It was the crack of dawn when a low creak jerked Ai out of her sleep. Imperceptibly her shoulders stiffened under the furs.

Light had only just begun to touch the outside, and only dark shapes were visible. One such dark shape leant through the window and shook a sleeping figures shoulder. Tal groaned quietly as she woke, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Pulling herself up to a sitting position, Tal yawned. Ermine leant back, allowing her space. Not a word was spoken as Tal shut the frame and got dressed in the cool darkness of the room. Ai must've made some sound though, because Tal moved to stand over her. Ai concentrated on keeping her breathing steady, and staying as relaxed as possible.

Wherever Tal and Ermine were sneaking off to was none of her business.

To Ais surprise, Tal shook her shoulder. Ai squinted at her, trying to look as sleepy as possible.

"Come with me." Tal whispered to her in the darkness.

Wide awake, Ai nodded slowly, before grabbing her own clothes. Looking at her daggers, she hesitated.

"Hurry up!" Tal hissed.

Grabbing the daggers Ai slipped them into her belt, and Tal opened the shutter, hopping out with confident grace. She had done this a lot.

Ai slid out after her.

Ermine looked at Ai and pressed a finger to his lips. Again, Ai nodded. Her ears perked, she followed stealthily behind the two as they crept out of the village. Ai was surprised to see a guard she didn't recognise on duty. If being asleep even counted as being on duty, anyway. It made sense that they switched them around.

The further away they got from the village, the less care they took with their steps until eventually Ermine broke the tense silence.

"You not tell anybody what you see. People not like animals, only for hunt. Not kept." Ermine looked steadily at Ai. Surprised he was addressing her directly for once, it took her a few moments to respond.

"I not tell."

She wished that she could fully verbalise sentences. While the gift the village elder gave her helped, she was struggling to understand some of the grammar and shortening of words that happened.

She suspected whatever she was before, it wasn't multilingual.

"You tell, village people kill good animals, understand?" Apparently, once wasn't enough. She was foreign, not an idiot.

"I say I understand. I understand. I say I not tell, I not tell." She snapped.

She couldn't help it. It had been so long since she had lost her temper. She felt like a victim all the time - or a child. Unable to navigate her way around, didn't know what to eat, the list went on and on.

To her annoyance Ermine grinned at her reply; teeth gleaming white in the darkness. He didn't say anything else though, so they continued in silence. A few times Ai caught Tal looking between her and Ermine, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Eventually they reached their destination. A small cave with a narrow entrance. There was slightly more light, but it certainly wouldn't be enough to light inside. All Ai could see was a black hole.

Luckily, claustrophobia was not amongst her list of fears.

Ermine didn't even hesitate as he turned sideways and disappeared into the darkness. Tal was about to follow when she glanced back at Ai.

"No loud. Scare animals, animals bite." Tal snapped abruptly before quickly turning and slipping inside.

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Ai started after her, feeling a little peeved. Something had changed between her and Tal, but she wasn't sure what. She hoped it wasn't some stupid rivalry over a boy. She hadn't thought there was anything between Tal and Ermine other than friendship, but perhaps she had read the situation wrong.

The darkness swallowed Ai, and the temperature dropped abruptly. The cave widened a little, and though they couldn't have walked more than a few meters in, the air was distinctly clammy and heavy.

The walls were freezing and wet, but unfortunately Ai had to keep her hands out to keep herself from walking into them.

The echoing footsteps infront of her stopped, so Ai stopped too. She hoped this wasn't all some sort of cruel trick. It was becoming abundantly clear to her that she didn't know people nearly as well as she thought. It was too late now though.

Her eyes slowly adjusted and she could just about make out Ermine crouched down. He made a small whimpering noise.

The cave lit up. Something had lit up in swirls and spots in front of Ermine and Tal. Inhaling, Ai shifted to get a better look.

Their little furry bodies were all snuggled together in a giant ball of fluff and glowing swirls. It took a few moments before she realised the swirls was actually a single stripe on each creature, following its spine all the way down to the tips of their tails. Pale pink hands and dark fur, it took her a few moments to realise they were rats. Each was probably the size of a kitten, and their sleek bodies were all curled around one another. There were five all together.

Ai was about to remark on how dirty rats were when one split away from the ball. Ermine held out his hand and the rat jumped onto it, running all the way up his arm to his shoulder where it nuzzled his ear. It was oddly...cute.

Tal maneuvered herself behind the nest, stroking their warm bodies. Each time she did, they would make a strange trill that said 'yes, more please!'.

Ai stood back, shifting from foot to foot. Part of her wanted to stroke them, while another part of her said to stamp on them. Because...rats.

Tal looked at Ermine and they shared a smile in the blue glow of the cave. Ai swallowed uncomfortably. Biting her lip, she ignored the other two and crouched down next to them. As close as she was, she could actually feel the heat the rats were giving off. Slowly, she stroked one down the spine, keeping her hand far out of reach of its mouth.

As she did it looped its glowing tail around her hand. That was all it took, Ai was in love.

"We kill their mother. When kill mother, you kill children, kindness, but I not want to kill babies. They warm and ask for food when I come to them. No hurt me or Tal. They touched by Licht. Light. Strong and dangerous when old. We want rats be nice with village people. Help them. We think we train them kill and hunt bad monsters. They help when rain come." Ermine revealed softly, tickling the rat on his shoulder under the chin. All previous hostility gone.

"Rats..." Ai trailed off. She didn't know the word for beautiful. All her lessons with Tal tended to circle around common words, or words used for hunting. Not once had they sat down to discuss looks or aesthetic preferences. “Look good?”

“Douooalor.” Ermine smiled.

Ai let a small smile onto her own face as she withdrew her hand. She had spent so much of her time learning how to kill, she had almost forgotten how amazing it was to see new life. Appreciate something without wondering the best way to take it down or how it tasted.

Ermine took the one off his shoulder, placing it back in the mass. Tal, knowing what was about to happen, removed her hand.

Ermine pushed his hand into the sack, before pulling something out and quickly tossing it at the rats.

One moment they were asleep, the next they were a writing mass that rapidly swarmed over the raw meat. Ermine already had another in hand that he tossed to the stragglers.

Ai inhaled sharply. She made sure to keep her fingers and toes away. The mass of moving bodies squealed occasionally when a smaller rat got in the way of a bigger one. Ai made sure she would never make the mistake of thinking that these creatures were harmless. Their glowing tails whipped back and forth in the darkness. It couldn’t have been more than one or two minutes later and all trace of the meat was gone.

Like all young, social animals, the rats took the opportunity to play fight with one another, all previous viciousness gone. It was amazing how quickly they could change their tune. Ai wasn’t sure when she would next be feeling brave enough to put her fingers anywhere near them.

Tal stepped over them, past Ai.

“We douour get back. We da’n want a be missed.” Tal kept walking, not waiting for a response.

Ermine wrinkled his nose at Ai behind Tals back. Ais eyebrows climbed up her face. With a devilish grin he too stood and started back through the cold dark of the cave. Giving one last glance at the sleek bodies of the rats tumbling on the floor Ai followed.

Tal struck up conversation with Ermine on the way back, talking with words Ai didn’t know. She managed to work out a few new words, but having someone excluding her wasn’t exactly the way she wanted to learn them. Ermine gave her an apologetic look before they split.

Ai wasn’t sure how she felt about him. He was so ready to make fun of his friends, but at the same time he was doing it to make her feel more comfortable.

Tal left Ai with Brandi, grinding up roots to make the miracle powder and Ai couldn’t help but pity whatever animal she had decided to hunt.

Later when Ai found a small bag on the windowsill, the drawing of a cat tail and ears made it clear it was for her. There was only one person she could think of that would be leaving presents on her windowsill. What exactly the two black stones were meant for, she would have to ask the next time she saw him.