"Whose... Whose clothes are those?" Keya asked, fearing the answer.
Jireh's mom carefully worded her response as to not cry. "They belonged to my daughter Wendy but she no longer needs them."
Keya could only assume that the Wendy she spoke off had passed away at some point. She would have asked but she could see such grief being held back in the mother's eyes... So she said nothing.
After Keya was cleaned up and changed, Jireh's mom retired to get cleaned up herself. This left Keya and Jireh alone.
"I'm..." Jireh began. "I'm really sorry to hear about your mom."
"..." Keya was quiet as she pulled her flute from her dirty clothes and looked at it. "That's who made me this..."
Realizing that the flute had been specially made for Keya from her late mother, Jireh started to apologize profusely realizing how casually he had been with it. "I'm so sorry I played it-I- I had no idea-"
Keya interrupted him. "I'm not mad at you anymore..." She looked away. "... I'm sorry about your sister."
Jireh was quiet for a moment before he also looked away. A look of shame was on his face. "Me too..."
The two were very quiet for the next few moments. They had found an understanding in each other and that was the pain of losing a loved one.
After the moment passed, Jireh forced himself to smile. "But um... Her clothes look good on you, you know?"
Keya looked over at him curiously. She wondered if he felt the same way she did when she saw him playing her flute; that feeling of being disrespected on behalf of something that was a loved one's. "You aren't... You're okay with me wearing this?"
Jireh shrugged. "It's... It's almost comforting to me actually... It might be weird to hear..."
"Hm." Keya looked back down at the ground. "You're not mad that a ridgerunner is wearing the very clothing your sister wore...?"
"Not at all." Jireh smiled bittersweet and tilted his head like he had a question.
She looked back over at him, seeming both curious and mixed in feeling.
"Can we be friends?"
"You... want to be friends with me?"
"Yeah! Why not?"
And so the human boy and the ridgerunner girl began their friendship. For the next hours, Jireh made sure Keya was comfortable and not over-exerting herself and Keya offered much interesting dialogue Jireh loved to hear. The two hardly realized how much time had passed until their heard the front door open once again.
In came Jireh's father with a large sack slung over his shoulder and a bow over the other one. He seemed so tired he didn't even notice Keya there at first.
"Nelly-" He walked passed the two children on the couch with his sack. "I've got some meat for the grinder."
Keya and Jireh heard a lip smack like a kiss from the other room.
"Jarvis! Don't we have enough meat for the three of us?" Jireh's mom, aka Nelly, could be heard replying in the kitchen.
"One can never have too much meat for storage. We get a lot of unexpected guests." Jireh's father, aka Jarvis, replied as he began his way back into the living room.
Nelly's voice could be heard following him. "Speaking of unexpected guests-" At that moment, Jarvis locked eyes with Keya. "We have a visitor."
Jarvis got a good look at Keya and felt something in the back of his head telling him something was off.
Keya sat there uncomfortably, feeling like she was being stared at for hours when in reality it was only a few seconds.
"Nelly..." Jarvis looked back at his wife and whispered in a hushed tone. Jireh couldn't hear him but Keya could. "Why does our guest have on Wendy's clothes?"
Keya shuddered and Jireh shuddered only because he sensed Keya shudder.
"Honey, your son found her after she hit her head and we brought her in. I think the poor thing has suffered a concussion and possible starvation because she vomited it all up on the floor, herself, and our son." Nelly calmly explained.
Jarvis glanced back at Keya and back at his wife. Something didn't sit well with him but thinking Keya to be a child and hearing what happened, he chose to greet her gently.
"Hello there, I'm Mr. Nissi. What's your name, little one?" He asked warmly despite his previous suspicion.
Keya could hardly believe the man that tried to kill her the night before didn't recognize her but she stammered out a reply. "I-I'm... I'm... Keya..."
"Just Keya?" Mr. Nissi asked curiously.
Keya slowly nodded, clearly looking anxious.
"Hm. Interesting. Where are you from, Keya?" Jarvis asked her inquisitively.
"Th-the... Deeper in th-the..." Keya stammered.
Jireh interrupted her. "Oh, dad, she hit her head real hard..."
Jarvis raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Ah, I shouldn't make you think by asking basic questions." There was a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice but a chuckle followed. "Just make sure your folks know where you're at."
Keya shuddered. "Y-yes, sir..."
With that, Jarvis went out back with his sack of meat.
"It was hunting day, you know." Nelly could be heard remarking from the kitchen.
Keya leaned close to Jireh. "I-I think I should go..."
Jireh wanted to ask why but he already knew. "Let's get you to the forest." He replied before letting his mother know where they were going.
The sun was setting when the two children came outside. Even in this lighting, Keya could tell Jireh was sad to see her go.
"Will you come back to visit...?" Jireh asked.
"I will- once my head is feeling better..." Keya replied.
Jireh smiled sadly. "So not very soon... School is starting for me in a week... I won't be able to see you in the afternoons because I won't be here..."
She curiously looked at Jireh. "School???"
"You don't know what school is? You learn all sorts of things there, even what guild you wanna be in." Jireh slumped. "... Except me. I'm being put in the Durgan Guild because my dad wants me to defend our home against ridgerunners and other beings on the forest."
"What's Durgan Guild?" Keya asked, seeming more fasinated with Jireh's human world after having spoken to him for so long.
Jireh snickered bitterly. "Get-Beat-Up Guild. They teach you to fight and it hurts. A lot... But it's necessary to learn self defense."
She cringed. "You have to attend that?"
"It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't alone... The other kids stand a head above me and always pick on me because I'm not closer to town..." Jireh sighed as he looked at the ground.
As much as Keya didn't like the idea of being beaten up, she didn't like seeing her new friend so lonely. With some hesitancy, she asked, "What if... I came with you?"
Jireh snapped his head toward Keya. "What?! No! You'd get your head beaten in! There's hardly any girls in the guild!"
"..." Keya stared at him.
"... I was going to say there's no ridgerunners and you weigh the same as a medium sack of totatoes. Would that have been less offensive?" Jireh asked.
Keya slowly cracked a smile and in turn, Jireh's serious expression smiled too. The two busted out laughing when they realized neither party was offended.
After their laugh, Jireh asked, "... But do you really mean it? You'd want to come with me?"
Keya was hesitant again but this time more confident. "Sure. Why not? You've done so much for me, shouldn't I give back?"
Without warning, Jireh hugged Keya tightly and thanked her.
She was panicked a moment but eased into the hug. Keya had made a new friend.
Awww! They became friends! But how exactly will she be accepted into the guild?