Lia

The next week, two girls showed up at our doorstep.

Lyra, and her daughter. 

Lyra said her daughter was my age but, but she was already taller by three inches. Yes, I could tell. I was super infatuated with my height back in the day and given how I wasn't a southerner like the rest… 'Hello again short as fuck past….' Sigh. Even among the Southerners, my Mother was tall though. Only Xerec and Serec were taller while Den came at a close second. 

"This is Sol," Lyra said. "And Sol, this is Lia. I hope the two of you can be friends."

Lia hadn't spoken a word and didn't make any real attempt to hide her annoyance. Understandable. 

But I wasn't a kid but rather an adult inside, so I didn't really mind. "I'm Sol," I proudly proclaimed. I didn't yet know if handshakes were a thing in this world or not so I didn't bother attempting that. 

"Lia…" she said. Tiny. Her voice was tiny, and had no real charm to it. Then again, she was a kid, so oh well.

Lyra bent close and whispered. "She's a little… uh…" She moved back, winked once. "Try to get along…"

'Little uh- what?'

Lia was taller than me, slightly fairer than her mother but not as fair as me or my mother. She did have long ears and curly hair just like her mother though. If I had to guess I'd say she was three. I was probably two and a half. Mother never celebrated my birthday, so I had no way of knowing how old I actually was, and I had no idea of knowing if mother even knew how old I was either. 

But I did know this world revolved around a moon cycle and had about ten months in a year. It was throwing me off a little so I didn't bother looking into it. 

"How long are the two of you going to just stand there?" Mother said, bending down. "We meet again, Liani," she smiled.

Apparently, the 'ni' translated to something like 'little or small'. She used to attach that to my name all the time but lately stopped for whatever reason.

Lia nodded and smiled. 

They came in, and mother served Lyra with some hot clear beverage. Green tea maybe? 'Do we even have tea though?' 

Heh. 

Mother and Lyra took their seat, I did not. 

I was observing them, while Lia was observing me. She hadn't said a word but I'd clearly peaked her attention. So, I turned to her. "Yes?"

"Ears," she said.

Oh yeah, I'd nearly forgotten. "Yeah."

"No soute-ner?"

Southerner? Is that what she tried to say? She sounded cute but hella rude.

I sighed. 'Do kids sigh this much?' "Yes, I'm not."

She cocked her head left. "A see."

She couldn't pronounce 'I' for some reason. 

"He picked up language real fast, huh?" Lyra said, staring at us. 

"Oh yeah. He already knows both Southern Tongue and Western Tongue," Mother said, coming over here. "Off you go," she shoved us outside. Well, not quite shove but yeah. "Don't go too far," she said. I guess she wanted me to take Lia to the Balcony and play?

I didn't just leave for the Balcony though. Instead, I eavesdropped. 

"Really? So, in theory he maybe from-" Lyra paused. "Did you try to find out?"

"He's quite sensitive around the topic, so I'd prefer you didn't say anything to him."

"Is that why you sent them outside?"

"Yeah."

"It's worrying me a little though. This level of maturity from a child. Is it possible he's one of the possessed?"

'Possessed?' I kept my ears sharp and focused.

"Hey," Lia mumbled.

"Quiet."

"Hey!" She pulled.

"What?" I snapped back.

She shrunk down a little, sniffled once and pointed at the forest. Boars, or rather baby boars. Three. They saw us and then ran like crazy.

'Is it possible…' 

"They're cute," she said, taking a few steps and then running straight after them, going past the damn wall. Fast!

'Why did they leave the damn door open…' I sighed. And although the conversation inside was quite interesting, I sort of gave up and ran after Lia.

She was taller than me, and more agile. Meanwhile my fat legs could hardly sustain walking speed, so running was both draining and exhausted my lungs faster than I could call for the goat.

Goat!

"Wah!" I faked a cry.

Rustle!

BAAA!!!

My lovely white goat!

Bigger than a typical goat, she was at least half the size of a typical cow. And she showed up every time I remotely cried. Always.

Sometimes I wondered if she was sort of a guardian angel but I figured she was related to mother. I mean, I had no real way of knowing either. But anyway- I went closer to my white goat (technically my milk mother) and patted her; she licked my ears, and offered her breasts in case I needed a drink. I shook my head and pointed at the forest, hoping she'd understand. But instead, she was hellbent on taking me back. But I was pretty much dead set on going in. 

Yet, every time I took a step, she bit my shirt and pulled me away. But… I didn't give up- "She's there-" I mumbled. "She ran-" I said again.

This world was special and everything in this world was special. So, it didn't hurt to at least attempt to strike a conversation or so I thought. But I didn't think it would lead anywhere. I mean, I was talking to a literal goat. Granted she was my milk mother but still!

A goat!

BAAAHH!! She roared wildly, bit my shirt firm, hoisted me in the air and lowered her legs just enough so I fell on her back. Guess, I was going to be hoisted back home.

Yet, she took steps toward the girl. Lia was gone a while ago but… but we finally started closing in the supposed gap.

She dashed like a horse, literally. Even with my chubby ass on her back, she ran hard, harder than I could ever. 

I held her neck fur like my life depended on it and it did. Maybe I even hurt her a little yet, she didn't care and just marched.

In a minute, we caught up to Lia and the small boars. But the little things were already dead, and Lia was on her bottom staring at something. And that something was staring back. 

"Get on, we need to leave!" I didn't fucking care about fluency or whatever. We had to leave, now.

But, Lia was frozen, the ground beneath her, wet from her urine. 

Of course, she was. After all, in front of us… a literal tiger devoured one of the dead boars, splattering its guts everywhere. A two-headed tiger.