Page 17 of Lost to the Orcs

“I mean, I can try.”

“Is all I ask.” U’snar murmurs, tugging me along.

~~~~~

U’snar

Aminute. It is all I ask. All I need. A moment t’ admire. A moment t’ absorb all that this beau’iful, complicated an’ delightful female is. Her breathe hitches in her sleep. “U’s…” She whines.

I hush her. Crooning words spilling out o’my mouth. Murmuring in a tongue she does no’ understand. Telling her o’ her courage. O’ her strength. How much I care for her. How much I desire her.

She reaches for me, an’ I take her in my arms. As I’ve done e’ery phase we’ve spent together. She relaxes. A sigh o’ relief as she nuzzles her face int’ my chest. Breathing in my scent as she scents me.

I sigh as well. But mine is no’ in relief but t’ expel a tension in my mind. Jaedason weelnae accept her. No’ weelingly. But he weel. He has t’. I weelnae give her t’ anyone else. No' unless… she demands it of me.

I kiss ‘he top o’ her head. 'he comfort o’ her body atop my own, relaxing my limbs. I hold her in my arms. Giving her my warmth. My scent. Whatever it is she deems her need. I feel my body floating as I slip int’ sleep.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: JAEDASON

For the next week, I go to bed exhausted to the bone.

U’snar teaches me basics. How to forage, what is best and what isn’t. It’s also seasonal. The berries with sharp bits that look like blueberries, are bad in Awed-sen, their cold months or Winter, which is fast approaching by the biting chill in the air, I’m informed. But it all feels the same kind of cold to me. But the berries are good in spring. It takes an entire season for the berries to ripen. By summer they fall and turn to mulch beneath the brambles.

I killed a rabbit, or what looked like a rabbit but had four ruby red eyes, and I cried my eyes out. I told U’snar I’ll be a vegan if it means I never have to kill another rabbit again. He comforted me and told me I didn’t have to hunt anymore. I’m grateful for that. I mean, I’d miss meat but I really would rather be vegan and eat only plants which I can’t hear scream when I pluck them, than have to kill another bunny. I was assured that he would still give me meat though. So that is good. Meat is necessary for my survival.

Since I won’t be killing the animals though, he has showed me a way to preserve their hides until we can get them to the mountain caves. I don’t know how it works but he says I do it decently. Which is nice. Because I want to be half decent at least at a couple things, so I feel useful.

U’snar has me doing a lot of exercises throughout the day. What to do when practicing things on my own.

I’ve had to learn to find water by following specific foliage that grows in the direction of water as it draws it from the air. And once,U’snar dug up the little plant to show me it’s long roots also point towards water.

If I’m not tired physically by the end of the day, I am mentally.

But by the time I see the caves a short jaunt away, I feel a bit more confident in my abilities to provide at least minimally for myself. It will be a long time before I feel confident enough to survive on my own.

Then again, if I can never get over my sorrow in killing a four eyed bunny, I doubt I’ll ever be able to.

Outside of the caves I can see several people, male and female, with and without children chatting, beating atonof rugs. One of them calls out in that strange language I’d heard Irf and U’snar speak and U’snar raises an arm and shouts a greeting. Or at least, I think it’s a greeting. The people dispatch a gangly looking teen and he dashes into the cave systems.

I look up at U’snar. “You know, I’m really bad with directions.”

He smirks. “Stay close then.” I roll my eyes. Of course, I will. Jaedason notwithstanding.

We approach at a steady pace and the people are talking in varying degrees of excitement and hope. He says in English what he’d told me. That he must talk to Jaedason before he imparts anything he’d learned on his trip. Their eyes skirt over me in curiosity or straight hostility. Most of which comes from irate looking Orc females. I merely stand there while they talk, unable and unsure how to get into the conversation, so I don’t. When a little claw tipped hand touches mine.

I look down at wide aquamarine eyes. These Orcs do not have conventional eye colors and I absolutely love it. “Ish dah?” The little boy points. He’s wearing a tiny cotton version of U’snars harem pants and bare feet. No shirt. His little round tummy sticking out like a well-fed baby. His round cheeks beckon a squeeze but I refrain. Unsure whose parents are his. He points again, eyes rounded, “Ish dah?”

I point to me and he nods and I crouch down on my haunches. I’m still a tad taller but he’s a tall toddler. “I’m a lady.” A soft snort is heard from behind me and I want to pinch U’snar’s thigh but I would have to reach up to do it. “Who are you?”

“Ys’ari.”

“Yesorry?”

He giggles and shakes his head no but doesn’t correct me. All of their names are so hard to pronounce.

“Ys’ari!” Calls the teen who’d ran inside. He snatches the child in his arms and glares at me. Where Ys’ari is a dark green, this boy is lighter. What I’d consider a normal shade of newborn grass. His eyes are the same aquamarine as Ys’ari’s but angrier. Both of their hair is in little ponytails as they are not that long yet. “Get away from the human.” He grits.

Ys’ari pays his brother no mind. “Buy waydee.” He smiles, his cute little tusks gleaming in the light along with all his sharp pearly whites.

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