"So, why did you dye your hair green?"
"What?" Rourke looked up from the piece of meat he was eating. Across from him, Sammy threw a small bone into the fire.
"Why do you dye your hair green? Is there a reason?"
"Dye," Rourke repeated the word, feeling a twist of anger tinged with sadness in is chest. It had taken a while to finally decide to leave that part of his life behind him, but he had, and he hated talking about the Order. It wasn't really Sammy's fault though, he guessed. Like Molly, he didn't understand the significance of his hair, or why he chose to walk away from the Order. "I don't know what you mean. My hair has always been green. I was born that way. Why is yours yellow?"
"It's called blond. And I was born this way. Green isn't a natural color." Sammy chuckled. "So, seriously, what color is your hair naturally?"
"Green," Rourke said again, reaching out for another piece of the rabbit meat. There wasn't a lot, but it was still enough for now, and would hold them over until Rourke could find something else for them to eat. "Why does it matter anyway?"
"I'm just trying to understand," Sammy admitted. Rourke could appreciate that. Molly had asked a lot of the same weird questions while they sat by the river at the base of the Amshu volcanoes. "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this isn't some prank."
"Like I said before: I have no reason to lie to you." Rourke watched as a frown worked its way onto Sammy's face and he picked at the piece of meat he was eating. "But if it's any comfort, this is normal from what I know of the transition process."
"Normal? Transition process? I'd like to go home. I have a job, and an apartment. I have bills to pay! I can't stay here, wherever you claim that here is." Sammy flung a hand into the air, waving it around as he gestured to the cave.
"I'm sorry," Rourke started, voice flat. "I don't know of a way to get back. This is your home now. All I can do is try and help you adjust to being here." Picking the last bits of meat from the bone he had, Rourke threw it into the fire and stood. Picking up his sword, he buckled it against his hip, then did the same with his knife against his lower back. Looking over to Sammy, he frowned. Rourke had a set a shoes he could use, if they fit him, but he would need to do something about his hair. Sammy couldn't go wandering around out in the darkness with his hair exposed like it was. The light color would attract unwanted attention.
Digging in his backpack for the shoes, Rourke came across his knit hat, and took that out, handing both the hat and shoes to Sammy, who took them, a question already forming on his lips. "We are going to go look for food. You need shoes, right? And that hat is so that your hair can't be seen. Wolves and other creatures look for light things to attack."
Sammy nodded, setting the hat aside in favor of looking at the shoes. They were an old pair Rourke had found at some point when he had wandered into an abandoned city. It was when he found his boots, and at first Rourke wasn't going to take the shoes, but decided in the end to do so. Rourke watched as Sammy pulled them on, seemingly satisfied with how they fit as he tied them tight. Picking up the hat, he stood. "Are those — what did you call them; foxes —"
"Echo foxes."
"Are they still out there?"
"Maybe," Rourke shrugged. "If they are, we will know when we go outside. If so, we will come back and wait for them to leave. If not, we should be fine. They tend to roam large areas and if they have eaten, they most likely have run off to look for their next meal." Rourke moved as he spoke, walking over to the door and pulling it open so he could step out onto the ledge.
The storm had passed and there was a hush in the air that felt fairly calm. Something was scurrying around in the underbrush and somewhere a crow was cawing. Far off, through the trees, Rourke could just barely see the glow of what he hoped was the Last City. Tipping his head back, the bits of sky he could see through the trees seemed clear; no storm clouds in sight. "I think it —" Rourke stopped as he heard footsteps and turned to see Sammy standing right behind him. "I think it's safe out here," he repeated, taking a step away from Sammy out onto the ledge.
Sammy peered out of the opening of the cave, looking around curiously, and Rourke watched, unable to stop thinking about how his actions mimicked Molly's in a lot of ways. She had annoyed him with all her questions and her need to be with him whenever he was awake, but Rourke missed her. He missed Aetius and Lysha, also. Pressing a hand to his stomach, he jerked his head in a nod toward the woods. "Come on, we aren't going to get anything done if we stand here and look around."
"How long did I sleep? Why is it still dark? When does the sun come up?"
"Son," Rourke asked, trying to recall if he had seen another person when he found Sammy. "You had a child with you?"
"What," Sammy asked, eyes going wide as he looked at Rourke in shock. "No, not a kid. The sun, not a son." Sammy took a deep breath. "When does it become light out here?"
Rourke slid from the edge of the ledge, dropping down to the rock below and looking back up at Sammy. "It doesn't. It stays like this. Are you able to get down?"
"Yeah." Sammy nodded, sitting down on the ledge before following along behind Rourke and sliding down to him. He raised his bandaged hand between them, flexing his fingers. "It hurts, but not like it did. Thanks."
Rourke nodded and turned toward the far side of the plateau where it curved down into another valley behind the cave. That was where he had heard the echo foxes earlier and figured that would be the easiest place to start looking for the remains of their kill. Sammy walked along with him quietly, looking around at all the trees, rocks, and whatever else seemed to catch his attention. With the storm gone, it was a little easier to see, but it was still dark, allowing for shadows to play tricks, and making Rourke think he saw things that weren't really there.
They were just reaching the bottom of another small rolling hill, Rourke pausing to see if he could spot the echo foxes' kill nearby, when Sammy inhaled sharply. "Wait; what do you mean it stays dark all the time? That's impossible. There's no sun? No moon?"
"Moon," Rourke asked. Like Molly, Sammy had a lot of words that Rourke had never heard before, which made trying to talk to him really hard. "Is that another Other word?"
"I guess." Sammy scrunched up his face in confusion. "How do you not know what the moon is?"
"How do you not understand that it is always dark? It's called the darkness for a reason, Sammy."
"Don't treat me like I'm stupid, Rourke."
Spotting a dark lump on the ground, Rourke pointed to it and started off in that direction. He hoped it was what was left of an umbra and that he would be able to get some of the meat off of it. "Don't act like it then," he said to Sammy over his shoulder as he walked away. He heard Sammy make some frustrated sound behind him, but he didn't pay attention to him as he drew closer to the mess on the ground. Rourke could see what looked like dark blood in the leaf litter, and there was a dead echo fox with its entrails in a pile on the ground.
Walking over to it, Rourke pressed a hand into the scruff of the fox's neck. The body was still warm, which was both a good and bad sign. It was good because it meant that whatever animal the foxes had taken down was probably still edible; bad because whatever killed this fox was possibly still around. Standing, Rourke moved toward the original dark lump he spotted, swearing under his breath when he realized it was a shadow cat. Several paces beyond the body of the cat lay a large umbra, partly eaten.
Taking a deep breath, Rourke ran a hand through his hair under his hood. This would certainly explain all the noise of the echo foxes out here. Kneeling down by the shadow cat, he could see where the foxes attacked. The shadow cat's throat was gone as well as parts of the back legs. "What happened," Sammy asked, as he walked up to stand next to Rourke.
Rourke looked up at Sammy before looking back at the shadow cat. "The foxes attacked the cat. You can tell by the back legs." He pointed as he spoke, explaining to Sammy what more than likely happened. "Echo foxes attack bigger prey and hobble them, making it harder for them to move, and enabling them to get a killing blow. By making it hard for the shadow cat to run, or walk for that matter, the echo foxes were able to come in and attack the neck. That one over there." Rourke twisted to point to the dead fox. "Was killed by the cat before the rest took the cat down."
Sammy swallowed, but nodded in understanding. "So, is that one of those umbra things you mentioned?" He pointed off to where the large creature lay in the underbrush.
"Yes." Rourke nodded. "The shadow cat probably came in for the umbra hoping to scare the foxes away, but like I said, echo foxes will kill anything, and they must have decided the shadow cat was worth the fight."
"So what are we going to do?"
"Umbra is pretty good." Rourke shrugged a shoulder. "Shadow cat meat isn't that bad either, but from the looks of the kill, there will be more meat on the umbra." Standing, Rourke pulled his knife from the sheath against his lower back and walked over to the umbra to get a better look at it. It was a large male, his antlers wide with many branches and points. Same as the cat, the umbra's throat was gone and there were several places where the meat had been eaten away. From the looks of it though, only the one side had been gotten to, and Rourke thought that if he could roll the animal onto its other side, he could have some really good meat to take back to the cave.
The only question that remained was how fresh the kill was. The echo fox was still warm to the touch, so it was possible that the umbra was, too. Rourke knew either way the kill wasn't that old, but if it had been sitting here for too long, it wouldn't be anything Sammy and him could eat. Flipping the knife in his hand so he wouldn't hurt himself when he rolled the umbra onto its other side, Rourke more heard than saw Sammy walk away from where he was standing by the dead shadow cat.
"Rourke," Sammy called out a moment later, his voice sounding distant.
"Yeah?" Rourke looked over his shoulder to where Sammy was standing at the base of a tree, looking up into the branches. Rolling his eyes, Rourke went back to what he was doing, deciding the kill was still recent enough for him to be able to use the meat, and located a place where he could begin butchering the umbra.
Sammy didn't answer Rourke right away, and he didn't think much of it, twisting around toward Sammy when he said his name again. "What," Rourke asked, slightly annoyed. Sammy wasn't standing at the bottom of the tree and Rourke stood up, looking around for him and almost dropping his knife in shock. "Sammy?"
"Up here." Rourke looked up into the tree Sammy had been standing under to find him sitting in the branches, a huge grin on his face. "I got a question."
"For the love of the light; how did you get up there?" Rourke walked over to the base of the tree, trying to locate Sammy through the branches. "Why are you up there?"
"I thought I heard something. And I did! Can we keep her?" As he spoke, Sammy pulled what appeared to be a baby shadow cat from a fork in the tree. The cub didn't look to be very old, but the animal's red eyes were bright and alert.
Rourke looked over his shoulder to the dead shadow cat on the ground several paces away and frowned. It was more than likely that this cub was the baby of the dead one. Rourke sighed heavily as he turned to look back up at Sammy. "No."
"Ah, come on. She��s cute. Why is she purple though?"
Rourke shrugged. "It happens, but it's rare." Rourke watched Sammy with the cub in the tree. It didn't seem the least bit bothered by Sammy picking it up and holding it. In fact, it seemed to cuddle right up against Sammy, thankful to have something warm to lean against.
"So, she's an albino then?" Sammy grinned down at Rourke, swinging his legs on the branch he was sitting on.
"What's that?" Carefully, Rourke crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. If that really was the mother shadow cat than this cub would die fairly soon, either from lack of food, or being attacked.
"Albino? It's a genetic mutation. Like you."
"I am not albino." Rourke frowned. "Get down here. It's dangerous."
"All right. And no, you aren't albino, but you are a mutation. Green hair is not natural, so it has to be a mutation." Sammy picked the cub up, holding it in one arm against his chest as he started to climb back down the tree. Rourke didn't bother answering, watching quietly as Sammy made his way down to the last branches of the tree. "Can you take her," Sammy asked, settling himself on the lowest branch of the tree and looking down at Rourke.
Rourke sighed. Turning, he walked back over to the umbra and stuck the knife into the body before walking back to Sammy. "Let me see it," he commented dryly, raising his arms up to take the cub. Sammy's face lit up excitedly and he leaned down to give Rourke the shadow cat. Rourke took the cub easily, holding it in his arms as Sammy climbed down from the tree. "How's your hand," he asked when Sammy was back on the ground.
"Fine. I can take her, thank you."
"How do you know it's a girl," Rourke asked, returning to the umbra and going back to his work.
"I don't know," Sammy admitted. "But she's purple and adorable!"
"You can't keep it."
"Her."
"It," Rourke repeated. "What are you going to do when it gets older? It's likely to kill you."
"We could train her."
"You act like I want a part in this. I don't." Rourke tried to ignore Sammy, but he could hear the other man behind him. The cub was purring loudly, and when Rourke looked over his shoulder, it was beginning to doze in Sammy's arms. Sammy was looking down at the shadow cat, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It was the calmest and most content Rourke had seen the other man since they had met. With a heavy sigh, Rourke nodded. "Okay, but if it does anything that I think is dangerous, I'm killing it."
"Her."
"Fine, her. I'm not joking. If she so much as looks at you like she wants to eat you, I'm killing her."
"You're horrible. How can you say something like that? She's so tiny! We can train her to like us."
"Sammy." Rourke sat back on his heels, pointing toward the dead shadow cat with his knife, and took a deep breath. "That cub will become the size of that cat over there. That cat can take down one of these —" Rourke waved his other hand at the umbra sitting in front of him. "Alone. Do you understand what that means? You or I are no match for her if she decides we are food."
Sammy huffed. "You do know I'm an adult, right? Stop treating me like a child."
"I'm not treating you like a child. I am treating you like an Other, which you are." Having managed to skin most of this side of the umbra, Rourke cut a small piece of the meat off and held it out to Sammy. "Here, see if she will eat this. If she does, then there is hope for her survival, if not, than no matter what you try, you may not be able to save her."
Before Sammy could even take the piece of meat, the cub turned, sniffing at the air and snapping at the meat in Rourke's fingers as soon as she was able. They watched in silence as she ate, chomping on the small piece of meat loudly before sniffing for more. Sammy grinned at Rourke, the look on his face triumphant. "What I said still stands, Sammy."
"I heard you, Rourke. Calm down. It'll be fine."
Shaking his head, Rourke started to cut through the meat, searching for the joint where the leg met the umbra's body. A silence filled the air, the only sounds those of the birds and the small things scurrying about. Rourke thought briefly of Orin, the haldis he'd lost so long ago, and the story he'd been told of how he'd met the gentle animal when they were little. Rourke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What are you going to name her?"
"I don't know yet." Sammy was quiet a moment. "But I will think of something. Naming a pet means you get attached, you know that right, Rourke?"
Rourke frowned down at where he was cutting, wondering how his young mind came up with the name 'Orin' in the first place. "Giving her a name doesn't make her a pet." It can make her so much more, he thought to himself, deciding that Sammy probably wouldn't understand what he meant by that anyway.