The drizzle of rain continued on until Evan woke up several hours later. He sat up and stretched, his back cracking a bit. He let out a groan of relief before he realized he'd fallen asleep in his day clothes.
He then realized he hadn't gotten any of his chores done throughout the storm. He glanced at the Enderman, who was still relaxing quietly on the big rug beside the fire. Kuu turned around to look at him with a greeting "Prrdh" sound.
"I need to go out and get some chores done." Evan said, stretching again. He grabbed his umbrella, opened the door, and stepped outside.
The grass was wet with rain, and there were puddles here and there. He went about his chores quickly; feeding and tending to his livestock, before he quickly went inside, kicking off his muddy boots at the door and setting down the milk pail and tray of eggs. He set the umbrella aside to dry, before he bottled the milk and placed both milk and eggs in his cooling cellar.
"It's miserable out there." Evan said. Kuu chirped in response. He had made no attempt to follow Evan outside; it was still raining and he wasn't about to subject himself to that. Kuu knew what it did to him.
The rain finally stopped a few hours later, and once the sun came out Evan could feel the warmth coming in through the window. He looked out to see the sky was blue once again, with a few puffy white clouds here and there.
Kuu lifted up his head, and chirped happily. The clouds were gone and the rain had stopped! Evan jumped a bit as he heard the vwoomp of a teleport. He turned to see the Enderman was gone.
For a moment, a stab of disappointment went through Evan. He had hoped Kuu would stay. But it seemed the Enderman had left as soon as he was able. Evan wasn't too terribly surprised. A part of him had expected it. He was just disappointed. That was all.
He hadn't so much as said good bye. Evan looked out the window with a small sigh. Well... looked like things would be going back to normal for now. He started straightening things up, and scrubbing the blood up off the floor. He wasn't sure what to do about the deep gouges in the floor. He'd probably have to replace those floorboards. But for now he just made sure there weren't any splinters.
He was just about finished when – vwoomp -the Enderman was back. He was chirping and cooing happily. Evan actually smiled as he turned around.
He was back! He noticed the Enderman had something in his hands. It was a good-sized chunk of sparkling stone; laced with quartz and gold. He set it down at Evan's feet, still chirping excitedly.
"Is this for me?" Evan asked. He motioned towards the stone, then to himself, making sure his voice sounded like a question.
"Prrrrrdh!" Kuu nodded, eyes bright. Up close, his eyes were actually rather pretty. The sclera was very light purple, almost white. The iris was a darker purple, with a very narrow, slitted dark purple pupil. The whole eye glowed, and trails of glowing energy constantly seemed to be flowing from the claws, eyes, and mouth, along with the back spines when they were out. It gave him an unearthly ethereal look.
Evan couldn't help but smile. "Thanks." he said. "So... are you going to stay here?" He didn't know why he kept talking to Kuu, who clearly couldn't understand him. But Kuu didn't mind; understanding or not, the company was nice. He liked when the human talked to him.
Evan heard the distinct cooing of the Enderman, who positioned himself in front of the fire, before looking back at him with a brief purr. He clearly liked the fire; and Evan figured that meant he intended to stay; though he knew the Enderman hadn't actually meant to answer his question. Maybe he'd sensed his disappointment when he left; or seen his smile when he returned? He wasn't sure, but he was fairly sure the Enderman was there to stay.
"I need to make you a bed... hm. And I need to get some things in town..." Evan mused. He looked to the door. He motioned with his hand towards Kuu, trying to make the point that he needed him to stay there, at the house, while he left. Once it seemed that Kuu finally got the point, and would stay at the house, Evan saddled up Jack, put his satchel of coins in he saddlebags, mounted up, and rode towards the village.
Unknown to him, the endlessly curious Kuu had decided to follow him, staying just out of sight. Especially when they got close to the village. He hung back, though he watched from the treeline. He was curious, but he wasn't stupid.
First stop, the Blacksmith's. The Blacksmith's shop was actually outside of town; a bit separated from the rest. Luka was known to be rather reclusive, unless he was selling alcohol, armor, weapons, or tools; or buying ores and precious stones.
"Back again, eh, Evan?" The burly man behind the counter asked. He wore tattered clothing, and had black hair, almost forming a shaggy mane around his head. His rugged features were framed by a thick black beard and mustache. Some speculated that the man was half Dwarf; but Evan doubted it. The man was a good six foot tall and Dwarves were generally not very tall. His arms were rather hairy, and he smelled of sweat and hard work. Of course this was normal; he lived and worked in his blacksmith's shop, brewing the strongest alcohol in the village as a hobby. The distillery could be seen behind the main shop, as well as the entrance to the cellar where his brew aged to perfection. After a long, hard day of work with molten metal and fire, one couldn't help but get sweaty no matter how well they bathed. He was well muscled, but had a bit of a beer belly. He had a rather deep and gruff voice, though not unpleasant. His eyes, though, where his most striking feature, an odd golden yellow. Almost wolfish.
"This time, I have a few things of value." Evan said. He set down the chunk of stone, with the gold ore laced in it, as well as the chunk with diamonds in it.
"Hmm..." Luka scrutinized it. "That's one fine pickaxe you have to make such clean cuts in the stone." He ran his hand along the deep gouges in the stone. Evan cringed for a moment, hoping it wasn't visible.
"You make the best equipment." Evan said.
"Mm... Even my diamond-edged tools don't cut so cleanly." Luka mused. "And last I knew you had the an Iron one." He shrugged it off with a jolly belly laugh. "Ehhhh" he said gruffly. "I'm not gonna question good gold." His eyes brightened as he looked at the diamond-encrusted stone. "Or good diamonds!" He didn't comment on the strange, clean-cut grooves in the stone.
Luka reached down under his counter, where Evan heard a click. He then brought out a satchel, into which he started counting coins. Evan was shocked at the amount he was getting, but he didn't question it. Soon, he was handed a large bag heavy with coins.
"Pleasure doing business with you." He patted the bag which Evan took and tucked away. He knew Luka was trustworthy, if a bit eccentric.
"Same to you." he nodded. "I'll be back if I find anything else you'd be interested in." he said.
As he left, he didn't notice the man's oddly wolfish eyes following him out the door, his gaze knowing.
Next stop, the book shop. It was there that Evan picked up a picture book. It was meant for young children, but could be a good way to attempt to try to teach Kuu to understand him, and vice versa. It had pictures of all sorts of things; clearly illustrated. Kuu seemed to like anything shiny or brightly colored so the brightly colored illustrations, he hoped, would keep his attention long enough.
Evan had never taught anybody anything before, much less an entire language. He really wasn't even sure where to start! These thoughts filling his mind, he headed to Trader Dan's.
As the bell over the door rang to announce Evan's entry, the older man waved a hand in greeting.
"Ey, Evan! Welcome back!" he said. "Any more news on that Enderman?"
Evan froze for a moment, before clearing his throat. "Erm.. yeah, I've seen him hanging around my place, once or twice." he said. "But he doesn't seem to be much of a threat. I wouldn't worry about him."
"You seemed pretty unsettled about it last time you came here." Dan commented.
"That was before I ended up looking him right in the face three times without a scar to show for it." Evan said. "I don't know... he doesn't seem aggressive. At least not for now. Anyway, I wanted to stop and say hi and pick up a few things."
He wandered the shop, picking up a few items here and there. As he came to the counter, he placed down ingredients to make a cake, a measuring stick, new bedding, some clothes, and a nice, big, soft blanket he'd seen that caught his eye. He wanted to get something for Kuu, but he was at a loss for what an Enderman would like. He wished he could ask him. It was only fair he got something out of all of this... but nothing he saw seemed like something the Enderman would be interested in; and he had no intention of asking Dan what an Enderman might like.
As he made his purchase, Dan's daughter Leanna came out from the back. She greeted the man with a wave of her hand.
Leanna was, as far as village women went, rather pretty. She had a nice shape to her, and pretty green eyes and wavy reddish-brown hair. She dressed nothing like the other village women though; who generally did nothing but prattle on about the current gossip currently making its rounds.
Leanna dressed in simple workman's clothes. According to her, they were sturdy and comfortable; not like the fancy finery the other girls pranced about in. To her clothes were about function, not looks. She was never seen in a dress. She didn't care about the color of her shoes, or the stains on her work apron. She was, in general, an independent and hard working woman in her early twenties.
"Hey, I missed you last time." Evan said, as he loaded the saddlebags with his new supplies.
"You couldn't stick around for a few minutes to say hi?" The woman teased as she followed him out.
"I had other things on my mind." Evan chuckled.
"Such as encountering Endermen and all? You actually saw one? Three times?" She sounded curious.
He nodded, not telling about how the Enderman had fled into his home, and was still there (Or so he thought) waiting for his return. "He never attacked me. Just growled and ran off." he said.
Evan tested the stirrup, and mounted Jack, who stood patiently as the man positioned himself in the saddle for more comfort. The mule was a studious and obedient beast; well trained, as Dan had promised.
The mule plodded along, Leanna walking beside him as the two chatted idly. The two unknowingly walked right past Kuu, who slipped like a silent shadow through the trees, sniffing the air curiously. He crept closer to Leanna to get a clearer reading on her scent, then let out a little huff of breath. So THIS was where the human had ran off to! A little smirk appeared on his dark face. He'd gone of to speak with a female! The scent coming off of the man told Kuu he was, in fact, interested in the female. That, and the female was interested in him as well! He couldn't understand how the human couldn't smell her interest! Why he wasn't courting the female, the Enderman had no clue. The human seemed clueless.
After a few minutes, Evan reined in the mule, pulling him to a stop. It was time for them to part ways. "I'll see you later, Leanna." He said, waving to her pleasantly.
The woman waved back, before heading back to her father's shop. Evan spurred the mule into a steady trot. The trip to and from town was so much faster and easier atop Jack.
Kuu ran ahead, enough so that his teleport wouldn't be heard, and slipped back into the house, laying before the fire as if he had never followed Evan. He could tell Evan had wanted him to stay, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He chirped a greeting as Evan opened the door and came in.
"Hey, I brought you something!" He said, before he brought out the book, going to sit beside Kuu with it.
Kuu chirped questioningly.
Evan opened it up; and their work began. Evan spoke his word for what was illustrated in the image. Kuu got the point quickly, keen eyes going from Evan, to the book. Kuu could only assume that the human was saying his words for things there were pictures of in the book. When the human looked at him expectantly, Kuu was smart enough to realize he was asking him what his word for the object in the picture was. He was glad to oblidge, speaking his word for the object more then once. He actually picked up surprisingly quickly; which impressed Evan. Not only was the Enderman senient, he appeared to be intelligent as well! By the time daytime wore into night time, Kuu and Evan were able to communicate very basic things. Evan was actually surprised how patient Kuu was. He expected him to grow tired of them reciting words back and forth, but he did not. He clearly wanted to learn, which made for a much easier time of it.
They were incapable of speaking eachother's languages. Kuu had tried; and the attempts were hard for Evan to understand. Instead, he figured they could learn to understand eachother. Even if they did not speak the same language, any understanding between them was a step forward.
It was Evan that grew tired first. His yawning alerted him that the sun was down and the moon high in the sky.
"I go to bed." Evan said simply. He pointed to himself, then pointed to the bed as he spoke. Kuu seemed slightly disappointed that the lesson had ended, but he could tell the human was tired. Humans got tired quickly, he thought; he seemed to sleep every time the sky got dark. On Kuu's end, he hadn't slept since his wounds had healed. He didn't need to sleep; at least, not often. He slept sometimes; though mostly if he'd expended a lot of energy, or was injured, neither of which was the case at the moment.
As Evan slept, Kuu carefully rifled through the pages, remembering the words Evan had spoken. He eventually grew bored of that, though, and dozed off on the rug by the fire.