Feral

3 ⇞ Lost Language; Found

   

Nadia didn't know how it happened or when the beast had accepted Tessa as safe. And she couldn't figure out when she'd begun to trust the woman. With her angry eyes and strange ability to understand Nadia without words, Tessa had become a puzzle in her eyes. Something she could not grasp, as the beast could not grasp human complexities.

Tessa was like her lost language.

Like the wolves.

Nadia did know one thing. The trail that led to this den of trust had started on the day she'd woken from the dream where she'd been a child in the truest sense, without the beast or the wild. Since then Tessa had become a constant. Not a night went by where Tessa didn't appear at least once, and during those times the woman never tried to do anything to Nadia. She never took advantage of the moments Nadia's control slipped and her guard was down. Never flinched when she growled, snarled, or bared her teeth. Tessa just took everything in stride and never did anything that made Nadia feel unsafe.

And Tessa spoke to her.

She'd move her arms, would mime the things she could have easily said with words. Just so she could get her message to Nadia. It wasn't a perfect form of communication, but Tessa never seemed phased when she or Nadia ran into something they could not say. Nadia, on the other hand, would always grumble in frustration and often couldn't stop herself from growling low in her throat. Tessa would laugh when she did that, something about the sound causing laughter to spark in those red eyes.

That always made her growl more.

Then there were the times when Tessa would point to things and say a word in that lost language. At first, Nadia hadn't understood why; had thought the woman was trying to say something she could not motion. But then she began to refer to the things Tessa had pointed at by the same words. The things the food was on became 'plates,' 'bowls,' and 'trays.' The twisted cold stuff the mattress sat on became 'metal' and a 'bed frame.' The fabric Tessa wore had become a 'uniform,' a 'button-up,' and a 'skirt.'

Tessa had been teaching her words of that language she'd lost to the snow.

The realization had felt like running. Felt like running on the warm ground known to the months without the snow, where food was easy to find and the struggle to survive was a distant past. It made her feel like the girl she'd once been had when the trackers had let her tag along on their patrols.

Tessa was taking care of her, like a doe helping a fawn take its first steps. It was a thought from the mind of the beast, and Nadia agreed with the idea. But Tessa wasn't a doe, she was a mother bear.

A dangerous one.

And somehow, Nadia trusted her completely.

     

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The young man stretched out on the ground in one of the many clearings that littered the territory of the den. He enjoyed the warm feeling of the sun on his skin and ignored how cold the air and the ground were compared to the bits of sun he could catch. His inner cat grumbled at the cold and the lack of proper areas to laze around and he couldn't help but agree. Though he disliked the onset of winter for reasons more serious than simple discomfort. Letting out a breath, he looked up at the sky and attempted to push the memories out of his mind. He'd finally gotten a break from Nick's harsh training and he wasn't about to let himself waste it by dwelling on things he couldn't fix. Besides, the day was a beautiful one despite the weather, it didn't need to be tainted with the shreds of his guilt.