The door groaned as wood pushed on wood, revealing a dim light from the setting sun.

  Instinctively, Theo grabbed the first thing he could find – the small wooden chair he had sat on just a moment ago. He held it with both hands, ready to strike at whatever came through the door.

  He waited. Eagerly. Carefully.

  The door opened then, revealing a silhouette about the size of himself. The man had slim shoulders and wore wide clothes that hid… A tail!?

  The tip of a slim tail danced underneath the wide cloak. A hand came from under the cloak, which made Theo tighten the grip around the chair. But instead of hitting him or pulling out another stick, the hand went up the man’s face. It lifted the hood, revealing light purple eyes.

  Theo saw his tail twitch, brought up his arms, and put all his strength into a blow with his chair.

  A loud crack followed shortly after as his chair crashed against the door, and one of its legs broke off.

  He looked at the closed door and breathed heavily, lifting the chair up again, ready to strike.

  But for a while… nothing.

  He could hear a throat being cleared from outside. “Excuse me very much, I was not aware that this establishment is inhabited once more.”

  Theo hesitantly lowered his chair and took a step back. “Slowly, what do you want from me? I swear, I will strike again!”

  The door opened a fraction. “May a poor soul like myself come in? I want you no harm.”

  “What do you want?”

  The door opened a bit wider, but not enough to see the man. “Shelter. And a glass of water perhaps.”

  Neither the door nor Theo moved for a moment. He could feel his hands loosen and his shoulders drop. “Come in.”

  The door opened fully, and the other one widened his arms, showed his open hands, and proceeded to walk into the house.“Thank you. It’s been a while since– Oh, you’ve cleaned!” The purple eyes stared around the room.

  Theo’s eyes went up and down on the man. His gaze tried to pull everything in. He was maybe around his age. His face was clean with no beard, and it was framed by light blonde hair that went down to his shoulders and hadn’t been washed for days, at least.

  As the man walked closer, Theo started to smell it. Wilderness. The scent of freshly mown grass hefted on his cloak. It mixed with the remains of cold smoke and created a scent that reminded him of going camping. He didn’t know why, but it was not the scent of danger.

  “Thank you, good man. It is an unusual pleasure to see a human around here, but I am very pleased by your… direct kind of hospitality.”

  With each step, the man with tail walked forward, Theo took a step back until he hit the counter. It made a damp sound, followed by two glasses clinging against each other. Theo snapped back into reality by the sound and finally asked. “And what is it, you poor soul wants?”

  “Oh, me? Well, no one else around here, I assume. I was just passing by. But I cannot live without these Adacus leaves,” his tail twitched as he pointed up at the bundle of leaves, “and took some for myself earlier. I promise, my intention was never to steal anything!”

  The man’s tail curled up between his legs, and his eyes hit the ground at the last sentence. He had something of a beaten dog now.

  Theo pulled a chair to the table. “Sit.”

  The other sat down, taking care not to sit on his own tail as if it were a routine.

  Theo sat down on another chair, keeping the broken leg in his hand. Just in case. “So, water?”

  “If it’s not too much to ask for, yes, please.”

  He drank the first mug too quickly and the second one more slowly.

  “And you were just passing by? Broke anything round here?” Theo continued the conversation.

  “Well, yes. I may be somewhat clumsy indeed. Or as my mother used to say: ‘Marius, I’m still waiting for a day when you’re not breaking anything around here.’ But I have managed a few days at least,” the man laughed into the dim room. It felt honest.

  Theo drank from his energy drink creation and nodded. “That explains things... I’m Theo,” and he held his hand in front of the other.

  His hand was met. The purple eyes then turned over to Theo’s beverage. “That looks interesting...”

  “Uh, no, I’ve mixed something together. Berries with water.”

  The other raised an eyebrow. “Berries. With water?”

  Theo vanished into the kitchen, quickly mixed together another drink, and brought out his self-made marmalade. “Here. Try!”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The man took a sip, and Theo could see his eyebrows rising. He put the mug on the table, then thought for a while, mixing the last bit of liquid in his mouth as if he were evaluating the taste of a fine wine. He gulped and thought for another moment. “Pleasant, indeed! What do you call it?”

  “Call it?”

  “A name. You certainly don’t call it berry-water, do you?”

  Theo’s eyes went up to the ceiling as he thought. “Well, it tastes like an energy drink…”

  “Energy Drink! Fabulous! I shall write that down sometime. And this paste?” He sniffed the empty mug and pointed at his marmalade. Theo took some of it with his finger and swallowed it. “The same berries, but mixed with the… Abbacos leaves.”

  The other nodded silently. “Adacus is what they are called. Let me try…”

  After gulping the first taste, he smiled softly. “It was a pleasure meeting you, it really was. But I have something very urgent to attend to now. I am more than grateful for your hospitality. You seem well suited for this place, I am sure,” he stood up, took another finger of marmalade, and nodded at Theo.

  “But wha–”

  He could only see a tail facing him. The man turned around once, and Theo could see the smile remaining on his face. “I will return… sooner or later.” With that, a last nod came before Theo saw him walking out and disappearing into the distance. His scent was still present for a while, and after closing the door for him, Theo used the last bit of water to wash the dishes used tonight and put his marmalade to the side.

  What a strange fellow…

  Theo yawned when the last mug was roughly cleaned and finally closed the curtains. He pushed the table in front of the door and looked at the door, expecting another knock. He looked at the broken chair, carefully putting it on the side.

  After a while, he returned to his bed and crumbled inside, finding the position that was the least uncomfortable, and closed his eyes.

  I should have asked him more… Are there more people like him? With a tail? Where did he go, and what fucking kind of time frame is ‘sooner or later’?

  He thought about their encounter for a while until he drifted away.

  It made him rub his nose again. That damn sunlight tickling him. He wasn’t used to waking up early. Video games and reading made him stay up late and university usually starting at 10 AM allowed him to sleep in. What good is Psychology to me here?

  It fascinated him walking around in his large city and looking at the skyscrapers, the museums, and all the fancy buildings. Creativity. But as he had learned in an orientation course for studying, architects were mostly poor. Well, it depended, but it is what his parents had heard. And that was what counted. So he had to make up with the second-best choice and was one of the few sane people studying Psychology.

  He laughed at the thought of it. Just maybe…

  When he went downstairs, that grumble appeared again from inside him. It wasn’t a need, but rather an appetite. The shelf. The shelf still bugged him. All these containers standing there defining the rest of the room. He spent some time emptying the first batch of flasks before he filled his basket and set them aside.

  Grumble. This time, it was a need.

  He went into the kitchen and examined his berries. He put some into his hand and hesitated. Then he carefully lay them back and went around the house to find himself in the garden patch. Tall grass, herbs, and the wetness of the mushrooms. He knelt and searched through the vegetation. There were several plants, and he decided that the best thing to do was just rip out one of each kind. Except one plant. A red flower that stood in the middle of the garden, dancing with the wind and sending a sweet scent into his nose.

  Inside, he placed his harvest on the counter. Some plants were just straws, others were tubers, and even others had a shape he hadn’t seen before. They each had their unique scent. However, he could make out two groups – those that smelled good and those that didn’t. He had no idea how or why he made this distinction, but it came easily.

  Theo searched through some of the books. At least they are labeled…

  It took a while for him to find what he was looking for, but in the end, each plant was described with simple drawings, showing their ripeness. To his surprise, the group he made out as pleasant was – if he interpreted the drawings correctly – ripe. Even the mushrooms. Fewer were edible, but at least it was something. Most of what he had picked was plain old weed.

  He took what looked like a small brown salad – according to the book, a brownhead – and cut it into pieces, then added another plant that looked like a green potato, freed it from some dirt, peeled it, and added it to the brownhead. He took a bite and had to admit that his creation was bitter and not up to his standards at all.

  He sat down and ate. The food filled his stomach in a way he couldn’t describe. It was full and heavy when sitting, but he was surprisingly agile, even with his full belly. But more importantly, he was content. It may not have been great, but he had somewhat cooked. With otherworldly ingredients! And it was not complete shit. For the rest of the meal, a smile masked the face of someone who was forced to eat something he didn’t like.

  “Now back to bringing order into this house,” he mumbled while still chewing.

  Since he only had one basket, it took him a while to bring the glass containers to the river, thoroughly clean them, and repeat the process. He had to walk back and forth three times and found the time for cleaning the shelf in between to rest his legs.

  After the process, he ended up with a clean shelf filled with all sorts of containers, sorted by size from left to right and by shape from top to bottom.

  With content, he wiped the sweat from his face and fell onto the ground, just to admire the results of his work. It looked as if it were meant to be that way. The room around him was still not completely clean, but it was less dirty and had a lot more space to offer now. There was just this pile he hadn’t known the purpose of. The things he had no idea what they were, and was unsure about how to proceed with them.

  His legs were tired from the walks, and his hands ached where the basket had slightly cut into his skin. Eventually, Theo stood up and walked heavily into the kitchen to mix together another Energy Drink. He mashed the berries, like it was routine, and put them into the mug, then stirred well. Energy Drink, come to–

  Theo let go of the spoon and pushed the mug away as his hands began to shine in a strange color. A dim green. The same color as the inside of the mug had now turned into. He could smell the berries intensely, like they were being cooked. The inside of the mug kept swirling until the shade of green disappeared as fast as it had appeared. The kitchen stood as it had before.

  He looked at his hands, turned them from one side to the other, but no green was found.

  What the…

  He looked at the mug. The liquid was still and looked like it had the day before. With a shaking hand, Theo pulled the mug toward his lips, drank, and…

  He could feel the liquid finding its way through the body. It expanded from the chest into the belly, his arms and legs, where he could feel some sort of quick relief before the sensation disappeared into nothingness. He moved his legs carefully as if they’d fall off any moment. To his surprise, they didn't fall off, but they felt lighter. Not as light as they were when waking up, but still… lighter.

  Huh?