Chapter 1 - Part 6

The warforged unit heard her coming. He had been thinking about names when the sound of human voices came drifting down the tunnel. Names were very important to him right now. He was going over every name that he had learned, trying to decide which, if any, he would call himself by. It was very important to him that he have his own name. He would not merely be 4311XD, no matter what it said on his shoulder.

The light came closer, but he could make out little. He heard the angry warforged that they kept chained. More talking.

He strained to hear. He had very good hearing. He picked up a few words. Assassination. Aundair. Xen’drik.

What are these words? What is their law? Do words have law?

One of the humans had a female voice, the other male. The warforged had only a vague understanding of male-female. It had to do with reproduction. Human females carried little forges in their stomachs, but their productions did not come out fully-formed or trained. It was one of the many mysteries that he wished to understand.

The human female glowed a bit. She had her own light now. She dismissed the male.

She was walking this way.

The warforged thought quickly. Was she going to disassemble him? Cut him open? He stood and crossed his arms in front of him as he had seen humans do when waiting.

Her light came from something in her hair. She stepped forward until she was but a few feet from the bars. “Hello,” she greeted him. He observed that she was what the humans called middle-years, but of regular, aesthetically pleasing features.

“Hello,” he responded.

“My name is Pienna,” the human female told him. “I have come to talk to you.”

The warforged cocked his head to one side. “Why do you tell me your name?”

“It’s proper behavior,” she told him. She seemed puzzled.

“I do not yet have a name, so I am unable to reciprocate,” he told her. He wanted to apologize for not being able to follow the law of exchanging names, but he viewed human-made rules with skepticism.

“I – had not thought that you had a name,” she said. She seemed intrigued. “Why do you need one?”

“Why do you?”