FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Beginning of a New Race

Chapter Seven

"It's not my fault he called my entire race scum! He deserved what was coming... if not more!" My throat was becoming raw from yelling. I knew that I should have stopped. Should have controlled myself. But in the end, it had still happened, and wasn't going to let all the blame settle on me, even if I deserved it.

"So what if he did Alumn! You should have controlled yourself! If you wish to show him that humans aren't filth, then act like you aren't." Zen wasn't going to listen to me. She hadn't been, not since I arrived. It hadn't been a long period of time, being here and all, but I still thought that I deserved some type of respect or at least recognition.

I would get used to it. Or at least try to.

I stood up from my place beside the Pedesanitatum, going to stand next to the large boulder that sat only a few paces away, leaning on it so that my lower back absorbed all of the weight. I made sure that I wasn't facing Zen, instead choosing to watch the trees before me wave in the wind.

They were beautiful, their leaves a collage of greens and yellows, the fall season creeping up to take over summer. I hadn't been here long enough to understand the passing of seasons, to know how long the cycles lasted, nor if they had what I was told Earth had as seasons, but I knew that it wouldn't be long before the nights were no longer the only cold parts of the day.

I remained still, my eyes and pointed ears staying vigilant over the forest, but I decided that I would still have to continue speaking with Zen. I was already in enough trouble. No reason to make everything worse.

That was a lesson that I prided myself on learning.

"This place is shit. Everything has been shit since I got here. You have treated me like crap, and I thought it was just your job at first. But now? Now... I know that you hate me. I know..."

I heard a few steps behind me, but they didn't come very close to me. "I have no reason to hate you."

For a small second, the world seemed to grow quiet. The trees stopped their constant rustling, as if they wanted to listen to the story that was taking place below them.

"That's not what the others say." My voice was calm, but I didn't feel that way at all. I felt like I would explode from all the emotions racking up inside me.

There were a few more slight footfalls behind me, the sounds growing closer, then a few more that sounded like they were retreating. "Who has said that? They have no reason to be telling you what I say! It's not true either, simply rumor!" She sounded panicked, as if she had been trying to hide this for a good while.

"Just a few villagers, talking about how you 'despise everything about him, from the way he walks to the way he talks'. They were speaking the truth. I know it!"

"No! I only speak that way to make everyone think I am the same! I have no reason to hate you, only reason to nurture you, to keep you healthy and prepared for the road ahead!" Her panic was replaced with more of a fortified tone, one that knew it was right.

I thought it was a pretty shitty joke.

"Why... why don't you get me? All I've been through, all this shit. My family is gone, not to mention friends, and everyone here hates me. I haven't even done anything, yet everyone h-hates me. And you... I thought that you would have been different. I thought you would have had some type of emotion towards me that was positive. But now I know that I w-was wrong." I heard nothing behind me besides the rustle of the multicolored leaves rubbing together. I waited for Zen's response, but in my mind there was nothing she could say. I knew that she thought that I was scum. I had heard everyone say it.

Zen grew quiet, almost as if she was contemplating her response. "Have you heard my story? How I came to be in this village?" She sounded reluctant. Her entire manner changed completely, from her usual extremely proper and formal to as if she was talking to someone she had known forever.

I stopped leaning on the rock, turning around to face Zen. She was sitting next to the water, facing away from me. I walked over to her silently, sitting next to her, yet still not making eye contact. "N-no, no I haven't. Not yet at least...Ducit." I was startled by her tone. I was something I had never heard before.

"You do not need to call me Ducit, not right now." Her head bent towards the water, as if she was watching her reflection. "I was not born into this place. I was never supposed to be here." The small amount of wind carried her voice, making her whispers grow in volume as she continued speaking. "I was born outside these walls, in a place I try to forget about every day I walk these paths. "

She looked up at me ever so slightly, as if just to see if I was still listening. Her eyes were glazed over, her mind hard at work trying to remember her past.

Or simply trying to forget it.

"I was born by... by the people that attacked you, the ones that follow no rules. I knew it was a disgraceful place, living with them and all, but it wasn't like I could find a way out." She paused, her sad tone shifting to a little happier one. "My parent's, however, knew that I was different. They knew that I could have a better future than them, so they decided that they would do something about it. They found the nearest village and... and simply left me. I was only seven years old! How could they do that to me.... I should have been killed, should have been left outside to be found and killed by some kind of wild predator! But the leader saw something in me. Something no one else did."

I noticed a small disturbance to the pond, a small ripple that started by Zen. I looked at her and saw something alarming.

Zen was crying. Her eyes were glazed over by the tears, all of them eventually running to the end of her muzzle before falling into the Pedesanitatum.

"I have b-been raised by our leader, not with love but with an iron fist, one that only speaks advice on... on war, not emotion. He has taught me nothing other than how to stay alive on the battlefield." She choked on her sobs in between words, but kept going.

"I know exactly what you are going through. I had just enough time to start loving my parents before... before they gave me away to this place, even if the Homini here accepted me. I know it was for the better, but I still wonder sometimes if I could find them, i-if I just started looking. Do you ever think the same?"

She started to cry harder, the tears no longer dripping but streaming. She sobbed, gasping for air every time her body shivered. I didn't know what to do. My mind kind of gave up, throwing caution to the wind.

I hugged her. I wrapped my arms around her and tried to stop her from shivering.

"Yes, I wonder all the time. If I could just make it back to that beach, back to my family." I started to picture my family in my mind, but their images had slightly faded, their features molding into blobs instead of faces.

"I know that even if I did go they would not accept me. Look at me; they would think I'm a freak!" I started to squeeze harder, trying to comfort myself as much as I had been with Zen.

"What are you doing?" She asked in between her sobs. She didn't sound angry. She sounded as if she had never seen someone display emotion before.

"I'm trying to comfort you. I never thought you were capable of these emotions."

"We are all capable of it, we Homini... but we all chose to hide it."

Everything went silent, her shivering and crying coming to somewhat of a halt. I thought of letting go, but she started to lean into me, using me to keep her from falling back.

"I'm s-so sorry. I should have shown you I cared. Should have given something to you... something to show you I knew what you were feeling." Zen whispered.

If I hadn't been astonished in the first place, now I was surely dumbstruck. To hear her apologize to me was something I had never even dreamed of. "No, I should have respected your ways. I shouldn't have said anything in the first place."

"You are the first I have ever told the story to. Or at least the first to ever hear the full story."

She stood up, pulling away from my embrace. She walked away towards the trees, but quickly turned back to look at me.

"We must forget that this happened. This is not something that can spread throughout the village. You must still see me as your Magistor, and I must see you as my Alumn. If you do not focus on your training you would never make it. Not around here."

"I understand, Ducit. I will try to forget." This was a lie. Well, not entirely, but very close to one. I knew I would not be able to forget.

"Now, back to what we were discussing earlier."

"Must you punish me? Could you not just give me a good scolding and be done with it?"

"You must know that I have to punish you, for what you have done earlier. The leader will wish to see the marks of whatever I chose. Usually, we Homini believe in an eye for an eye, but I'd rather not go from telling you what I have to breaking your muzzle." Her formal tone came back into place, her body straightening.

"So what shall you do?"

"Lashings. They are one of the least painful punishments. You must know that it will hurt me to do this, but it must be done."

"You must do what you must do." I hated accepting my punishment, but if Zen got into trouble for not punishing me I would feel like shit for a good while.

"Then we must return to the village and inform the leader of my choice. Let us waste no more time Alumn."

And with that, we stood and ran back towards the village.

Together.