#nigen

...

Nigen’s eyes rove side to side as she scanned the area, looking for her son. He had a habit of disappearing without a word. Or a sound. One second he’d be there, then she’d turn around and he’d be gone. Not that he was too young to be wandering around the Iloh on his own, but she still liked to have a sense of his whereabouts. He was harder to notice now he’d started dying his hair black. Used to be she could search for a telltale blue, and she might spot him easily enough. Now? Not so much.

She spots a familiar face as she searches. Chotan, a friend, and one of the women responsible for looking after the boys taken into the tribe from the Borlaaq. She’s accompanied by a few of those boys now, as well as another of their caretakers, a man who holds the youngest of the children in his arms.

She strides up to Chotan, stops abruptly and asks in an exasperated voice, “Have you seen my son?”

Chotan smiles, a bit mystified, then blinks a few times. “No, I haven’t.”

“Ah.” A grimace from Nigen.

“I could help you look for him if you’d like.”

Nigen smiles and nods slowly, “You know, I’d appreciate it.”

Chotan turns to the man holding the child, raises her voice enough to be heard, though she doesn’t have to shout. “Hey, I’m gonna help Nigen look for her kid. Keep an eye on these ones would you? Especially that redhead.”

He man blinks over at her. “What, you mean Khaishan? He took of a while back.”

Chotan’s eyes widen as her mouth pops open slightly. Nigen expects she has much the same expression. The women exchange a look. A very knowing look.

“Well, shit?” Chotan says.

Nigen nods, “Yeah.”

At any point in time, there was a fair chance that Khaishan was busy getting into trouble. And any time he was getting into trouble, there was a fair chance he was dragging Ambaghai into it.

Chotan straightens her posture and shouts, “Okay, bye!”

Simultaneously, her and Nigen turn on a heel and take off to look for the boys.

---

They ended up splitting up. Nigen found the boys first, by the lake at the edge of the Iloh. Khaishan stands shin-deep in the water, apparently reaching for something under its surface. And not far from the water’s edge, she spots her son’s dark hair. She feels a twinge of relief when she also spots a pale-blonde head – Dayir. Khaishan had a tendency to be a bit more behaved when he was around. Hopefully that meant they hadn’t gotten into any trouble.

She watches as Khai pulls something out of the water, turns, and trots up to the other two, crouching in front of them and holding out the item proudly. From this distance, she can hear him exclaim, “Lookit!”, though only barely, then he says something else she can’t hear. She can’t quite tell what he’s holding. She squints. Is that…?

She starts walking faster.

“Why don’t you eat it!?” She hears her son’s voice drift over – it seems to be a retort.

The thing about being a mother is that you’re supposed to keep your children from doing stupid things. Even the ones that aren’t actually your children.

The thing about being, well… a person, however, is that sometimes the glaring curiosity – and some sense of disbelief – can override your other instincts.

As Khaishan looks at the item in his hand, appearing to genuinely consider what his brother had said, Nigen finds herself awestruck – he wouldn’t, would he? – and nearly stops in her tracks. She watches as Dayir raises a hand, as though trying to protest, and Ambaghai leans toward Khai, making ready to smack whatever’s in his hand out of it – but too late. After a few seconds of staring at it intensely, Khaishan bring his hand closer to his face, tilts his head, and then pops whatever he’s holding into his mouth.

That had better not be what she thinks it is.

All at once, the ‘mom’ instincts kick back in and she finds herself striding toward the boys at a furious pace. She takes on a tone of voice that surely nearly every parent that has ever lived has used at least once.

“Khaishan, you spit that out right now!”

The boy’s spine goes ramrod straight as he turns his head to look at her with wide, surprised eyes. But, he doesn’t spit it out.

Ambaghai rises to his knees and reaches out to cuff Khai on the back of the head. As he rocks slightly at the impact, he spits out what’s in his mouth, the action accompanied by a slight “plegh”.

She’s pretty much right next to them by the time this happens. She stares down at what he’d spit out. Sure enough, it’s a leech.

“What the hell? Why would you put that in your mouth?” Her words are accompanied by a continuous ‘bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegh’ from Khai, who’s face has contorted in disgust, holding his tongue out in much the way one would expect when they’d had a godsdamned leech in their mouth.

Out of the corner of her eye she can see the sheepish looks of the other two boys, but they aren’t her concern right now.

“Okay, come on,” She grabs Khai by the upper arm and hauls him into a standing position. He stands somewhat willingly, though he seems to be distracted by his continued state of disgust. She pulls him toward the village. “We’re gonna find something to rinse out that mouth. Why would you do that, Khai, honestly? You’re lucky it didn’t latch onto your tongue or something!”

No comment from Khai. He still seems to be holding his tongue out of his mouth, though he’s stopped making any noise.

Before they can get too far away, she calls over her shoulder, “And Ambaghai, don’t think you’re clear on this. You know your brother has no impulse control. Don’t put ideas in his head!”