”
She sat closer to Tata, at her two’ clock direction… and picked up the fern, sticking on her finger. It was curling-
 
“And this will be my hair band.”

Tapahari sourit devant l'enthousiasme de la fille-esprit.
Pourtant, elle stressait aussi un peu, car elle se savait assez peu douée pour ce qui était de faire des coiffures complexes. Généralement, elle se coiffait toujours à la va-vite, gardant les tresses pour certaines cérémonies. Elle n'avait jamais vraiment été très attentive à son apparence en somme.
Mais bon, elle pourrait sans doute enseigner comment faire une tresse à Anhydre.
Ce ne serait sûrement pas bien compliqué.
Pas vrai ?

- Mes cheveux sont plus longs, ce sera plus facile de s'en servir pour t'apprendre. Si tu veux bien te rapprocher un peu....

La chamane s'assit et défit sa queue de cheval, avant de séparer ses cheveux en deux longues mèches égales, qu'elle amena sur ses épaules.

- Là, je vais te montrer les mouvements pour faire une tresse, et tu n'auras qu'à les reproduire de l'autre côté. Une fois que tu sauras la méthode, on verra pour faire ta coiffure.

Anhydre was really excited, crawling to Tata and knelt beside her… couldn’t wait to see what braid she would end up having on her head. Tata untied the ponytail, lined along the hair whorl and parted it into two equal strands, bringing them to the front of chest in passing, which didn’t take her over five seconds.
This simple pre-braiding movement had made Anhydre’s eyes widen at the sight. She liked Tata’s long hair… it was beautiful. However, to her big surprise, Tata wanted her to copy braid on the other side by following her steps. This was really caught her unprepared. She thought what she needed to do was stay beside and watch every movement carefully. Besides, the truth was she hadn’t had any experience of touching someone, not to mention “grabbing” someone’s hair. It was much more horrible than asking her to hold the gun.
Nevertheless, she would like to take it a try if that person was Tata…
 
Grab! Looking around, she got an idea:
“Hold on, Tata.”
She walked back, scooping up the soil deep with two hands, carried it tightly to her chest and then dumped it at the ground right behind Tata's back…
Powder the soil on her hands fully, in order not to let her sand hands “pass” Tata’s hair. However, she needed to apply it once the soil dropped off hands from time to time. As soil well-attached, Anhydre drew a big breath, stretching out to the side Tata left to her.
Despite of soil covering, it didn’t cause any problem or loss for Anhydre to feel things. Another big shock- Tata’s hair was fewer than it looked like and was so slippery. It escaped from her holding since Anhydre dare not to grab it too tight that might make Tata hurt… But at the second time, she bundled it hard, as if a snake were in her hands…
 
It was so funny and interesting to have such long hair in hands... Unaware, Anhydre shook her hair-end upward, like a cluster of black grass, and-
Give Tata’s nose a scratch!
 
“Let’s start, Tata!”
Anhydre laughed.

Tapahari fit de son mieux pour ne pas réagir violemment lorsque Anhydre serra douloureusement sa mèche de cheveux à sa deuxième tentative. Elle inspira à fond et son visage se tendit, mais elle resta immobile et afficha un sourire après quelques secondes :

- Moins fort, s'il te plait. Ils ne vont pas s'enfuir.

La fille-esprit était enthousiaste visiblement. Trop, sans doute.
Sa méthode pour pouvoir toucher les cheveux de la chamane était ingénieuse. Tapahari avait complètement oubliée que Anhydre possédait un corps quasi-immatériel.
Ce qui était un peu surprenant, car elle avait manipulée des roches pour les manger et avait même cueillie une plante sans sembler faire d'efforts particuliers. Peut-être que des objets ayant une forte résonance avec la terre étaient tangibles pour la fille-esprit...
Elle était faite de sable et de vent, après tout.

Se faire tirer les cheveux ainsi eut pour effet d'agiter ses esprits-animaux, et Tapahari sentit qu'ils remontaient doucement à la surface, prêts à intervenir pour l'aider à échapper à cette agression. Elle fit un effort mental pour rassurer son pouvoir de change-peau, tout en expliquant à Anhydre, joignant le geste à la parole :

- Pour éviter que les cheveux glissent, prends-les assez haut, entre le pouce et l'index. Pas besoin de serrer fort, juste de les maintenir. Ensuite... le geste de base de la tresse...

Elle sépara la mèche en trois parts égales puis, des deux mains et avec des gestes bien décomposés pour que Anhydre puisse les reproduire, elle commença à tresser.
Elle croisa le morceau de gauche avec celui du milieu, puis celui de droite avec celui qui venait d'arriver au milieu, avant de recommencer encore et encore. Entre chaque étape, elle serrait doucement le tout, et s'arrêta lorsqu'il ne resta que quelques centimètres de libres au bout de sa natte nouvellement formée.

Anhydre loosened her muscle a bit after Tata’s request. Her pulling seemed to make Tata feel uncomfortable. Hands still held on the hair with unnatural position and strength. Before finding any good gesture and proper height, she got to move to Tata’s front. Staying behind only brought her a sense of being neglected.
Picking up soil again in her chest, she went to Tata’s front and unloaded it; then, adjust their distance, kneeling right in front of her. Now they were in the same height and faced each other: Tata sat while Anhydre knelt, which made everything easily to see…
 
Obviously, Tata knew what her problem was in grab so she demonstrated the braid from the “holding”… Anhydre gave her whole attention to Tata’s gesture while making adjustment by following the steps. She moved her hands up to straight sight, let go the full grasp, and “clipped” it with thumb and forefingers without putting too much strength, nor too less… Imagine herself holding the leaves, instead of grabbing a snake. Now, it was quite alike with Tata’s gesture and probably, also that feeling… She smiled at it in satisfaction.
 
Then-
As Tata split the hair into three equal parts, Anhydre gasped by surprise. Somehow, she stopped her following and simply watched Tata’s “performance”.
The process of braiding was climax. Anhydre was completely attracted by Tata’s ordered movement with fingers moving back and forth through the hair. And the braid her fingers once passed by were “mapped” so beautifully as she’d imagined in her mind…
 
When Tata stopped after a section, Anhydre touched the braid in awe. It was solid and shaped perfectly. After a messy hair cross, the neat braid came out!
“Superb!”
Lots of questions appeared but she chose the biggest one:
“Why does braid need three strips but ends up two half pieces?”
She circled the part she meant.
 
Back to her turn in braid, she applied the soil again-
“And now, it’s my turn!”, said enthusiastically.
Pick up the other half of hair, this time, she clipped it skilfully-
Then, Anhydre did what Tata had done in first step, dividing it into three equal parts…
After that, she imitated Tata’s “back and forth”. In her memory, left and right, up and down, fingers cross… However, what she didn’t notice was the trans-order of braid... she thought merely put these three parts into several cross, it would turn out a neat braid; in result, she started to busy in her “CROSSING”.
 
Cross up and down and down and up… left and right and left and right…
 
Hardly did Anhydre find she was in wrong and regretful steps-
Hair in general would get to its own way despite of complicated cross but it’s the soil left on Tata’s hair made everything worse. Soil stuck up hair in a mess, preventing it from returning back to straight in efficiency.
When Anhydre realized she had put herself in a haired maze, it was too late to go back to the square one. Her fingers, “eight” fingers, except for little fingers, had been tangled with Tata’s hair… she now couldn’t either draw out or get down.
CUFFED in the middle!
Anhydre knew well what would happen if she forced to move… the hair root might tear at Tata’s scalp and…scream!
 
Instead, Anhydre slightly tapped Tata’s forehead with pinky and said:
“Tata…I think.. I’ve braided my fingers with your... hair.”

Hanging in the air, she got hands sore and numb, but-   
Nothing she could do, only staring at Tata, waiting for a rescue…

Tapahari inclina la tête, remerciant en silence Anhydre pour son compliment. Le tressage n'était au final pas grand chose, mais le chamane devinait que la fille-esprit n'avait pas eu beaucoup d'intéractions sociales jusque-là, d'où son manque d'expérience et son... excitabilité. Tapahari était ravie, avec ses maigres moyens, de pouvoir un peu combler ses lacunes.
La question de Anhydre la ramena au présent :

- C'est une illusion d'optique. Les trois mèches de cheveux de la tresse passent tour à tour derrière, mais comme le motif se répète et est bien serré, ça ne se voit pas.

Elle fit tourner légèrement sa tresse pour lui montrer les différentes faces.
Avec un cri enthousiaste, la fille-esprit se mit à reproduire ce que la chamane venait de lui montrer.
Ses gestes étaient rapides, précis.
Trop rapides.
Si rapides que Tapahari eut à peine le temps de se rendre compte qu'elle ne faisait pas exactement les bons mouvements avant que Anhydre ait emmêlé entièrement ses cheveux en un éclair, emprisonnant ses mains avec !

Tapahari cligna des yeux plusieurs fois, restant la plus immobile possible.
Bon, elle n'avait pas vraiment mal, mais Anhydre semblait belle et bien coincée. Et là, comme ça, elle ne voyait absolument pas comment régler ce problème.
La vision de la fille-esprit paniquée avec ses doigts coincés dans ses cheveux était tout de même cocasse, et Tapahari se surprit à sourire.
Après quelques secondes, elle eut une idée qui la fit sourire plus largement. Elle ne pouvait pas manipuler le corps immatériel de la fille-esprit, mais elle pouvait faire disparaitre ses cheveux pendant un instant !

D'une pensée, elle libéra son pouvoir de change-peau et appela ses formes animales à remonter à la surface, pour jouer. L'une d'elle se précipita littéralement à cette idée.
Le monde tourna sur lui-même, et elle fut aveugle et sourde pendant quelques secondes.
Son corps changea en un instant, ses cheveux emmêlés se firent fourrure courte, libérant les mains de Anhydre.
Un serval était maintenant assis à la place de la chamane, sa fourrure fauve couvert d'un mélange de tâches et de rayures noires couvert ça et là de terre, ses oreilles tournées vers la fille-esprit, ses grands yeux l'observant avec curiosité.

- Mrrrrrraaaa ?

Il y avait de l'inquiétude dans ce feulement inquisiteur.
Tapahari se demandait si Anhydre allait bien, et si sa métamorphose n'allait pas lui faire peur.

Waiting for a rescue…
Anhydre was in panic for being stuck… she couldn’t move. Looking at Tata in an anxious look, she knew she would be safe as long as Tata was beside her. However, she was afraid she would fail to stand raising hands up for such a long time, she afraid if she put down her hands, another shock of pain would crushed on Tata.
So nervous that she didn’t notice Tata was smiling…and in that smile, a solution was boiling.
 
Just as Anhydre had made lots of weird faces to prolong her persistence, Tata suddenly disappeared
A sudden loss of weight and restriction-
and turned into…
What got into her sight was
A SERVAL.
 
Big ears turning toward her; a pair of big and rounded eyes, giving an innocent and curious look; a brown body with black stains on, sitting at the place where Tata had been few seconds ago.
This scene really caught her by surprise. She needed some moments to digest what she saw and how it happened. It was the same case as Tata turning into a snake…and to free her hands, Tata had transformed herself into a serval this time.
Speaking of hands, she moved fingers. Until now did she remember she could put down her “cuffed” hands in the air.
In the serval's eyes, somehow, she could feel Tata's warmth and concern.

“Mrrrrrraaaa?”
Thinking this cute serval in front of her was Tata’s transformation, Anhydre laughed…
“Mrrrrrraaaa! Taaaaaaataaaaaa!”
Anhydre’s scratchy voice was perfect for imitating her hissing sound…
Then, she got close to her and helped her stick up the soil on short and soft fur with hands. After that, enough soil back to her palms, she opened them toward the serval and said in smile:
 
“Double high five! We made it! Mrrrrrraaaa.”

Dans ce corps de serval, son ouïe était incroyablement sensible. Ses oreilles presque aussi grandes que sa tête n'étaient pas là pour rien après tout. Elle pouvait détecter des rongeurs gratter dans leur terrier à près d'une dizaine de mètres de distance.
Ainsi, le cri enthousiasmé de Anhydre lui fit l'effet d'un coup de tonnerre. Elle s'y était un peu attendue mais le volume sonore la fit quand même reculer d'un pas, ses grandes oreilles plaquées en arrière, les yeux à moitié fermés, le temps que le bourdonnement cesse dans son crâne.
Bon, au moins, sa soudaine métamorphose n'avait pas fait peur à la fille-esprit.

La voir réagir ainsi devant ce don de change-peau que la chamane avait tentée de cacher jusque-là était surprenant, et faisait réfléchir Tapahari sur ses craintes de révéler au grand jour ce pouvoir récent. Elle n'avait sans doute pas à avoir peur des réactions que ses métamorphoses pouvaient provoquer...

Elle sursauta encore lorsque Anhydre se rapprocha d'elle et commença à tapoter sa fourrure pour en enlever la terre. Le serval en elle paniqua devant ce contact mais elle parvint à garder le contrôle de ses membres et à ne pas s'enfuir aussitôt.
Les esprits-animaux qui l'habitait avaient dû mal à pardonner à Anhydre de lui avoir fait peur en se déguisant avec son drap plus tôt, ni de lui avoir tirée les cheveux...
La chamane laissa donc la fille-esprit faire, appréciant de sentir la terre qui lui grattait la peau être ainsi nettoyée. Seulement... n'était-elle pas censée être immatérielle ? Comment faisait-elle ?

- Mrrrraaaa ?

Le serval venait d'exprimer la question qui lui trottait dans la tête. A sa façon.
La discussion promettait d'être délicate, car elle ne pouvait pas faire grand chose d'autre que miauler sous cette forme. La chamane savait que certains change-peaux - ou aniformus - arrivaient à parler même métamorphosés, mais elle n'avait absolument aucune idée de comment accomplir ce prodige.

Anhydre lui proposa de fêter leur victoire, en lui tendant ses paumes.
Amusée, Tapahari laissa de côté ses réflexions et leva une patte, tapant doucement dans celle de la fille-esprit. Le geste lui semblait naturel pour le serval qu'elle habitait...

Seeing the serval reach out her palm with one paw in gentle, Anhydre cracked a brighter smile, even giggling…
A soft paw! How cute of Tata!
Tata was a warm and wise woman while this serval looked so cute and innocent and "playable"… It's still hard to imagine Tata had changed into a serval form, sitting in front of her, like a big kitten, even if she had tried to convince or remind herself of this truth for several times: Tata is this serval, this serval is her. However, she knew nothing about servals.

Of course, it wasn't Anhydre if she let go any chance to play tricks on Tata, especially she's a kind of feline now… Anhydre didn't like to be a bully but she was glad to be a tricker.
Once their "hands" touched… as soon as high five was made, laughs out, Anhydre drew a deep breath and all of a sudden, falling back straightly.
She released her sand body to create a scene of faint.
Closing the eyes, entering into a dormant mode, Anhydre was able to sense surrounding movement through the touching of earth.

Tricky Anhydre would like to know what would Tata do in this situation…
The sound of night noised beside her ear.

Tapahari venait à peine de toucher la main tendue de la fille-esprit avec sa patte que cette dernière s'effondra en arrière, visiblement inconsciente.
Avec stupeur, la chamane la vit même perdre en substance, devenant presque un simple tas de sable sur le sol, aux formes rappelant vaguement la jeune fille.
La première réaction de Tapahari fut de paniquer. Qu'est-ce qu'il venait de se passer, par les Anciens ?
Le serval dont elle avait emprunté la forme profita de sa surprise pour prendre l'initiative et, en une fraction de seconde et quelques foulées, elle avait bondi au loin se mettre à l'abri, observant la scène cachée derrière un arbre.

Ses oreilles et yeux tournés vers la forme inerte d'Anhydre, elle lutta pour reprendre le contrôle.
Avait-elle été la cause de ce qu'il venait d'arriver à la fille-esprit ? Son contact avait-il provoqué son évanouissement ? Elle espérait que ce n'était que cela...
Mais quoi faire maintenant ? Elle n'avait rien pour ranimer un être élémentaire dans ses affaires, ni dans les environs.
Et elle pourrait mieux réfléchir si son esprit-serval voulait bien arrêter de vouloir fuir ! Elle n'était pas en danger !
Son coup de gueule eut l'effet escompté, forçant le serval à relâcher son emprise sur elle.

A la fois inquiète et méfiante, Tapahari revint donc à petits pas vers le campement, se rapprochant de Anhydre pour mieux l'observer. C'était assez dérangeant de la voir ainsi, statue de sable effondrée, à peine définie, immobile.
Elle s'assit à ses côtés, le bout de sa queue oscillant de droite à gauche.
Le serval en elle se réveilla de nouveau et, avant qu'elle ait pu se rendre compte de ce qu'il se passait, venait de manifester sa curiosité de façon toute féline :
La patte du serval vint s'écraser sur la tête inerte de Anhydre !

It was her first time putting herself into a shut down condition. Anhydre knew it would be a rather dangerous trick because of the unpredictable outdoors and the failure of vision, which might reduce her reaction in an emergency. The only one thing she could rely on was the sense of touch from the earth and she needed to “guess” the creature’s movement according to the message ground sent to her. Jeopardous as the risk was, it also brought her excitement…Game start!
From the slight tremble of ground where Tata should be, Anhydre found she probably was in a panic, thinking her thought might be “What had happened? Is she dead? Am I the cause?” Nothing but keep saying sorry to Tata in her sand pile of heart…
Sorry, I just want to have fun.
Somehow, a sense of guilty rose up in her playful mind, which was she never thought of before the game set out. Originally, she imagined making Tata shocked would be a funny thing… and she might come around her side but-

In few seconds, quick and several steps rushed away from her, bumping the earth violently. Dhnnnn..nnnn…nnnn.. Tata had jumped aside.
Gosh, my trick really gave her a huge horror!
Hey, don’t go!
Just when Anhydre was about to resume herself and surrender to everything she had done-
Stop. The steps stopped at about sixty meters far. She knew now, the serval, Tata’s eyes were fixing on her. Stop. Anhydre was more like a “pretend-to-dead” cockroach on the floor, waiting for making a proper reaction to the motion of the other. She hoped Tata could come back. She didn’t want her leave and get into the dark forest, which would be indeed, truly, real danger. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to halt the game.
During their “mind-guessing”, she had detected not far from Tata, there were three huge strip shape creatures snaking… SNAKES? What’s worse, they were moving to Tata…
Damn!
Tata!
This scene really dragged Anhydre in a nervousness and cold sweat. These three snakes might jump on Tata at any time… They were observing her and “talking” in the dark grass. Just then, slowly, Tata moved back to her in full caution.
Good, good, good, don’t look back. Come. Come. Yeah. Great!
She could feel Tata had sat beside her safely without turning back while those snakes had retreated at once-until now did Anhydre recall Tata was a serval- when they saw the shape of feline grow clear due to the fire.
Let out a sign of relief, But!
 
A sudden
  Grab-
on her pile of sand, the head part that alerted her to form and work automatically. She didn’t shut off the sense of touch so the hurt she got from the paw really sent her enough of power to scream…Ouuuuuuutch-
Before reconstructing into the shape of human and get back the mind, Anhydre whirled aside and shaped herself into the “sand serval”.
REARRANGE, MAINTANENCE...
Not for a long time, the pile of sand spinning again, this time was- Anhydre!
 
She sat with puffs, staring at Tata in joyful look:
“I lose and you win.”
What she didn’t say was she nearly killed Tata and lost her because of her brainless trick… Nothing would be greater than seeing Tata was safe. Anhydre had played trick on herself this time.

No words about the snakes.
She didn’t want to let Tata worry.
Not again.

Sa patte se posa sur le visage défait de la fille-esprit et, aussitôt, cette dernière sembla se réveiller avant de pousser un haut cri !
Tapahari bondit en arrière, surprise par le bruit. Gardant un oeil sur Anhydre, elle vit le sable tournoyer sur lui-même, passant par une forme qu'elle eut du mal à identifier avant de reprendre celle de la jeune fille.
Anhydre se tenait assise, et lui souriait comme si rien ne s'était passé.
Avec ses quelques mots, le serval se figea.
Un jeu ? Cela avait été un jeu ? Elle venait de simuler une syncôpe, par jeu ?
Mais elle s'était inquiétée, par les Anciens ! Elle l'avait crue blessée ! Elle avait pensée être la cause de cette soudaine inconscience !

Malgré son expérience avec les Esprits du Voile - souvent facétieux - et son éducation lui dictant de se montrer respectueuse en permanence avec ces êtres, la chamane ne put stopper la bouffée de colère de l'envahir devant le comportement de la fille-esprit.
Certes, elle ne la connaissait pas assez pour réellement être surprise, mais ne pensait pas que les blagues qui jouaient avec l'inquiétude et la crainte étaient de bonnes blagues.
Le serval en elle avait un air suffisant tout félin, l'air de presque lui dire " Je te l'avais dit !" ; signe que ses esprits-animaux avaient toujours du mal à faire confiance à Anhydre.
Suite à ce tour, Tapahari n'était pas certaine de pouvoir leur donner tort...

Mais elle était l'adulte, alors elle pouvait bien passer outre son agacement.
Rassemblant sa volonté, elle souhaita reprendre forme humaine.
Le monde tourna sur lui-même, et elle fut aveugle et sourde pendant un instant.
Lorsque ses sens lui revinrent, elle était debout à la place du serval. La chamane avait toujours sa tresse qu'elle avait faite pour montrer l'exemple à Anhydre, et ses cheveux de l'autre côté étaient plus qu'emmêlés, formant une masse de noeuds et de frisettes.
L'asymétrie lui donnait un air fantasque.
Tapahari hocha la tête vers la fille-esprit, avant de se diriger vers son sac pour en sortir son peigne en os... et une paire de gants en peau.

- Tiens, ce sera plus simple pour retenter la tresse si tu portes ça. Hmmm... si tu peux les porter bien sûr.

Elle tendit les gants à Anhydre. Ces gants étaient à la base pour manipuler des potions et ingrédients plus dangereux pour la peau, et avaient l'avantage d'être assez fins pour ne pas perdre le sens du toucher.
La chamane s'assit, et travailla à démêler ses cheveux en désordre, pour pouvoir reprendre "l'atelier tresse".

Anhydre looked at the serval. They both were in silence for a while. Perhaps, Tata really got a huge shock to believe it was only a trick and now she tried to accept this truth and cool herself down. On the other side, Anhydre did her best to drag herself out from the memory of unwritten tragedy. She knew she couldn’t bear if there was anything bad happened on Tata. Three snakes nearly hit on her from behind[size=56]. The serval was on the verge of disappearance in her sight.[/size]
Heart thumping… Fire throbbed at the side.
 
Just few seconds, before Anhydre could notice the change, the shape of serval was back to Tata. Tata! Seeing her back made her crack a big smile on the face. It seemed thousand years had passed since Tata transformed herself to “save” her hands and she almost forgot what Tata had done all along was to rescue her but it was she played a “death” trick in return.
Tata nodded to her, Anhydre moving closer to where she had been some times ago- on the entangled side. She looked at Tata in full spirit, or to say observed. Something different toned in her aura but she couldn’t tell what exactly it was. A bit heavy and serious.
Then, Tata pulled out a bone comb and a pair of skin gloves from the bag. Gloves. Anhydre hadn’t ever worn gloves before. No other reasons but simply because she didn’t like her hands were covered over as if they had entered in some kind of black tunnel or were eaten by a five-fingers monster.
 
She looked at it and took it from Tata in hesitation. The soil on her hands sent the information of its texture and weight. It was a pair of exquisite and light gloves. However, still, she was in fear. However, still, she tried.
Slowly, she got her right hand in the glove, fitting the finger places and pressed with the other hand to make sure it was safe to stay in; then, the other side in the same way. Even though the gloves were a bit big for her that the finger tips couldn’t reach to the end, it worked quite well on her hands, which didn’t go through the sand hands in a funny way. Touching the ground, she found the sensibility of real didn’t lose any of bit.
 
Sight back to Tata, a tremble sound could be heard in Anhydre’s voice:
“G-loved. But… Tata, could you hold my hands and teach me step by step… this time?”

Still.
She failed to conquer her fear in her imagination to the “five-fingers” monster.

Tout en enlevant peu à peu les nœuds qui lui mangeaient la moitié de sa chevelure, Tapahari observait Anhydre qui visiblement hésitait à enfiler les gants.
La chamane se demandait un peu d'où lui venait cette hésitation : ne portait-elle pas déjà des vêtements après tout ?
Encore une fois, elle savait qu'elle avait affaire à une fille-esprit, faite de sable et de vent, alors peut-être que ses sens étaient différents des siens, et qu'elle avait besoin de ses mains libres pour sentir le monde autour d'elle.
A moins que ce ne soit juste la nouveauté qui l'inquiétait un peu.

Néanmoins, la scène donna une idée à Tapahari. Elle hésita une seconde, surprise elle-même par ce qu'elle s'apprêtait à faire, avant de dire à Anhydre le plus sérieusement du monde :

- Maintenant que tu as les gants enfilés, il faut que tu leur dises ton nom et pourquoi tu les utilises, sinon ils vont finir par mordre.

Ce n'était pas souvent qu'elle pouvait exprimer ainsi son côté joueur.
Son visage resta de marbre, tandis qu'elle finissait son démêlage. Ses esprits-animaux en elle semblaient apprécier l'idée de jouer un tour à la fille-esprit ; la chamane les sentait attentifs.

- Si ça peut éviter que tu t'attaches de nouveau, on va procéder étapes par étapes si tu veux.

As Anhydre was going to reach out her hands to Tata for holding, the words coming out from Tata's mouth frozen her in the air all of a sudden. Her hands straightened in the front, looked quite like a zombie. Bite! So it wasn't her imagination, the monster really existed and she just put her hands inside it… Every particle of sand in her got stiff in order not to awake or enrage this "five-fingers monster". Before knowing she was safe, she dare not to move an inch. Only her eyeballs could roll in free will.

Looking down at the hands hanging in the dark without turning her head, she said in fear:
"Are…are you hungry…now?…but wait, I…I am going to tell you…"

Hurried to find words but the nervousness put brake in her voice serval times:
"My name is Anhydre… I wanted to learn how to make a fish bone on my hair from Tata from the bottom of my heart… but I got a pair of clumsy hands and so maybe, you could give me a hand since you are in the gloves or you are actually the gloves, whatever … and…"

She continued and turned her tone in a threaten way:
"and if you really bite me during the process, you will get nothing but tons of sand, which might chock you to death and get an angry Anhydre and she will hit you to the heaven. Beside, the taste of sand is awful, disgusting, unpleasant. You may throw up to death again…I guess, you don't want to die twice, right? but, still, I hope we can help each other. I can give you my rocky food later if you want. Just don't bite me."

Finishing her words, staring at Tata, Anhydre let out a sigh of relief and tried to move her fingers. It seemed this monster accepted her request but still, she felt a little unease to see her hands coverd over the gloves…

She touched Tata's smooth hair for the testing. The gloves worked well that really preventing her sticky hands :

"Does it agree? Tata."

SAFE?! NOW?!

Son petit tour marcha avec Anhydre au-delà de toute attente.
En la voyant parler aux gants pour tenter d'amadouer le "monstre aux cinq doigts," la chamane eut du mal à garder son sérieux pour ne pas révéler la supercherie. Ses esprits-animaux lui envoyaient leur propre amusement, ce qui rendait les choses d'autant plus difficile.
Il y avait aussi quelque chose de touchant dans le fait de voir la fille-esprit croire en l'existence de ces "gants-monstres."

Lorsque finalement Anhydre se tourna vers elle, demandant si les gants étaient véritablement conquis par ses paroles, Tapahari n'y tint plus : elle éclata de rire !

- Haha ! Oui ! Navrée mais... tu es juste adorable à parler comme ça aux gants ! Tu ne crains rien, Anhydre, ce ne sont que des gants !

Ses esprits-animaux riaient aussi, à leur manière, ce qui redoublait l'hilarité de la chamane et la faisait ressembler à une folle, son rire montant et descendant en hauteur tour à tour, comme si plusieurs personnes riaient avec elle.
Elle parvint à se calmer peu à peu après un fou rire de près d'une minute, et essuya ses yeux embués de larmes avant de soupirer :

- Cela faisait très longtemps que je n'avais pas ri ainsi...
Bon, si on reprenait cette leçon ?

With anxiety, Anhydre looked at Tata. While waiting for the reply, she thought every horrible possibility loud in her mind: What if my words couldn’t work on it? What if it still bit my hands? What if Tata didn’t know, either? Had she had this kind of experience?
In a second-
The worried heart suddenly got a huge bump. She gave an involuntary jerk by a sudden sound and threw a surprised and unbelievable look at Tata. Tata was laughing! No words could make her believe it was only deception now but the simple sound of laughing and Tata just made it.
Tata’s words proved the fact that she had been played a trick and had done something “foolish”, confessing to the gloves nervously. It wasn’t adorable at all. Anhydre frowned at her and showed an embarrassed-and-angry mixed face. Besides, she had noticed Tata called her by her name- Anhydre.
Immediately, she took off the gloves, giving a sight at the inside, and even puffed breath out toward them. Like Tata said, nothing in it. The glove was bulged with air… dumbly.
 
Laughs enveloped the dense forest and the camp fire. Wildness echoed it aloud… Tata couldn’t help herself laugh so hard. It seemed the spirits in her were also amused, bringing the laugh up and down, left and right…
“TATA!” Anhydre stamped her foot, pretending to be serious.
It was difficult to find a proper description for her current emotion- she got relief to know no “five-fingered monster”, felt stupid and shamed when she recalled what she had done to the gloves, those words, and more “funny, furious, embarrassed, hilarious” to see Tata crazy like now after a trick on her. Not lasting for a long clam moments, Anhydre started to laugh with her. She didn’t know what exactly made her laugh. Everything happened, she guessed. She would like to be happy with Tata.
They- Tata and Anhydre and those spirits- filled the dark night with curving sound of laughing. At this moment, everything was colorful and shining and opposite.
 
Finally they tried to cool themselves… Anhydre crawled back again. Laugh had carried her away from Tata and pulled her down on the ground.
 
“Hahaha… me too. I am tired now.”
Anhydre couldn’t halt her laugh at once and said:
“Haha…Sure! I CANNOT WAIT. Tata.”
 
Perhaps, Tata isn’t that a serious person. Somehow, she was glad to see her go nuts.
 
Anhydre put the gloves on and get to her right place, reaching out her hands to Tata.
Time for the class but it didn’t mean tricks would end.

Remettant de l'ordre dans sa robe - le temps de remettre également de l'ordre dans ses émotions - Tapahari finit par déposer son peigne au sol près d'elle et à lever les mains pour prendre celles de la fille-esprit. Devant l'enthousiasme débordant de cette dernière, la chamane se sentit obliger de la tempérer :

- Hmmm... c'est bien, mais essaie de ralentir cette fois. Le but c'est que tu apprennes les gestes de base, la vitesse viendra avec l'entrainement. Je ne peux pas me transformer indéfiniment pour libérer tes mains.
Je vais guider tes mains, tu n'auras qu'à saisir les mèches que je vais placer sous tes doigts et à mémoriser l'ordre des mouvements. Ça te va ?

Même si la métamorphose en serval marchait bien pour libérer ce qui était emmêlé dans ses cheveux, la chamane ne tenait pas trop à répéter l'expérience plus que nécessaire. Elle ne pouvait pas changer de forme trop souvent sans risquer de s'épuiser.
Avec des gestes précis mais lents, elle guida la fille-esprit et, ensemble, elles séparèrent la partie droite de ses cheveux en trois mèches à peu près égales, avant de commencer le tressage en lui-même.
La partie de gauche croisa par-dessus celle du milieu.
La partie de droite croisa par-dessus celle qui venait d'arriver au milieu.
La nouvelle partie de gauche repassa par-dessus celle qui venait d'arriver au milieu...

- Tu vois ? Ce n'est pas sorcier en vérité. Après, ce geste peut être reproduit pour tresser des longueurs plus courtes, comme tes cheveux...

Tata picked up her hands in gentle and brought them to the right-side hair where a few minutes ago, was knotted like a shrub but now, it was back to the original setting. Anhydre smiled at it. It seemed Tata was thinking the same episode as her. In words, she told her both learning tips and warning. Anhydre nodded in reply. She would never give up until she successfully got a fish bone on her head.
The first step of braiding went on its track in success- Three equal parts- one in her left hand, another and the other held in gaps between right hand fingers. Under Tata’s guide, nervousness swept across her hands. In the following movement, however, it changed into the force of resistance. Honestly, it was Anhydre’s first time being touched, let alone being held.
The sand in her hands was protesting!
Although Tata held them as light as a dragonfly tip on water, carried them as gentle as caressing animals, the guiding force was still detected by the sand and it kept drumming under the “skin”. Alike with its owner’s stubbornness, it hated to be controlled by others, or to say, all the same in every part of Anhydre. Certainly, it wasn’t a good thing in learning.
As Tata brought her right hand to the middle for a cross, beneath the skin, the roll of sand went opposite direction. Then, Anhydre needed to use her mind forcing it to follow. At the beginning, it only occurred in small part and a weak throb but gradually, protestant area grew wider and stronger.
 
Nevertheless, this misfortunate gave Anhydre additional benefit. To correct it into right place, she had to pull it hard, which would also help her in engraving the braiding steps in her mind. She had found the tempo - left, right, left, right - just to focus on the two side strands, put them in middle in turns and tighten the cross in each step, hair wouldn’t get tangled.
Fortunately, the sand protesting didn’t go too far to arouse Tata’s attention. Everything pretended and worked very well. Anhydre knew it from Tata’s saying while she grinned at the fish bone they just made in surprise. It was so beautiful and fantastic.
Just that moment, after Tata’s words and her stun at this work of art, the surface of hands- skin- drummed up. This made Anhydre drop her hand out of the gloves IMMEDIATALY, in order not to let the sand do harm to Tata. Sand flew off…
Now, her hands were all in great revolt.
 
She looked at Tata… The gloves left in Tata’s hands while her hands trembled violently, which also made her voice shake.
“Sorrrrrrrry, Ta…Tata. My hands are innnnn its temmmmmpppper. Buuuut, I..I think I knnnnow hoooow tooooooo make the fiiiish bonnnne noooow.”
 
Anhydre was happy to know she was near to the path of braid.
A bright smile was hung on her face. However, she had no idea for how long her hands would compromise.

L'opération se passa bien.
Ce qui était suspect.
Mais la chamane n'allait pas s'en plaindre. Son cuir chevelu non plus.
Elles progressèrent lentement, mais sûrement ; Tapahari prenant soin de ne pas brusquer la fille-esprit et cette dernière semblant extrêmement concentrée.
La tresse terminée, la chamane se surprit elle-même lorsqu'elle dut prendre une grande bouffée d'air ; elle avait presque oubliée de respirer pendant le tressage !

Soudain, Anhydre rejeta ses mains en arrière comme si le contact avec les cheveux de la chamane venait de la brûler, et ses doigts sortirent des gants, qui tombèrent au sol. Du coin de l'oeil, Tapahari vit du sable voler un peu partout, juste avant qu'elle ne remarque avec surprise que les mains de la fille-esprit tremblaient !
D'une voix plus tremblante encore, Anhydre s'excusa et déclara que ses mains avaient un souci de comportement.
Surprise et un brin inquiète, la chamane demanda :

- Tu vas bien ? Ce sont les gants qui t'ont mis dans cet état ?
Il serait plus sage d'attendre un peu que tu ailles mieux avant de voir pour faire la tresse sur tes cheveux.

Anhydre smiled when Tata’s concerning words were sent to her ear.
 
She nodded and said:
“Yeah, I’m okay…I don’t know, it seems my body parts share the same personality with me. They just don’t like to be controlled… or guided.”
 
Once her hands found nothing forced on them, they stopped trembling. She rolled her eyes at them and murmured. Not going to miss any second, Anhydre grabbed a bunch of hair behind-left side- before the memory snickered into the air… She was so excited to take a try, like a kid, couldn’t wait to play her new toy- braiding.
 
In the next moment, she totally dropped into a “self-wondering” land. Bending her head down and sit down with legs crossed, she combed her hair with fingers. Recalling what Tata had taught her and those images… Anhydre couldn’t help herself mumbling:
“One into three…”
She divided it in her two hands.
“Left, you go mid, and mid to here, right, your turn, to mid and left-”
Her fingers moved uncoordinated, which lost one side strand. REDO.
“Left, you go mid, and mid to here, right, your turn, to mid and left, go mid…. Wait! Four?”
During the finger crossing, somehow she got four strands…REDO.
Anhydre changed to another side, and also it was the hair behind.
“Left, you go mid, and mid to here, right, your turn, to mid and left, go mid and right…”
He fingers got crossed again. REDO.
…she got sore hands. REDO.
…Aching head. REDO.

Four-letter words kept bursting out from her mouth but she didn’t slow down her trying. She knew, at least, there would be one time, success would come. Almost every possibility that might fail she had experienced…Every blessing time she thought it was had gone without mercy… Braid was so near to her!
REDO. REDO. REDO. REDO. REDO. REDO….
Finally!
This time, she drew a big and deep breath, shaking her sore hands, turning around her head before REDOING aaaaaaaaagain.
She went every step carefully after making sure of everything was right on the track, including the force, way, gesture, finger places… Tata’s words had replayed in millions time.
And this time, she got no missing miracly.
Until the end, she screamed… snatching the hair end…
However, Where is Tata?
She was too concentrated that she barely noticed Tata had gone. Standing up and turning around, she found actually Tata was right behind her… She screamed again!
 
“Tata…look! My sandwich bone at the back! TAAAATAAAAA… I MADE IT! TAAAATAAAA, I am soooooooooooo happy.”
She was so excited that she nearly went up and gave Tata a big hug but her hands still locked on her braid end.
 
And…
Where is her hair band?!

Suite à ses explications, la chamane resta silencieuse et observa la fille-esprit tenter encore et encore de faire sa tresse seule. Son entêtement, voire son obstination, était impressionnant à voir. Elle défit et reprit des dizaines de fois son ouvrage lorsqu celui-ci ne convenait pas, se répétant à voix basse les instructions que Tapahari lui avait prodiguées.
La chamane, tout en observant les gestes d'Anhydre, récupéra ses gants et entreprit de les nettoyer, les vidant du sable qui était resté à l'intérieur, avant de les enfiler elle-même. Puis, elle défit ses propres tresses, préférant laisser sa chevelure noire libre maintenant que Anhydre avait saisie le principe du tressage.
Elle se rapprocha de la fille-esprit, restant plus ou moins derrière elle, curieuse de voir de plus près comment elle s'en sortait ; Anhydre avait des cheveux assez courts, alors le tressage se transformait en manœuvre de précision.

Après plusieurs minutes et moult essais, Anhydre parvint finalement à un résultat bien équilibré. Comme surprise par son propre succès, elle se tourna vers la chamane en laissant éclater sa joie dans un cri qui résonna un moment dans les oreilles de Tapahari. Elle sembla vouloir se jeter sur elle pour l'enlacer, oubliant que ses mains tenaient toujours l'extrémité de sa coiffure.
La chamane sourit :

- Félicitations ! Tes efforts ont porté leurs fruits. Maintenant, il faut que tu l'attaches.

N'avait-elle pas une plante qu'elle avait voulu utiliser pour ça un peu plus tôt ? La chamane s'était même surprise du fait que la fille-esprit avait réussie à la cueillir, alors qu'elle était immatérielle pour beaucoup d'autres choses...
Regardant à droite et à gauche, Tapahari finit par identifier le petit bout de plante - plus une lierre en vérité - et tendit le bras pour la récupérer. Elle la tendit ensuite à Anhydre, en souriant.

Until seeing Tata’s surprised look at her overheated excitement did she notice what she was doing. Hug?! A sudden shocked feeling pushed Anhydre back few steps. Happiness on face, doubt in mind. At that moment, she totally forgot she was a sand-made girl, which had never happened before. Besides, her high self-defensive mind would automatically remove the eagerness of physical touch but…
Is it possible that I have unloaded my self-defensive to Tata?
Because of my tremble hands?
 
No any track to follow. She gave up. Back to the reality, Anhydre took her hair band-fern and ivy- from Tata and cracked a big smile to her consideration. Joyful.
Fern and ivy crawled on her hair tight without extra tying gestures. They were like scrawling on the tree, turning themselves round and round on the branch so naturally. Hair had been tied and braid was in shape!
 
Anhydre touched the fish bone… giggled in a sense of achievement.
“Thank you, Tata!”
 
That night, they had achieved so many things- a bath, a spirit mission, fish bone, several tricks and the huge sky-torn laugh.