My curiosity got the better of me as the rythmic pounding of the wailing creature faded into the distance. I came free of my hiding place to investigate the mess these creatures had made of my home. Crawling slowly, I approached, watching for movement. None stirred, but I could see the rippling figure's chest rise and fall, and I could hear the wheezing coming from the shining one. The light, where it had fallen from the shining ones hand flickered and went out, and I opened my eyes, no longer blinded by the glare. The charred, smoking corpse of the bear and the rider were horrible to behold. The smell of burned hair permeated the air, and the ground tasted of ash as I approached. No matter how hard I looked, I could not tell what killed these creatures, so I nervously left to go investigate the others.

I approached the shining creature, wary and silent. It heard me in the dark despite my caution, and made weak thrashing motions and noises. I expected this one to be only lightly wounded, but to my surprise, it seemed very heavily damaged. The cavern floor underneath the shining creature was slick with blood and its shining carapace was warped and punctured in three places. I decided to deal with this one later, when it stopped flailing so much.

I went to the other creature and found it unconscious. It was bleeding also, and the wounds were deep, but not nearly as severe as it had seemed from my hiding place. I decided it must have hit itself on the floor and passed out. After some thought, I realized the other creature might come back, or more creatures might come after these, so I should investigate these creatures further in the safety of my lair. As I dragged the rippling creature to the waters edge, the shining one flailed and made more noises. I ignored it, and wrapped my arms around the rippling creatures breathing hole to keep it from drowning, pulling it smoothly under the water.

As I emerged, dragging this new being into my safe place, I marveled at how heavy it had gotten. It was very, very, sodden and left a wet trail as I dragged it up onto the dry stone, much heavier than before our swim. Curious, I tugged on one of its lower appendages, and to my surprise, the outside came off! I tried again, and the outer layer peeled off like a skin. For a moment, thought I had injured it, then I looked closer at the pink tissue and realized it was soft skin with hairs coming out of it like very sparse fur. I looked at the outer layers I had pulled off, and the heavy black one tasted like the hides I had stacked by my eating space, whereas the floppy brown one tasted like the outer wrapper on the creature, only saltier.

They were wearing the skins of animals

For a moment, I was terrified, I wondered if they came here for my skin, but then I calmed. They were weak, and I could always eat them if they proved hostile. Also, this meant that they were clever like me. Perhaps I could communicate with these creatures, or observe them to learn new things. I peeled the rest of the hides from the creature until it had only pink skin showing. Its wounds were not very bad at a closer inspection. The rippling hide it wore had stopped most of the damage from the bears bites, but it had failed in three places, causing deep puncture wounds in the flesh beneath. The bleeding was minimal, so I took my jar of wound salve, rubbed it into the punctures, and prepared to leave. The creature began shaking, however. I touched it and it was colder than before, and realized I had taken its extra skin off, so it must need them for some reason. I wrapped the creature in wolf pelts once it had dried, and its shaking subsided almost immediately.

Proud of myself, I went to tend the shining creature. It was unconscious but very heavy, nearly twice the weight of the other. After much struggling, I brought it into my lair also and inspected it. It took me quite a while to remove the carapace from this one. It was cleverly secured with complicated shiny fastenings, which brought me no end of joy to adjust and re-adjust. After some time had passed, I peeled its carapace free to reveal a creature much like the other underneath. Its wounds were deep but the bleeding was slowing. I rubbed more of my salve on the three deep gashes, one on its arm, one on its torso, and the last on its shoulder. I pressed a large dried leaf against each wound and tied it down with twine to keep the blood in, marveling at the damage. Then wrapped this one in wolf pelts like the other and squeezed through the front entrance of my secret place.

Both reflective sticks lay where they fell, and I stared at them unnerved. These were great weapons, unlike any I had ever seen. I decided I needed those shiny sticks, and went to retrieve them both. I cut myself 3 times before I remembered which part the shiny one had held, and grabbed that end instead. I cautiously retrieved the wood stick the rippling one had held as well, taking extra care with it, placing my arms exactly where the rippling one had held it lest I end up like the charred bear I was studiously ignoring. I returned inside very carefully with my prizes and placed them on dry ground while I slathered my wounds in salve and poked the creatures while checking to see if they lived.

I turned my thoughts away from them and towards the skins they wore and the things they had, examining each diligently, tasting and feeling every inch, determined to learn how they worked.