Not Well

  Early one Sunday morning in felarya a young neera was exploring along the river bank south west of Safe Harbor and west of his hidden village. He did this often, and was named Curio for his natural curiosity. It was a tradition from his father's village, being named for one's nature.

  A colorful flower, a strange insect, or shiny stone; there was always something to keep the little albino occupied. Though, perhaps little isn't quite right. Five inches is quite a bit taller than average for his kind, almost double in fact but was also rather thin. Tall, lanky, and pale, he might not win any beauty contests but most people find his round face, large ears, and child like inquisitiveness rather cute none the less.

  When Curio was younger he would have been out with his uncle Max. Max was a naga and not really his uncle, obviously, but he and Curio's father were the best of friends and they traveled all over felarya together. However after the death of Curio's parents Max left. Without anyone to escort him on his adventures, Curio's sister worried constantly about him. She was a sweet girl, a bit small and a bit of an altitude, But she was dependable and very grown up. The girl practically managed the whole village from her little notebook.

  There really wasn't much for Curio to investigate around his village; the gulper vines, the little tunnels from the roots of a long dead tree, every manor of stone that can be found on the banks of the river, and even a funny little plant person. He had looked into all of it, which is why he was venturing out so far from his village, almost three miles! Well, that is quite a distance when you are less than half a foot in height.

Despite this increased distance from his home, there still wasn't too much new. The same types of every thing: plant, animal, and stone. He was about to turn back in defeat when he caught something dark out if the corner of his eye. Scampering up the roots of tree he could see that it was the entrance to a cave, yay!

  Curio scrambled down the opposite side of the roots and through the grass, his excitement mounting as he neared his goal. He only just barely managed to stop himself from running straight in without letting his eyes adjust. The excited neera took a deep breath as he peered into the cave, the opening was a slightly oblong circle of grey stone, the smoothness of what the rising sun illuminated within the cavern suggested that it wasn't natural in formation. It probably would have been the smart thing to leave as soon as he came to this realization. Walking into something's den was never a smart idea, but thinking first would be quite out of character for someone who is named for their curiosity.

  The inside of the cave was quite cool when compared to the humid jungle outside, and also quite dark. The mouse boy's eyes had adjusted as much as they were going to, but even still he couldn't hardly see anything and decided it was probably best to stick to one wall to keep from getting lost. Picking at random, he chose right.

  It wasn't long till he came to a turn and followed it. It seemed to open up into a room or perhaps a wider tunnel. Either way it was even darker than the hall, not having the benefit of light from the rising sun. Though he couldn't see anything, his other senses worked just fine. The room quiet, but the air held three distinct scents: one sweet, one fishy and one bloody. The last one made the little albino uneasy, but also heightened his curiosity.

  Curio decided to head in the direction of the sweet smell, moving slowly and carefully to avoid tripping on anything that the darkness might be hiding one the ground. He held out his hands in front of him and discovered a smooth, rounded wall. A plastic container, maybe. The neera moves his hands up and found a rim above his head. It was definitely a container, but what was in it?

  Pulling himself up curio leaned over the edge of the container, but even this close he still couldn't see much. He reached a hand forward, but froze half way. A glowing blue pair of eyes were hovering on the other side of the room. They hadn't spotted him yet, but they were turning his way. Without thinking, Curio jumped over the edge into the container and something sticky. What ever it was hadn't seen him, but he had landed several inches from the side of the container and couldn't reach the edge! He was sinking, and his legs were stuck fast. He should reach the bottom though, right? He moved his feet into a tiptoe position and held out hope as a dull thunk started rhythmically outside the container.

  Almost a minute tucked by until Curio was up to his chin and still sinking. Another ten seconds and he could taste the sweet syrup, without thinking he cried out, "help me!" The thunking stopped and was replaced by a slight shuffling, shifting sound till the pair of eyes were looking down on him. His feet hit the bottom with the sticky gunk just under his lower lip.

  Someone snapped their fingers and Curio's eyes were assaulted by a bright light. Blinded, the neera felt himself being lifted by the back of his shirt. Something warm and wet caressed his neck and a chokingly fishy blast of warm, wet air assailed his nose. Everything was a blur to his flash-blinded eyes, but he feel himself moving and caught what might be the outline of a large face before he was plunged into darkness once again.

  He was still being held by the back if his shirt and the air was cool so he must not have been eaten yet, the hallway then? His eyes almost readjusted to the dark, not that it would have done him any good in this level of blackness, but when an unseen pair of fingers snapped once again the flash was almost as painful and just as blinding.

  With his eyes squeezed shut he heard a squeaking sound to his right followed by that of running water. Curio squeaked in protest as he cloths were pulled free and covered himself with his sticky hands, chafing his sensitive area. He squeaked again as cool water was run over his now nude form. 'Oh no, it's going to clean me up and cook me in a stew!' Curio thought to himself with his eyes still screwed shut.

  A pair of soft hands worked over every inch of the little guy before something soft and a little bristly was rubbed across his flesh and hair. "brushy, brushy, mousy" the cheery tenor of a young man spoke with a slight singsong quality, "brushy, brushy me too." The voice giggled, "move your little hand, silly. That's the most important place to clean!"

  Curio felt his face flush, but reluctantly did as he was told. Cooperation was probably best. Thankfully he cleaned Curio's sensitive bits much more gently than the scrubbing the rest if him received, and the little mouse's embarrassment grew along his body's reaction to the attention. Luckily the attention soon moved on to his legs and he even giggled unintentionally as the brush phased over his feet and between his little toes.

  Another quick rinse and the water stopped at another metallic squeaking sound. Curio felt himself moving once again till his bare bottom felt stone. "There, now we just wait for you to dry..." the young male voice spoke again with a giggle, "silly mousy, butterscotch is good for eating, but not for swimming. Despite what some people might like to think." Curio felt something under his chin and when he raised his head, the voice continued, "what's wrong? Oh! I'm so sorry! the light, right? I should have warned you."

  Curio peaked one eye open and found himself sitting in front a black haired boy who looked a little older than him. His skin was tanned with thin little white lines crisscrossing at random and his face was thin and youthful. His eyes were solid blue, save the black slitted pupils at their center which matched the wet inky black hair that clung to his forehead in slight curls. "You... are you going to eat me?" Curio's voice was small with fear...well, smaller.

  The naga looked surprised and a little saddened, "what? No, of course not, you asked for help so I helped you. Why would I eat you? Don't you...ohhhh..."

  "Wh-what?" Curio shivered a little in the cool air

  "I never introduced myself! I'm the one who saved you guys from the dridders a few years ago... but I guess that I only ever talked to the old guy. Oh well."

  Curio nodded slowly. His village had moved a few miles because a bunch of dridders had found it. He always thought that they were just nomads and moved on once the village's location changed. They were really lucky that they had practiced evacuating so much and managed to get away without any deaths. He never guessed that they had help.

"Any way," the guy waved his hand dismissively, the gesture bring Curio's attention back to him, "my name is Nathan," he bowed and when Curio's eyes followed the movement he spotted the black patternless snake tail he had in place of legs

  "Oh, uh... My name is Curio," it probably wasn't smart, but the little guy felt a little better knowing the boy was a naga. Probably because of his relationship with Max, "It's nice to meet you."

  Nathan's smile suddenly widened and without warning he scooped Curio up in his palm in a single swift motion, "if you trying to swim in butterscotch, I bet you're hungry!" He smiled down at the little guy who covered his nude form with a blush. "I was just chopping up my breakfast, there's plenty to fish for you too."

  "fish for breakfast?" It sounded rather strange to the neera for some reason

  "yeah, I don't like fish, but I don't feel guilty when I kill them so that's what I eat." Nathan seemed rather chipper. Max had also seemed to be in a perpetually good mood, but he was more of a subdued happiness. A content expression and an occasional chuckle, "I suppose that I shall have to cook it though, since raw fish would make you sick."

  Curio nodded timidly as he was set down on another counter in a different room. The white plastic container sitting on the floor confirmed that it was the same one from before. looking over to his right where the naga was, he jumped a bit at his own reflection. A shiny knife was sticking from the soft wood that covered the stone counter, "That...that looks sharp," his voice was nervous which seemed to bother the naga

  "if it wasn't then I would just be hitting the fish and not chopping it." for some reason that made curio giggle which made the naga relax a bit as he scraped the fish onto a black pan. Curio was about to ask what he was going to cook it on when the naga's eyes started glowing and the fish began to sizzle in the pan all on there own! was he a mage just like uncle Max?

  It hardly took a minute for them to be done and nathan handed Curio a piece the size of his head on a small plate that he seemed to just have lying around...oh wait, It was just part of a broken spoon... but why would he have that? Either way the fish was really good, the albino really didn't see what the naga was complaining about with fish.
  "so, how as your village been doing? I haven't seen any one from it in almost a year. speaking of which, how's little Mel doing?"
    Curio swallowed he food in his mouth and looked up the naga with a curios frown, "you know Mel?"
    "yep," Nathan giggled, "she climbed into my hair while I was taking a nap under a tree one day and fell asleep. I didn't even notice her till I got back here."
    "oh... the village is doing well... and Mel... yeah, she tends to fall asleep in odd places. Sometimes we'll be running around looking for her all day when she'll crawl out of a cupboard or something where she was sleeping." Curio smiled fondly and chuckled a little at the memory.
    Another chunk of fish disappeared down the naga's throat "what about you? what're you doing way out here?"
    "I'm just...exploring, I guess... There's not really much left to explore around the village, so I came out here looking for something new."
    "well, there's plenty of neat stuff stashed away in and around my den. You're welcome to explore, just don't go past the big bolder down at the bottom. It's pretty dangerous past there." Nathan looked thoughtful for a moment, "hmm... actually, now that I think about it, I haven't really looked around too much out side of the immediate area around my den. Maybe we could both go exploring. It would probably be safer for you and more fun for me."
    "Sure!" Curio blushed a bit at his eagerness, "well, if you want too,"
    "sounds good... how about this afternoon? I'll get a few things in order then I'll meet you at your village. It's up the blade tree with all the cogamosia around the base, right? At least, that's where I would put it... so wait... if it's the obvious best place, isn't then the worst place? but a predator would assume it's prey smarter than to use the obvious place and look elsewhere...making it the best place? but what if the predator knows that it's prey knows that the place it too obvious? hmm..." Nathan's head tilted sideways and he stared off into space as he pondered.
    Curio couldn't help but giggle a bit at the naga's antics, he seemed to be a rather silly person, "yeah, it is up that tree, but don't try to climb it, ok? just yell up and I'll come down."
    Nathan smiled, "do I strike you as the kind of naga that would try to climb a blade leaf tree?...actually, don't answer that."
   
    The pair exchanged a few more giggles during the course of their meal. they finished their fish at about the same time and Nathan rose with a smile, "well I guess I should...hmm... you know, would like me to just bring you home or would you just like me to bring you outside?"
    "umm...I...I would like you give me back my cloths first." Curio blushed a little
    "huh? oh! silly me." Nathan left for a moment before returning with Curio's cloths, "all clean and dry."
    "thanks" Curio turned and got dressed with his back to the naga, who didn't seem to find anything off with being nude. then again... the little albino waited for the naga's gaze to wonder away before sneaking a peak down. completely smooth. no belly button, no nips, and nothing dangling...well, considering that they hatch from an egg and are part snake... wait... Curio frowned as he slipped his shirt back on and tucked it in, does...does he have two tucked away, like a snake or...? Curio's face reddened and he shook his head, he was curios, but did he really want to know the answer?
    "What's wrong? you're all red." Nathan's voice snapped the neera back to reality and deepened the shade of red on his face
    "uh, no... It's just... umm, nothing. It's nothing." he stammered
    "oh, ok. If you say so."
    Curio turned back to face the naga and jumped back, tripping over his feet falling on his bottom. Nathan had at some point started leaning with his arms crossed on the counter and happened to be in the middle of a wide yawn, giving Curio a perfect view down the naga's maw. Strangely, his teeth were sharp triangles like a shark; his tongue was long and tapering, but not spit. next to the teeth, the scariest part was just how large the naga's throat was. Without a uvula or tonsils the passage was just a wide, muscle-ringed, pinkish red tunnel. Well, actually the scariest part might have been his breath. on it's own it smell verry fishy, but having just eaten the naga's breath carried the noxiously acrid smell of digestion. Max had explained once that part of the reason things could live long enough in a naga's stomach to be digested alive was because the muscles at the top of their stomach relax slightly when the naga is up right and prey isn't stimulating the region around it with movement.
    Nathan ended his yawn and shook his head, "I haven't been active enough today, I'm falling asleep. oh, did you trip?"
    Curio debated for a moment whether telling the nice naga the truth or not would make him feel bad, but decided that it probably wouldn't, "I turned around and you were way closer that I thought you were, and your mouth was wide open."
    Nathan looked surprised for a moment before his expression turned apologetic, "sorry."
    "Nah, it's ok" Curio stood and smiled, "umm... could you just take me home right away? I think my sister would feel better if she met you before I just said I was going out to meet you."
    "aww, what a thoughtful brother," Nathan giggled and gently picked up Curio in the palm of his hand, "all right then, let's go!"


check out chapter 2 here: http://fg094.deviantart.com/art/Not-Well-v2-2-447316927