Enzo turned towards the voice and lifted his head. The person before him was one of those with ears but no tail, like him. He was still kneeling, so when he looked up, he squinted, not wanting the sun to get into his eyes.
The person before him had a small smile at the corner of their mouth. He looked down at Enzo, seemingly concerned about him drinking the raw water.
"Why?" Enzo croaked. He, of course, knew about the dangers of drinking contaminated water, but he wanted to know what reason this person would give.
"Doesn’t You know? The chief said we shouldn’t drink it. We need to boil it so we don’t get sick."
Enzo nodded slightly. He hadn’t expected, given the huts and the way people were dressed, that they were so careful about the water they drank. It would appear the chief was smart.
He completely ignored the first sentence, chalking it up to the way the person spoke. They were beastkin. Who knows if the sentence structure here is different?
"Oh," he replied. "I only drank it because I was too thirsty. I haven’t had anything to eat all morning."
It wasn’t the best thing to say, but his hut had no food. He hoped that the mention of food would prompt this stranger to say where he could get something to eat. If someone could point him in the right direction, he would be grateful.
After he finished speaking, he stood to meet the person face to face.
A trait he noticed about the people here without tails was that their features were more delicate than those with tails. The person before him was a few inches taller than himself. His eyes were clear, a deep blue that made Enzo wonder if all the blue in the world was gathered in his eyes.
He remembered his own eyes were the same as before, the deep chocolate brown he was used to.
The surprise in the person’s eyes couldn’t be hidden. It was clear that although he spoke to Enzo, he hadn’t expected Enzo to continue responding. Still, he made no mention of it.
"Let’s fill the jugs. We can go to your hut first, then go to mine. My sub-beast father has always wanted to invite you to eat, but you always said no."
Enzo had no memories, so he couldn’t tell whether that was true. But judging from the way the person spoke, it was clear that he might know this person or, at the very least, extended kindness to him.
He wasn’t about to deny the food coming to his mouth. Pride wasn’t a luxury he could afford. He just came here; he wasn’t about to starve to death. Who knows whether he would wake up back in his own bed? Or if he would end up dead dead?
Without further ado, both of them filled their jugs and headed towards Enzo’s hut. The large vat was completely clean; all Enzo needed to do was fill it with water. This jug was the first bit of clean water going into the vat.
He found a clean space to put the jug and turned to the young man. He was looking around the room. When he turned to Enzo, he could see the clear determination on his face.
"What’s wrong?" Enzo wondered.
"Nothing," he replied. But his eyes swept over the hut behind him.
Enzo chuckled. "Does it seem empty? Then I’ll rely on you to tell me where to get food."
Enzo didn’t wait for him to reply. His stomach had begun its bird call. It was calling out for all the food in the nearby vicinity.
He turned the young man around. "Lead the way."
Along the way, people glanced at the two walking together. Some would call out to the young man beside him. That’s how Enzo learned that his name was Zeli. As people glanced at them, Enzo couldn’t help asking.
"Why do they keep looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with me?"
Enzo acknowledged that he was a little dirty, but it wasn’t to the point of being smelly. Did they smell him? He lifted an arm to his nostril and sniffed.
Zeli responded, "It’s because you don’t talk to anyone. You, you always keep to yourself. You don’t go gathering with the tribe. When the warriors come back from hunting, you wait until everyone leaves to get any meat. Even if it’s only a small portion. You take what they give you and run away. I don’t think anyone in the tribe has ever heard you talk."
Zeli stared at Enzo with wide eyes. Zeli’s eyes were shining. Obviously, he was glad he could bring Enzo out of his shell.
Understanding dawned on his face, though he was careful not to let Zeli notice. So the original was a loner. No wonder no one came to see him all morning and people avoided him.
Thinking of how skinny the original was, he wondered if the guy had starved to death.
Whatever, he was here now; he wasn’t about to think about it. What he needed to do was familiarize himself with the terrain and figure out how to improve his living conditions.
It was five minutes later that they arrived at Zeli’s home. Enzo nodded when he saw it. It was circular like his own, but this one had windows. It was larger than his and seemed to have more rooms than his.
This was what he expected. All the huts they had passed were like this one. It appeared only his was so small.
It seemed the only one remotely fancier than the others was the one in the center of the tribe. And from Zeli’s hut, the structure was much clearer. He could also see the clearing and people walking around.
"Sub-father, I’m back," Zeli called out. Enzo turned his attention back to the hut before him.
Zeli stepped in, but turned back when he saw Enzo standing at the open door.
"You? Why aren’t you coming in?"
"Sorry," he responded. He looked down at his bare feet, then back at Zeli’s feet and the dirt ground. He sighed. There wasn’t anywhere he could clean them. Might as well go with the flow.
As Enzo entered, he saw another no-tail greeting Zeli.
"Look, sub-father, You is willing to come eat with us."
Enzo looked at the man Zeli called sub-father. If not for him calling him father, Enzo would have thought they were brothers. Aside from being more mature, the person before him looked no older than Zeli.
"You!" the man replied with enthusiasm.
This time, Enzo frowned faintly. He had been hearing Zeli say ’you’ as if he were calling his name before. He thought it was how they spoke, but being directly referred to as ’You’ made Enzo feel strange.
Zeli’s sub-father walked up to Enzo and grasped his hands. "You, are you finally willing to accept the tribe’s care?"
Enzo opened his mouth to say he didn’t want the tribe’s care, that he could take care of himself, but at the mention of the word ’you’ again, what came out of his mouth was, "Why do you and Zeli keep calling me, You?"
The smile on Zeli’s sub-father’s face dropped. He looked at Enzo with confusion.
"That’s your name. What else would we call you?"
Now, it was Enzo’s turn to be confused. His eyes twitched at the question. Now he understood. It wasn’t a grammatical flaw; they genuinely thought his name was You. What idiot would name someone You?
Was that really the original owner’s name?
A disbelieving chuckle left Enzo’s lips unbidden. His gaze darted between Zeli and his sub-father.
"You said...My name is You?"
Zeli’s sub-father looked worriedly at Enzo.
"You, are you feeling well?" He placed a hand on his forehead. "Do you need to go to the healer?"
Healer? He didn’t want to see a healer; he needed an exorcist. He needed someone to come yank his soul out of this body and send him back home. What kind of name is ’You’? What’s different about not having a name and that?
He refused to go by the name You. But he couldn’t very well tell them that he wasn’t that person. Was he supposed to go around the tribe shouting that he wanted to be renamed?
That reminded him. His soul was already thirty; how old was this body? Where were his parents?