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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Aeogeus on 2024-04-10 07:50:18.
First Chapter/Previous Chapter
Tamara woke the following day feeling refreshed. She had slept like a baby and felt she could take on the world right now. Tamara followed the usual routine: wait to warm up, get dressed, and go downstairs. As she reached the last step, she saw her mother sitting at the table.
A little odd, she thought; she was usually up before mom was, but this had happened before, usually when she had tuckered herself out after a lot of play.
“Morning, Mom,” she said in a cheerful tone.
Pancha looked at her daughter and, with a smile, said, “Good morning Tamara.”
Pancha was sipping a steaming cup. “What are you drinking, Mom?” Tamara asked.
Pancha removed the cup from her lips and said: “just hot water and some mint leaves to make it a little interesting.” This was a common tactic for Lamias to help them warm up, usually if they had a busy day ahead.
“Did something come up?” Tamara asked, curious as to why her mother would need a boost today.
“You could say that it’s Odalinde. She hasn’t been doing her job much lately; she keeps disappearing,” Pancha clarified. This was a little disturbing. Tamara was not particularly fond of Mrs Odalinde, that was true, but she was always known to do her work.
Tamara let the information swirl in her head and then asked, “Would you like some help?” Tamara did not particularly want to, but what she hated most was making her mom struggle when she could do something about it. Samuel could wait until noon.
Pancha smiled again. She had such a sweet daughter. “No, it’s fine,” she said, “all I have to do is corner her and make her do her work. You go out and play and maybe learn some more from Aarush.”
Tamara double-checked and then triple-checked that her mother did not need help. Pancha gave her daughter a big, long hug and a large kiss on her forehead, and she sent her on her way. As the door closed behind Tamara, Pancha thought to herself, “Finally, she stopped going to see that monster.”
Part of Tamara wanted to hurry over to see Samuel, but another part of her wanted to see Hansad and Becanda. She felt a little bad for neglecting them for so long, so she decided to spend the morning with them and then go and find Samuel this afternoon.
At this time of day, Becanda would probably be at the market with her mother, getting something for dinner, and with luck, she would run into Aarush there. Maybe they would listen to him if they wouldn’t listen to her.
She passed many people, and they all stopped her to ask how she was; she had not been around the village for so long, and they were getting worried. She calmed them down and assured them that nothing was wrong and that she was perfectly fine.
Tamara raised herself on her tail so that she was now two and a half metres tall and started to scan her surroundings, trying to find a head strewn with ribbons, but as she was observing a stall filled with apples, she felt something tap on her tail.
Tamara turned around and saw Becanda gently and continually poking her. Becanda looked Tamara dead in the eye while saying nothing and just kept prodding. Tamara endured this momentarily until she finally said: “are you having fun?”
Becanda smiled and said, “Oh yes, don’t mind me.”
Tamara let this continue for about ten more seconds when she asked: “can you stop?”
Becanda replied with “yes” and kept on poking.
Tamara then asked, “Will you?”
Becanda once again said “yes” and still did not stop poking her.
Tamara then said, “Now?”
Once again, Becanda said “yes,” and this time, she did stop.
Tamara lowered herself to her usual height and said, "It’s good to see you.”
Becanda smiled again and hugged Tamara, “The same here; I heard you have been spending your time with Mr Aarush.”
Tamara let out a little laugh inside her head; everyone thought that she had been neglecting Samuel to spend time with Aarush, which was not entirely false, “Yeah, we have been learning a lot recently.”
“Really like what?” asked Becanda.
Tamara did want to tell her, but she did not want to repeat herself, so she said: “I will tell you, but first, we must find Hansad.”
Becanda begrudgingly accepted, and the two of them set off to find Hansad. They searched every part of the market for any sign of either Hansad or his parents but found nothing.
The two of them headed to the edge of the village, and Becanda said: “Maybe we should go to his house and ask his dad?” Tamara agreed as she turned around and literally bumped into Aarush.
“Hello, Tamara; where are you and your friend heading?” he asked.
Tamara was a little surprised to see him, but then she remembered that she had not agreed they would see Samuel in the afternoon and had probably been looking for her.
“Hello, Aarush, we are looking for my friend Hansad,” Tamara replied.
Aarush was a little confused. He, after all, assumed that they would go and see Samuel again. However, before he could say anything, Becanda almost blurted out, “Hello, Mr Aarush; Tamara is going to tell us all about the stuff you taught her.”
Aarush was once again confused and said, “But I…” however, he glanced at Tamara and realised he should not speak of that for now. “Umm… yes, in fact, I could tell you myself if you want?”
Becanda’s face practically lit up, her eyes almost sparkled, and a small part of Aarush told him he might regret this.
“What does your friend look like?” Aarush asked the two girls.
“Umm, he’s a Cicindeli and stands about yay high,” Tamara said; she placed her hand a little below her shoulder to represent this.
“He has short black hair, black arms and legs,” Tamara added.
Aarush felt this sounded familiar and remembered that he had seen someone who looked like that, “I think I saw him heading towards that clearing near the village edge with some other people.”
Tamara, Becanda and Aarush travelled to the play area, Becanda asking Aarush questions all the way. They were stopped several times by passers-by who wanted to pick Aarush’s brains about various topics. Still, after a particularly long talk with Mrs Candace, they finally reached the play area.
Hansad was playing catch with Annora, a Lamia with sky-blue scales and hair; she was a little older than Tamara and was the most girlie girl you could imagine.
Tamara said to Aarush like she was talking to a naughty child, “You said that he was here with friends, not a friend.”
Aarush replied, like a little boy being cheeky with their mother, “No, I said that he was heading here with friends; the other two must have left.”
Hansad saw the three heading towards them, that he forgot about the ball heading for his face. The ball made contact with his face, and everyone started laughing. Aarush tried to contain it to a quick snicker. Annora turned around to see who was laughing and what had distracted Hansad.
Annora smiled and said, “Hello, Tamara. I haven’t seen you in a while. Hi Becanda.”
Tamara smiled back and replied, “Yes, well, I have been a little busy recently.”
Annora started to run her finger through her hair, most likely checking for any knots or tangles, Tamara presumed. Annora then said: “Hello Mr Aarush, why are you here?”
“Well, I was trying to find Tamara so that we could… talk,” Aarush answered.
“What about?” Hansad asked, his curiosity peaked.
Aarush tried to think about something that would not bring Samuel into it: “Well, we mostly learn about the world and its many wonders.”
Becanda, Hansad and Annora stood bolt upright, and Aarush said: “Ok, gather round, and I will tell you.”
The five of them sat down on the grass. Aarush spoke at length about everything Samuel had told him before, particularly about the world’s size and the volcanoes; several hours of talking and asking questions went by. Aarush had to admit that it was pretty stimulating.
Tamara then nudged Aarush’s side and gave him a look, and Aarush knew it was time to go. Aarush said, “Well, I’m pretty tired, and I could do with some lunch so we can continue this another time.” There was a lot of moaning, and Annora kept asking him to stay, but Aarush put his hooves down, which was the end of it.
They managed to get away from them and passed through the market. Then, a thought occurred to Aarush.
“Why don’t we bring those three with us? That way, we could show them they are wrong about Samuel?” he asked.
Tamara was not surprised; she had considered the same thing, but she knew how that would end, “I would like to, but none of them will come, and if they would come, if we show them where Samuel lives, there is a good chance they will tell someone who would do something they will regret.”
Aarush was unsure and responded: “Are you so certain of that?”
Tamara said, “Yes.”
“How can you be so sure?” Aarush replied.
“Because that is how you acted when you first met him.” Aarush conceded that she was right, and to be perfectly honest, he quite enjoyed knowing the secret of where a human lived.
They entered the woods and passed through them without much happening, though a bird almost relieved itself on Aarush’s back. They came up to the extension and saw no sign of Samuel, so Tamara screamed Samuel’s name at the top of her lungs. They waited for several minutes, and still, Samuel did not appear. Tamara was about to go down the stairs to find him, but then she noticed something written in the dirt of his vegetable patch…
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1c0eaoq/here_be_humans_chapter_11/