Bansel's wound is beginning to close, and he says that it hurts less. He is recovering, and it looks like he will be healthy again in time. It was a very hard time for all of us.
Arbella has forgiven me... I know this because not long ago she spoke to me, telling me that she wants to make another human. I'm inclined to agree. As horrible as this incident was, it has also taught me just how much our offspring mean to me. Raising them has given me such a sense of purpose, beyond just my own survival.
I must give Bansel and Dinna and all our future offspring the best life that I can. I can understand his agitation. He spends all his life in this room, with only the few exceptions when I take him out to practice throwing bones. At some point he will have to learn to hunt and build for himself; I have to start teaching him more, once he is healed.
Arbella is now with another human... we do not know if it will be man or woman yet. I am excited for it.
Bansel is on his feet again. I give him some sharp bones and bring him outside. He will get to watch a real hunt now. I find a group of three Uams and tell him to stand back, then I throw a bone at one, killing it. The others run toward me and attack. I throw another one, piercing the second, and when the last one leaps, I impale it. He helps me pick them up and bring them back.
"When can Bansel hunt?" he says.
"Not now. Other time." I say.
We eat, and Bansel spends a lot of time sharpening his weapon. He plays with Dinna sometimes and pretends that she is an anim he has to fight, so I have to stop him often and tell him not to be rough. She is starting to get annoyed with him. I bring him on more hunts. Then I decide that he should try to kill a maum. They are harmless, so he hopefully shouldn't get injured. He aims and throws the bone. It is slightly off and the anim notices and quickly runs away. He growls angrily and throws another one, but it misses too.
"Not worry. Bansel try again." I say. We search for another one. He is careful to calculate his throw and goes for it. The maum is pierced. "Good!" I say. He looks beaming and runs over to pick it up. "No! Careful!" I say. He stops, looking around.
"No anim around." he says. Then he picks it up and comes back.
"Good. Now..." I trail off. He looks confused, and follows my gaze. "What that?"
"Not know." I say. "Not see before."
There's some kind of anim in the passage. I didn't know there were any more than the six different kinds I've seen. It's somewhat small, lower than my waist, and dark grey, almost black, with a long body, but I'm most taken with it's skin, which looks like something I've never seen.
"Kill it?" Bansel says.
I try to consider what to do. It could be dangerous. But it doesn't look like a carnivore. It has already seen us, but it isn't attacking. I probably shouldn't get closer, though. But I do really want to get a closer look at it.
"Walk back." I say to him.
Bansel looks disappointed, but steps further away from me. I'm careful to aim, and throw the spear, killing the strange anim. I walk over to it. It's not emitting any harmful fumes... I reach down to touch it. My hand passes through it's weird texture, and I can feel normal skin at the bottom of it. I touch it. It feels.. soft. I look at my hand. It doesn't do anything bad to my skin. I think it's safe.
I pick it up and bring it back.
"Can touch?" Bansel says. I allow it, and he touches it. He looks amazed. We take it back home.
Arbella and Dinna study the anim as well. Dinna keeps trying to hug it, but I have to pull her off; I don't want her to get blood on herself. We decide to cut the skin off; it looks like all other anims on the inside. Then we wash the skin and give it to Dinna; we have no use for it as of now, she might as well have it if she enjoys playing with it so much.
On another hunting trip, we discover yet two more of these anims. It must be safe to assume that these are going to be regular occurrences from now. But I have never seen a new type of anim appear out of nowhere. It's so strange. We decide to name them "almer". We keep an eye on them from time to time. We have seen them eat other anims, but they don't always attack, and sometimes eat from the plants. Most of the time they aren't dangerous.
Soon we are in for another surprise... we see another almer, which is brown instead of black. Why is it's colour different? We decide to leave it be, but it's so strange that things are just starting to... change. It makes me nervous.
Then, some of them begin to appear spotted. And then various different colours appear. I tell Arbella that I find these sudden changes unsettling. But she tells me, maybe it's a good thing. Our lives have been almost the same for so long, maybe we should hope for more change.
We decide to hunt some of the almer and line the ground with their skins. We decide to call the strange texture "fur". It feels pleasant to walk on.
No major changes have happened in a while, so we proceed life as normal... I bring Bansel with me on hunts and he has become much better. I feel confident enough to have him kill something more dangerous. We find a beo, which are difficult to kill by throwing, but I have already shown him how to hit it before it can attack. He swiftly deals with it. He has become skilled. As I see him pull the bone out of the anim, I think about how much he has grown. One day he may be the same size as me.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4jQR9qY7V
I congratulate him on his hunt, and we are on our way back. But then something happens. I quickly grab Bansel's shoulder, signalling him to stay still, as I see something further down the maze. There's two..... humans..? But they don't look like us. They have fur, like the almers. The two almer-like humans stop too, they have spotted us. I stay completely still, and I can see that they're prepared to run away too, but they don't do so just yet.
"What is that..?" Bansel says.
"Not know." I say quietly. They certainly don't look aggressive. Perhaps... I should try... befriending them? I take the beo and cut out the meat. The almer humans watch cautiously. I try to throw the meat to them, but the second they see that I'm about to throw something, they run away. I try to follow them, but they're incredibly fast, so I can't catch up.
Bansel looks confused at me. "Is that humans?"
"Maybe." I say. "Not seen that before. Maybe will see again."
We go home. I speak to Arbella.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Uyzf9ZvnN
"If that is humans, we need find them." she says. "They is alone now. And in danger."
"Yes. I hope we find them." I say. I would really like to meet them. Maybe they can live with us, and we could be even more. But I don't know if they really are humans. They might just be anims that are incapable of communication.
ns 18.68.41.177da2
