4: A New-found Revelation And An Increasing Ignorance

It was hard for Jūra to tell for how has It been unconscious, but It certainly knew that a long time had passed, because, first of all, the yellowish wasteland had been replaced by plain and grey walls, second, Jūra was laying down on a rather hard surface – although It wasn't sure how laying could be related to the flow of time. 

Jūra suddenly remembered about the headache that It had before passing out, so It instinctively touched It's head to learn more about the headache. Its fingers run through Its head, they examined Its forehead, cheeks, and the back of the head that seemed to hurt the most, but Jūra concluded that this amount of pain wasn't anything to worry about as it was something else that made It look at the walls and the space around Itself again. A noise? Where did it come from?

Ah, from that person.

Wait, didn't that meant that Jūra didn't notice that person before? It didn't think that It was too preoccupied by the space around It to not notice a sudden change, so this person shouldn't have been able to come into the space surrounding Jūra during the last few moments, therefore this person didn't sneak up to It. But It also didn't see the other before, so the only explanation was that... this person, who now had started to talk in the language that Jūra assumed to be the same one as the people who took It out of the dark place, had suddenly come into existence in the moment when Jūra laid Its eyes upon the other.

Satisfied with this thought, Jūra now decided that It should somehow attempt to make a contact with that person, because perhaps that was the reason why the people who fount It decided to treat It so rudely (although Jūra didn't quite understand what sort of behaviour was to be considered 'rude' to begin with – it seemed to be one of those words and concepts that It somehow knew, but at the same time was so strange and foreign).

It took all of Jūra's courage just to say – He… Hello…? - in a meek and broken voice that made Itself surprised. But… this was the first time that Jūra had talked in Its entire life! At least It didn't remember ever having said anything else... 

Jūra eagerly observed the other person's face, but couldn't quite understand what kind of expression the other was showing due to the lack of experience in the Most Important Skill (Jūra thought it was a somewhat funny sounding combination of words) of reading facial expressions. The woman's mouth was slightly open and her left eyebrow was twitching a bit, and she was shaking her head slowly as well. It wondered what was the reason behind that? Did It say something rude unknowingly? But Jūra was so sure it was a greeting!

For a while they just sat there and looked at each other without knowing what to do, but then the woman suddenly closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. After opening her eyes again, she pointed at herself and said: - Loun. -

Jūra looked at her, not understanding what the woman was trying to say.

The woman breathed out again. - Jūra, - she said while pointing at It, - Loun, - she continued as she pointed at herself again.

Oh! Jūra thought It understood what the woman meant now! Wasn't this… an introduction? Must be so, although Jūra wasn't really sure for It had never seen an introduction before, least be a part of it.. - Loun, - It weekly and somewhat unsurely uttered while trying to point at the woman, because It though that the pointing would somehow signal to the woman that It had understood.

The woman, no, Loun smiled briefly as she pointed at herself again: - Slave. - 

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What? But didn't she just say that she was 'Loun'? Jūra felt confused, so It decided to point at the woman again: - LOUN! - There, this would make her understand that she shouldn't have two names! It would be too confusing that way!

But the woman just shook her head. - Loun, slave, - she said while pointing at herself, but Jūra still couldn't understand how she could be both. One can't be two, can it? Otherwise.. one would be two, not one; that wouldn't be logical at all! It goes against the rules of... of... (Jūra almost had it!)... of (It was so sure It knew the right word!)... of MATHEMATICS!

...whatever the hell it was. Jūra didn't really know but supposed it was something really logical.

As It wondered why Loun used two words to introduce herself, the woman pointed at It again: - Jūra, slave. - So Jūra was 'slave' as well? What was it? It couldn't be a name now that it was used to describe both of them, could it? So... and adjective?

(Jūra wasn't sure where the weird words that It sometimes thought even came from, but they certainly made Jūra feel somewhat... educated (Again! See?) un really smart.)

But - a word that described both of them?

Jūra looked closer at the woman in front of It – long hair, fluffy ears, not-so-fluffy long tail, and ragged clothes. Now, there wasn't really anything in common between the two of them as Jūra already knew that Its ears weren't shaped like that and It didn't even have a tail. So was it related to the fact that they were both wearing something that could be only described as rags? Are people with ragged clothes 'slaves'?

Too confusing. It all was too confusing for Jūra, so It just decided to listen to what Loun says and wait – although Jūra wasn't quite sure what It wanted to wait for, but it certainly seemed to be a good idea.

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- No, - Jūra heard Loun's inpatient voice, - a girl. - It seemed that no matter how much Jūra learned, Lound would still find Its knowledge lacking. So what if It didn't know what a “girl” was? So what if It didn't understand what was the purpose of a “bed” and would rather sleep on the floor or the table? Jūra was fairly sure that something like that wouldn't hinder Its abilities to survive, in fact, It believed that being used to sleep on a hard surface would greatly decrease the discomfort in a situation if It somehow found Itself in the wilderness alone and without basic level of 'comfort'.

Jūra didn't need comfort. Jūra was fine.

But if It was aware of the fact, It would be confused (and quite amused) as to why It wasn't able to understand the word “girl” despite knowing what a “woman” was.

Ridiculous.

Jūra crossed Its hands on Its chest for It had decided that It didn't want to learn more of this honestly ridiculous thing that the Others call their language and the strange concepts that they seemed to have just to confuse the people who weren't native speakers.

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From the moment It had been brought to a room, in which Loun claimed that It would finally be cleaned (for It hadn't washed in Its entire life that supposedly had started nine years ago but of which It had consciously lived only three weeks) and the woman stripped of the cloth Jūra was wearing, Jūra knew.

The water showed more than It would have liked – during the last weeks It had learned enough to understand the basics. It showed the ears that were those of an elves; it showed the black horns, tangled by Its equally dark hair, sprouting out of Its head; it showed the amber eyes with slit pupils; it showed the scales that covered random parts of Its body, most noticeably under Its eyes.

Jūra had finally learned why Loun had called It a freak.

Jūra had finally learned why the people who brought It here where kind in the dark but cruel in the light.

Jūra had finally learned why every person that It met had looked at It so disdainfully.

Jūra now knew that It was different from others.

Jūra now knew that It was something that was not supposed to exist.

A cross-breed.

The shining scales of lizard-kin and the ears and horns of the demons.

The water showed more than It would have liked – during the last weeks It had learned enough to understand the basics.

Cross-breeds were just mistakes of nature.

(And It also was a girl.)