After the river, I returned to my cave.
I no longer slept with the children. My place was now with the adults… though they spoke little. Very little. And always calmly, as if their words didn’t want to disturb anyone.
The first night was strange.
My slime stayed stuck to my chest, over my heart. It didn’t weigh. It didn’t hurt. But I could feel it… as if it breathed with me.
It didn’t speak. No slime speaks.
But sometimes… it vibrated.
And when it did, I knew things.
I knew when I should get up.
I knew if it was going to rain.
I knew when I should take the three-pointed stone to grind the roots better.
It was like having a little piece of the river inside me.
The moons passed.
One day, one of the adults, Chief Talok, asked me to go to the forest to meet with a tribe from the south. They were coming to exchange shells for sleeping leaves. I was to accompany him.
Talok spoke to me while we walked:
—They… say that the forest has black veins now.
I looked at him, confused.
—Veins?
—Tall things. Black. Thin. Not trees. Not ours.
I didn’t fully understand. But my slime vibrated. As if that word—"veins"—tightened its body.
When we arrived at the trading clearing, the southern goblins were tense. One looked at me and said:
—Strange things in the trees. Cracked sky. As if something fell from space.
Space. I didn’t know what that was. Was it between the leaves? Between the birds?
I didn’t ask more. We just exchanged the leaves and returned home. But something stayed with me. Like an itch… or more like an emptiness.
That night, I felt like I couldn’t sleep. I tossed in my bed. My slime, on my shoulder, vibrated.
—You can’t sleep either? —I asked it.
It responded with a bubble. Literally. A bubble of air that rose along its body and exploded in my face.
—Pfft! —I laughed—. Don’t do that! You made my nose wet!
It slid down my arm as if it were laughing too.
I got up, went to find a sweet root. I broke it in half. I offered it a piece.
It absorbed it. But didn’t swallow it. It just held it inside, floating.
—Do you like it? —I asked.
It vibrated as if saying “I don’t understand.”
—Bah… you’re strange. But I like you.
I lay down with it on my chest, and for a moment… I felt warmth. Not physical.
One inside.
Then I wondered:
Is this tingling I’ve felt since the river… because of those strange things in the forest?
Or… is it because I’m emptying out?
When one bonds with a slime… feelings change. Emotions vanish.
Only love remains… and peace.
And I still felt shame.
And laughter.
And fear, sometimes.
Was I changing slowly?
Or… was the slime doing something different with me?
I fell asleep without knowing.