Coran had gotten to work making a grave for their grandfather-figure almost immediately. They didn't feel sad. Julius had lived a long and happy life, and left Coran with only pleasant memories. When they thought back on him in later years, it was only with fondness. They could only be thankful to the gods for giving them the opportunity to spend ten years of their life with him.
Searching for a shovel to dig the hole with had taken little time, but digging the hole itself was where they struggled. Coran was by no means muscular. They were still rather small and thin for their age, and they couldn't think of any spells to dig the hole with ease. Besides, even if they did, they wanted to put effort into Julius's final resting place.
A sound startled them out of their attempts at digging a hole. It sounded as if someone had tripped and fell onto a bush. They set their shovel down, looking towards the nearby woods. A bush indeed seemed to be rustling, and someone's head popped up from behind it. Coran made eye contact, but their eyes were quickly drawn up to a pair of floppy ears. They looked back to the Taguel's face in surprise. Coran thought they had all been hunted down..?
The Taguel jumped up, running back into the woods. Coran held a hand out in that direction as if to tell them to wait, but no words came from their mouth, and they continued with the digging of the hole, not wanting to chase the Taguel. By the time they were even semi-satisfied with the hole, it was dark, and they were exhausted. Only meaning to rest their eye for a moment, they ended up falling asleep, not waking til the sun rose again.
Coran looked at the hole and frowned, as it was no longer a hole. Someone had dumped all of the dirt back in it. Sighing, they looked around. Nobody seemed to be in sight, and they resumed their task, making sure Julius's body stayed out of the sun and in the shade of the tree. They worked til midday, at which point they decided they needed to eat. After their short lunch break, they found that the hole had been filled in again, and groaned.
"W-what in the w-world..."
They looked to the bush they had seen the Taguel in earlier, only to see them spying on them. Upon realizing they were discovered, they turned to run away again, and Coran called out.
"Wait! I'm n-not going to h-hurt you!"
The shapeshifter seemed to ignore them and they sighed, getting back to work. They really wanted to finish this grave before Julius rotted away! By the time night fell again, the hole was mostly finished. They decided to pretend they were sleeping so they could catch whatever was filling in the hole every time they made progress. Coran's suspicions were on the Taguel, but they didn't want to jump to conclusions. They heard rustling and opened their eyes.
"Why d-do you k-keep filling the h-hole in?" A squeak came from the figure.
"This is no place to bury your dead!" It was the Taguel. Coran blinked.
"You're right..." They looked over at Julius's body. He deserved to be buried somewhere better. Their eyes widened. Gods, they were a fool! "I sh-should bury him at his o-old childhood h-home..." They watched the Taguel kick the dirt back. "W-why do you c-care about what I do?" The Taguel clicked their tongue.
"I don't. I just don't want this human being buried here." Coran frowned.
"Oh... S-sorry for assuming th-things of you." They took the tarp they had, wrapping Julius's body in it.
"... That's the first time a human has apologized to me." Coran smiled at them.
"W-well, it won't b-be the l-last if you keep t-talking to me. My n-name is Coran."
"... Baize."
Baize walked closer to them, and Coran noticed the blue, almost armor-like leather they wore on their upper half. Their face and body seemed rather feminine, but the way they carried themself was the opposite. Coran's eyes flicked up to their ears, and noticed the accessories on them were ones they recalled only male Taguel wore. They decided Baize was probably male in that case. Coran realized they were being sniffed, and tried not to look weirded out. Apparently they succeeded.
"Where are you gonna bury it?" Coran frowned.
"I-I'm going to b-bury him up north in F-Ferox."
"Right. Him. I'm going with you." Baize stated, looking around.
"Y-you are?" He nodded.
"You look like you've never travelled alone, and I'm getting sick of this place. Both of us get something out of it. Where did your friend go?"
"My f-friend?" Coran questioned stupidly before realizing this was a Taguel they were talking to, and he probably meant their horse. "O-oh, right, sh-she's over there, with the cart."
Baize picked up Julius's body, carrying him over to the cart, and Coran followed with only the slight objection that he shouldn't carry Julius so carelessly. In the end it don't matter. Coran couldn't help but laugh a little at their odd new friend, if they could call him that. It was going to be an interesting ride, to say the least.
Word Count: 882
In which Coran makes a surprising new acquaintance.
In case you're wondering, Baize is indeed a trans boy. I'd also like to note that I kept the tradition of naming taguel after types of fabric. The first sentence you'll see when looking it up is from Wikipedia:
"Baize is a coarse woollen (or in cheaper variants cotton) cloth."
And, in case you aren't aware (because you haven't seen my A/N on Another Chance, which I would completely understand tbh), I'm updating four chapters of this to make up for the lack of update over there. Enjoy?
In a few minutes: Coran grows closer to their new companion.