There had been a few times, Kenneth had been as consistently relaxed as he had been as of late in the early morning, compared to most of the time he’d spent here since his arrival at the village.

  It was either him being hot and sweating, feeling exposed on the toilet, or freezing his balls off washing them with swamp water, but now he was relaxing in a warm bath, his sore muscles, aching back, and stiff tendons, given a time to rest.

  Others would probably ask why he wasn’t more nervous or paranoid, but if they had had to go without a proper bath, with only cold water, he was sure they wouldn’t be so judgmental.

  Who cared if he was in a simmering pot surrounded by alligator-human hybrid cooks, who could tear him apart at any moment, since he didn’t have his clothes on, especially the head cook, with whom he was treading dangerous ground.

  “Listen, all I’m saying--”

  “Do you want me to add more fire to the flames?” Nokandrite threatened.

  Kenneth struggled between the fear of knowing she would actually do it and his obligation and pride as a doctor, with that side of him winning, as he once more showed her the cup with the pure alcohol in it. “This will just be a helpful tool when cleaning--”

  “Are you calling this place dirty again?” She asked, her hand already on the lid.

  “No, no, of course not!” Kenneth quickly said, glancing at his clothing, not that they would have made all that much of a difference, since it was only able to stop cuts and the like, not two-meter-tall-plus crocodiles. “But I’m sure you and we can both agree, now and again, there’s some filth…”

  Her grip tightened on the big lid.

  “…that, you know, stubborn and hard to get off a surface, and then what do you do when that filth won’t go away?”

  She looked at him, letting go of the lid, to which he breathed a sigh of relief, and proceeded to spit on the ground and wipe up some filth with her feet. “That’s how you do?”

  “…I see,” He said, trying not to show any visible signs of disgust and revulsion. “But, just hear me out, this is better than spit. Just pour a little on a cloth, then you can wipe down an entire table.”

  She reached out her hand very slowly, and for a moment, Kenneth wondered if he had finally reached, maybe a sort of understanding, right up until her hand touched the cup and ripped it out of his hand, spilling some on her hand and angrily slamming it down on the table.

  ‘should have guessed as much.’

  “You don’t seem to understand, but I’ll make it clear, I’m the best damn cook around here, and I take a good deal of pride in my work,” She said, intensely leaning closer. “And I especially take pride in my workplace, which I keep pristine and perfect.”

  Kenneth greatly resisted the urge to comment on that; instead, pondering on what she said. “And that is to be admired, but if I may, I’m simply introducing a tool in your arsenal that up until now you hadn’t access to.”

  All around, the silence fell as the other cooks, as well as he, knew he should have kept his mouth shut.

  Nokandrite grabbed the tip of his mask and got uncomfortably close, never once raising her voice. “You are here to leak, now you can do it this way, sitting comfortably in warm water and relaxing, or I can climb in and squeeze it out of you… VERY GENTLY…”

  “Message received, why don’t I get back to soaking and leave you to cooking?” Kenneth said nervously, knowing she most definitely wasn’t making an empty threat.

  That aside, the early morning soak was rather relaxing, especially since it was a forced break, probably about the only ones he could take, but eventually, when the water began getting too hot and he began getting dizzy, it was time to get out, preferably when Nokandrite had her back turned.

  Back on earth, Kenneth would have never considered using a pelt and the like as a towel, but when it was offered, it would be rude not to dry himself with it and hastily get dressed, even though he hadn’t fully cooled down.

  First task of the early morning finished, Kenneth left the kitchen, finding Split standing vigilantly outside by the door, while Nokstella slept by her feet with Kolu by her side.

  “Thanks for keeping an eye on them,” Kenneth said in a low, hushed voice so as not to disturb them.

  “I was watching you,” Split simply replied.

  By now, he had gotten a bit more used to her manner of answering, though he still found it annoying. “I’m sure you were. You know you don’t need to be standing here watching; you could be sitting with them.”

  Split glanced at the sleeping pair, “I’m not their father.”

  “If you were, there would probably be a really good explanation involved,” Kenneth raised an eyebrow. “But I hope you don’t find it annoying to watch over them for a bit?”

  “I watch you, not them. You could get the others to watch them,” Split suggested, though her tone was unreadable.

  “Hmph… and leave them both with those four, thank you, but no, my wrist is sore enough as it is,” Kenneth remarked as he took a seat beside Kolu and Nokstella. “Besides, you should know how stubborn both are. They don’t really leave my side.”

  He looked up at Split and gestured for her to come sit, which she somewhat reluctantly did, of course, with her tail in the way and her back against the wall; she couldn’t sit normally, instead bending her knees slightly, and resting both on the right side while her tail ran parallel with the wall in the other direction.

  Kenneth looked to Nokstella and noticed she had begun to sleep bite again, nibbling on Kolu’s hand. ‘Let’s not have that.’

  He gently, as much as he could, lifted her off him, not that he thought she’d bite hard, but just being a bit cautious, and ploped her down on his lap. Kolu immediately noticed she was gone, but if he were awake, it was only half as he slid down along the wall until he found those familiar scales, only they belonged to Split.

  She looked at him, though her gaze was neither predatory nor kind, as Kolu, in his half-awake state, clambered closer to her, his head nestling in the crevices between her legs and stomach.

  For a moment, she just sat there as Kolu got comfortable, but just as he did, Split reached down with her middle finger and pressed against his head in an almost petting manner. Then she pressed harder and harder, increasingly, before it became obvious what she was doing.

  In his drowsy state, Kolu did hold on a bit, but he was no match as Split pushed him off her and over to Kenneth, where he was just as well settled.

  “A little bit mean, don’t you think?” Kenneth asked. “He was just sleeping?”

  “The little Kolu heretic can sleep on you,” Split replied.

  “Huh… you know his name,” Kenneth replied. “Better than just calling him the little heretic.”

  “That is what he is. If he were bigger, I would call him a heretic.”

  “Really, not a big heretic?” Kenneth replied in a dull, somewhat sarcastic tone.

  “A little heretic is not as dangerous as a normal heretic; all of them are higher, and can easily reach the throat.”

  “How pragmatic of you, but I can say for sure, if he tried that, it wouldn’t be you, that for sure,” Kenneth told her with a slight anger in his tone.

  “Who, the girl?”

  “No, honestly, she can be a little much for him, I’ve noticed.”

  Her scales lightened slightly, “The little one has some gusto to her.”

  “Yeah, she can be a stubborn little girl,” Kenneth said with warmth in his voice. “But in regard to Kolu, haven’t you been around him long enough to see him for what he is.”

  “And what do I see?”

  “You tell me.”

  She breathed a sigh. “He’s a heretic, a little one, maybe, but like any other, they are monsters, hungering for our flesh and death.”

  “And?”

  “And what…?”

  “And there has to be more.”

  She looked at the sleeping boy for a second. “He’s… a quiet heretic, well trained, scared, never strays far from you, protective, and heeds commands.”

  “What a monster, don’t you think?” Kenneth asked.

  “…”

  Split never responded, for one reason or another, as they sat there waiting until the congregating hungry masses began to pour into the mess hall, the sound eventually waking both Kolu and Nokstella, or the smell in the air.

  Regardless, their hunger was apparent, and as such, they too stepped in to grab a bite. Nokstella as always sat on his lab, and Kolu under the table, not that since Nokstella came back she’d tried to change that, coxing him in one manner or another, this attempt involving her jumping down and running over to a nearby table and stealing a chair from an unsuspecting person who was standing at the moment, to later fall much to the amusement of all around them.

  Though even this gesture proved useless, disheartening Nokstella for not a moment, as Kenneth could see the gears in her mind turning, hard at work devising a new plan of success, but for them to turn properly, they needed energy; it was good that the food was brought in then.

  Ever since Nokstella had returned Kenneth, in the eyes of the Nok, had gained a few table manners, as to say he partook more feverishly in the dismemberment and trading; however, this time, something was off.

  Normally, once the carcasses were presented, no one stopped ripping them apart until nothing remained, but now, more than a few times, people paused, looking confused.

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  It was more than a bit strange, but things proceeded; however, people were still looking at the food oddly, and as Kenneth took the first bite of his, he faintly tasted why. ‘Oh, don’t tell me she didn’t.’

  Well, he was about to get an answer as Nokandrite, escorted by some guard, entered, standing before Nokuji.

  “Cook, what is different about the food?”

  Her normally stern expression remained as she added a wide, somewhat smug-looking smile. “Finally tasted the food, proper, have you?”

  “Answer or I'll have you eat your own tail,” Nokuji threatened, not one for games of the sort.

  “I added another ingredient to the food, Lord Obaliy,” Nokandrite answered. “Not only salty water, but also from Black Beak, warming waters. Oh, it has a taste, even as it is now, it’s potent.”

  Nokuji looked to Kenneth. “Is this what you have been using your time on, seasoning?”

  “Not in the slightest,” Kenneth said adamantly. “This pure form of alcohol is meant to help with cleaning, mainly wounds, tools, but also tables. The uses were a bit varied, but all were for the same purpose.”

  “Well, it has a new purpose now, because the food is delicious!” Nokuji boomingly said, followed by cheering from the crowd. “You’ve spent your time well, now, production of this must be increased!”

  ‘Oh god, I can’t be the cause of this,’ Kenneth thought in panic. “Okay, listen, yes, the pure alcohol has a pleasing effect on the body, but its main use is for disinfection, combating disease, and the like. With something like this, the healer Nokhible would not have died! So I advise that it only be used sparingly for matters of healing and cleaning, not drinking!”

  His attempt to instate prohibition went about as well for him as it did for America.

  In defeat, he sighed through breakfast, and all the way down below, to the point, Nokstella somewhat worriedly asked, “Papa sad?”

  “No, I’m not sad, just a bit annoyed, but you don’t need to worry about me, I’ll get over this,” he said in a light tone, even though inside he was already dreading having to deal with drunk antics and the injuries following.

  To think, he of all would introduce alcohol to a people, and they’d be taken by it so quickly. He honestly couldn't believe his bad luck.

  ‘Guess I’ll have to deal with drunk idiots again.’

  Of what little good luck today would bring, it was very light on patients. Of course, it made sense considering the most common injury around these parts was chafing, and the last full moon prayer had been some time ago. Aside from the odd bruise or two from fighting, things were quiet.

  However, it would seem that while he was in the middle of treating a patient, he was being watched over the top of a building, with some tiny snouts poking out, waving quietly to Nokstella.

  “Friends of yours?” Kenneth asked.

  Nokstella turned half white for a second, “How papa see?”

  “Well, you were being really sneaky, but I got eyes in the back of my head,” he answered. “So do you want to introduce them?”

  Whether she wanted to or not, introductions would be made, as one of the sneaking children on top of the little pyramid lost their footing and slid down like a bobsled on a snowy hill. Except the bobsled was his body and the snowy hill was stone, smooth stone, but still stone.

  “Did that hurt?” Nokstella asked the child, who had pure golden scales that rapidly whitened.

  Looking teary, but keeping it inside, the child replied, in a thinly veiled voice dripping with pain, “No, this is nothing, not hurt.”

  Finishing up with the current patient, Kenneth turned around and walked over to the child, “Seems there's a new patient, now tell me where it hurts.”

  At that point, he might as well have called the child Snow White, or Jack Frost, with children, it was extremely hard to tell for Kenneth whether they were a boy or a girl. There weren’t really any conclusive differences or sorts, at least not to his eyes.

  “Why scared, it Papa,” Nokstella said, confused as she took the child’s hand, dragged them over to him, while the other still up top watched from afar, in their mind probably being sneaky.

  Kenneth crouched down, trying to get more on the child’s level, not to seem as frightening.

  “Tell Papa where it hurts, so he can heal you,” Nokstella said gently, but as the child remained silent, the gentle tone in her voice vanished for firmness. “Tell Papa Nokko.”

  “No, Nokstella, not like that, we don’t scare people into telling them what’s wrong,” Kenneth reprimanded in a soft tone. “Well, little one, Nokko, was it, how are you?”

  Nokko kept their head low, “F-fine.”

  “Really now, are you sure you didn’t scrape your knee, or the entire front side of your body?” Kenneth asked. “You can tell me, I only want to help.”

  “N-no… fine—“

  “Liar!” The second child with orange scales like a pumpkin yelled. “Look, she's tail, she's lying.”

  “Shut Noktoto!” Nokko yelled. “I not! Tail tells truth, boy eyes lie!”

  “No!” Noktoto yelled back, quickly sliding Down The building and landing on his feet using the momentum to run straight up to Nokko, stopping one step before crashing, and then grabbing her and proceeding to slap all parts of her body, while she tried to get away, until she froze in pain. “There! See tail lie, she has the tail of a liar, and there it hurts.”

  “Your shoulder, huh? But why did you say it didn’t hurt?” Kenneth asked.

  Looking even more so on the verge of tears, she said, almost sniffling, “Girls don’t cry, strong get hurt, and walk off.”

  “Ah, the old walk it off, let me tell you a secret, I’ve seen my fair share of big, strong women come to me with some small painful injuries, all of them were very tough, but let me tell you a secret,” Kenneth whispered, gesturing for her to come closer. “A couple of them, when no one was looking and I was healing them, shed some good tears.”

  “R-really.”

  “Yes, so there’s no shame in getting help now and again, so would you please tell me where it hurts, so I can help you?”

  “Shoulder,” she pointed, while pulling up her sleeve.

  ‘Huh… small, that just needs to heal on its own, but I can’t just say walk it off. Well, alovera never hurt,’ Kenneth thought, getting a little and putting it on her. “That should do it. So did you come by to see Nokstella?”

  “Yes! Yes!” Noktoto yelled excitedly, his scales darkening. “Nokstella, let’s play nest!”

  Nokstella’s scales darkened almost immediately as she looked up at Kenneth.

  She didn’t even have the chance to beg. “Sounds fun, why don’t you join?”

  “Oh! Oh! And that one,” Noktoto said eagerly, pointing at Kolu. “That one is heretic.”

  “Yes, berfect, Kolu want play?!” Nokstella said, almost jumping over to Kolu and grabbing him.

  “Hold on a minute, Nokstella, no one gets hurt in this game, right?”

  She shook her head yes.

  Kenneth let out a short sigh, “So what do you say, Kolu, you want to play?”

  If reluctantness had a face, it would be his, but it was all too easily melted away by Nokstella into begrudgingness as he went along, and given the lack of patience, Kenneth joined them, keeping a short distance as they met up with a larger group of children.

  Of course, he wouldn't embarrass them, like some overenthusiastic soccer mom, so he sat down on a bench in the area watching keenly as the game was set up, one of the kids drawing two lines with chalk, all of the kids getting behind one line, and Kolu standing between the two in the middle.

  And then it began.

  All of the children rushed across the line attempting to reach the other; however, most were visibly surprised by Kolu’s speed as he dashed across the stone, and tapped each and every one out, turning an entire rainbow of abundant colors pale white.

  Well, all except for Nokstella, who just laughed it off.

  “You are nervous,” Split commented.

  “A little, but I’m surprised you can tell, I thought I was unreadable with this get-up.”

  She gestured to his hands, “It’s them I read.”

  He looked at them and let out a short laugh. “Ain’t that funny, I can keep them as still as stone when I’m rooting around inside someone, but can’t keep them still watching some children play.”

  “That's how parents are.”

  “…”

  “Speaking from experience?”

  “I do.”

  “I hope you don’t take offense, but I never pictured you as the motherly type.”

  “I am not a mother,” Split replied.

  “Huh… oh…! I’m sorry to hear that,” Kenneth somberly replied. “That must have been hard.”

  “Not for them.”

  ‘Um… what did she just say?’ Kenneth questioned. “What do you mean?”

  “The shame of having a mother like me, drove them away,” Split elaborated.

  “But you are still their mother? They chose you, isn’t that how it works?”

  “They chose me, that is true, but they wished they hadn’t, and now they have chosen my brother or mother.”

  Split was rarely one to show emotion, but at that moment, he could hear something in her voice, though he couldn’t be certain of what it was. “Part of me doesn’t believe things are as simple as you make them sound.”

  “That part of you is naive,” Split replied, pausing for a moment. “…but kind.”

  “What are they like?”

  Split looked at him for a moment and sighed.

  “Nokhoopa is the oldest and chose me when I laid my first egg. She is loud, always crying or shouting, her voice could even reach me when I was hunting, it was annoying,” Split began. “Nokalka chose me when I laid my fiftieth egg. He was quieter and easier than Nokhoopa, but clung to me constantly and refused to leave me be, even refused to sleep unless a story was told. Nokdrogi was chosen when I’d laid the seventy-second egg. She sought my praise, trying to impress me, with every new skill she learned, or battle she managed to win, so much work for so few words.”

  “Sounds like a colorful crowd, those three.”

  “They all had different colors. Yes.”

  “What I mean is they were all different, but seemed to care about you as much as you cared about them,” Kenneth elaborated. “Regardless of everything else, you are still their mother.”

  “That is why I don’t talk to them,” Split said

  About that time, the second round of nests was to begin. Kolu, after having caught most of them the previous round, looked smug, yet prepared.

  All of the children ran, but like before, one by one, Kolu darted around and made sure to tag each and every one, saving Nokstella for last. Though this quickness of the game did start to visibly annoy some, and emboldened others, as game plans seemed to be hatched in between rounds.

  “They aren’t giving up, are they?” Kenneth noticed.

  “It is good training for these former shedlings,” Split remarked.

  “How so?”

  “They get to experience a challenge against a heretic, understand early on how dangerous his kind is, and how best to win the game,” Split explained with slight pride in her voice.

  “Rare for you to talk so long without me asking it of you,” Kenneth remarked. “Fond of the game, or are you a hidden tactician?”

  “I played it three times and managed to get past the heretic on the last game.”

  “Must have been easy with your legs and your opponent being slower than you,” Kenneth said.

  “My magic had not come yet, and it was a real heretic.”

  “What do you mean your magic hadn’t come yet? Weren’t you born with it, or did it just take you a long time to figure out?”

  “No.”

  “You’re not as talkative as you were before?” Kenneth commented.

  “…I can try if you want me to,” Split replied. “Every child wants to learn what their magic is, but it is pointless, you can’t when you are young, not until you turn ten are you able to use it.”

  ‘Ten, is that the reason Huto said he was an adult when he was ten because of magic?’ Kenneth wondered for a moment, “But why is that? Why only ten, why not thirteen, or twenty-five?”

  “Ask a sage, or wisewoman,” Split simply replied.

  “You could just say you don’t know, but whatever,” Kenneth shrugged. “But let’s get back to what you said you beat a real heretic in one out of three of these games when you were little?”

  “Yes,” Split said as Kenneth looked at her and did some motions with his hand. There seemed to be a universal ‘really’ as she continued. “Much was different back then. Heretics, they were never in large numbers, but you would see one now and again, unlike now, where most down here haven’t.”

  “Why did that change?”

  “It was the late Lord Obaliy’s orders. All heretics were to be within the pen, even the personal ones more or less owned by someone or other. Whatever work Weakie heretics still did was to be done in the old building you now teach in, but eventually that was changed to their cells. Now most sewing work is done in there.”

  ‘It’s quite something to think, slave life, however minimal, was better in the past,’ Kenneth thought, feeling a cold nauseating sensation. “Do you have any idea why she would do that?”

  “I don’t listen to whispers.”

  “Maybe something bad happened?”

  “Maybe,” Split agreed, “but perhaps things can change now. The little Kolu heretic shows as much. It would certainly be good for the young to face him and understand what they are like from this early age, so they aren't stuck with stories.”

  “Wouldn’t have imagined you wanted Sil and Aki around more,” Kenneth commented.

  With a predatory gaze, Split looked at Kolu, “A hunter must know their predator, for them to become prey.”

  “Don’t look at him like that,” Kenneth almost snapped.

  “…did the little one choose you or did you choose him?”

  “…I’m not his father, if that’s what you are asking, I could never be…” Kenneth replied with melancholy in his voice. “If anything,im his guardian, but nothing more.”

  “You deny much, it would seem.”

  “Whatever,” Kenneth said harshly, as he continued to watch the children play the next round, starting up this time, the Nok splitting up into two tightly packed groups going around Kolu. It forced him to split his attention, but Kolu was already hard at work, taking out the first group, as the second got closer than ever before to the finish line.

  Yet he was already at work tapping the other group when, in the middle, Nokstella suddenly leapt out, tackling him to the ground, Kolu looking confused more than anything else as the last remaining managed to finally get a win on him, cheering.

  Nokstella was a bit gloating, looking up at Kolu and smiling. He, on the other hand, only slightly smiled as he pushed her snout to the side, laughing at the insulted expression she then made, before the next round was to begin.

  ‘Could you be happy here?’ Kenneth wondered.

  ‘Trapped in all except chains, making friends, with those who don’t understand what it means to hate yet? Maybe I could work to make things better here, for everyone, so all can be… who am I kidding?’ He internally sighed. ‘You don’t deserve my selfishness, my cowardice. Not that it truly matters.”

  In silence, he watched the children play, all of them oblivious to everything around them, in some ways jealous of how simple life must be through their eyes, as in those moments, all they cared about was having fun.