–kora–
Waking up I opened my eyes, finding myself in my cave of solitude instead of outside in the forest. Groaning I sat up and stretched my arms above my head until stopping when I remembered I was still injured, but surprisingly I don't feel much pain?
Looking down I lift my torn shirt to look at my injuries to see them a lot shallower than they were two nights ago. 'Who's what the hell?'
Pulling my shirt down by my shoulder I checked the bite wound there and yup, same thing. I had somehow healed a few weeks worth of flesh and skin in under two days. Kinda freaky but I'm not complaining.
I also quickly realized that Elazar was no longer in the cave with me. I glanced around and sure enough, no sign of him. Did he leave leave?
Last night when I made my way back here I was surprised that he had managed to find me and came back after disappearing for nearly the entire day.
I feel kind of bad for nearly whacking him with a branch but I had been expecting some stranger to step inside and attack me. I couldn't blame him for wanting to bitch my ass.
Sighing I got up and fastened my new knife to my belt before moving over to the entrance. Pushing the vines to the side I poked my head out looking around for any potential intruders or hazards but instead I found a bowl set out in front of the entrance, filled with fruit, nuts and roots of some kind.
I stared at the strange assortment of food before me, confused. Is this a trap? Because this feels like a trap.
The sound of rustling made me flinch back to hide in the cave and my head shot up in the direction of the sound. I watched as some branches and ferns were pushed aside and Elazar came striding out of the woods, carrying a massive bundle of sticks in his arms.
When he looked up and spotted me he stopped in his tracks. "kora?"
I relaxed and tentatively came out of the cave, before waving at him awkwardly. He brought over the sticks and set them down outside of the entrance where another pile that I hadn't even noticed yet, was sitting. Had he been gathering firewood all morning?
Looking back down at the bowl by my feet I leaned down and picked it up before looking at Elazar. "Did you leave this for me?" he tilted his head slightly unsure of what I was saying before grabbing one of the items for the bowl.
"Sa'te" he limited buying into the strange looking plant root before gesturing to me and placing it back in the bowl. So he does want me to eat them.
Nodding in understanding I followed Elazar back inside the cave as he grabbed an armful of sticks and ducked through the entrance.
Once inside I sat down on the fur blanket I had been sleeping on previously and watched as he set the sticks in the fire pit before lighting it up. He used the strange and horrible tasting, –because yes, I tried it, I was desperate.-- jelly from one of the jars along the wall to ignite the fire with vibrant blue flames.
"so that's how you did it…glad that stuff wasn't toxic…" Once the fire was growing strong he looked over to me, seeing the bowl in my hands and moved to seat himself beside me, cross legged.
I watched him curiously as he reached towards some of the berries and roots gathered in the bowl and picked through them before holding one up for me to look at.
"Laaha" he said. I blinked a few times and looked at the fruit before repeating what he said. "La-ah?"
He shook his head no then said it again. "Laaha!" I tried getting once more, deepening my pitch slightly as I said it. He seemed pleased once I got it right and held the berry up to my lips expectantly.
Welp I've already played my fair share of Russian roulette with random fruits before, might as well do it again. Hesitantly I ate the strange looking berry and was pleasantly surprised by its tangy taste.
Eleazar moved on to another food item holding up a stringy root or something that looked similar to an air plant. "Urik" I repeated the word and tried that one as well, not expecting it to practically melt in my mouth and taste like pineapple. Oh man I could eat buckets of this stuff.
We moved on to the rest of the foods, going through each one's name before taste testing them, most were bland, some sweet, one or two nearly set my mouth on fire with how spicy they were. But by the time we had finished the bowl my hunger was sated and Elazar started teaching me words for other things.
He started off with parts of the body and various objects around the cave such as the bowls, tools, fire and so on. We spent hours teaching each other various words from our own languages, often giggling or chuckling when we said something particular that didn't match up with what the other person was trying to say. Elazar was surprisingly patient for someone who looked so intimidating.
He seemed to really struggle with English though, when I tried teaching him the opposing words for things. I managed to pick up on his language a bit quicker as he explained more and more to me.
Eventually we both had moved from our original spots to sit next to each other and use the notebook to draw images. Elazar used a small piece of charcoal to draw out a picture on a blank page and I watched curiously.
Once he finished he handed it over to me to look over before pointing to it and speaking its name. This particular creature I quickly recognized as one of those deer things that I had killed when I first encountered Elazar. "venshal."
"Venshal…" I repeated while staring at the page. I grazed my fingers over the image as I thought about that night. I had ran for my life believing he was gonna kill me, but the more I thought about how he acted towards me the more I cringed, realizing he simply wanted to talk or help. I feel kind of bad for kicking him in the head now.
Looking over at him I noticed he also seemed distracted. He was staring at my hand while his tail flicked around behind him. He seems curious, I wonder if he's even seen another human before?
I held my hand up with my palm facing him and he flinched back a bit surprised. His eyes moved to mine momentarily then back to my hand. After a moment of hesitancy he lifted his own palm and placed it against mine. He easily dwarfed my tiny fingers in size.
I chuckled a little as he stared in wonder. "suz" he mumbled to himself. He called me small. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand.
"yes, suz. I am suz compared to you because I am human!" I patted my chest emphasizing the word human. "you are faz, big! Because you are xandisian." I patted his chest this time and repeated the name for his kind.
He muttered the word under his breath while looking at my hands before looking back up to my face. "Small-humon."
I nodded before taking the charcoal from him. "yes I am a small human…" I tried to think of something else to draw but my mind was struggling to come up with any ideas, and we've already gone over all the basic things.
He must've noticed my hesitancy as I sat there unable to think of what to draw. "kora is- one?" I looked up from the page to look at El and arched a brow. I'm what?
His features twisted into frustration as he combed his hand through his hair as if struggling to find the words. He looked up and something on the wall seemed to spark his interest for a moment before grabbing a stick and drawing something in the dirt.
It didn't talk long for me to realize he was drawing stick figures like the ones I drew on the cave wall. He drew one figure with long hair before circling it. "Kora is one." He then drew a few other figures off to the side. "humans are many." He then drew a line between the group and me before looking up at me questioningly.
Is he asking why I'm alone? I set the notebook off to the side unsure what to say. "it- it's complicated…"
He tilted his head to the side and I took the stick. I erased the group of figures and re-drew them around me before crossing myself out. "if I go to the other humans…they'll kill me." when he didn't understand from the pictures alone I grabbed my knife and mimicked slitting my throat.
His expression turned dark as he looked down at the drawing, clearly upset by its meaning. His tail thumped against the ground behind him a bit aggressively and I watched his reactions with a strange sense of interest.
But the question he brought up, made me wonder why Elazar was alone, why he was here with me instead of with his own people.
"Is Elazar also alone?" his gaze moved back to me as I spoke. "Is Elazar only one?" he paused, his tail practically freezing behind him mid-flick until he lowered his gaze.
"no." was his only response, and it was a bit surprising. I had wondered if he was simply a hermit or something who traveled and lived alone, it would've made more sense as to why he was sticking around me so much instead of being with his tribe but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Pulling my knees to my chest I rested my chin atop of them while facing my alien companion.
"Elazar has many others with him?" I asked. He thought for a moment before erasing the drawing on the ground by swiping it with his tail, before making a new one. He drew what I assumed was him as well as a couple dozen other in-human figures. Surrounded by trees with what looked like a cave. Behind them.
He then circled the entire thing emphasizing they all belonged together. "many others."
So he does belong to a tribe. They must live close to the river. I wonder if the one who came to the river while he was gone was one of them? Would they be friendly like Elazar or would they try to kill me like those two who chased down the bounty hunter.
My mouth felt dry just thinking about it. Shaking the thought from my head I grabbed the strap of my bag laying on my bedding and dragged it over before looking through it for my canteen. Elazar watched curiously as I pulled it out, unscrewed the cap and drank. While we were at the pond he had given me water from one of his waterskins.
Quenching my thirst I finished with a pleased sigh and then looked over at him. He had his head tilted at an angle that made his large and intimidating self seem like a puppy.
I giggled a bit, startling him and held out the canteen for him to take. He seemed hesitant, staring at the strange container in my hand. "It's okay, it's just water! Wa-ter!"
He tentatively took the canteen looking over it. He glanced at me momentarily before tilting the object, examining it. "wah-ner'
Realizing a little bit too late I tried to grab his arm and stop him as he spilled some of the contents all over his lap and nearly jumped up in surprise.
"you can't dump it upside down like that!" I quickly screwed the cap back on and ended up grabbing my spare blanket to help dry him off, all the while Elazar sat there like a confused puppy.
As I started drying his lap and leathers off his entire posture seemed to stiffen. It only took a moment to dry him off and I gave him a smile before realizing he seemed concerned.
"what? It's fine, it was just a little water, nothing that would hurt you-" as I spoke I pulled the blanket off him and could clearly see the bulge hiding just underneath his leathers. "oh…" silence pierced the air around us and we both avoided each other's gazes.
I'm sure my face turned red from embarrassment as I Quickly covered his lap back up with the blanket and backed away. "sorry…"
He mumbled something in his own language, looking away from me and shifted his leg positions while pulling the blanket down to cover himself a bit better.
Well I guess there's one good thing to note about this entire situation. At least he doesn't think I'm repulsive.