Chapter 5: Outsiders

Sometime later the potion wore off. Kaico blinked a few times and looked around herself. Immediately a blush filled her cheeks, what had she been doing the last few hours? She rubbed her forehead with her palm. The Ender was nearby, she remembered that she had given them a name.

"Enderly," she muttered. When she said it the Ender looked up at her. She cleared her throat, "I, er, apologize for that. Whatever that might have been."

"I suppose I should introduce myself, seeing you saved my life. My name is Kaico." She extended a hand. Enderly wasn't quite sure what to do with it. "Generally when someone extends a hand you grab onto it and shake it." She said she felt slightly awkward at this point. "Like this." She put her hands together and mimed a handshake. "How do you guys greet each other then?"

Enderly tilted their head and then chirped. Which made Kaico smile, "I think I like that better than a handshake."

Finally, she got to her feet and had a look around. The room was small and she could tell they were below the surface, but not terribly far. Definitely, no diamonds here to mine out. Enderly watched as she inspected the room.

"It's a nice place, I assume this is your home?"

She didn't expect an answer.

Quite suddenly though Enderly pressed close to her. They seemed to urge her into one of the corners.

Kaico was confused but ducked down in a far nook. That was when they appeared, a few other enders. Kaico ducked down deeper into the nook, and Enderly stood in front of her, looking protective. She wasn't quite sure as to why though. Until the other Enders let off a series of angry cries. Enderly responded in the ender language, which Kaico could not understand, unfortunately. She did get the sense that Enderly was not welcome, the other enders pressed in toward them. Kaico shuddered, she was almost certain that they were unaware of her. She didn't want to find out what they'd do when they spotted her.

They screeched at Enderly and in response, Enderly let off a stream of their own screeches. Kaico had no choice but to cover her ears, but the sounds reached them anyway. She supposed these were the monsters her family had warned her about. Enderly seemed to become more and more agitated. Peeking out Kaico watched.

Then suddenly Enderly took a step toward the others, and at once they all saw Kaico. Kaico froze, as did they. Then collectively they let off another even angrier set of cries. Kaico pressed as far back as she could but was pinned.

"Enderly, I think they want us to leave." She told them, though she was sure they knew this. Enderly turned around and reached toward her, suddenly they were enveloped in particles.

They both arrived in the overworld. Nearby Kaico's home. It was dusk now. Kaico turned around and looked at Enderly.

"They don't like you very much do they?" She asked.

Enderly couldn't respond, but Kaico sensed sadness.

"You're an outsider then, like me." She said softly, then she smiled a bit. "You saved me though. I am grateful for it, I'm not sure why you did though. My parents told us you were monsters. Why?"

Enderly chirped at her, she shook her head, not understanding.

"You're welcome to stay with me for the night." She told him. That was when she got a better look at her home. She gasped, it had been blown apart.

Tears prickled at her eyes, but then she realized she still had her book. Still, this had been her home.

"Guess that's why you had to take me to that cave." She told Enderly. "Guess we'll have to sleep somewhere else.

She began to dig a small hole. She had to go an extra block deep, it was not overly comfy in there. When she was done she popped out and beckoned to Enderly to join her, but they seemed to want to stay outside.

"Have a good night," she told them.

She walked inside, thoughts swirling in her head. She had left home, made a home, saved an Ender, been saved by the same Ender, then lost her home and most of her possessions. It had been quite the time.

She wasn't sure what to do next. She knew she should be heading farther away from home. Surely her parents now knew she was not coming back. Her brothers would be searching, they'd go to the nearby villages first.

She would need to cross the ocean. But part of her didn't want too. She had a new, odd, reason to stay. She had made a friend.