A Person who has been Rejected by their Kin

Without saying anything else, she immediately starts leaving.

Excuse me? I scurry after her, trying my best to catch up.

"I'm not a girl..."

"But you look like one."

Do I? I certainly wasn't under the impression I did, though I've only seen rough reflections of myself in water thus far. When was the last time Mother cut my hair? It has gotten rather long, going down to my shoulders by now.

My ghastly companion seems to be rather amused by this entire debacle, her joyous chuckling quite literally echoing in my mind.

"Still, I'm a boy; could you please not call me a girl?"

"Why?"

"How would you feel if I called you a boy?"

"I would just hit you if you did."

With that, Isha bursts into full-blown laughter. Thanks, Isha.

Aside from that, she's rather blunt, isn't she? I'll attribute that rudeness to her being a child still. Though I can't say I'm not kind of annoyed at her behaviour. I'll just be the bigger man. At least in spirit.

Now standing this close to her, she's actually a good bit taller than me. Probably older than me if I had to guess as well, 2 years maybe? Actually I am not even sure how old I am. Around here, there aren't really any seasons to speak of; it's just always debilitatingly hot.

When I found myself in this body and couldn't do anything at first, I did try to count the days. But, embarrassingly enough, with all the other things that occupied me, I've lost count. I'd guess I am 6 now? I'll just roll with that...

"So why were you fighting with them?"

"They wanted my water and said I have to share with them. They've never shared with me, so why should I? And they keep calling me half-blood. Stupid jerks..."

She kicks a rock. Just as I expected, being only half of an elf makes your already miserable life here even worse, with those next to you also hating you. Only reinforces my thinking that we should stick together.

How to best broach that topic to her stubborn head...

"Why did you steal from the market that day? After you made your escape, the guards got very mad and struck me..."

While I might've very well gotten hit even if she wasn't there, tugging at her heartstrings might make her be more open to talking to me. I touch the spot where my lip was split. Now just to round that up with the sad puppy eyes...

"Mother was very sick that day; she asked me to go get some water for her. We didn't have any left, so I went to get some at the market. But the human said that I didn't bring enough iron pieces for the water. So I just grabbed the water and the iron and ran back to Mother.

After drinking some, she gave me the rest and said I should take a walk; she wanted to sleep. That's when I saw you again that evening. I'm sorry they beat you because of me. I know how cruel they can be. I'll give you one iron piece if you'll let me get it from our place."

Damn, this worked way better than I expected. I need to keep that ball rolling. Though with her mother also being sick, I'm not quite sure if taking her money is something I am comfortable with.

"That's fine; I don't want to take your money. I'd rather you tell me more about this place; my mother's been rather vague so far..."

"I can only tell you what my mother told me: we are in a city they call Lun'roco. The humans that run this city, the overseers, buy slaves and bring them here, mostly elves. Mother was from the great forest. Those that look like you came from the mountains, she said.

No matter their looks, they are to work in the salt mine, giving that salt to the humans and getting the iron rods for it. Those we can trade for food, water and anything else we need to survive. Beyond the walls, in the rest of the city, lies the place where the humans live. In the highest tower, the one you can see from here, lives the one who rules this city. I forgot his name, though."

She points to a building beyond the walls, visible from here. That one accountant spoke of a master Zareth; maybe she means him?

"Any other way to get those rods beside the mine and, uh... stealing from the market?"

She flashes me a scheming grin.

"I might have an idea. We are almost there, though; my tent is over there."

By now we are somewhere in that ocean of tents again; mine shouldn't be all that far. She points at one of them, rushing over there.

Something does smell weird around here, though. This part of town by no means smells good at any time of day, but this is different...

"Come on in. Be quiet though, Mother's sleeping."

She hurries inside.

"Don't go inside!"

Isha yells and tries to warn me, but sadly she is too late. As I open the flaps of this tent, my nostrils are assaulted by the most powerful and pungent odour I've ever had the displeasure of smelling in both my lives.

Have you ever left your dishes in the dishwasher for too long without starting it? When you open it to add one more piece, the smell of rotting meat and any other biomatter fermenting for days or weeks comes back to haunt you as a grim reminder of the chores you should've done already. Yeah, that but 10 times worse.

My knees buckle immediately. The smell of ammonia and sulphur stings in my nose. I fall to my knees and start retching on the ground.

A sickly sweet undertone hits me, giving me the final push. I relieve the contents of my small stomach right next to the entrance of the tent. Isha pats my back...

"I'm sorry. I know Mother desperately needs a bath, but water is tight, as you know."

I make my second mistake, looking towards the inside of the tent. What greets me is the sight of my half-elven companion kneeling next to a dead body, her mother, it seems. The body's in a terrible state, already half decomposed based on look and smell.

With the awful heat, the process happened even quicker. Most likely, that evening, after sending her daughter away, she quite literally went to sleep forever. The combined stimulation, both visual and whatever the scientific word for smell would be, is quite enough for me to continue my puking.

She takes her mother's hand, which is threatening to fall apart in her very grasp.

"Sleep as much as you want until you're healthy again. I'll take care of us in the meantime."

Her voice quivered, akin to a prayer. She's very close to tears but starchily refusing to shed them. The poor girl's clearly in denial, but how would I even begin to broach that subject...?

"I'll be back later."

With those words as my cue, I try with all my might to centre myself and get up. Don't want to give the poor girl the wrong impression; bringing me here means either she's showing me her vulnerable side or she's clearly not in the best state of mind right now.

Whatever may be the case, it would be rude to let her find me on the ground reeling. But my legs won't obey me; they act and feel akin to jelly right now. They do seem to obey someone else, though.

When Isha touches my legs, trying to straighten them, they jolt back to life. I look at her with utter confusion; she returns the sentiment.

"Let's get going. I know a way we can earn today's dinner. Here, catch!"

She throws a pig iron rod at me, which I barely catch. While I told her she didn't need to give me anything, I don't feel willing or able to argue about that now.

Dinner is the last thing on my mind right now, but I follow suit. Learning of a way to get more food or money is the best possible thing I can do right now. Anything to make sure Rinah doesn't end up like her mother.

Though speaking of her, I also have to do something about that body. While the stench alone would be reason enough, I worry greatly about the potential sickness this could spread. Entire cities have fallen due to disease, both in the old world and most likely also in this one.

But I'm not strong enough to move it, and I'd definitely be stopped in the attempt by a certain someone. Leaving her in this mental state is also not something I can do. What to do...

As she drags me eastwards, she's rather quiet. Still needs some time to calm down, most likely. Denial is pretty exhausting for the mind, I assume.

Luckily, I can use this time to mentally check something with Isha:

"Can you try moving my body again?"

She nods and proceeds to push my right pinkie into a closed position. Indeed, my finger moves without me doing anything.

"We should continue testing that later; you moving or supporting my body might come in handy one day."

At first, she appears surprisingly perplexed by this suggestion but steels her resolve rather quickly.

"Anything to help us survive..."

That's the spirit, Isha! We will take any advantage we can get as two wayward souls in this small child's body.

"I'm Eleanor, by the way."

Swept up in her tempo until now, I truly forgot to ask her name. She seems to be back to her more blunt and familiar self now, open for conversation again.

"I'm Isayah, pleasure. So where are we going, Eleanor?"

"To the place the human slaves hole themselves up."

Oh, great.

"And what are we going to do there, Eleanor?"

"We're going to steal a dagger."

Oh, great.

"And how is that going to get us food, Eleanor?"

"I know a guy who'll pay us for that thing."

Oh, great. Wait, no, not great, not great at all! This seems like a terrible idea!