Palms of Qayin

The river plunged low into a dale, a valley so steep that there was no seeing very far before the horizon, itself decorated with the dance of susu, their song innocuous to the other large beasts resting below as the sun began its consumption of the sky. Chief amongst the stirring giants was the basin's largest denizen, who lay in the two-elephant deep by-waters of the river in the grotto at the end of the aforementioned tract. He was older than the Rivers and keener than their Sire, yet as the first of the wyrmkin, Nod was bound never to venture from his confines of conifers and manor of mangroves and such; and the outlying steppe.

One unfamiliar sound had predator and plant eater alike in a fuss. Sister Bengal let out a whisper of a roar as she took her first yawn of the day and already began plotting a hunt to make a meal of the incessant cry. Standing at the riverbank for a morning bath, Gaur Ox was already awake when the cry began but still as equally annoyed as any of the other giants in that moment. Otterkin scrambled in vain attempts to shelter from the new noise—normally they'd never dare taunt Nod, but in their frenzy they found themselves in his den, a nuisance he did not want compounding the cry that started the frenzy. Nod lifted up from the pool and threw the otterkin into the limestone walls, knocking them back into sanity.

"I will investigate this clamor and determine what sort of beast has the audacity to invade our hollow and disturb our serenity," Nod declared, his trunk writhing and thrashing as he made his way onto the sedimentary path that led out of the grotto.

"Yes, sage one," The mother of the otterkin pleaded. "Please assess the twee and the squee and the scree!"

"We will run alongside of you!" Twin otterkin announced. "Tis glee and dee! Much better than glum and dum!"

Nod paid the little ones no mind at all, especially given they couldn't keep pace with him. He was ancient but spry, heavy but lithe. Nearly as soon as he cleared the area of his nest into open air, Nod was into the forest, well below the canopy but still imposing upon the aviary of the lower boughs.

As he drew closer to the cry, Nod could smell the foul combination of wet fur and felid pheromones: he spotted Sister Bengal on prowl towards the source of the cry, which became clear was a youngling of some sort. Nod turned into his own skid, sideswiping the cat before she was within 10 elephant lengths of the young one, knocking her ribs first into the broadside of a tree.

"Wyrm! This invader is not of this world, for I have never laid eyes upon such an odd creature," Sister exasperated. "And thus it must not be allowed to breathe one more measure of our air!"

"Silence, Sister!" Nod roared. "Am not I an 'odd creature' in this hollow? Have you seen any like me?"

"We know you, Wyrm. This we do not."

"I believe I know what sort of beast this cryer is, and he is quite likely the first-born of his kind, for the ones I have seen were unknown as youths but only known as full-grown beasts. Cryer! You are man! Young man, but man no less. Halt your incessant howl and let your tongue confirm I indeed know your kind!"

The child did indeed stop his cry, but he spoke no words. He was bare from neck to toe, such as any child who only has hair on his head; however, this child also had thin black fur on his palms and wrapping around his knuckles, which could readily be seen once the child stuck his open palm out in a gesture of curiosity towards Nod.

"Cryer! What kind of mark is this that you bear?" Nod inquired. "It is highly unnatural, an obverse of evolution."

"I say both you and he are highly unnatural, Wyrm," Sister posited. "But I have heard tell of this adam creature, or as you say, man."

"Cryer! What is it that you are called? I demand to know!"

The child lowered his hand, spoke a bit of gibberish as children do, and grabbed a floating calamus reed from a nearby puddle, which he then presented to Nod.

"Why is this creature playing with water flora?" Sister wondered.

"I asked the Cryer for a name and this is what he presents to me," Nod explained.

"What an odd name for an odd creature."

"I must say I prefer to call him Cryer than the name Qayin."