Back to the Hall

We bade goodbye to Isabella and I made her promise to visit whenever she could which, hopefully, would be sooner rather than later. I rather enjoyed her company. Maybe a little get-together with some tea or coffee and those cute little cookies from the bakery down the…

Oh…

Right…

I frowned a little as we walked back, holding onto Gharret's arm as we went. He noticed my glum look and leaned over to nudge my head with his nose. I immediately giggled and pulled my face away.

"I'm fine. Really."

"It's not like you'll never see her, again." He was sweet, but way off. I nodded.

"Is there tea or coffee in this world?" I immediately asked. He paused and frowned before shaking his head. Thought so.

"I've heard of doctors creating medicinal teas for various remedies or…ahem…fertility…but I've never heard of 'coffee'…what is it?"

His awkwardness at the mention of 'fertility' was hilarious. His cheeks had pinkened and he'd glanced away, pretending that it wasn't before turning his gaze back to mine with his question.

I don't know what it was about him, but I was slowly growing fonder of the big lug. Still, he had a question that needed answering.

"It's a dark drink made of coffee beans. It has a unique smell that…I can't really describe as anything other than 'coffee'…oh, and it's very energizing." I didn't think it would be prudent to introduce another new word, 'caffeine', and have to spend more time explaining-

"Like nibs?" Leigh asked. He'd been walking ahead of us, likely pouting for being forced to interact with Isabella who clearly had a little crush on him.

"What are those?" I asked, suddenly quite curious. Leigh lit up.

"They're a neat little snack the Jaguar tribe sometimes brings to trade with. They're a little bitter, but they make you all jittery and give you LOTS of energy!" He grinned and flexed his arms. "Makes me feel like a million bucks!"

Part of me wondered if he was talking about cocoa nibs, which made me further wonder just how similar this world was to Earth. So far, many of the plants and animals were exactly the same…the only difference, really, was the people, though it was an improvement so far, I think.

"I'd like to try some the next time they come to trade." I smiled gently at Leigh and he nodded excitedly. On that note, I decided to jot a little in my notebook as we walked. Gharret leaned over my shoulder and watched for a moment before he sighed.

"Now what?" I huffed a little at him, making a face before he laughed a little.

"I'm just disappointed that I don't know what you're writing. That's all."

I nodded, making an 'aha' sound before I got to thinking again. If I was going to implement writing and create a literacy statistic, there was going to have to be some teaching involved, possibly over a prolonged period of time. And children couldn't be taught simply because most of their childhood is spent as beasts, so we'd have to wait until they were much, MUCH older. It was a vastly different approach than how literacy developed on Earth, but if everyone had that basic skill, it would make everything that followed so much easier.

I was broken from my thoughts by a warm, wet tongue grazing my neck just behind my ear. It made me squeak and sent shivers up and down my spine.

"You wandered off again," Gharret said, amused. I punched his arm lightly in reply.

"So rude," I grumbled, cheeks flushed as he laughed at my expense.

"What's rude?" Leigh asked, hanging back a moment on our walk. We were heading back to the Community Hall for lunch at the moment, so the trek wasn't going to be terribly long.

"You'll know when you're older," we both responded, then giggled. Leigh pouted and crossed his arms.

"That's not fair. I'm an adult, now, y'know." He crossed his arms, looking away and appearing hurt by our comments. I frowned and looked up at Gharret, tugging on his arm. He shook his head silently in response…but I'm not very good at being told 'no'.

"Why not go ask Isabella? She's looking for a mate, you know." Gharret slapped a hand over his mouth and turned away as he began shaking. I wasn't sure what prompted the reaction until I looked at Leigh, who acted as though some vast, scary creature lurked behind us. I blinked.

"I, uh…N…I'm not…uh…" Leigh coughed and cleared his throat and looked away as well. I hated dancing around the bush and so I grumbled.

"You're not old enough to start mating, yet? Is that it? And she's an older female with a strange appearance? I mean, Gharret looks pretty weird, too-"

"Hey!"

"-but I'm mature enough and smart enough to see past all that and look at the qualities that REALLY matter in a person. Besides, other than her color – which is cute as heck in my opinion – she's pretty dang hot."

I would have continued walking if the arm I was attached to didn't suddenly stop moving. I stumbled a little and glanced back. Gharret's face was bright red and screwed up in a combination of interest and disgust. I looked at Leigh, who had the same look on his face. Okay, what the hell?

"What? I'm not interested in her like THAT. Calm down. I prefer hot dogs to tacos, no offense to tacos, of course." They became confused once again, so I continued. "I'm merely observing her as an outsider and drawing my own conclusions without any sort of cultural influence from the locals. And looking at just her appearance, she is quite beautiful. Her personality only adds to that, making her one of THE most eligible bachelorettes in this whole village. Moreso than me, even."

When they realized the content of my rant, they seemed to relax a bit and listen intently. I could count on the two of them to be ever faithful like that, though Leigh still looked mildly unconvinced.

"She is kind, sweet, beautiful, and full of energy…I bet she'd make a fantastic mother, as well as a mate to any male that thought to, y'know, accept. But most of, if not all, the males in this village are mewling idiots who don't know their head from a hole in the ground, especially if they can't see that Isabella is a prime candidate. I'd call them sheep, but even sheep have better sense…"

Gharret chuckled softly and pat the hand wrapped around his arm. I snorted at him, then looked down at Leigh.

"So if you want to find a quality mate, you need to start looking PAST appearances and realize the importance of what's inside. Okay?"

Leigh blinked, then nodded, seemingly empowered by my resolve.