The boy was just outside of the small building (now practically a tent), and he was gathering rocks. Specifically with the intent to throw. He'd lobbed his last one and hit Te Ka flat on the nose, but now he was out, and needed more. He didn't like those monsters. They were mean. They wanted to eat them all up, just like the darkness. And they were scaring everybody. So he had to stop them.
Not that he thought those things in words, of course. He didn't think anything in words at that point. He didn't even use them. He just knew what his mind meant without needing them. Like a feeling, maybe. And he knew what other people meant (mostly) without using words himself. He understood what evil meant when his nice lady friend told about it in her story, even if the term never suggested itself to him.
Well, it was a thing to be fought, if nothing else. So he picked up some good rocks. Then he chose a few more - the man with the blue eyes, who didn't have any hair, he would need some. He liked keeping people safe too. Even if he wasn't sure what "chief" meant or why people said it so much around the man, he at least knew he'd always fight the monsters.
His quest for good projectiles took him away into the trees nearby. That was one place he usually looked. But the further from the little building the boy got, the less he recalled the purpose. Rocks were rocks, after all. And eventually, he was just gathering them for fun. And for sticking them into his mouth. That was a habit of his. He wasn't sure why no one else ate them. They were tasty.
A breeze rustled through the trees, catching his attention, and he listened to it a moment. He liked breezes. They were like breathing without talking, without needing to talk. Like him.
The leaves in front of him shifted in the wind: just enough to reveal the beach ahead. That was when he saw her. One of the other children, a little girl. He didn't understand names just yet, much less know hers. But he'd seen her before. Which one was she? Ah, now he remembered. She was the one who laughed when she heard the stories. And she was picking up some things too, just like he was. What were they?
The boy tilted his head, then wandered a little nearer, silently curious. He wanted a closer look. As his view bettered, he saw that the things she was gathering weren't rocks. Or if they were, he'd never seen their kind before. They were pink, and much too big for eating. Or throwing. And that was when he remembered the monsters.
Now, normally, he would never have run up to anybody (except his nice friend) for any reason. But the threat of the monsters was so pressing, he couldn't be shy now. In fact, he was just about to burst out from the trees, dash down the path through the water, give the little girl some of his rocks (they would be easier to throw than the pink ones), and pull her back along with him to go back so they could both fight off the monsters together. But he did none of it. For at that moment, the boy saw something that made him drop his rocks at once.
The water stood up.
And yet it wasn't just water; it was a person. Maybe it didn't exactly look like it, but that's what it was. It had to be. He felt sure of that. The water stood straight up and became a person - a very old, mysterious, smiling person - tilting its head at the little girl, gleaming down upon her. At the sight of it, a sound sprang to the boy's lips, murmured in quiet awe.
It wasn't a word. At least, it wasn't a word in the village language. To them, and to every other human being, whatever language they spoke, it would sound only like a spurt of strange noises. But still, somehow... it was a word. A real word, with a meaning he knew but could never have explained. It was what - it was who - he saw before him. And it was also the first time he had ever said anything in his life.
But he watched on. The Person liked the little girl, it seemed. It tickled her when she touched it. It played with her hair. To him, it looked like the Person had made a new friend. A friend, but... something else, too. And, as he stared, he saw the Person bring something out of the water to her. Something green. He couldn't see what. Whatever it was, the Person was giving it to the little girl. And the boy knew, as the little girl took it in her hand, that there was just as much importance and trust in that as when he was going to give her his rock to fight monsters.
Suddenly, there was a voice yelling nearby. A voice the boy recognized. He turned to look, and spotted, just round the corner, out of sight from the beach, the man with the blue eyes. He was looking around for something. He sounded a little scared. The boy suddenly wondered if he was worried about keeping someone safe now, if one of the monsters had carried one of the little kids off to eat them, and the man was trying to catch them.
He glanced from the man back to the Person, unsure of what to do. For a moment, he thought of rushing up to the man, to see if he needed help saving somebody from the monsters. But as he glanced, the boy saw something new happening on the shore.
The Person was moving quick now, skootching the little girl back to the beach. Then, all of a sudden, it vanished. The Person was gone. There was only water there now. The boy's mouth slipped ajar and he let out a dismayed breath. No, no, what? Why was it running away? He would have shouted "come back!" if he'd learned how.
But a different person dashed into view before he could do anything else, catching his attention. When he saw it was the blue-eyed man, he watched even closer. The man scooped up the little girl and held her, and started talking to her. Ah, now the boy understood: it was her he thought the monsters got. But she wasn't getting eaten! She was with the Person, not the monsters! It confused him a little. But when he saw the man smile, he stopped worrying. If he was smiling, the boy knew it meant the monsters must be gone now. Everybody was safe again.
With this, he would've been perfectly satisfied, and wandered back to the village without another thought. But as they left, he noticed the little girl. She was reaching out, squirming, trying to go back. Acting like she'd left something behind. She couldn't go back; but her behaviour made him curious. So, as soon as the man had gone, talking with someone else, the boy scurried out across the sand. He had to see what she might have left.
When he got out there, he started to look around, but he suddenly felt something cold touching his toes. He hopped back, eeked by the sensation. Of course, he quickly saw the water receding, and guessed it had been that. It felt strange - he'd not touched the ocean before. He was a little hesitant now of going out further to find anything. But still, he looked around from where he stood.
Then he saw the glow. The same funny green glow he saw when the Person gave its present to the little girl. The thing, whatever it was, lay in the water, just past where it was damp. He hesitated, still a little freaked out by the water (at least, with no Person in it). But, with an urge of his mind, he jumped forward, snatched up the thing, and rushed back. He stumbled back in his haste and fell on his rear. Frantically, he scooted back out of the reach of the tide. Once he was sure he was at a safe distance, he sighed, pulled up his knees, and opened his hand to take a look at what he'd found.
And what he'd found made him grin, because it was, of all things, a rock. A green, glowy, swirly one, yes. But it was a rock! Instinctively, he popped it into his mouth. But something made him pop it right back out again.
The Person gave this rock to the little girl. It was something special, something important. Something it meant her to have.
He glanced over his shoulder anxiously. The man and the little girl were long gone now. He should go and give it back. She was supposed to get the special rock, not him. But now... well, with the threat of the monsters gone, he wasn't so very emboldened. He didn't know the little girl very well. He couldn't know her very well, because he couldn't talk to her (at least, that was how it seemed to work). And when there wasn't something scary, he was too scared to just go up to people he couldn't know very well.
The boy turned his gaze back to the water. Maybe he should give the rock back to it. Then it could give it back to the little girl on its own. He wouldn't have to do it.
He got to his feet and took a last look at the pretty green rock, not without a last smack of the lips. But he knew this one wasn't for him to eat. So he stepped up and held it out, cupped in his little hands. Secretly, he hoped that the Person would come back to get its rock, so he could see it one more time.
Instead of the Person, however, it was a little wave that came up. It crashed into him, knocking him further up the shore again. He kept his feet this time. But the water got into his eyes, and he started rubbing them furiously.
Suddenly, he felt something cool on his face, but it wasn't the water. He opened his eyes again. A breeze was blowing now from the sea, making glimmering ripples across the water. Another wave crashed upon the shore, but not straight across it. Curiously, it only went up narrowly in one place, right beside him, as if pointing behind. He turned to look back. There, of course, was the path to the village, but why...?
Something behind him seemed to rush up and push him toward it. He half-thought there was somebody really there, budging him forwards, and glanced back. But he only saw the water, splashing in its one place, pointing once again.
And in that moment, he understood. The Person was pushing him. The Person was pointing. The Person was still there, even though he couldn't quite see it. And it wanted him to go.
The word he had invented or remembered before came from him again as he smiled in wonder at the thought. It was almost a greeting. Hello, Person.
There was a moment with no words between them. Only breath and breeze. Then, a third wave pointed, and the wind from the sea blew stronger. That was the last push he needed. He spun on his heels and raced the wind back to the village, the special green rock still folded tight in his hand. Oh, he had no clear plan in mind at first, and only a vague sense of where he could go to find one. But he knew the Person wanted him to go back there, to take the girl's rock back there, for whatever reason. And that was enough for him.