Chapter Text
All you were trying to do was pick some berries.
It had been a dry spring after a cold, long winter. Your tiny village, dependent on the bounty of berries that usually came a few weeks into spring, was desperate. The patches you usually never had to stray from were quickly exhausted, forcing you and the other villagers to stray into places you usually stayed far away from.
The forest on the edge of your vision was not yours. It belonged to the beasts, and the beasts kept it. You were keenly aware of how alone you were. The other villagers, desperate as they were, dared not stray so close to the dark trees and the yawning shadows that churned underneath them. But you were so, so hungry, and your father couldn’t help because of his bad leg, and your mother had to take care of him…
You resolved to fill your basket as quickly as possible and leave. You were about halfway done when you heard something moving close to you. You froze, animal instincts roaring in your ear to stay low and don’t move a muscle or you’re dead . You lowered yourself as far as you could, the thorny vines of the berry patch tearing at your skin. You heard it again. It sounded closer. And it sounded big. A shadow fell over you. Your heart stopped beating-
A low, ear-splitting hiss.
When you turned your head, fueled by panic and the instinct to see what it was doing so you could protect yourself somehow , you thought it was a man at first. Its body was that of a bare-chested male, though you immediately notice that his skin is charcoal-grey, and its shimmering like its covered in something- Then you look down. In the place of legs there is the tail of a snake. You have time for one, frantic thought- naga!- and then he raises his hands-
You are too terrified to scream. You just watch blankly as he holds his hands in front of his chest, palms open. It is then you notice the blood. There is a wide, weeping gash on his chest. His arms and torso are covered in cuts, both shallow and deep. The shaft of an arrow is sticking out of the flesh of his bicep. You dare look at his face. His eyes are wide and frantic. Human. He gestures to you. Then himself. He is… asking for help? You stagger slowly to your feet, hands raised in a gesture that mimics his. He doesn’t respond, just watches you as you draw yourself to your full height. He is hunched over with pain, or maybe he is trying to make himself look smaller, but he still towers over you. It struck you that if he wanted to hurt you, even in his wounded state it wouldn’t take him much effort.
“H-Hello.” You try to make your voice clear and strong. It doesn’t work, it’s trembling so much your teeth are chattering.
He is silent.
“Can… can you understand me?”
He nods.
“Are we… are we in danger?”
He hesitates, then shakes his head.
“Can you… can speak Common?”
He shakes his head, then gestures to his throat, then shakes his head again. When you don’t respond immediately, he does the motions again.
“You can’t… speak at all?”
He nods. You notice his expression falls a little when he does.
You’ve heard stories about the beasts that live in the woods. You know some of them are vicious, blood-thirsty monsters who would tear you to pieces and enjoy every second of it. You also know, though, that there are beasts your village is… friendly towards. Beasts that trade with you, beasts that know your tongue, beasts that help you, if the mood strikes them. You don’t know if he is one of them. But he hasn’t hurt you yet, and he wouldn’t be this far out of the forest unless he desperately needed help.
“I’m getting something out of my bag. It’s just bandages, I promise.”
You open your bag slowly, showing him the opening to prove there are no weapons inside of it. He only looks for a moment, then his gaze focuses on you. He watches you as you rifle through your bag, pulling out the things you need. “You’re lucky, you know? My father is a doctor, and he’s taught me a few things. I think I can fix you up, but that arrow-” He extends his arm, as if he wants you to look at it. You hesitate for a moment, then move closer to take a better look at it.
At first glance you thought the head was embedded in the flesh of his arm. Now you can see it has passed through cleanly, the point sticking out of the other end. You breathe a sigh of relief. A lot easier to deal with than digging arrowheads out of someone’s flesh, that was for certain.
“Okay.” You sit down, trying to remember if this bag had your needles and thread. “I can fix that. But it’s going to hurt.”
He nods.
“I’m going to break the head of the arrow off, then push the shaft through your arm.” You finally find your needle and thread and raise it up so he can see it. “Then I’m going to sew the wound closed and put a poultice of herbs on it and bandage it.” Your eyes drift over his other wounds. Some look like they need stitches, some don’t. “I might have to do the same for the rest of you too.”
Another nod.
“I’m going to take my knife out so I can break the arrow.”
You do just that. His eyes grow dark as you draw close to him with a knife. You have no doubt that a blow from his tail could snap your ribs like an axe through rotten wood.
“Okay. Try to stay still.”
He doesn’t make a sound as you saw through the shaft of the arrow. The only signs of pain he makes are the shudders that run through his body with every movement of your knife. The wood is hard, but you manage to cut through it after some effort. The arrowhead looks different than the ones you've seen the men in your village use.
“Who did this to you?”
He gestures to himself. His eyes grow dark again.
“Another naga?”
He nods.
Though he says it was safe earlier, you can’t help but scan the treeline for any signs of movement. There’s nothing. For now.
“O-Okay.” You swallow. “I’m going to push the arrow through. It’s going to hurt a lot.”
He nods again. The muscles in his arm tighten.
A low hiss escapes from his throat as you shove the arrow forward with all of your strength. By some miracle you get it all the way on your first attempt. The bloody shaft drops to the ground, but you pay it no mind.
The wound is bleeding. His blood is dark purple, and oozes out slower than you think it should. You reach for your needle and thread.
“Okay. I’m closing it now.”
He watches you silently as you work. You’ve done this countless times, but your hands still shake as you close his wounds. When you finish bandaging his arm, you move to the rest of his injuries. The one on his chest is the worst, and it takes you the longest to stitch it up. When you’re finished with him, he looks more bandage than naga.
“Okay. That should be it.” You can’t help but be proud of your work. The naga looks more comfortable, if the looseness in his muscles are anything to go by. You aren’t sure if the poultice you applied to his wounds works the same for nagas as it does for humans, but it didn’t seem to bother him when you applied it, and it’s better than doing nothing, you guess. You expect him to go back to the forest when you’re finished. He doesn’t move, though, he just stays where he is, watching you.
“Is something still wrong?” You ask. He hesitates, then nods. You wonder if you missed a wound somewhere, or if he’s hurting inside in a place you can’t see-
He points to the forest, then himself, then shakes his head.
“...oh.”
He looks so sad, so despondent, that you can’t help but feel awful for him.
“... I’m sorry.”
His lips quirk upwards, showing his long and pointed fangs. It takes you a moment to realize he’s smiling.
He points to you, then shakes his head. Not your fault.
“Ah. Okay.”
It strikes you then you haven’t told him your name. So you tell him.
He nods. Another smile.
An idea strikes you. You quickly stand on your tiptoes, trying to see if what you’re looking for is still there.
“Hey, do you need a place to stay?”
He nods. His eyes are narrowed. You notice that they are bright, vivid red.
“Well… there’s an old cabin over there, I think. It’s kind of broken down and stuff; no one’s used it for years, but…”
Another smile. He nods.
Your eyes travel to the ground. “I… I can’t take you back to the village. Sorry. We haven’t, you know…”
A hand on your shoulder. He points to you, then shakes his head. Not your fault.
You suddenly wish he could tell you what his name was.
The cabin is somehow even more broken on the inside than it was on the outside. The roof is sprinkled with holes, and judging by the chaos and the smell animals have been living here for some time. You feel really, really bad taking him here and not somewhere more warm and dry, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Then again, if he does he can’t really tell you…
“Do you need food?” You left your basket of berries in the patch, but if he wants some you would let him have a handful or two. He shakes his head, then points to himself.
“Okay. You’ll get it yourself. What about water?”
He shakes his head again, A wide smile.
“Okay.”
He’s settled into a corner, tail coiled underneath him like the snakes you see sometimes resting in their dens. The snake part of him is darker than his skin, the same inky-black color as the long hair on his head. In the soft light of the cabin you can see rainbows refracting on his scales. It’s intensely beautiful.
“I… I have to go soon. Sorry.” Your parents don’t know you’re out here. They think you’re with the other villagers. If you don’t come back with them, and they go looking for you and find the naga…
He nods. He raises his hands, like he wants to say something, but they fall to his sides. His brows are low over his hooded eyes.
“I’ll be back tomorrow when the sun is highest, okay? I have to change your bandages and check on your wounds.”
He nods. When you leave you steal one last glance at him. He’s watching you, lips pursed, looking… sad, you think?
You think about him the rest of the day…
Part of you expected the cabin to be empty when you came back. You thought of all of the reasons why he would leave as you walked up. Maybe the other nagas found him, maybe he wanted to stay somewhere less of a wreck, maybe was out hunting and forgot what the time was…
Yet there he was when you returned, in exactly the same place you left him. He looked like he was dozing, but as soon as you stepped inside the cabin his eyes snapped open.
“Hey! It’s me! Sorry, I should have knocked or something.”
He yawned, his mouth opening too-wide and showing his sharp and pointed teeth. Not the mouth of something that ate berries, you thought with a shudder.
“Did you sleep well? I hope you did.”
He nodded, forked tongue lazily slipping through his lips. With his mussed hair and sleepy demeanor he almost looked kind of… cute?
You shoved that thought back where it came from immediately. Your heart was beating way too fast as you walked up closer to him.
“I can change your bandages now, if you want. If you want to wake up a little first, just shake your head.”
He shook his head. You couldn’t help but smile.
“I can relate, believe me. I’m not a morning person either.”
A rumbling sound came from his chest. Coupled with the smile on his face, you assume that sound is a laugh.
“If you want, I can come back later-”
He shook his head. He gestured to you, then to him, then to his mouth as it opened and shut.
“You want to… talk to me? Or eat me? It better not be eat me.”
He rumbled again. He pointed to you, and scrunched his eyes shut and stuck out his tongue.
“You’re saying I taste bad? Really? That’s rude, you know!”
Another, louder rumble. You laughed in return, but your face fell as you watched him...
“I wish there was a better way to talk to you…”
The smile on his face fell. His hand touched his throat, and his gaze went to the wall next to you. All of a sudden you really wanted to give him a hug or something... That thought was also shoved back to where it came? What was wrong with you?
“Did that happen when you were hurt? I might be able to help.”
He shook his head.
“Did it happen a long time ago?”
He hesitated, then nodded slowly.
“...were you born like this?”
Another nod.
“...oh.”
Gods, he seemed so sad. You couldn’t blame him. To be alone and frightened, able to understand people but not be able to make yourself understood, to not be able to tell people what was wrong or how you were feeling or what you thought of them…
“Well. I guess we’ll have to figure something out, huh?”
His eyes went wide. He raised his hands, and made… gestures with them? They were slow and precise, like he was…
Trying to say something.
“You can… talk like that?”
He nodded frantically, eyes bright. You couldn’t find the meaning in the way his hands moved, but if he taught you-
Why were you thinking this, anyways? He wasn’t going to be around long enough for you to learn, was he?
“O-Oh.” You coughed, trying to quell back the blush that was spreading across your face. “W-We should probably change those bandages first.”
He nods, looking kind of dejected as he lowers his hands. You can’t help but give his arm a quick squeeze as you raise it to check the wounds.
“You can teach me some after. I’m a quick learner, I promise.”
You wonder if the meaning you’re reading in his expressions are right, or if you’re just seeing what you want to see in them. Because the happiness you see in his eyes as he looks at you…
You find yourself really liking it, and it scares you….