The next morning came gradually, bringing with it the dawn of a new day. Warm rays of the sun illuminated the forest, bringing forth a serenity that Connor's heart lacked. He sat there holding onto the cold, stiff corpse of his long dead mother. The flames around him had long since died, leaving behind only ashes and rubble of the once mighty tribe.
A warm nose nudged at Conner's bloodied hand, prompting the teen to glance at the small puppy he had found the day before. The puppy whined, nudging at his free hand again in an attempt to get her savior move. Conner ignored her attempts and turned back to staring at the corpse in his arms. Growling, the puppy yipped.
"Go away…" the teen mumbled hoarsely. The puppy yipped a few more times but she did not get any response. Indignant, she bit down hard on Connor's hand.
The blue haired teen hissed, snapping out of the darkness of his mind in pain. In an attempt to dislodge the dog, Connor let go of his mother and slapped the puppy away. The puppy freed the boy's hand, yelping in pain.
Connor quickly checked over the bite before turning towards the whimpering dog in fury.
"How dare-" the next words froze at the back of his throat.
There, right in front of him the puppy whined, doing her best to back away from the teen. It made Conner feel-
"Disgusting…" the boy murmured.
It made him feel like he had become one of the people who torched his home. One of whom laid dead behind him, killed by Connor.
Bile rose up to his throat at the comparison. His mother would have been disappointed in him.
Crimson eyes looked over the puppy again, hesitant. Connor clenched his fists and turned away, stubbornly keeping his gaze on the road.
"Go away." he rasped out, loudly.
As if she understood, the puppy turned tail and disappeared into the forest, leaving Connor alone.
The boy sniffled and got on the move. Even if the puppy had bitten him, it had snapped him out of his pitiful state so the soon to be thirteen-year-old couldn't waste the day time dallying around.
Afterall, he promised his mother to find Maella.
First, the boy dug several graves throughout the clearing, then he buried the bodies of his tribesman. He was unable to do a proper send off by the traditions of his tribe, but Connor could at least honor them by making sure no one could find their bodies.
He finished the last of the burials around the mid afternoon. The young teen was left hungry and tired, yet he refused to rest now, when he was nowhere near done working.
Tying up his long hair, Connor got to rummaging through the rubble, hoping to salvage everything he could find.
Most of the yurts had nothing left. However, there were several others that at least retained some of its belongings, like Uncle Rohan's home. From there, Connor managed to find several sets of clothes that he could switch out. They were a bit too big for him, but nothing a little sewing couldn't fix.
Next, Connor found a weapon's belt, leather pouch and little bits of preserved meat jerky, cheese and water bottle. He went on rummaging until he came back to his own half burnt home.
Holding back a sob, the teen went inside, knowing his mother often hid her things under the loose floorboard behind her bed. He carefully plied the floorboard away and dug out the small foreign looking chest half buried in dirt.
After hesitating for a moment, the teen gently opened the chest to reveal little miscellaneous things inside. There was a single silver earring with a red teardrop like jem, followed by a half wilted flower Maella had gifted her last summer, and a pebble Connor had given her once, he carefully shifted through the items until his hand brushed against a letter sealed with golden wax.
Connor placed the chest beside himself and ripped open the letter. His eyes flew over each paragraph, unable to understand the language it was written in. However he did catch his name a few times alongside a breathtaking drawing of her mother at a young age, the teardrop earring dangling from her left ear.
He picked up the said object and looped it into his own ear before turning back to the letter. Connor traced the drawing, unable to swallow back the tears that fell. He missed her. Yet, before he could truly let go, a small thud outside stopped him.
Suddenly alert, the teen put the letters back into the envelope and pocketed it before slowly heading towards the insisted sound.
Warily, he peeked out of the half standing yurt to see a small blob of dirt trying and failing to drag what appeared to be quite a big fish towards where he was. It didn't take Connor long to realize that it was the puppy.
Surprised, he asked out loud.
"What are you doing?"
The brown patch of dirt jumped comically then turned around frantically until her gaze landed on the equally dirty teen.
"Yip!!!" She barked, her tail wagging. "Yip yip!!!" The puppy started dragging the fish towards him again.
"You brought this for me?" he asked, to which the puppy gave a muffled 'yip!'
Conner stepped out of the yurt and picked up the fish when the puppy finally managed to bring it right in front of him and sat by it, rather proudly. The teen felt his mouth pulling into a smile.
"Thank you," he mumbled, hands reaching out to touch the suddenly wary dog. Instead of hitting her like the puppy had expected, Connor pet her. "And I'm sorry for hitting you," he added.
The puppy only leaned into his touch in response and now that he was a little calmer, Conner wondered what he was gonna do from there on.
He didn't have a home anymore and he had promised his mother to find Maella but he had no idea about how to do that. For God's sake, he wasn't even thirteen yet.
A shuffling of feet broke him out of his thoughts. He glanced down to see that the puppy had settled herself on his lap, munching on the fish she brought for him. It startled a laugh out of him.
"Haha! Seriously, you- hehe!!~"
His mood lifted, Connor picked up the puppy and her fish then stood up and headed back into the half burnt yurt. They had done everything they could today, but now it was already late at night and it meant it was time to rest. Thinking about everything else could wait until tomorrow.
Once inside, he settled on the warm furs spread out in the corner of the yurt alongside the puppy. Red eyes glanced down at the puppy still munching on the fish.
"I don't know if you understand me but I probably can't keep on calling you puppy," he started, pausing for a bit. Did she have a name already? He didn't know but Connor felt this was the right thing to do.
"How about I name you?"
The puppy's head snapped towards Conner so fast he thought it might break. Her silver eyes stared at him knowingly. 'Did she understand me?' he thought, watching the puppy abandon her food to come sit in front of him.
"So a name? Can I?" he asked again. Not taking his eyes off of her, the puppy yipped, almost as if she approved. It was all too strange for him but he decided to put the weirdness aside for now.
His eyes wandered over the puppy's visage from her silver eyes to patches of white fur peeking through the dirt that covered it.
"Neve…" he mumbled, reaching out to touch the puppy- No, Neve.
"Your name is Neve," he confirmed, patting the white fur. Neve yipped in response and what felt like frozen spikes of icicles shot through his veins before they disappeared completely. It left him breathless, feeling like something truly magical had taken a place. Yet Connor had no idea what.
So instead of bothering himself with it the rest of the night, he pulled Neve close and laid down on the warm furs. Tonight, they will rest. Everything else could be dealt with tomorrow.
So they drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the happier days of the past.