The stone underneath my feet is hot and hard, The rays of the sun are blistering, and the metal sticks I keep getting clobbered over the head with hurt.... A lot

Yeah, surprise surprise, I got myself into the Drev clan. Turns out that I don't exactly speak as well as I thought I did, so it took more than a little convincing to get their clan leader to allow me in. Luckily he knew of me at the very least and decided it would be an interesting experiment to see how tough humans really are.

Honestly, I think it was an excuse to watch the clan children beat the snot out of me.

I mean to be fair to myself, I am pretty sure I could win in a fight if the situation called for it, but come on these are kids, I can't hit them.

Why am I fighting kids you ask?

Well because I am about as tall as the kids. With Drev growing anywhere from seven to ten feet tall, you can imagine that their kids are rather monstrous. These little beasts are about as tall as I am and way more vicious. And when I say vicious, I mean vicious.

Their clan leader seems amused at my pain.

This guy is called the Lodnajasta which roughly translates to "the one who watches" or something like that. Sunny calls them Sentinels. Drev clans are made up of a couple inner hierarchies . Their religious leader, their military leader, and a council of elder clan members who give their opinions on stuff.

They didn't seem to pleased on me being here, but the Sentinel seemed to want to settle something once and for all.

It seems as if he was being proven right.

I hit the ground hard shoulder smarting and roll to the side as the little cretin charges after me. This one is bright neon green, and he seems intent on taking my head off. He might succeed too. As he charges me, I see a potential opening to hit him, but at the last moment I pull my punch. I can't just hit the kid.

He doesn't have the same qualms, and I get plowed into the ground with a shoulder check.

Volcanic rock grates under my arms and knees as I hit the ground.

"Tizhitan, Tanana." The sentinel says crouching just outside the circle to mock me.

He's been saying that all day, which means it's a word I learned pretty fast: shameful.

Tanana is my new nickname apparently, means alien.

Either that or Kazga, which I have determined is actually some kind of curse word along the same lines as moron, but with connotations more along the line of rude words a human may used to describe someone as mentally disabled. It is a pretty serious insult, and he only uses it on me when I have been a real idiot.

"Nizish, Tanana ,ee zheengish." Stand up and fight

I slowly crawl to my feet hurting, "I can't fight them, they're kids."

"dazhit ."

He's insulting me again.

Pretty sure that one is like calling me a bitch, though it probably has some other unknown meaning.

"Look. I'm sorry but where I am from we don't hit kids."

He looks amused. The kids don't understand what I am saying, but I can hear them jeering at my back with words like dazhit, tanana and Kazga. I don't know where their parents are, but I would consider washing their mouths out with soap.

"Juhkee tsa zhe tehish zheengat."

I pretty sure I heard the words fight me in there.

I would argue with him, but I dug myself into this hole. I should have just shut up and clobbered the kid in the head, but no, instead i opted to get my ass beat.

"Yid." I respond a bit sullenly, and with chirps of glee, the children gather around the circle as their leader sets down his spear and steps inside.

"Tsa zhalish tahajeea." I say pointing to his armor. Hardly seems far that I don't even get a shirt, or shoes for that matter. It was a fight just to keep my pants especially when he pointed out that they don't wear clothing.

I never considered that until now, and somehow it made things weird.

He was naked except for armor, and I was only wearing pants, and with him towering over me I became suddenly aware of how tall he was, about nine feet tall if anyone is asking, which made him about three feet taller than yours truly.

As much time as I spend with sunny, sometimes I forget how big drev are supposed to be even considering that her brother is absolutely monstrous.

He just grins at me, or at least the Drev version of a grin.

You can see it mostly in their eyes, a sort of grim malevolence that lets you know they have no trouble beating the shit out of you.

excellent .

I have to crane my neck back to look up at him.

"Aleshash!"

It took me a moment to figure out what the word meant, and by the time I had figured it out, the fight was already over.

He hit me so hard I felt a rib crack, and that was before I went sprawling across the dirt and out of the circle coming to rest at the feet of the young Drev face down in the moss gasping for air and unable to breathe through the pain.

The children chirped/ laughed whatever you call it.

I hurt.

I feel the sentinel's shadow fall over me as he kneels down at my side, " tsa dzhalal neh dakish zheengat, dit tsa dzhalakak tazheengish." You are not ready to fight drev, so you will fight children.

I groan ribs burning.

The children continue to laugh and the sentinel walks off.

The kids trail behind him.

I lay on the dirt with my face in the moss and wish that I had just decided to stay home. Things had been rough for me lately, but I am beginning to wonder why I thought it was a good idea to come out here and make my life harder.

Sunny had told me about her past, how she was treated for being small, how she was considered to be a cripple and a liability to her clan.

Now here i was an actual cripple and a real liability.

What did I think I was doing?

"Tsa jirhash?"

I turn my head looking up to find the face of a very, very old drev. I can tell she is old because the color of her carapace. It darkens as the Drev age, and hers was almost brown, leaning towards black/ She is bent over, lost at least two feet of height, but still she stands with some measure of dignity.

I blink at her.

"Ya hurt?" She asks

I am taken aback a bit surprised to hear english coming form the mouth of a drev. I knew it was possible for them to produce some of our sounds, but sunny and I had never tried./

"I uh.... Zha neh rekazi/"

She looks me over with a critical eye, and before I can do much of anything, she reaches out and just, picks me up, like I weigh nothing, like she would hold a child. To be fair, even as stooped as she is, she's about nine feet tall, which makes me think she would have been much taller in her youth.

I wince against the pain as she carries me away.

The sun is beginning to set and the sky has become a bright shade of pink. The rest of the clan has either gone inside though a few of the adults remain speaking and conversing with each other towards the head of the village.

She carries me in the opposite direction to a small hut on the outskirts of the village. She has to duck through the door, but once inside there is enough room.

She sets me down at the far end where the moss is thick.

The hut has a pleasant smell, though I cannot describe what it is.

I grit my teeth past the pain as I slowly sit up.

"Lod tsa?" I ask. I think I remember seeing her during that first meeting, but I don't remember who she is.

"Zha Hijan"

I frown in confusion Hijan means beautiful or colorful so.... Oh wait, drev often use adjectives as names. Like sunny or noble.

I forgot.

"Tsaee tsa lanish zha?"

"Tsaee tsa zha lanish/" She corrects. Oh I forget they have a different sentence structure.

"Uh... Yeah, why are you helping me?" i repeat

"Dzhalka lana gingazh." Something.... Need help

I frown.

Dzhalka, wait, doesn't that mean baby or small child.

"Hold on, I am not a child."

She gives me a knowing look, "Tsa jee." You're not?

"No. I'm not. On my planet I am a fully grown adult human. Look I honestly do thank you for helping me with the hospitality and all. But I think you might be confused."

Her eyes scrunch together in the way that Drev have when they smile, " tsa tsatse jekish."

"Trying to find myself? Why would you think that?"

"Tsa dadzhatatal najish ee daeen dahajish. Kaan dzhalka lod dazha neh rekazash."

I shook my head in confusion, "I left home.... Only children don't know who they are...." I'm confused.

"tsa Tsatse neh rekazish."

"I know who I am ok, I just.... I needed to get out for a while and figure myself out...."
I paused

She smiled

I sighed.

Well I had really put my foot in my mouth on that one. She walked over and handed me a piece of the pink orb fruit, and I took it gratefully and bit into it. It was sweet, so I assumed it was ripe. It made my mouth hurt with how sweet it was.

The old Drev moved about the hut doing various tasks and clicking at me when I tried to get up.

At one point she even pointed a spear in my direction making it pretty clear that I was to stay down.

I did as told resting back against the moss.

So it looks like I had been adopted by an old drev granny named Hijan who was under the impression I was her new child....

That was

unexpected .

But I supposed I could roll with this.

It was nice to have a place to stay.

I fell asleep sometime later woken up during the night only to find her asleep to my right curled up in the way a mother might while letting her child rest. One of her hands rested very close to my back.

Ok weird, but..... Comforting

And I had no trouble falling asleep for the rest of the night.