Chapter 36: Soren Is Still At TWO?!
Neve did not remember walking away from the village centre.
He was walking toward the river, still not wearing any piece of cloth on his body. His brain had filed whatever happened in the village under ’too embarrassing to retain’ and moved on.
What he did know was that Cael had stepped behind him and put his mouth close to Neve’s ear and said very quietly, "Go to the cave. Get dressed and come back."
And Neve had gone.
Cael was occasionally the most sensible person in any given situation, and Neve’s ability to make decisions had temporarily stopped working.
He wasn’t heading to the cave since his clothes were right here with him in the inventory. He just needed to wash up since he smelled like... panda and raw meat. It could also be his last bath before winter starts.
The river took ten minutes to reach since he knew the way now. It was just right past the tall trees, left at the cluster of bamboo Cael had cleared for them. He followed the sound. He came out at the bank and stood there in the morning light with nothing on and the cool air on his skin and thought about what had just happened.
He covered his face with both hands.
The tiger tribe had arrived. Ryker had called him a rambutan.
He had shifted back to human form in the middle of the welcome ceremony with nothing on. In front of everyone.
He stood there with his face in his hands for a solid ten seconds.
Then he jumped into the river.
The clean and cold water hit him all at once, exactly what his nervous system needed to stop replaying the last twenty minutes. He went under, eyes open, and watched the fish scatter from the disruption of his landing. Silver bodies shooting away through the green water.
He pushed back up and broke the surface, gasping.
A fish was directly in front of his face.
He lurched backwards, lost his footing on the riverbed and caught himself on both hands.
"Fuck," he said loudly.
"Fok? Is that your name?"
Neve’s foot slipped again when he heard that voice.
He caught himself on a rock and turned around, and Sorin was standing on the bank with fish in both hands, looking at him with the same unbothered expression he had worn the first time they met, like finding a naked person in his river was a normal Tuesday.
"How long have you been there?" Neve said.
Sorin pointed down the bank. "Since you walked from over there."
Neve looked where he was pointing.
That was where he had come from. That was the whole walk from the village. Sorin had been here for the whole walk from the village.
He shut his eyes.
"If you’re planning to drown," Sorin said, "the deep part is over there." He pointed downstream without any particular urgency about it. "If you’re not, get out. You’re scaring the fish with your naked body."
"I’ll get out alright. Turn around," Neve said.
Sorin did not turn around. He just kept looking at Neve with those calm, pale eyes, the way he looked at everything, which was with complete absence of embarrassment in either direction.
Neve gave up and walked out of the river.
Sorin kept his eyes on Neve’s face specifically, which Neve noticed, and which Sorin was clearly putting effort into even if he was pretending he wasn’t.
"You’re from the leopard tribe?" Sorin asked.
"I live there," Neve said, wringing water out of his hair with both hands and, at the same time, brushing it with his finger. "I’m not from there originally."
"Where are you from?"
"Far away," Neve said.
Sorin seemed to accept that.
"Why are you asking? Are you suddenly interested in me?"
Somehow, his cold expression got worse.
"Yeah, you’re obviously not. My bad!" Neve waved his hand in mock surrender.
Sorin shifted the fish in his hands, and his brown and gold wings appeared from his back in one smooth motion, large enough that Neve had to step back slightly to not be in their radius.
"I’m Sorin," he said. "From the eagle tribe."
"I know," Neve started and saw the curious expression on Sorin’s face. This was the first time he was introducing himself. So Neve shouldn’t know his name. If Sorin gets curious and asks, he can’t start talking about how the system told him his name. He cleared his throat, then caught himself. "I mean — I can tell. The wings. They are so... eagle-y."
Sorin looked at him for a moment. Something moved in his expression that wasn’t quite interest but was paying attention.
Neve glanced up to see if Sorin was still suspecting him, and that’s when he saw it.
{Sorin — 2%}
It went from zero to two per cent in one conversation and one river encounter, where Neve had nearly kissed a fish.
’I guess this will be the slowest and it’s going to take forever,’ Neve thought.
Then immediately told himself he was not in a hurry with Sorin. He had ten mates to collect, and he was barely managing the ones he had or... Yet-to-have. Sorin could stay at two per cent for a while. He was a bit relieved that it was slow.
’If we don’t see for a while, it should remain at 2%.’
"Neve," he said after snapping out of his thoughts. "From the red panda tribe."
Sorin said nothing. He turned and his wings spread, and he was in the air in two beats and gone over the tree line and river before Neve could say anything else.
But right before he cleared the trees ... just barely audible, just at the edge of hearing...
"Neve."
Neve could have sword he heard his name from Sorin. It was quiet, like something he said to himself without anyone hearing, but Neve heard it.
Neve smiled. He remained at the riverbank and looked at the sky where Sorin had been.
Then he opened his inventory.