(Warning: Cringey Content, Talk of Violence, Angst, Scary-Situation)

[Previously: “Where are we going?” Ray whispers, turning his head the slightest bit as if he’s listening to every little noise. ‘I assume he already knows we’re going back to the village, maybe he wants a more specific location.’

“We’ll be held as prisoners until they decide whether they can believe you or not.”

He tenses up a little, “What happens if they decide they don’t believe me?” 

“Nothing good.” San responds looking at Ray closely but he turns back so his face is hidden.] 

I feel my heart beating so aggressively that I’m sure San can hear it. I hold my head up high though, there’s a slight chance they won’t find me guilty. ‘How are they gonna ask people without scaring them? And if they don’t want humans to know about them if I’m lying then there’s no way they’re just going to walk straight up to one.’ The fear is still hurting my chest though. I notice as we enter and exit tunnels, ‘they really do live deep in the caves.’ Smells of different cave and plant life reach my nose, my feet scuff against the ground but as long as I don’t stub my toes on a rock I’ll be ecstatic.

The chief falls back, I recognize his breathing and the sound of his footsteps. He watches me as I stumble forward arm out every now and then. Since they won’t let me set the pace, I'm almost always off balance. Probably because I’m focusing on him and not the terrain but I catch my ankle on a rock and lurch forward. He reaches out, catching me as I gasp and then lift my ankle wincing. I pant as the pain registers and look up confused as to why he’d catch me considering it seemed like he hated me. I hear San catch his breath as I’m lifted higher, and then cradled in the chief’s arms. For a second I’m holding my breath as well. I imagine the chief looking down at me. ‘What’s he gonna do?’ But he grunts and keeps walking.

I stay tense, but I honestly can’t imagine him doing anything to hurt me while in his arms. Then I remember him throwing me from before. ‘Yeah no I don’t want a repeat of that.’ I start to say, “I can walk.” And he almost immediately talks over me, “Too slow. We have a lot of ground to cover and now you’re hurt.” I go quiet and then close my eyes tired, accepting it.

The chief looks down shocked when the human seems to immediately pass out, going limp and breathing deeply. ‘It’s hard to imagine these creatures being dangerous when they’re so fragile.’ He thinks to himself, adjusting the human subtly so his head didn’t loll. ‘It’s their weapons and numbers that make them dangerous,’ he reminds himself and walks faster.

When we reach the village I open my eyes a little, noticing a murmur of conversation, smells and sounds. All happy, warm, and welcoming. I try to picture what it could look like. The chief looks down his breath hitting me in a puff that makes me think of him like a bull. I lift my hand to check his horns to see if they were literally that of a bull and quickly check myself. Pulling my hand back I cower a little in fear at what I might have done. The chief would probably snap my wrists for trying. 

The chief looked down whilst wondering if he had just been imagining things but it seemed as if the human had responded to his breath by reaching up towards his face. He sniffs subtly as he gives orders to prepare the village for their new arrival. The human didn’t have any strong emotions other than fear, which wouldn’t explain such a bold action earlier. 

“He will stay in this tent until the spies get back.” The chief is saying. I focus on his words as he growls, “Kill the human if he tries to leave and report immediately if San tries to leave his home. I want no contact between them and the rest of the tribe. Everyone will be informed immediately if there are any updates.” 

I feel the arms go to lower me and scramble to find my balance as I’m placed on the ground. I lift my leg pathetically the second my swollen ankle screams in pain. The breath of multiple tribe members surrounds me and I feel someone push me, I suppose to make me walk to the tent. I yelp as I try to catch myself with my bad foot falling in front of everyone. I touch my ankle with a whimper, it’s not only incredibly swollen but hot to the touch. The person that had pushed me forward picks me up unceremoniously by my arm and drags me through a crowd. A wave of smells washes over me, moss, water on stone, different levels of damp and dirt. Some might find it unpleasant, and I almost did, but decided on the fact that it wasn’t bad. 

I get shoved through the folds off a tent and land…on surprising soft rugs. I pull myself into a more organized heap and lay there overwhelmed by the new wave of smells. Oil, something burning probably a lamp, incense and fruit, softer smelling spices and the smell of carpet or rugs. Maybe skins from animals. I don’t remember much time passing but I suddenly realize I have to pee. Uncurling slightly I sniff the air hoping for a hit, ‘where am I supposed to go?’ I get on my knees and then slowly crawl in one direction, reaching out to find solid wood. I trace it and realize there’s a bed. I imagine that a bathroom would be on the opposite side of this. I follow the bed until I reach the corner. From here I touch the tent wall following it past other random obstacles until I’m on the other side of the tent. I sniff again wondering if the horned people even go to the bathroom. ‘I know they eat but not what.’ 

I hear somebody enter the tent behind me and whirl around tracing every padded step as they approach me. I shiver in anticipation. Then they sigh, “I’ve been given orders to take care of your ankle, I’m a Healer.” I swallow hard and knowing I needed to despite being embarrassed I say, “Th, thank you. Could you tell me-” “You’re not allowed to interact with me.” He says monotone, cutting me off. I close my open mouth slowly and then getting close to peeing myself kind of just exclaim, “I need to use the bathroom but I can’t find it.” My face burns with anger and embarrassment. Silence comes from the other person. I shakily keep searching and hear a softer sigh before he reaches forward making me flinch when he touches me. 

I’m surprised when he’s the most gentle of the cave people so far. Even San didn’t know his own strength. I’m practically lifted off the ground barely having to hop as he takes me somewhere to the right. He lifts my arm to make me point essentially. Then hesitating decided to go ahead and say, “It’s right here, be careful not to fall into it.” I reach out both hands fumbling to find I don’t know what I expected, ‘a bucket?’ He makes a shocked noise and grabs me, “Does your kind not have bathrooms or something?” ‘I’m getting to the point where I’m going to ask him to just hold it and aim for me,’ I think angrily. “Of course we have toilets but…” I actually pause to think of something more useful than assumptions, “is there a lid? Is it a bucket? A hole in the floor? You need to tell me what kind it is.” I can tell from the way he struggles to respond that he didn’t understand some of the words. “Where do I aim?” I ask, flushing harder. Finally he understands, “Just go, there's nothing in the way.” “Down?” I say hesitantly. “Yes,” he sighs. I hesitate again wondering if I’m about to pee on the tent wall. I turn my back to him and decide I can’t hold it any longer anyway. 

I assume that he gives me privacy. I assume wrong, almost jumping out of my skin when his voice comes from right next to me, “That’s interesting.” 

“Can you give me some privacy?!” I exclaim and shrink away from him. “Why? I am in charge of keeping you healthy. How am I supposed to do that without knowing anything about your body?” ‘There’s not an ounce of shame in his voice, I guess he is like a doctor but still.’ “You need to ask first.” I feel like I’m going to die of embarrassment. “Oh is that a human thing?” He says a little further away, relaxed. I imagine him leaning against a support pole or something. 

I don’t respond. “Can you take off your rags so I can examine your body?” He says making me choke a little. I cover myself up quickly imagining something from things I usually read. Honestly this whole situation was straight out of something I wasn’t interested in experiencing in real life.’ “No!” I exclaim setting my boundaries straight away. “And don’t take advantage of the fact I can’t see if you’re watching me. I deserve privacy when I’m changing or using the bathroom!” He makes a frustrated noise that actually raises the hair on the back of my neck. It sounded like teeth grinding. ‘I forgot that they had fangs.’ He steps closer and I put my hands up scrambling back before falling because of my stupid. weak ankle, that I forgot about, “Don’t touch me!” My voice breaks in fear. 

I hear him pause. “I wasn’t going to hurt you,” he sounds a little nicer now, if not a little shocked. I set my jaw and wincing rub my ankle. “Please try to understand.” He starts, “This is normal for my people, it’s my job, they are not afraid of me, not only that but I’ve been ordered to take care of you and I can’t leave until I do.” 

I think silently, head down, “I’ll let you treat my ankle but tell the chief…it’s against human rules.” 

He mutters angrily under his breath, “I thought you didn’t belong to the humans anymore.” I cringe at the memory and clam up. He waits a second before moving to sit across from me. 

Taking my ankle he pauses when I flinch. I guess noting how jumpy I am, because he starts explaining what he’s doing out loud. “I’m going to rotate your ankle to assess the damage.” I have to turn away as he twists it. But I’m sure he notes the pained expressions and the way I grabbed a fistful of the carpet. “Alright,” he breathes, sounding relieved, “it’s not broken-” ‘Yeah I assumed that it was just sprained.’ “That badly.” He finishes. 

“Wait what?” I ask him to clarify. 

“It’s just a small break.” He says cheerfully. I blink a few times and then listen to him pull stuff out of a bag. “I’ll put some medicine on it and wrap it up so it will heal properly. Using your other foot as a reference I assume they’re supposed to face forward. 

“Y, yeah.” I croak. I stay quiet looking down as he takes very good care of my foot. The wrap actually helps ease the ache. 

“The medicine will help the swelling go down and then it's just up to your body to heal the bone, I’m assuming it’ll do that, yes?” I nod. “I will also give you something for the pain and to help you move around, don’t put weight on your foot.” He hands me what feels like a walking stick and then shoves his hand against my mouth with the “painkiller.” I open my mouth in shock and choke down the weird herbal pills before I realize what’s happening. “I reduced the dosage a lot due to your size but the effects will only make you groggy.” He says and I fall backwards against the carpet breathing heavily. He blinks.

The Healer leans forward looking at the helpless human, its eyes are glazed and the boy’s acting like it’s completely out of it. He hadn’t expected that severe of a reaction to the medicine, but this was a perfect opportunity to finish his job. He pulls up the human's shirt and to his surprise the human can still form cognitive thought and speech, “No.” The human moans. The Healer narrows his eyes as he looks at the human body noting bone, muscles, and scars. 

I feel like I’m half asleep. I lift my hand. It's so heavy, I feel my head loll from side to side. But a more threatening feeling wakes me from the stupor as hands lift my shirt. Panic overwhelms me as I realize what’s happening. “No.” I slur, realizing it’s difficult to speak. 

The Healer hesitates and wonders, ‘what the consequences were to human rules? Why were they in place? Did a human die if they were touched? Perhaps it causes physical pain?’ The Healer pulls the human's shirt back down and tries to think of a creature that gets hurt with touch, ‘moths and fish.’

He rubs his finger and thumb together, ‘the human was oily, perhaps if the coating goes away it kills them?’ Picking up the human who has calmed down he places him in the bed. 

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” He soothes. ‘I’ll find a way to learn the human’s anatomy without having to touch him.’ He covers the human with heavy blankets as it turns on its side breathing heavily, looking pained,and flushed. He leaves to report to the chief.  

     The chief looks up as the Healer enters. The Healer has a disturbed expression, quite different from his displeased one when he’d left. “Chief.” He greets with a small bow, “I honestly don’t know how this species managed to thrive.” He says normally, moving around to sit near the chief rubbing his fingers together thoughtfully. 

“Why’s that?” The chief asks leaning, face on his hand, to see the Healer better. 

“I need to study it further but it appears to feel pain just from touch, I’m currently thinking it has a protective layer of oils, like a fish.”

The chief thinks about it for a second, “I’m assuming it’s only with bare skin?” The Healer nods without speaking and the chief thinks back to all the times the human flinched when he touched him. He nods, sharing that, “his skin is very soft too. Like moth wings.” He liked that name. ‘Mottenflügel.’ It fits the human’s fragile and soft demeanor. 

 The Healer adds, “The more they cover up something the more likely it is to cause pain, the human panicked when I lifted the rags covering his chest, he also mentioned something called privacy and human rules when he asked for my help to relieve himself.”

The chief lifts his head at this. “I didn’t know he’d need help with something like that.” 

The Healer nods,“Thankfully its body is somewhat similar to ours. Bones or something solid on the inside and muscle, but his tolerance to our medicine is miniscule. He passed out from the painkiller.”

The chief raises his hand for the Healer to pause and listen, “That’s enough for now, I will speak to him later to confirm whether his skin is painful to touch and about the medicine, reduce the dosage and make it stronger until he reacts normally to it. Don’t give him anything that can be harmful in large doses until you find out his tolerance level.” The Healer gets up bowing his head to leave, “As you wish.”