Taking care of the wounded is rarely easy, especially those of such small stature as these people. However, Archos found that ‘this’ wasn’t that hard. First because their small bodies required very little in the way of application, and second because there were... not very many alive to treat.

The ones who could still see, shrank in terror, some screamed louder as they saw the dragon approach, however those too wounded to fight or flee, were never able to do much more than get in the way of their own treatment.

After the fourth of them, Archos hit upon an idea. A terrified groaning figure, little by Archos’s reckoning, having a sort of patch of black hair atop his head and a patch on his face, watched as the dragon reached into a pouch, mimicked being in pain, then put a smidge of poultice on a spot, and sighed with relief as if to show it made him better. Understanding the crude pantomime, and lacking any other options, he allowed the stuff to be smeared over his multiple injury sites.

Archos looked around, the ground was smeared with bloodstains and churned up dirt, but there was no indication of anyone else coming near. He took a deep breath through his nose, sniffing for any sign of danger. As he relaxed and listened, other than the groans of the few surviving wounded, and the sound of water from the lake striking shore, there was nothing. Not until the first of those to be treated sat up.

Her eyes were open, wide open, as if she couldn’t believe that she could see. She was looking down at her hands, touching her eyes, her face, her many wounds, and finding none of the injuries remained, only thin white lines. Her eyes went even wider when she saw Archos standing over one of the injured. She snatched up a spear and ran screaming like a maniac towards him, desperate fury in her eyes.

She jumped over two corpses and landed in front of the wounded man, she thrust her spear threateningly, “Gyope Mat! Ya’sto enleaf fous!” She screamed at him with a clenched jaw, Archos stepped back, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Had he not recognized her as his first patient, he would have killed her, as it was, he recognized not only her motive, but that she did not recognize him due to her earlier blindness. From her perspective, she was protecting her comrade from being eaten alive.

He pointed his talon at her. “Ayente.” She paused, looking at him suspiciously. “Ya’me lope.” He repeated her earlier phrase, the wooden spear had a stone tip affixed within, he had his doubts it could have penetrated his scales, let alone his armor if he’d had it. At a glance the manufacture was good, he saw that the long wooden pole had a wedge cut into the middle and a specially shaped stone was wedged within, the faint hard dots of amber were probably sap meant to further secure it, and around that there was crude twine made from plant fibers, it spoke of an intelligent creature that refined their tools, and furthered his opinion given by speech and response to his actions that he was dealing with an intelligent if not advanced being.

He pointed to himself. “Archos.” He said, introducing himself again for the first time. The spear lowered further and she set it down slowly beside her. “Ya’gya.” She said.

It didn’t take a genius to see that she was apologizing. It was an uncomfortable moment. Archos filled it by pointing to her, and then pointing to where she now stood. “You, stay, here.” He said slowly. She looked at him, lost, if the cockeyed expression meant anything.

He felt flustered, he scratched his head as he struggled to think of something to explain what he wanted her to do. An idea occurred. He reached down to the ground and drew an X, he then pointed at her, then to it.

Ayente looked at him hesitantly, then did as she thought he wanted. He then pointed at the spot several more times, “Stay here.” He said repeatedly. She turned her lips downward in a frown, her face was far more animated than his. However it seemed that if he was reading ‘her’ right, then at least reading their faces would be easy. So long as they used the same facial shifts. He then went back into the water, wading out until he was deep enough to swim, and he dove back under.

He swam as fast as he could back the way he’d come, but he never saw the light, he never felt like he’d started swimming up, he searched for a cave, but found none, there was no indication of any sort that he’d actually come from elsewhere, and with his ability as a swimmer, well he felt no doubt that he’d have found the place if it were still there. ‘Could it have caved in?’ He wondered. Then he dismissed it, any disturbance that large would have left abundant silt still floating around and given away at least where it ‘was’. He swam back to the surface, Ayente was still there, so were the others, some of whom were starting to rise and were speaking among themselves.

He swam slowly back, giving them ample time to see him coming, until he had to start walking. He came out of the water at a leisurely pace, in part because he didn’t want to frighten the little things, in part because you can only walk so far so fast in a muddy soft lakebed, as you’ll sink with every step.

He came out in front of the group, pointed to himself and said, “Archos.”

Ayente turned to the others, “Archos lope.”

“Lak gyope? Lak datowa?” One of the people asked, there was doubt in his voice.

Archos acted impulsively then, taking a chance, he leaned down to Ayente and said, “Play along with me, this will be easier.”

He was absolutely sure she didn’t understand a word, but if he read her right, this could work. He picked up the spear and handed it to her. He then stood behind her and pointed down at her head. “Ayente.” He said, then turned around and drew his sword, so that his back was to hers and his tail moved threateningly at one side, as if he was watching her back. “Archos.”

They might not have known what his sword was or how it was made, but they knew sharp pointy things were weapons and his looked dangerous. Ayente, looking behind her, saw his action and ran with it, she took her spear to a guard position as if to confirm his words. Then she repeated herself, “Archos lope!” and added, “Yai ya’mado!”

“So... I guess I’m doing this now, I’m stuck here. At least they’re accepting me.” He said to himself as he looked at their faces, they were clearly more relaxed, though again he reminded himself that he was guessing they responded to stressors the same way his people did.

“Where am I?” He asked.

They looked blankly at him. He waved his talons around, as if to encompass everything.

They traded confused looks, Archos waved his hand, dismissing his question. He pointed to the lake. “Lake.” He said. He then reached in to cup some water between his talons and poured it out. “Water”

Understanding started to dawn, Ayente approached to where he stood at the edge of the lake, “Eybe.” She said, gesturing as he did over the whole of the lake. Then she cupped the water and poured it out as he had, “Eybe.” She repeated.

“I see, so you don’t distinguish between types of bodies of water... or have you just never seen anything else? Or even ‘is there’, anything like a river or an ocean here?” He wondered aloud. They were quiet again.

He pointed at the ground, “Dirt.” He said, and dug some up, holding it in his talons.

“Onijao.” Ayente said, imitating him.

Archos then reached into the lake and dug up some mud, and then he said simply, “Mud.”

Now she felt confident to his eyes, “Onijao eybe.” She said as she touched it with her little tanned hand and looked up at him.

They were good eyes, as far as Archos was concerned, they seemed to be more narrow than her fellows, it gave a fearsome look, and now that he could see them, she had blue eyes the color of the sky. Nor did he forget the courage she showed when she thought she had to protect a comrade from him. To her, he had to be a monster, yet she’d flung herself into danger without hesitation.

She pointed to his sword. “Ibto ibak?” She asked. Or so he guessed she was doing, the lack of swords and the use of primitive weapons suggested to him that she was unfamiliar with it.

“Sword.” He said, touching it. His talon caressed the blade affectionately, she looked at him curiously. Ayente then moved her hand up and down as if to encompass all of ‘him’. “Ibto oos?” She asked.

It took him a moment to understand that she was asking what ‘he’ was. When he did, he moved his hand up and down in front of his body. “Dragon.”

That caused a ruckus. Chatter doubled and redoubled among the survivors. That word, they clearly knew.

“Ibto oos?” He asked, gesturing to her in the same way.

“Human.” She replied.

If ‘Dragon’ meant something to them, ‘human’ meant nothing to him. But between their recognition of his word for his kind, and the art showing them on the cave where he’d come from, he was forced to conclude that their peoples had met before.

Ayente was in shock. ‘A dragon, how the hell can there be a dragon here?’ She wondered, ‘Where had it come from, what did it want?’ She wondered further. His limbs were long, not quite like the stories she’d heard, he walked similarly to a human, but with a higher step. He also had long arms, relative to his body they were shorter than her own, she couldn’t picture him throwing a spear, but the way he moved, he obviously had an elbow and could move his arm in a similar, if not identical fashion. He had five claws at the end of scale covered fingers, though they looked more like talons, they lacked the curve and had obviously been clipped back save for a tip to allow for more dexterous use. His head reminded her of a lizard and he had a thick, powerful neck. Behind him, his tail did not seem to strike the ground, and it undulated in the air like a snake, the lump of bone at the tip looked wickedly dangerous if it hit you. Everything about this creature said ‘predator’.

He had however, helped her and her people, and he seemed lost. Wherever he’d come from, she was sure he had not intended to be here, that made her more at ease. The few words they had traded were at least friendly enough, and the ‘dragon’ that identified itself as Archos was treating her without hostility and more importantly, he was showing that he was intelligent and a quick, adaptive thinker, he didn’t solve everything by using that terrifying looking weapon he called a ‘sword’. She didn’t know how it was used, but... she was sure she didn’t want it demonstrated on her.

She pointed her spear one by one to the dead. “We must take care of them.” she said. The dragon’s face was not nearly as expressive as her own, but she felt like he... she... or it was confused. She drew an X shape in the dirt, and pointed to him and to it, using what he’d done when telling her to wait.

He nodded as he understood.

She looked to her comrades, “We tend the dead, come.” She said and walked over to the bodies, followed quickly by the others.

Archos watched as the woman and her surviving companions went to the corpses of what he supposed must have been their enemies. They used stone knives and started to cut open the chests, pull apart their rib cages, and ripped the hearts out. One among them started a fire, then one by one the hearts were brought over and cast into the flames to be burned.

When they were done, they went to the bodies of their defeated companions, and cut open the chests, ripped out their hearts, carried them to the shore of the water, and threw them as hard as they could out into the lake.

The hearts splashed one by one, out into the waters. Archos watched patiently, it was interesting the way they hooked their arms all the way back for the throw, also... the flying hearts aspect was rather strange.

The bodies, he noticed, they abandoned after that, nor did they wash the grime and blood from their hands, at first he’d thought it was the smell of the battlefield, but it was rapidly becoming obvious that these people did not bathe. ‘That’s worse than the hearts.’ Archos thought privately.

“Ya’re jao. Oos’nayt aol yot ya?” She spoke as slowly as she could to him then, and they scratched their heads in tandem as they tried to think of some way to express their wishes and be understood.

Ayente tried again, “Ayente, lope, jao.” She said, pointing first to herself, then to her surviving band, and then somewhere in the distance. “Archos,” she touched him at his hand, “Ayente,” she pointed to herself, then to her band, and repeated “lope,” and then she pointed into the distance.

“Ah, you want me to go with you.” He said, he put his sword away, sheathing it on his back. “Yes, I will go with you.” He said, and pointed into the distance just as she did.

Satisfied that they had understood one another, Archos followed as they walked, they surrounded him, though except for Ayente, he felt fear from all of them.

They walked for several hours without stopping except to relieve themselves, they did so by simply squatting where they were and then moving on. The natural way they did this suggested that they were often on the move, yet they seemed to have a definitive destination. He discovered what that was when they crested a hill and Archos found himself looking down at a small collected group of huts, they were mostly made of mud, grass, and sticks, there was absolutely nothing impressive about it at all. There was no sense that the place was ready to defend itself from anything, you couldn’t have kept a drunken cow from walking from one end to the other.

He was the definition of unimpressed. There was a small pond nearby of water that was less than clean, and there seemed to be no public facilities, livestock, or anything. The closest thing to a public space seemed to be a large round circle of stones, the center of which was turned black with burn marks, evidently they had a communal fire. There was a very small field, which some of them seemed to be working, and that might have been communal, but it was poorly laid out and seemed even worse maintained, with nothing keeping beasts at bay, no irrigation, nothing.

Ayente looked down at her home proudly, her and her people alone had begun to build sleeping places like these, her and her people alone had learned to grow food where they slept, so that they did not have to wander forever.

Yet as she looked up at the dragon beside her, she did not sense admiration from him, he held a passive air about him, indifference, or perhaps some form of ‘pity’. ‘What have you seen, that could be greater than this?’ Ayente asked in the quietness of her mind.

Archos pointed to the little place, “Jao?” He asked.

She nodded proudly. “Kef Enel lope.” She replied.

Having heard that word several times, he’d come to understand that she was identifying the place or tribe, and that they were her people.

She looked at him expectantly, and he realized she was now waiting for him to identify his own ‘tribe’. “Tzintamia.” He said, and looked sadly back the way they’d come.

‘The poor... man?’ She thought, wondering if she were dealing with a male or a female, though if she had to guess, he was male, ‘It is a heavy thing to be parted from your tribe and have no way home.’

“Eyapal, loa ya’gya.” She said softly. She knew he would not understand her, but she hoped her tone was conveyed.

It seemed to be.

Archos let out a heavy, hot breath that struck the top of the head in front of him, causing the man there to shudder involuntarily. When the little blonde one spoke, he sensed she was offering her condolences in some way. He accepted it in the spirit it was offered.

“Archos, joa’yot ya.” She said, trying to sound as inviting as possible.

As she spoke again and gestured to her meager home, Archos was touched, pathetic as it might have seemed to his eyes, it was what Ayente had to offer him, and she offered it freely. At least... he thought she was asking him to stay with her, he nodded again.

“Archos, Kef Enel lope.” He said, pointing down to where her people lived.

Ayente touched the lead man on the shoulder to get his attention, when he looked back to her she said, “Keske, before we bring a... dragon, into our homes, go tell everyone we are bringing a dragon into our homes as a guest, so that they do not believe he is there to eat them. We will wait here.”

Keske went a little pale, “Yes, that is a good idea, I’ll do that.” He said in a panicky kind of voice that told her he was happy to get away from the gigantic monster. That it had healed him, and his fellow warriors of the tribe, had not given him much in the way of comfort, but distance sure did. He ran as hard as he could down the hill, while Ayente held her place, and the others remained with her, Archos seemed unwilling to move on his own.

Ayente was grateful for that, it showed sense and an awareness of how he must have seemed to them.

From where they stood, they watched as the little tribe rushed about, shouting and talking and pointing to where the survivors stood, and the shouts only redoubled when they realized that yes, there was a large creature standing several heads taller than the rest of their number, just on top of the hill. Archos looked around, the walk had been over great plains with abundant grasses and plants scattered about seemingly at random. There had been trees, but they were few, and a scattered water source here and there along the way that bore signs of visits by these seemingly intelligent beings. Scattered chipped stone, impressions where feet had fallen, burnt ash and blackened wood in localized position. They at least knew how to use fire well enough.

Now, here, looking down, he saw the same indications, but with huts tall enough for the most ‘towering’ of the little humans to step through without striking their head. Yet for him to fit within, he would have to widen the entries by at least the width of two of their bodies, and raise the entry by about two lengths of their arms. He looked down carefully at one of them. Judging by their proportions, a double arm length was equal to the total heights of their bodies, a balanced being. And the tallest of these stood barely more than a finger length above half his height. ‘Is everything in this world so small?’ He wondered absently as he waited on those down at the bottom of the hill.

Thankfully it didn’t take long, there were maybe thirty to forty little huts to be had there. ‘How many to a hut?’ He wondered. Telling everybody hadn’t taken long, so at a guess they had closely interdependent family groups, it reminded him vaguely of some of the herd animals of his homeland.

Finally the shouting began to still and become quiet acceptance. Ayente took a step forward to descend the hill. Archos followed close as his reverie broke, a sense of curiosity about these people slowly rising to the fore. ‘Well, whatever else I might think of this day, I do not think I will ever consider it to have been a boring one.’ he thought to himself as numbers of people gasped as he came close enough to see clearly. ‘And with that, I think they will all agree.’ He concluded the thought with at least some amusement.