The Bearer of Changing Times

In the clearing, a thick blanket of morning fog enveloped the caravan as people slowly started going about their day. Swirls of mist spun around as people and animals began to disturb its slumber. Another day was slowly coming to the lands and the first rays of sunshine sent streaks of light through the trees surrounding them. But in the forest, the air was high and clear, and the sounds of animals waking up could be heard from all around.
Between the trees, Irzi walked on silent feet. She had woken up earlier than most in the caravan, as per usual, to go out and check on the traps she had set the day before. During travels the hunters always set traps at night to be able to provide meat even when they moved the long distances they did, and Irzi was one of them.
They had settled in the clearing in the woods quite early the previous day, which had given her time to really spread out her traps and she expected a decent catch. Even if it meant she had to get up extra early to have time to retrieve them all before people wanted to leave, it was worth it.
But this day was not an ordinary day. As she was walking towards the second trap she saw something much bigger than the small birds and rodents she normally trapped in the bushes. Irzi slowed her breath and came to a halt. She couldn't see what it was but it was definitely quite big. Could it be a predator? They usually stayed far away from humans and their caravan wasn't exactly quiet. But the creature kept still for a very long time. It was almost too still. Slowly she started closing in on the object, and as she got close, she gasped and almost dropped the rabbit she was carrying. It was a person!
Dropping to her knees, Irzi quickly brushed away leaves and branches from the body. It was a woman, probably around her own age, and she was definitely unconscious. She was alive though. Irzi could see her breathing, and she couldn't see any obvious wounds except scrapes and bruises. Without further hesitation she got up on her feet and ran back to camp.

~*~

An hour later, the sun had risen above the treetops and the mist had faded away. The camp was bustling with activity, centered around the briri of their medical man. With some help, they had managed to get the strange woman back to the camp, and she was now tucked into a bedroll. At her side sat Irzi and the medical man, Musna, and they were occupied with cleaning her up.
"I have never seen any clothes like this before." Musna frowned as he studied the unfamiliar piece. "I'm not even sure what kind of fabric this is."
"Where do you think she comes from?" Irzi didn't take her eyes from the other woman. This was probably the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her.
"I have no idea. Maybe from the south? She doesn't look like anything I've seen anywhere on this side of the world."
"But her clothes are not very warm, they seem more suited for the weather here."
A sudden sound from the woman made Irzi almost jump out of her skin.
"She's waking up!"
"Irzi, go fetch some fresh water and some porridge."
She nodded and quickly ran off.
When she came back Musna had helped prop the woman up to a half-sitting position, and she was looking around groggily.
Irzi sat down beside her again and handed her the bowl with water, still cold from the night. The woman drank like she hadn't had any water for days, and some colour returned to her cheeks.
"Feeling better?" Irzi smiled at her. "What's your name?"
But the other woman just looked at her with a slightly furrowed brow and shook her head lightly. She replied something Irzi didn't understand.
"I don't think she knows our language," Musna pointed out, like Irzi hadn't figured that much out already.
"Do you think she knows the farmers' language?" She had not yet managed to fully learn the other language, no matter how many times her caravan had visited the farmers.
"Whatever she said wasn't that either."
Irzi turned her attention back to the other woman.
"Ir-zi." She pointed at herself as she pronounced her own name as slowly and clearly as she could.
"Ir-si?" It looked like the other woman was trying out the sounds, almost tasting them.
"Ir-Zi." More pronunciation on the second part.
"Irzi?" She still sounded unsure but the sound was much better this time.
"Irzi!"
The two women smiled at each other as they came to the understanding.
"Irzi", the other woman pointed at Irzi and then to herself. "Trinla."
What an unusual name. It definitely suited such an unusual woman though.
After they had established their names, the gestures came back. Irzi and Musna tried to figure out if Trinla had any other injuries but after a lot of pantomimes going back and forth they concluded that except for a moderate fever, she wasn't feeling pain anywhere. They made sure she had food and water next to her bed and then tried their best to convey the message to rest.
In the meantime the caravan had started moving. The briri swayed gently from side to side as the big animal moved beneath it. It had been decided that they were to change course to a small fishing village nearby. It was the closest settlement to where they were now, and even though they didn't trade with them that often, they had decided it was the best way to try and find something out about Trinla.
Irzi stayed with Trinla during their voyage. She didn't exactly have a lot to do as a hunter during travels, and she was far too interested in the new woman to do the minor tasks she could have been doing. Instead, she decided to try and teach some of their language to Trinla.
"Briri." Irzi made a wide gesture to the hut they were sitting in. Gestures and pointing was their main source of communication, but they both tried their best. Getting Trinla to pronounce things correctly also turned out to be harder than imagined; apparently Irzi's name had been one of the easier words. What kind of language did the other woman speak where the sounds that were so normal to Irzi was so difficult for her?

~*~

During the second day, Trinla was obviously feeling much better. Her fever had dropped significantly, and they decided to move her from the medical briri over to the one where Irzi and her family lived. Their briri consisted of just a small hut with hammocks and the rest was a big open balcony, perfect for spending slow travel days on.
Now it became much easier to teach Trinla new words as Irzi could point to everything in the caravan or around them. Trinla herself also started to point at things so Irzi could tell her what they were. It was clear that a lot of things were completely new to her. Especially their big animals that carried the briri on their backs seemed to fascinate her to no end.
"Xuis", explained Irzi, emphasising the 'x' sound as Trinla had proved to have a hard time with it before. It was as much as she could tell her about their beasts at the time, despite being probably the most important things in the whole caravan.
The day continued in this fashion until the early evening when Irzi's parents came back from their tasks for the day. Irzi smiled and gestured to them as a way to introduce them.
"Unshum!" It was the best way she could describe it. Family.
As Trinla observed them interact with each other as they started preparing for dinner, Irzi heard her quietly repeat the word.
"Unshum..."
That night they didn't set up camp. With the nice weather they would be able to reach the coast by tomorrow if they continued at this pace through the night. It wasn't uncommon for the caravan to travel at night. These were their lands and they knew their way around. Since this afternoon, they were also out of the woods so the moonlight would provide plenty of light.
As the white orb rose over the horizon, Irzi pointed at it.
"Chik."
For the first time Trinla replied.
"Anin."
"Anin?" Irzi was caught a bit off guard by the word. During the whole day Trinla hadn't tried to teach her a single word of her own.
"Anin."
With that the two women sat in silence besides each other and watched the moon as it slowly made its way across the sky.

~*~

Late afternoon the following day the caravan reached the ocean. The deep blue waves glittered in the sun, and you could feel the ocean's power as the waves swept over the shore, even a calm day as this. The sight brought with it a lot of new words to teach Trinla, who had spent the morning trying to remember yesterday's lesson with mixed success. In a few hours they would reach the settlement, and hopefully someone there would know more about where she could come from.
But as they got closer to where the village was located, it became strangely quiet. The pastures that were usually full of farm animals stood empty, and no one could be seen in the fields. In the direction of the settlement, a huge pillar of smoke rose to the sky, too big to be from regular fires.
The caravan halted and soon Irzi and the other hunters left on their smaller, faster mounts to investigate. As Irzi sat up, Trinla grabbed her leg and refused to let go. Her face had a determined look as she pointed towards the smoke. No language was needed to make Irzi understand that the other woman wasn't going to let them leave without her.
"Fine, but don't blame me if something happens", she muttered as she helped Trinla up behind her on the animal. The tone of her voice was enough to get her message across.
And so they rode towards the village. They went at a steady pace, wanting to conserve energy in case they needed to get out of there fast. Trinla held onto Irzi hard, but seemed to be used to riding. She was not a burden which some passengers could be.
As they neared the settlement, the smoke pillar got bigger, and they could now smell it. It was the smell of death. The only sounds that could be heard were the low rumbling of the sea, the crackling of the fire and the sound of the animals feet against the ground.
The whole village was in ruins. Most of the houses had been built out of wood and they were either still burning or completely reduced to smouldering coal. The only building still standing was their stone temple, but the big door had been broken and was hanging on just one of its hinges.
But apart from the burning buildings, the village was empty. Some clothed bundles they decided to not investigate further could be seen in some of the ruins, but not nearly enough to account for everyone who had lived here. What had happened here?
They decided to ride through the village and down to the docks. The village's little fishing boats were still there but a lot of things were broken and in the muddy road you could see the prints of lots of feet. And there, in the mud close to the docks, stood a flag, but not one Irzi recognised. But apparently someone did, as Trilna suddenly gasped and pointed towards it.
A single, sad word was heard in the silence.
"Unshum."

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