A/N: This bit is dedicated to the ones that haven't quit yet! :)
Thank you so much! :D
I hope you enjoy this bit! ^^
I opened the door and started heading out to the corridor.
"Need help getting back? This house may be a maze for the new ones." Shira asked.
"No, thank you. Getting lost is what I need right now."
Shira flashed an understanding smile. I took off.
The house was truly a maze. I thought while passing through the same place for the fourth time. At least it seemed like I had passed through that place. I sighed and sat on the stairs to my right. Enough energy guarded, I went up the stairs. I never did that before, so I felt anxious. Then I laughed at myself. I was behaving like a little kid. Was that wrong?
I reached a corridor with countless doors on each side, separated by the same space, facing each other. I started to walk it down. To my right I saw an open door and, for my surprise, I found Dark Fur inside. She was lying on the bed, perfectly peaceful.
"Dark Fur likes to sleep in Diam's bedroom sometimes, when he's away" a voice sounded to her right. The man was tall, dark-skinned, bald and had gold tattoos surrounding his whiskey-coloured eyes. I was almost sure that pattern of his tattoos had something to do with an ancient tribe, the Gergowns, maybe? However, hadn't that tribe ceased to exist as well? I wasn't that sure, so I decided not to mention it. Now, the thing that was bothering me the most, was that I had no idea what his name was, even though he had been introduced to me a couple of days before.
"Is that so? She was with me all this time, I never knew," I confessed.
"Of course, she'll be with you, when you can talk to her. You can, right?" He asked expectant.
"I do," I confirmed still looking at Dark Fur. Then I turned my gaze to him. "Tell me, do you know much about talking animals?"
"Well, my tribe believes that when the Gods created us, they created us as a whole. Man, woman and animal. However, because of the great amount of strength the Coubicians, that's what those beings were called, the Gods, threatened, decided to divide them. The animal was the first to be separated. Long centuries passed and everything seemed to be at peace, until the Duoblaers, the man and woman together, discovered they could talk to the animals. Soon the strength they had lost was restored again. The Gods had to go through another measure. This time it'll be a harder one. The man and woman were separated and lost their eternity. That's why we starve for it, because long ago we were in the possession of the living forever. But they couldn't let them simply die off, the Gods, even though they felt threatened by the beings they had created, they still adored them and wished them to live on. The animals, too, lost their eternity and were divided into female and male. To be precise, they were turned into female and male. Then to make sure the beings lived on, they "introduced", so to say, the idea of procreation." He smiled at my instinctive blush. He had dimples. "The sense of survival and fear was also newly hosted in both humans and animals. The rest is History. However, we still hold the way of speaking to our animals, but just to our own. That animal that was part of our ancestors thousands of years ago."
I took in the story and analysed it. A question popped in my mind. "But if the animals are able to mate, does it mean that their kids are able to talk to both their parents "humans", so to say?"
He smiled. "I asked the same thing." Then, laughed. "Not every offspring inherits the mother or father's "ability". There's one in the breed that inherits the mother's and one that inherits the father's. That's why there are a lot of animals that cannot talk."
"Hasn't there been any case of an animal that inherited both the mother's and father's ability?"
"Not that anyone has known of."
Another question crossed my mind. "What if the animals are killed, before they get the chance to talk to their… mates?"
"They may never reunite again and will never feel fulfilled. Something will ever seem they miss and they don't know exactly what."
"That's sad." I looked again to Dark Fur, who still peacefully rested in the bed.
"It is," he agreed. "Glad that you found yours, too."
"You found yours?" I was surprised. "What does it look like? How you found it?"
"It's a mountain lion. My tribe kept a close relationship to its animals. I know Straight Moustache ever since I was a kid."
"Straight Moustache?" I found the name quite funny.
"Yes." He laughed. "Their names are quite funny."
I laughed. "I wonder if our names sound funny to them."
"Probably." His eyes shone with amusement.
"One more question... What about the humans? Do they also inherit the mother's/father's ability?" That wasn't the exact question I wanted to ask.
"What do you exactly mean?"
"Well, imagine you inherit your father's ability." He nodded. "Then your sister gets your mother's and then... Wouldn't that mean you'd be soul mates?"
"No." He thought about it. "That's the tricky part. You are the daughter of your parents, but not of their souls. They may shape your spirit, your appearance, but not your essence."
After that statement, we fell into deep silence. I was thinking about his words. Somehow that made sense.
"Well, see you, Desdemona." He winked and turned to leave.
"See you, hum…" I struggled to remind myself of his name.
"It's Kaveh."
"I'm so sorry. I should've known." I blushed, embarrassed.
He smiled. "It's ok. Even I had trouble to memorise everyone's name."
"I surely won't forget yours now." I admitted.
"Am glad to hear that." He left.