Hello, lovely readers!

Thanks to anyone who has followed/favourited.
Reviews are very appreciated.

Mathias learning Danish is a tricky topic (of course, I'm writing in English, but it is Danish he's learning). Since he only speaks in a form of sign language, his inner thoughts are an interesting challenge. It was easy at first because I'm conveying his thoughts via written English, but now it's getting difficult as he learns fragments of spoken language. Basically what I'm doing is that when he learns a spoken word, it replaces the former thought he had about it. For example, when he learns how humans convey the concept of a 'tree' in speak, he now thinks of it that way instead of however he did before. It's weird and complicated but hopefully isn't too confusing.

Enjoy!

As the sun rose, Mathias had a thought occur to him that he hadn't considered yet. As many thoughts came, it was unprecedented and not entirely wanted, but he went and had it anyway. Because, now he had talked to the land-walkers and they hadn't been unkind to him. Because, now he had discovered that this magic-user, this human, had the ability to mask someone's aura.
From what his parents had told him (which he now knew could be partially untrue), the reason why his kind couldn't just join land-walker society was their aura. Though unnoticeable for humans, the aura of his kind was lethally distinct, and all sorts of horrible people would flock to him if he took one step into a city. But, apparently this magic-user could mask aura, so if his was masked…
There would be nothing stopping him from exploring the land-walking world.

The idea was unbelievably exciting, but also very dangerous. With all those probably malicious people, at least one of them would notice he was what he was, aura or not. Besides, he couldn't just leave his parents behind like that. All his life, they had looked after him and taken care of him, and though they unknowingly said untruths, they didn't mean a thing by it. From what he knew of them, they'd be so lonely without him. Should he give up his freedom, or give up the people he loved? He really wasn't sure.
His parents didn't suspect a thing. They asked where he was yesterday, and he had told them that he had gotten side-tracked and didn't realise he was far out until he was too tired to go back. This only seemed to make them more tense, and they kept on with their talking of finding a new home. He certainly didn't want one, but he also didn't want to tell them of his interactions with the land-walkers in fear they may prevent him from continuing. Maybe he'd befriend them really, really, well, and his parents would be so impressed about their bonds and feel guilty if they were to cut them. Yes, that was a good idea, considering the position he was in.

While Mathias was still unhappy that things he thought he were true weren't, he wasn't going to swim away this time. He felt really stupid for what had happened yesterday - he had a prime opportunity to communicate and he just wasted it in the end. He hoped the friendly not-human wouldn't think he was stupid.
As he got closer to the cabin, he noticed that they were all outside this time. At that strange piece of wood that they put their delicious-looking food on. They really seemed to like wood. Was that a land-walker thing?
Well, it didn't really matter. This time, his eyes were on the food. He never had variety, mostly just a whole bunch of fish, and was desperate to try something else. Maybe, if he asked nicely, they'd give him something…

This thought made him consider what he had been hoping lately. Wasn't he being way too hasty? He barely knew these people, why did he think that they'd give him food and continue to be kind to him and even mask his aura? Constant magic took effort, and it would be exhausting to constantly hold such a spell. Maybe the magic-user was doing it for a close friend, but why would they do it for him?
Despite reason, the hope still stayed with him, and he was pretty sure that it wouldn't leave until it was disproved or accepted. He would just have to follow the same protocol as the day before - the priority wasn't self-interest but rather to find out what was going on. He needed to know about the world, and how much he thought he knew was wrong.

Mathias floated near the land, and they seemed to be ignoring him, which was fine. They were probably enjoying eating all that food together, talking in that human language. Yet again, he found himself enraptured with it. His perceptions of under the wood-thing were biased considering the situation! It really was beautiful, and he felt himself being taken over by it.
He wanted to be able to speak it so badly, he really did. He wanted to understand the land-walkers, to be able to talk to them and laugh with them, and… And…
There he was, with those fantasies again. But, this particular fantasy was unbelievably enticing, more interesting than food and more likely than masked auras, so he was finding it even harder to push away. Maybe he could ask about this one thing.

At one point, all of them seemed to stop eating, but there still was a reasonable amount of food left on the table. Were they not going to eat that? He felt unbelievably envious, and was more set on his goal to get some human food. After all, why would they mind if they didn't want to eat it in the first place? Yes, they surely wouldn't care if he just had little bit.
They seemed to go into different activities after finishing. The one he had seen first went onto the strange device he had constantly seen all of them use, the scary one and the friendly one started a conversation, and the neutral one took out the same sort of object he had seen yesterday and started going through it.

He was getting a bit impatient, waiting for them to pay attention to him. How long had he been here? Surely long enough for them to notice. Maybe he should do something to get their recognition. Well, it would be really rude and disrespectful, and definitely wouldn't benefit him if he just floated there, too scared to get their attention. He just had to muster up his courage, to be able to -
And then they left. The friendly one and the scary one walked into the house, still talking, and the emotionless one gave a quick glance to where Mathias was before going inside, too. He felt slightly sick to his stomach, knowing that at least the emotionless one didn't want to be near him. Was he really that annoying? He hadn't taken into account that he might be annoying the land-walkers, and the thought made him uneasy.

The land-walker he had seen first (he wasn't sure if they were human anymore) noticed him after the emotionless one's glance, and they had an expression of somewhat guilt on their face. Mathias didn't know why, and his confusion grew worse as they approached him. What were they going to do? He felt uneasy around them, especially since the friendly one wasn't here, but he reasoned he could always swim away.
They used their strange human speak. He felt a pang at this, still wanting to understand the words. Surprisingly, they continued for quite a while, and he felt more and more upset at the fact he couldn't understand. All the land-walkers had different ways of saying words, and he definitely found this one's and the emotionless one's the most. He didn't know what it was, but there was something inherently beautiful in the way they said words. He was enchanted once again.

After the one-sided conversation, they stopped, seemingly frustrated. Then, after a minute of silence, they seemed to get an idea and pointed to themself. They said a single word. They repeated it a few times, putting as much emphasis in it as possible, and Mathias had easily memorised it. Then, the land-walker pointed to him. He paused, not really knowing what they were asking him to do. They made a noise of frustration, repeated the action and word again, then gestured back to him. He then realised what they wanted him to do. So, he tried to say the word, to copy the sound that they made.
The land-walker raised an eyebrow, and then smiled slightly. They said the word one more time, and Mathias followed suit.
"Emil."
He hesitantly pointed to them, and said it, but in a way that he tried to make sound questioning. They nodded, pointing to themself, saying it one more time. He understood what they meant, now.
Emil stood up and tilted their head at him, before going inside the house.

A shuddering thrill went through Mathias as he realised what had just happened. Another land-walker had tried to communicate with him! He felt absolutely overjoyed, and hope for the future took ahold of him. They were willing to teach him human language - at least one of them was. Now he knew their name, and that definitely was a great start.
But, he felt a bit of disappointment go through him because he hadn't learnt any of the untruths. He didn't really want to stick around, knowing that his entire life shouldn't be waiting by a wooden cabin for someone to come out. He swam away then, thinking about Emil's kindness.

The rest of the day wasn't very interesting. He found himself wishing that he was still there, as he hunted sea creatures and took a leisure swim around the lake. He thought about all the things he could possibly do if he were a land-walker, instead of spending his time bound to a lake. The things he could do if he asked that emotionless human…
He would have to wait until tomorrow.

When the morning came, he decided to wait until afternoon this time. He was spending his mornings simply waiting, and he wanted to spend the fresh air doing something more interesting. Therefore, he spent his time in The Wreck.
At the bottom of the lake, there was a wrecked human contraption. He had explored it a million times, looked at all the broken human objects, and even slept in it some days. It would be his home, but his parents didn't like it when he was there, because of something-something about pointy stuff and this thing called 'rust' and weird unknown contraptions. So, it was more like someplace he went when he had nothing better to do. The Wreck was really the only place he had, the only place he could say was his in the lake. It was his personal hideout.

Over the years, he had doodled across the ship. The algae-covered, rusted metal was perfect to create images in. They eventually were covered up again, but it was a hobby that passed the time effectively. That day, he found a sharp object and began to carve into the side of The Wreck. He wasn't thinking about whatever he was creating, just letting his arms take over, and only after he had finished did he realise he had drawn a land-walker. It reminded him of the emotionless one, and it made him uncomfortable. To make it better, he doodled a few fish around them to make them seem less menacing. He stared at it, thinking about the untruths. He should probably get going if he actually wanted to know about them.

Mathias swam up to the surface to look at the sun, and saw that it was already noon. He had spent more time than he had thought at The Wreck, and a part of him wanted to stay there, but he knew that there was a lot to be done, a lot to be asked.
He went off towards the cabin, but a pang of regret went through him when he saw the emotionless one sitting on the same bench they had been before. They were using the same object that they always seemed to have, but this one was much bigger, and there were more large ones next to them. They seemed to be frustrated by something, and upon seeing him approach them, got even more annoyed. He was hesitant to go up to them now, maybe this wasn't a good time…

But, there wasn't anyone else out, and hopefully if he came up the impossible one would get the friendly one. He might as well give it a shot, they had been kind to him before when freeing him from the curved-thing. But, as he got closer, the person slammed their object down and stood up abruptly. They were staring at him menacingly, and he felt fear course through him as they used their human words in a loud voice. He flinched back - they were angry? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, maybe he should get away before anything -
The human was clearly frustrated, probably because he couldn't understand their complaints, and they appeared to take a moment to get ahold of themself. After that, they returned to the usual emotionless expression and grabbed the objects, marching back inside the cabin.

He felt terrified after the sudden outburst, and wanted to leave, right then and there. That's what he tried to do, swim away from his bad decision, but it seemed that he wasn't allowed to yet. Someone called out to him, and he turned around to see Emil. They seemed concerned, and motioned for him to come to them. Though Mathias was scared, he was finding himself trusting Emil, after what they had done yesterday. He hesitantly went towards them, and they kneeled down, and said a singular word. He didn't know what it meant, but it seemed to be important somehow. Then Emil got a stick and doodled something in the dirt. He leaned over to see what it was, and it took on the appearance of the emotionless human. Then, they pointed towards the drawing, then the cabin, then back to drawing, and said a new word. They repeated it multiple times, and then motioned to him. Mathias nervously said it, then Emil nodded and pointed back to the doodle, saying it again. He think he understood, it was the human's name.
"Lukas."

Emil smiled a little and rubbed the drawing away, and said the very first word they had said once again. Then they got up, and with a little motion of their head, they walked alone. He was alone again, but he was feeling a bit better now. Lukas scared him, but he hoped that the confusion between them would go away and they could be friends, just like the language-knowing one and Emil.
They were his friends now? Yes, they were, he thought. At least in his mind, they had interacted enough to be classified as such. Maybe he just had low standards, as someone who had lived with nobody but his parents his whole life. And they were his parents, and though he loved them dearly, he needed someone, anyone else.
Mathias just didn't want to be lonely anymore. He was starved of people, starved of places, starved of life. He didn't know how he was supposed to live this way now that he actually had the chance to see more.

That evening, he found himself spending more time at The Wreck.

Mathias and Emil's friendship makes me very happy.

Thanks for reading!