We Dream of Hope

Hide and Seek

Sera’s little game was just a distraction, but she wondered how well Ma’at and Odion would do. Everyone was too wound up to sleep, and this was going to be the perfect way to get all that pent up energy out in the open. To her surprise they were far better at hiding than she anticipated. Ma’at even more so. Her instincts carried her farther into hiding and if Sera was completely honest she was worried about it. She had little experience with fighting the Medjay but she knew they gained strength from instinct. So when it came to it Sera felt it best to take out her first. She wound her way through the buildings and over fences being sure to stay down wind from the last location of Odion. He was trying, but his clumsy demeanor was not going to carry him to victory. 

Odion was fully aware of his handicap and was going to play it up a bit. He couldn’t out match if it came to a fight, but he just might be able to surprise the others. He tore off his shirt and laid it on the ground in a small yard a few blocks from the house. Sera was going to rely more on her sense of smell and he could try to confuse her. He dashed quickly away and noticed for just a glimpse that someone was circling him. It was a flash but he was sure someone ducked behind one of the smaller houses just yards away from him. He didn’t catch the scent but was certain it was Sera, she ran faster than Ma’at and was much smaller. Running along he turned corners and tried to double back, but had lost the element of surprise and his opponent. 

Ma’at though she wasn’t a half-beast like the other two, knew they were going to out-match her. However, if she could outlast Odion then she might have an opportunity to take Sera down. So she played it safe. Some houses had a very high foundation with a crawl space large enough for her to fit through. While the dogs chased each other she was going to hide. She kicked a screen out and slid her way deep into the crevices of the rundown shack. She was able to quickly pull the screen back in place and pray she hadn’t left too much of herself as a trail. Her fears would be tested moments later. 

Chasing what he thought was Ma'at’s scent, Odion had lost the trail of Sera, but Ma'at’s was strong. She held up in one area, but he couldn’t figure out why. He sniffed the air and then caught again Sera, she was close, and Maat, he was almost on top of her. No sign of her though so he assumed he was being hunted. The houses were soft peaks and some seemed sturdy enough to hold him if nothing else he was going to be found anyway so might as well go for broke. Fate being something he rarely toyed with he took a leap of faith. He landed with more force on the rooftop than he would have liked, but it held steady. The area they were in the houses were close together and there was little room for him to see around each building, still the wind blew against his cheek and it carried many familiar scents. Sera was definitely around, however, Maat, her scent wasn’t carried, it was stagnant in the air, like he was right on top of her. 

She was the local in the area, Sera had experience on all of them, so she knew this was going to be over, she just didn’t want it to end so quickly. To their credit they tried, Maat getting more creative and Odion well, he was resourceful, his little trap of baiting her with his shirt worked but she was disappointed to find it wasn’t a fully set trap. He wasn’t anywhere near it, sure, it could have been a lame attempt to pin her, but really it was just to give him a chance to run off and hide longer. Sera instead decided to play his game but smarter. She took his shirt and wrapped it around her arm sprinting off. Ma'at was staying put, she hadn’t moved in a while so Sera knew to stick away from her. Odion, well his mistake was the creaking of the roof as he landed. Sera was lighter on her feet and so when she jumped more noise was made than if a bird had landed on the roof. She ducked behind one of the chimneys and watched as Odion looked around. He sniffed the air far too much and was only going to second guess himself the longer he dissected the scents.

Almost an hour had gone by playing this game and Sera was growing restless, neither of them had moved and they were mixing their aromas so much Sera could only guess they were right on top of each other without realizing it. She was finished with this, Ma'at clearly was hiding far better though to Odion’s credit he probably didn’t know about the crawl spaces. So as Sera leaped forward arms stretched and teeth bared Odion saw his fatal mistake. She whipped her arms around him and pulled him off the roof crashing hard onto the ground. She landed safely on top and sat proudly on his back laughing. Then as it was planned held one hand out keeping the screen in place trapping Ma'at under the house. “Forfeit and I’ll let you out.” she snickered. 

Ma'at defeated could only reply exasperated, “How did you know?”

She ducked down eyes meeting between the screen slats, “You two are good, but it was never going to be a real competition.”

She got up and removed the screen, “Good job though, your only mistake, allowing me to be your opponent.” She smiled sweetly to lessen the blow to their egos, “First, some pointers, Odion, I’ve lived here and shed so much here that my scent was going to be everywhere. You were never going to track me, but you did fool me for a split second so good job. Ma'at, you gave yourself no exit. But hey, you at least hid pretty well. Just need to watch where you hide more.” She clapped her hands on their backs pushing them toward Nadia’s location, “All in all, good job, I’ll have to teach you some tricks of the trade though.”

They stumbled back laughing and Nadia looked at them with a smile, “Having fun?” 

Sera nodded and quickly ushered them all inside. The day was finally coming to a close, and she seemed a little less playful the closer it got to night. “Okay guys, few rules, first someone always stays up. I want us to start taking shifts, if anyone sees anything out the window quietly wake me up. You’ll each take a three-hour turn, so one of you will be splitting your sleep up. It’s up to you to decide who does what, I’ll be in the back asleep if you need me.” She marched off and left them alone to discuss.

Nadia piped up first, “I’ll split, I never get a good sleep anyway so-”

“Nuh uh.” Ma'at’s objection was playful but stern, “I’m splitting, Odion I know is tired so he needs to sleep first and longest, Di, you are already so much awake you’ll take first. I know you’re not going to be able to wake up Odion so you’ll wake me and I’ll get the lazy bones up.”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to wake him?” hurt, but it was a fair call, so Nadia didn’t really fight it. Maat seemed to have everything planned so who was she to disrupt this design?

“You’re too nice, if you can’t get him up you’re liable to just stick it out longer. So I’m not going to take no for an answer. Now, Odion, let’s go. Di, you can eat some while you watch it’ll help you stay awake.”

With that, the two sat down. Odion not realizing how tired he was, immediately fell asleep. The day had taken a lot out of Ma'at as well, but she felt her sleep come gradually before completely drifting off.