It didn't even faze him! He broke his nose and it didn't even faze him! Zarak wasn't supposed to say it was okay, he was supposed to agree with Okonwe, get angry at him like everyone else had, something. But instead Zarak, damned back-stabbing liar Zarak, came out looking all good and calm and nice--which Kiyan knew was complete and utter monkey dung.
With a loud groan, Kiyan just kept on walking and didn't look back, though his rigid posture and clenched fists clearly gave away all that he was feeling. He knew it was stupid; he shouldn't be wasting any emotion on Zarak because he didn't even deserve his anger. But he still couldn't believe it. He could have let Zarak die in more than one instance! Granted, even if he knew the guy was going to betray him he wouldn't have done any differently, but...
Damn it.
Just proved he couldn't trust anyone.
"I know, Zarak..." Okonwe answered quietly, sighing and rubbing her temples. She looked over at him and gave the barest of smiles, her mind preoccupied and eyes lined and tired. No matter what she said to Kiyan at this point, she knew it didn't matter. Soon he would be among the Coryii, and at this point he and his fate were completely out of her hands. It would do no good to reprimand him anymore; there was no point, and he was clearly too angry to listen, anyway. "I know. Thank you for that, for everything."
She believed him. She didn't know him, but he felt different. Anyone else would have walloped that boy for punching them, but Zarak had an unusual kind of patience. She supposed that's what Kiyan needed--or what anyone else needed to deal with him.
That was where she had fallen short.
"I'll accompany you to to where they're waiting, but Kiyan has been banished so I'll need to just say my goodbyes now. Have a safe journey, Zarak."
Okonwe walked most of the way there with them, to where the Coryii were waiting at the edge of the village. Most of them had already started off to get a head start, but a small group of five men, most of them Zarak's age save one that was going gray-haired, were waiting behind to receive Kiyan and his companion. A couple men were holding the reins of two strange pack animals that looked like a rough cross between so a deer and a horse; their hooves were cloven, their tails long and tufted, and both had an impressive set of antlers growing from their head. Their fur was a red-orange with black rosette-like spots that extended even into the long mane, but when they snuffled at their owners' hair, like a horse would, there was a flash of sharp teeth.
The animals were currently loaded down supplies.
Once the men noticed Zarak and Kiyan, Okonwe turned and left without a word, and Kiyan felt his heart beat faster and his stomach clench. He was mad at her, yes, but...he had lived with her for as far back as he could remember, and...
Some of the situation he was in was finally starting to sink in.
"About time. You're late," the older man said, leaving the group to walk and meet them halfway. Unlike Kiyan, these men did wear animal-skin breeches and whereas Kiyan's people decorated themselves with piercings and scarification and jewelery, it looked like the Coryii were more interested in tattooing. They shared Kiyan's dark complexion and hair, though they beaded theirs. Fishermen they might be, but the Coryii's tribe was much larger and influential and many of them made their villages inside the jungle, too. They were hunters whereas Kiyan's people kept to the shore.
They had split off from the Coryii ages ago and still hadn't gotten their numbers up.
"And who're you?" That was said with a look Zarak's way.