Relationships: Noa x Mae (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes)
Comments: English is not my first language. I recommend you to watch the deleted scene where Noa and Mae talk about dreams and the telescope, it's not too important but it gives a tiny little bit of context for a short paragraph in the story. Enjoy!
Anaya woke up in the morning with more energy than usual and went to the main tower to look for his best friend, hoping they could do some climbing later, maybe he could convince Noa to go beyond the valley and explore a little more the ancient Echoes civilizations. However, when he arrived at Noa´s room, he found nothing but his empty litter and Dar, who was just waking up.
“Dar!” Anaya said, feeling a little invasive “Good morning. Noa?”
The female ape yawned deeply and scratch her belly.
“Oh, Anaya, I don´t know” she said uninterested, yet calm; getting up to start her day.
“Why would I? Noa… old enough. Not a baby. Probably… out”
Anaya left the tower, feeling a little worried. Ever since the kidnapping, he started to feel uneasy, like he should be alert and ready to fight. When he couldn’t find his friends, he felt this tight in his stomach.
“It´s called anxiety” Noa explain when they were settling their home again. Anaya was brave enough to express his feelings to his leader, hoping he could give him a peace of mind “Raka… told me so”
Soon enough, that word had spread like a quick virus among the apes. Everyone was using it. Noa wondered if they were truly anxious from what happened, or if they were just interested in using a new word.
Walking through the village, Anaya found his best friend sleeping next to the horses, with a blanket over his head, covering him from the sun.
“Noa! What are you… doing?”
The leader woke up and rapidly sat. He looked around him and spotted Anaya looking down on him like he was crazy. Maybe he was.
“Oh, not reason” Noa answered, feeling shy and oddly embarrassed. His friend gave him a look “Okey, I was out… all night. When I came back… to tired to go up. Sleep here”
“Uh… to the lighting dancers’ field”
“What?!” Anaya screamed with excitement, Noa hushed him with his hand and took him to a more private place, just a few meters away from the village.
“Who is… the lucky one?” the eldest asked.
“Noa. Romantic place. Take girlfriend” Anaya was too excited at this point, giggling and jumping around his friend, happy to be the first to know the details of how the date had gone.
“No, Anaya, it wasn´t… like that” Noa sighed mildly annoyed. Kind of disappointed.
It had been just a sweet moment between Mae and him, it wasn´t a mating ritual, nor a proposal. It was just a night out with a girl he cared about and wanted to show her something nice and pretty.
He didn’t want anybody to think he was trying to marry Mae (´cause he was not). That would be weird. An ape and an animal, getting together? Now way. That was just unnatural, wasn´t it? It would be like marrying a horse. “Except it would not be like that, and you know it” Noa thought. “She has the same features as you. Apes and human… we are not that different” Except they kind of were “But she is smart. She is not like those animals”
“It was just a nice walk”
Anaya snorted at his answer, like it was an obvious lie.
Noa wondered if he could trust his friend, in a normal situation he would, but Anaya had imagined a whole scenario about a mate and a proposal, he didn’t want him to get his ideas twisted.
The ape stood in silence. The leader couldn’t figure out his expression. It was a mix between shock and something else, maybe fear?
“But I told you… it wasn’t like that” Noa tried to explain, his voice sounded nervous, and he knew that it seemed like he was lying “Really. The Echo never saw the dancers before”
The silence was getting unbearable, he needed to get out of there soon. Acting annoyed and angry, Noa pushed lightly Anaya to the side and started to walk towards the village.
“Wait” Anaya said, “Did she… like the lights?”
Noa turn around and looked at his friend, a kind smile was growing in his face. Noa tried to give him the same gesture, but the anxiety was just too strong.
“Yes, she liked the lights”
“Enjoyed the night? Both”
Anaya walked towards his best friend, with open arms and a sympathetic smile, ready to hug the other ape.
“Then… that is all… that matters”
It was a chilly night, not cold, but Mae felt the need to get a blanket to covered herself from the wind. She was getting goosebumps and a slightly runny nose.
She was with a group of apes, sitting in a circle and just telling stories and legends, some were made up and some were real things that happened in the village a while ago. The human was sitting next to Soona and Case, listening to a semi old male ape talking about the time he saw a creature bigger than a horse, with big paws and very fat. He said it attacked his wife, but fortunately they made it to the village and loose the animal on the way. The other apes were making fun of his story, saying he was probably making all up.
Mae supposed the beast he was talking about was a bear, but she stayed silent. She didn’t know exactly why she felt so scared revealing more stuff about the world to the apes. Except she did know.
She was terrified of them sometimes. She could see how they were improving their speech, at least Noa. Mae tried to fake an ape way of speaking, but it was very difficult to pretend and not let difficult words come out of her mouth. It was easier to stay silent. And the reason? She felt like she was teaching them human ways. And that felt like a nightmare came true. Mae saw the evolution among the apes. Spreading.
She learned to be around them, to joke and live a simple life surrounded by the apes. But she felt like crossing a line when it came to “teach” them.
They learned fast. Noa was the fastest. She remembered their conversation at the fire camp when they were after Proximus, how the ape asked about what they saw inside the telescope. She lied and said she didn’t know. Because she was too scared to talk about things only humans on earth knew about.
That same night, she observed Noa, fixing the electric weapon. She was terrified.
“Cold?” said a male voice behind her. It was Noa, holding a blanket in his hands.
“Yeah, a little” Mae answered. The ape sat beside her, squishing between her and Case.
The female ape rolled her eyes and move next to Soona so Noa wouldn’t suffocate her.
Instead of giving Mae the blanket, the male wrapped it around her shoulders. The human girl stood still.
“What are they talking about?” the leader asked in a quiet voice, so he doesn’t interrupt the story telling.
“About everything” Mae said “That old ape saw a beast one time. Nobody believes him”
“Oh, the big paws monster?” Noa snorted.
“Have you heard his story?”
“Yes, he tells it all the time” Noa took a peach from his little bag and started to eat it. Mae noticed how he only eats with his mouth close now. Something he must have learn from the human girl.
“Do you not believe him?” Mae inquired with a rise eyebrow.
“Maybe we could—” the girl was interrupted by a different ape, pointing direct at her.
“Okey everyone! Maybe it´s… time… for the Echo… to tell a… story”
Some apes were exciting to hear what the human had to say, while others stayed silent, cautious.
“Oh, I… I don´t really have a story”
“Everyone has a story” Noa said with a grin, he was enjoying watching Mae get embarrassed.
“Well, uh… there is this story” Mae started “It was very popular in my home. Every kid knew about it. It´s about a princess, well, she wasn´t really one—”
“What is a… princess?” an ape asked from the opposite side of the circle.
“Uh… they used to rule kingdoms—”
Everyone started to murmur, scared, fresh memories of Proximus and the kidnapping.
“But they were nice kingdoms, they were gentle and kind, and showed mercy” That was a lie “Anyway, she was not really a princess, she was just a girl who worked really hard to get what she wanted. On the other hand, there was this boy, who was actually a prince. So, this prince gets turned into a frog by an evil man, and only a true love kiss could turn him back into a human. Then, this girl, found the frog and became very fond of him, they kissed, and the prince turned back into a human, they were happy after that”
There was a moment of complete silence, Mae held her beath, not knowing what to do or expect. Then, a whole lot of questions were asked, all at the same time, the girl tried to answer all of them, without revealing too much or making them confused. That wasn’t the whole story, she skipped a lot of details, but she knew the apes wouldn’t understand the concept of magic or human customs.
“How were… the princess?”
“They were beautiful girls with castles”
“The frog… talked? Like you?”
“Yes, he did. That is how they got to know each other”
After a whole bunch of questions, Noa noticed Mae getting overwhelmed, so he called it a night and send everyone to sleep.
He accompanied the Echo to her room, stopping at the door.
“Goodnight Mae. That was a good story” he said with a smile.
