Questions: 2nd Installment

     Why had she told him her name? Nannoc didn't want to know her name. He hadn't wanted to even know that she had a name. Sure, in the back of his mind he subconsciously realized that Lily had a name, a family even, but he didn't want it brought to his attention. It almost made him feel bad. Not to mention it made him think that maybe the others had names too, and that just wasn't acceptable. He had to stop walking at that point until his stomach stopped churning.
     As soon as the nausea passed, Nannoc went to the main meeting room to see if the fire was lit for the evening's meeting yet. The encounter with Li- no, with the girl, had made his blood go cold, and he was looking forward to the heat. The Elder would also announce the new catch and when the ceremony was going to take place, initiating a new member into the People's Adult Society. It was always an awesome time, involving a lot of feasting and drinking, and ending with the high point: the Cutting. The Child who was becoming an Adult would be the one who got to sacrifice one of the millah and then drink the blood to take the strength into themselves. Nannoc was the eldest of the Children this year; perhaps he would get chosen to be the Cutter. He wished he could. He wanted to be considered a worthy part of the People like his friend Eliott.
     Eliott had become an Adult 4 months ago, and now he lorded it over Nannoc. He wouldn't stop bragging about all the things an Adult could do and how Nannoc couldn't do anything like that yet. Before the Cutting 4 months ago, Eliott had been Nannoc's only friend, and now he wanted to become an Adult so that they could be friends again. He hated the lack of equality between them now. When he became an Adult, Eliott would see that he was, in fact, a useful person, and then they could be friends again. For now he had to endure the endless teasing and bragging.
     Arriving in the main room, the center of the caves and tunnels, Nannoc saw that the fire had indeed been lit and people had already started to find their assigned places along the edges of the room. He found his place at the very end of the Children's line, right across the room from the youngest of the Adults. He ignored the superior looks Eliott was giving him, and instead watched the fire intently, waiting for the elder to begin the announcement from the ledge above the fire. Nannoc thought that if you looked just right, the shapes in the ever-changing fire would tell you the story of what was to come. He was sure that he had seen Eliott's Choosing and the catch of a new millah in the last fire during a meeting. Now he earnestly, searching for any clues as to how his own future would play out. For the first time ever, he saw nothing.