//------------------------------//
// Side B: Meeting Ahe'eyo 
// Story: Rakadi & Ahe'eyo - The Language Barrier 
// by JazzyWaffles 
//------------------------------//

Richard returned from his firewood-chopping to find that the oddly-shaped purple-maned equine had awoken. He had been worried about the poor thing, which cried and screamed as the timerwolves had attacked it, and had passed out from stress before Richard had even finished chasing the wolves off. Richard had done his best to dress the creature's wounds. While normally he would simply leave such a creature for dead, the equine in question had almost sounded like it was screaming for help rather than giving the cries of a scared, unintelligent animal. And now that it was awake, Richard could see if he was right about that.

Entering his small hut, his eyes took a moment to adjust to the light before he could see the creature properly. The poor thing looked frightened, frozen in place as its eyes darted around, looking for an escape. This saddened Richard, and he slowly closed the gap between himself and the white-and-purple equine. However, this just made the creature begin to cry, closing its eyes and shivering in fear. Stopping his approach, Richard knelt down in front of the creature and spoke in the most gentle tone he could muster.

"Don't be afraid, my little equine. I won't hurt you. I'm a friend."

The equine's body stopped its shivering as it slowly opened its eyes and looked up at Richard, confusion apparent on its face.

"Friends?" Richard held out his hand, and the equine studied it carefully before tilting its head and speaking in a feminine voice.

"H'hena... febbohe zeyahe? Wahihi, h'henoya febbaye go-yayan." The creature raised its hoof.

Wasting no time, Richard took the raised hoof in his hand and gave it a shake, smiling. "Friends!"

The little horse-thing seemed surprised. "Fah-wehen-dazz... ya h'heni mohomo, nyahi?"

Richard smiled. The creature was attempting to learn his language, which was good. Perhaps someday, they would be able to speak to each other normally. Putting his hand on his chest, he attempted to teach her his name. "Richard." Tilting his head in the seemingly universal gesture for questioning, he pointed to the equine creature. "And your name?" The creature simply stared back at him in confusion. Richard went through the motions again. "Richard. And your name?"

Finally, realization seemed to wash over the pony's face. "Aha! H'heni mohomo Rikaad?" Richard nodded, hoping that she had gotten the message like he assumed she did. He guessed, hopefully correctly, that she had just asked if his name was Richard. The equine repeated his own motion, putting her hoof on her chest. "Ahe'eyo."

Richard smiled. "Aw-hayo... you have a beautiful name."

Ahe'eyo smiled, finally relaxing, and began to look around, her eyes soon landing on her dressed wounds. She spoke up. "H'hena kekuyu momi?" She pointed to Richard, then to her wounds. It was apparent that she was asking if he was responsible for the various plant fibers and healing herbs he had used to dress her injuries. Richard smiled and nodded.

"Yes. You were injured, but I helped."

Ahe'eyo gave a smile in return, grateful. "Ahegadza." An expression of gratitude, clearly.

As Ahe'eyo smiled up at him, Richard couldn't help but think he made a new friend.