{Night 08: His Name Is Kahil}

It'd been two days since I found the brat.

To be blunt, I'd literally chained him to the wall of our house for the entirety of it.

I growled, arms crossed over my chest. I was sitting in front of him, a portion of food between us. Uriel had gone out for a walk with Zaria. My mother was just outside, braiding rope. The kid hadn't spoken a word to us since I'd brought him home, nor had he eaten. We'd since then bandaged his eye and dressed him in loose, ragged black clothes. Because Chaya had been worrying he'd hurt his feet walking around barefoot, I'd even donated my sandals, not that the little shit had done a whole lot of walking.

Growling, I stood up and went to the curtain. Snapping it aside, I stomped my foot with a growl.

"Yes, Mal?"

"Is force-feeding allowed in this house?!"

After a moment, she sighed, "He still isn't eating?"

"An' it's gettin' on my nerves!" I snarled, stomping my foot several times for emphasis.

She sighed, standing up. I found myself pushed outside and sat down to braid rope. As I clumsily worked the stuff in my hands— I was no good at this and she knew it— I laid down right outside the doorway so I could listen...

I got a faceful of dust, and vaguely saw my mom's sandal as I recoiled, coughing and spitting. My eyes streamed a bit as I scrubbed at them, not really succeeding in doing anything more than lodging the dirt deeper. It didn't get any better as I sneezed, instinctively swallowing afterwards and taking in a mouthful of sand.

By the time that I'd actually finished clearing my mouth and vision out, Mom had returned and reclaimed her rope.

"So? What'd you do?" I asked, standing up as she sat down.

"Have at him." she sighed.

A-ha!

I stomped back inside and sat huffily in front of the kid. "Listen, you!" I growled, grabbing his shirt-front. "We have trouble finding edible things in this dump, so every mouthful is eaten happily! My mom and I are givin' up a lot more than ya realize by setting aside sumthin' for you, Not-Rot! If ya really don't wanna eat, then I'll stop bein' so generous an' eat it for you!"

He said nothing, just glowered at me.

I shoved him back, his back colliding with the wall. As I snatched up the portion, taking a mouthful, a glimmer of disbelief coursed through his single red eye, and I heard his stomach audibly growl. His until-then tense body relaxed, probably in shock that I was actually following through with my threat.

Gotcha.

Not-Rots were really kinda stupid.

I pinned his wrists to the wall with one hand and straddled his waist, forcing my mouth over his. His eye widened, and he started to struggle, opening his mouth to yell. That was just what I wanted, using my tongue to push the food into his mouth. That done, I pulled away and planted my hands over his mouth and nose.

"I won't let you breathe until you swallow it!" I yelled in my most menacing voice, looming over him as he thrashed, screaming against my hands. I could faintly hear someone outside asking what was going on, and the rustle of the curtain as someone, presumably my mom, looked in. "Damn you, you little bitch! Shut up and just do as you're told!"

Finally, he swallowed.

"See? Was that so hard?" I huffed, taking my hands away and leaning back. He glared at me. "So, are gonna eat on your own now, or am I gonna hafta feed you like that from now on?"

As I got off of him, he reluctantly sat up and started eating. I smiled.

"Ey, look, he's puttin' food in 'is mouth!"

I flopped back on the floor. Zaria and Uriel were back. "Y-o. Have a good run?" I asked.

Zaria grinned as Uriel came to rest his head on my stomach. She held up what looked like a curtain of glass beads, black, purple, pink and blue. "Whaddya think?"

I blinked, then pushed Uriel off and rolled into a sitting-position. "... What is it?"

"I dunno, but Ur found it fer me!"

Blinking, I stood up and took it from her. She waited, smiling.

I wrapped it around her waist. "Hey, that's kinda pretty..."

"Okay!"

Zaria took the curtain back from me, stabbed her wand into the dirt, and dropped her shorts. Behind me, the boy squealed, and I could hear the slap of his hands meeting his face. I ignored him for the time being and turned Zaria around. She offered the ends of the curtain to me. I saw that they had lengths of black cord coming from them, probably from where more curtain had once been. I tied them together so it fit comfortably about her hips, and then turned it so the tie was at her side. That way it would part some when she walked... theoretically. It looked like she was still just a tad too small and thin for that, the curtain falling down some. All the same, it was pretty, going well with her hair, eyes, and chest-bandages. It'd do that when she aged and fleshed out more.

"Aah! Look, it glitters in the light, just like your magic! All purply and ever'thin'!" I exclaimed as she spun around to show it off. Uriel made happy squawking noises, jumping back and forth with his tail up high.

After we settled down from their find, we looked back to the boy. He was just about done with the food, but not quite... and was no longer touching it.

"Hey!" I growled, reaching to grab him.

"No, Mal!" Zaria exclaimed, grabbing me. "Quack s'ys th't if ya ha'ent eaten in a while, yer tummy shrinks, an' yah c'nt eat 's much! Ye'll make 'im sick!"

"... Oh..." I sat down, looking at the kid. "... If yer done, what's left should go to Uriel. He's got a lot of growing left to do, he needs as much food as we can spare him."

The kid said nothing, sulking as I reached out to take the remaining food. Uriel started playing, jumping about eagerly. He liked eating a lot, and got very excited when he was fed.

"So, kid, ya got a name?" Zaria asked as I tossed Uriel tidbits of food. He jumped up and snapped his teeth in the air as I threw each piece, catching them without fail.

"'S none of your business..." my find mumbled, shuffling to the side and pulling his knees to his chest.

I stopped throwing food to Uriel, glaring at the brat. "It is so our business, ye li'l shit!" I snarled.

"Well, slaves don't have names!" he burst out, eye tearing up.

Zaria and I were silent as he turned away from us, snuffling.

"Kahil."

"Huh? Whaddnow?" Zaria asked in confusion, adjusting her new skirt.

"Yer name. It's Kahil." I said stubbornly, all but glaring at the boy.

"H-huh...?" he sniffed. The bandages over his eye were coming undone, falling down about his neck and exposing his sagging eyelid.

I scooted closer to him. He hissed, trying to back away. I growled, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him close. Fixing the linen, I asked Zaria, "You gunna keep those shorts?"

"Hm? These?" she asked, picking them up from the ground. Uriel looked up from where he'd been eating, batting at the fabric dangling from her fingers.

"Yeah, those. Now that ya have the skirt." I nodded.

"Nah. Why, y'wannem?"

"These bandages keep falling down, but we can use the fabric from those to make a patch for him, and that'll stay up better." I said, finishing with the bandages. Kahil pushed me away, growling.

"Sure thang! Works fer me!"

"Stop talking like I'm not here! And what did you call me?!"

I looked at the little skeleton next to me. "Kahil. That's your name now."

"'Precious friend,' hm?" My mom had come back in, her rope hanging in loops around her arm. "Is that what he is to you, Malik? A precious friend?"

"So what if he is?! What'll ya do 'bout it, bitch?!" I challenged.

"Nothing. Zaria, honey, while you're here, will you help me string this up with a little magic?"

"Sure! Whatcha doin'?"

"I found a crate of bottles the other day. I've emptied and cleaned them up, and now I want to hang them up for when we need them. They'll also make the house a bit prettier."

As Zaria used small puffs of wind-magic to blow the rope up the the ceiling, Kahil looked at me. "... precious... friend...?" he said in a soft voice.

"Because I said so. Stop tryin' t' run an' I'll unchain ya." I huffed, standing up to help with the bottles. I heard him squeal in surprise as Uriel decided to sit on his lap, officially making him part of the family.