Brutus again wore his poncho and ornamental belt. He followed closely behind Anthony, trying not to lose him in the crowd of apes that filled the main street. He could smell the aromas of fried meat and warm sweet bread. Sliced fruit stood in staggering towers and were stabbed on long sticks.

Almost every ape would be here in the town center. Julius was the exception.

As a larger than average orangutan, he hated crowds and had told Brutus a million times how much better he liked it near the forest. Which was just as well, especially because the human who was taking refuge there.

Anthony moved through the crowd easily, creating a small slipstream for Brutus to take advantage of. They made it to the steps of the gathering center without one losing the other.

The gorilla huffed and turned around to face Brutus and pointed at the doors, "Your Father will meet you here, I will let him know where you are."

Brutus nodded and climbed the steps to where Anthony had pointed. He waited, facing the large crowd of apes moving about, they looked so small from up top. Then, He could feel his father's gaze before a large hand grabbed his shoulder.

Brutus flinched and turned to see his father's stern eyes boring into him.

"Son," he grunted, "you went away too soon."

Brutus caught his breath and bowed his head, "Ziro needed my help for a moment, but he's alright now."

His father nodded thoughtfully, "it's always good to help your friends, together we're stronger. But he must remember that with today as a special holiday, his questions can wait."

Brutus nodded silently, it was best to agree and silently endure the rest of his lecture. It went faster that way. Then, he noticed that his father was quiet, too quiet for what he expected from the standard.

He looked at his father, an ape with sharp features and even sharper eyes- but now they were melancholy looking over the others in the crowd below.

"Son… Brutus," he began, "you're old enough to understand something."

Brutus waited for him to speak more, but instead his father's hands raised and began signing.

The peace we have now is not as stable as apes think.

Brutus signed simply, why?

Long ago, the humans ruled this land, apes had no voice. When apes rose against them, the humans lost their voices. They became savage, angry, and killed many apes.

A painful look came over his father's face, as if the memories of the past were something he witnessed himself.

Together, apes drove many of them away, the few who remain we study. But humans are coming back in more numbers than before, we fear they will overwhelm the apes.

Brutus felt a weight drop into his stomach. The human female's face flashed across his mind. it was so rare to see one, he never considered there would be more. What if her presence was a sign of something bigger coming for them?

What will we do if we find them? He signed.

His father took a moment to respond, We will make sure they'll never hurt apes again.

—

Brutus found himself wandering in the crowd of apes, thinking deeply about what his father told him. It was common knowledge that the apes drove the humans away like pests, but he never knew the full reason for their amnesty.

His father made Brutus swear he wouldn't tell anyone what he'd said- The secrets of the elders were keys to peace in the community. He wondered, though, if he should confide in Julius, who was much older and wise.

He could've been the representative orangutan if he hadn't turned it down. He preferred to learn about medicine for apes, but many wouldn't go to him on account of his perceived insanity. Brutus and Ziro didn't mind him though, he was much more entertaining than most adults. Brutus shook his head, remembering that they had barely become adults too.

He paused and watched the collections of families and friends, some milling about and others chattering excitedly amongst each other. All apes from all walks of life, joined together in celebration. He felt a warm glow in his chest, it was nice to see this kind of peace, he hadn't known anything else.

His mind wandered back to the human. Did she have this kind of feeling when she was with her own kind? He wondered what her family was like, did human parents care for their young like apes?

His mother seemed to think that they did at one time. They were only able to reproduce one or two humans at a time and had a longer development period than most animals, which suggested long parental bonding. But it was hard to know these things for sure, the samples she received were all dead or close to it.

He remembered the first time he saw a human, it wasn't quite dead yet. It was an old male with thin, frizzy hair that stuck out in all directions- even the hair on his face. His mother's lab tried to keep him alive, but the human didn't survive for more than a week. They said he was elderly, probably abandoned by the human group for being weak. He remembered wondering what kind of savage species left their elders to fend for themselves.

Brutus began to move back to Julius' hut, his determination increased with every step. He could tell that she knew more than she let on, her eyes said everything. Even when he asked her directly if she understood, she was clearly debating about how to answer. Julius and Ziro laughed at him, but they wouldn't be laughing for much longer. He was going to get that human to tell him everything.

—

Ziro watched the human with increasing discomfort. they'd moved from the table to next to the hearth and Julius was showing the human his collection of scrolls. He doubted that the human understood any of it. Her flat face and round head looked so alien to him, almost ape-like but not quite.

He looked at Julius who was acting as though this was a perfectly normal daily occurrence. Sometimes, he didn't understand the old orangutan, he respected him deeply, but he knew he was a little…odd.

His own parents had warned extensively against spending too much time around Julius. Of course, as a normal adolescent with Brutus as a driving force, he ignored the warnings and spent a good deal of his development years learning about the world through his eyes. But now as he watched the orangutan with this human, he was beginning to understand his parent's point of view.

"You know she doesn't understand you," Ziro said dully.

Julius looked up and the human glanced at him before turning her eyes back to the ground.

"Don't be so sure of that, animals understand you more than you know. Even if she can't read, she understands your tone."

The orangutan may have read to her, but Ziro knew from experience that Julius never expected the human to understand the words he spoke.

Ziro waited until he looked back at the human before rolling his eyes. He let out a breath and stood, moving back to the door and standing outside. He stared out towards the middle of town where the rest of his friends and family were probably having fun. They didn't have a human weighing on their minds, he wasn't stuck there at the hut, but a sense of obligation to Brutus kept him rooted.

A figure appeared in his view and he recognized the shape and lope as it grew larger. Brutus was coming- quickly. The urgency of the stride made Ziro snap to attention, preparing himself for bad news.

Brutus swept past him into the hut before Ziro could ask what was happening. He followed his friend inside, shutting the front door tightly, almost tasting the tension in Brutus' aura.

—

Brutus ignored Julius' greeting. He crouched down and, without ceremony, grabbed the human's shoulders to make her look into his face. He was taken aback at the icy blue color of her eyes, they showed fear, but not like a beast's. She was controlling the rest of her face like she was trying to look brave. This solidified Brutus' theory. He tightened his grip on her shoulders and kept his voice low but emphasized his words so they could not be misunderstood.

"I know you understand me, and I know you have the intelligence to reason, so let me reason with you. If you can't respond with words, respond with gestures. Were you alone by the river?"

Ziro let out a snort and Julius sighed. a long moment ticked by, each ape holding his breath despite their doubts. Then, the human female slowly nodded.

Brutus let out a shaky breath, releasing her and falling back, his face in his hands. Relief flooded his body and he laughed, looking up at the human who looked more confused than anything else.

"I knew it," his voice came out strangely, "I knew I wasn't imagining things."

"By the lawgiver," Julius gasped, his small eyes wide.

Ziro said nothing but stood quietly behind Brutus. Brutus got up and knelt so he was eye to eye with the human. A whirlwind of questions spun so fast in his mind he was unsure of what to ask next. Excitement and foreboding took turns preoccupying the majority of his thoughts before he settled on the next thing he wanted to ask.

"Are there more humans? What happened to your family?"

"Too many questions at once, she won't be able to ans-" Ziro began, but the other apes shushed him.

The human was shaking her head and miming something over and over again. When she noticed the ape's confusion, she slowed.

"There aren't any others?" Julius asked.

She nodded, Brutus paused, and then asked again, "What happened to your family?"

A blank expression overcame her face and her eyes looked like they were staring at something far away. She stayed that way for an unusually long time. The apes looked at one another in uncomfortable silence. Julius reached out a hairy hand, but he'd barely touched her shoulder before the human jumped and looked at them, her eyes back in focus. Ziro leaned forward and crouched behind Brutus.

"Either she didn't understand you, or whatever happened was bad, really bad," Ziro said in a low voice.

Brutus looked at his hands, and back up at the human, "Did they die?"

He made the sign for death. The human watched his hands carefully and hesitantly copied the sign.

"They died?"

The human repeated the sign with a nod.

"When you were a child?" Brutus asked, making the sign for "child".

The human nodded and pointed to her head, miming something coming down on it. Then, she raised her arms like she was holding a gun. The apes watched in mortified silence. Her message was clear enough for any of them to understand.

"It must have been difficult to grow up alone like that," Julius commented after the quiet became too much.

The human nodded solemnly, then looked at Brutus with a quizzical expression. She pointed at him, tilting her head to the side. Not understanding, he looked at Julius for help.

"You've asked about hers, how about your parents?" Julius reasoned.

"Are you asking about my family?" Brutus asked.

The human nodded. Brutus wondered for a moment how appropriate it was for him to talk about his family, who were alive and well, after finding out about hers. An uncomfortable weight settled deep in his gut as he imagined what it would've been like to grow up alone in the forest. He finally decided that if she asked, she wanted to know, and he shouldn't be ashamed to tell her the fact that his parents were alive.

"Well, my father is the representative for all chimpanzees, a very important honor, and my mother is a scientist who studies…animals."

He hesitated before finishing the sentence, if she knew what his mother had done to humans, she would most likely think less of him. He could feel Ziro's gaze on the back of his head. Brutus shook himself, why should he care about what this human thought of him so much anyway?

—

Jayda was surprised by the amount of questions the apes had for her. She was sure that when they found out that she wasn't like the other humans that she'd either be returned to the woods, or…

She didn't like to think about the second option.

She thought that maybe if they thought she was alone, and underestimated her intelligence, but still realized how much smarter she was than the others- they'd know she wasn't a danger to them and dismiss her back to where they found her.

It was a gamble, and she wasn't aware how much of one it was. In reality it was just wishful thinking.

She glanced at Julius, who was viewing the entire conversation with a curious smile. What an unusual individual, she thought. She appreciated his interest in sharing his knowledge with one he likely deemed unintelligent. More likely though, he probably just liked to hear himself talk.

She felt the other apes staring at her intently and looked back at them. The one who'd forced her to answer had the most intense expression. Talking with her looks and body language was exhausting, and she was tempted more than once just to speak. but something told her to hold back and not show everything she could do- at least not yet.

Jayda pointed to him, trying to exaggerate a look of curiosity.

What's your name?

The ape studied her for a moment, "Me? What do I do?"

She shook her head and pointed again.

"I think she's asking your name," the ape behind him said, poking him in the back, "I don't know why, she can't say it."

"That's debatable," the intense ape muttered, poking the other ape back, "but even so, it's polite."

"Oh, now manners matter to you."

He straightened up and put on a strange smile, like he was trying to be reassuring but his ape face gave the effect like he was planning something sinister.

"My name is Brutus, Broo-tuhs," he emphasized the pronunciation at the end.

She nodded, then pointed to the other ape. He reacted like she was brandishing something unpleasant in his direction.

Julius gave a low hoot in the ape's direction and he shot a look at the orange ape that was hard to read.

"Fine," the ape sighed, "I'm Ziro, Zee-roh."

He followed Brutus' example and emphasized his pronunciation. Jayda nodded politely, glad for the chance for the apes to answer questions too.

She decided to take a chance and ask the one that was weighing on her mind the most. She put on a quizzical expression and gestured to the apes as a whole, then she pointed to herself.

What are you going to do with me?

It took a couple of times before the apes seemed to understand.

"Are you asking about what's going to happen to you?" Brutus guessed.

She nodded enthusiastically and the apes looked at one another. The atmosphere suggested tension and indecision among the group. it didn't take much for Jayda to guess that whatever they were thinking, it wouldn't be pleasant for her.

—

Julius waited for Brutus to say something to the human, anything. He could only imagine the horrible things she was probably picturing. With a childhood like hers, she would have many horrific pictures to choose from.

He liked the human. Now he knew she understood what he said, he was just itching to show her some of his more interesting scrolls where he'd detailed his study of medicinal plants. Most ape's eyes glazed over, but hers were alert and seemed interested in what he said. Perhaps, he'd be able to teach her what he knew. Julius already tried to pass on his knowledge to Brutus and Ziro, but they didn't listen most of the time.

He didn't have any children, and his wife died from a mysterious illness early in their marriage. He supposed that's what started his interest in medicine. He'd learned everything there was to know traditionally from the apes, but certain things couldn't be cured with what they knew.

Many apes said he was insane, and they might've been right. But he suspected he was crazy so he must actually be saner than most apes.

Julius was brought back to the present with the realization that neither Ziro nor Brutus had said anything. The poor human girl was looking more terrified every second they sat in silence. He sighed low and deep in his throat, catching the other's attention.

"The human is hurt right now, and I want to make sure she is completely healed before we decide where she will go," Julius said.

It was an explanation for now, and it was also vague enough for Brutus and Ziro to adjust the course if problems came up later. The human calmed and the two young apes glanced at one another uncertainly.

—

After a little longer of asking the human more mundane questions, Julius suggested that she needed rest. She was beginning to lose her color and she flinched at sudden noises- they figured the medicine was wearing off. Brutus and Ziro were sent outside the hut and they sat on a bench overlooking the town where they had a magnificent view of the sunset. Ziro looked at his friend who was glaring into the distance. Brutus always seemed to be an elder ape trapped in a young chimp's skin, but this was the first time that Ziro saw his friend age right before his eyes.

Ziro himself had something uncomfortable churning at the base of his stomach. Reality didn't seem to make sense anymore. He witnessed the human react to questions like an ape would, But he didn't want to believe that it could be true- that a human could have ape-like intelligence