The hot sun beat down on the dry grass, and the children of the Bonakali tribe were doing what orcs did best - yelling, sharpening their tools, and hitting each other with sticks and stones.

Except Enga.

The gruntling, at only seven winters old, didn't care to play with the rest of his kin. They bullied him for being skinny and small, they took his food, and they made him step in kaka. So while the rest of his brothers and sisters and cousins played, Enga skulked around the unoccupied huts, seeing what he could find to amuse himself. He slinked around home to home, peeking inside at the food-makers, the leather-workers and the meat-smokers until he had an idea.

He remembered that Imbo, the tribe's spirit-speaker, was away. His hut would be open. Enga had been warned many times not to go near it – The grown-ups told him that Imbo was an angry old man that would beat gruntlings with his staff, that his hut was filled with thousands of poisons that could make an indovu drop dead, and that he had a hundred books that could summon horrible demons if one knew how to read them. Enga had to go see.

Away he crept, sticking to the shadows, until he reached the largest and most decorated dwelling. It was large and round, with a lion's hide covering the entrance. Enga paused. A lion's skin had a very specific meaning in the Bonkali tribe. Animal skin and bones granted the user some of the animal's spirit, along with their best quality. Wild dog gave community. Cheetah gave fleetness of foot. Lion . . . lion granted quickness of action. Lion never hesitated. Lion knew to take initiative. Enga felt lion's strength flowing through him, urging him to act now or miss something important. So he did, and quickly ducked behind the hide flap just as two older orcs walked into sight. Enga waited, and listened.

"Kezeli went to the birthing-hut this morning," one of them said. "With Imbo gone, she's all alone."

Enga heard the other one grunt in agreement. "We've put out food and water by the hut," he replied, "If it's still there by next sundown we know what happened."

Enga shivered with excitement. The birthing-hut! He never went near there, it was taboo for anyone except an expectant mother or spirit-speaker to visit. He didn't know what went on inside, only that orcs walked in with a big belly and walked out with a newborn. He assumed that the shaman cast some sort of spell to make the baby, but he was never able to know for sure!

The gruntling clenched his fist in frustration. This was the opportunity of a lifetime - Imbo gone, a mother alone in the hut . . . he could feel the lion’s spirit still surging through him, reminding him that this chance would never come again. But he didn't see a way to take it.

As he paced in frustration, light glinted off of something on the wall. It was a shiny metal medallion, flattened and beaten into the shape of a hoof and hanging by a thin leather string. He reached out to touch it, and to his astonishment, he started to see through his fingers. He dropped it with a shout, and his fingers became solid once more. Hesitantly, he picked it up off the ground again and this time his entire hand disappeared, replaced by a ghostly afterimage. The longer he held onto it, the more of his body he could see through. In a matter of moments only the boy's loincloth remained corporeal, and Enga quickly kicked the lone garment off and away.

"Is someone there?" he heard a voice from outside. The two other orcs had heard him shriek! Frantically he looked for somewhere to hide, but before he could react, the hide flap opened. He was caught, naked, in the middle of the shaman's private place. Enga shivered, waiting for his punishment, but the older orc's eyes seemed to pass right over him. Could they really not see him?

With a grunt, the other orcs let the flap close and left as suddenly as they arrived. They didn't know, Enga thought to himself, they couldn't see! He placed the medallion around his neck as so not to lose it, and nodded to the hide flap, thanking Lion for his blessing. He decided to test the amulet by walking up to where the other gruntlings were playing. As usual, they paid him no mind. So he stuck out his leg and tripped one of them. The older orclet sailed through the air and skidded on the dirt face-first. Normally, this would earn Enga a severe thrashing. But the other orc picked himself off and wiped the grit off his face like nothing ever happened! Enga was actually invisible!

Enga was buzzing with excitement. So many possibilities. So much to see. So much to explore. But that could all wait. He still had a burning desire to explore the birthing hut, and in the back of his mind he could still hear the spirit of the lion reminding him to seize the moment.

The birthing-hut was the most isolated of all the dwellings. High on a hill, the only orcs able to visit it were the spirit-speaker, and those heavy with child. But now, naked and invisible, young Enga was going to be the first trespasser. He saw an urn of water and several dried cuts of meat outside. Remembering what the other orcs said, he thought about bringing them in, but quickly reconsidered. He didn't want to leave any sign of his passing.

Inside, the birthing-hut was hauntingly bare. No shelves adorned the walls, no hides covered the floor. The only feature seemed to be a single knotted rope hanging from the ceiling where the smoke-hole would normally be. And then there was Kezeli. She was a red-haired orc only a few winters older than Enga, but already had a child of her own. Apparently her first child hurt her very badly, but Enga didn't know how. All he knew was that the shaman had to interfere to save them both. But now the shaman wasn't here, only Enga.

Kezeli was posed on her knees against the far side of the threadbare hut, her fingers clutching the wall and her hips jutting out towards the middle of the room. She grunted and groaned like a feral sow, and Enga very nearly backed away before remembering she had no idea he was there. So he took a step forward, the cool air on his loins reminding him he was naked. Kezeli looked like she was almost presenting herself to him, the way she was arching her back and pushing her rump out, and the gruntling quickly moved to get a closer look.

He examined her naked, sweat-slick body from all sides. Her long forelock stuck to her creased forehead, and her short tusks protruded just above her upper lip. Her eyes were shut tightly in pain. Her pubescent breasts hung low, heavy and full just like her round belly. How was the baby going to come out of there, Enga wondered? But then the answer revealed itself. Between Kezeli's thighs, just below her buttocks, something began to emerge.

At first, Enga couldn't tell what it was, only that it was covered in a dusting of reddish hair similar to Kezeli. Enga thought it was part of the woman at first, but as it continued to emerge, the gruntling gasped in enlightenment. That WAS the baby! It had to come out of that tiny hole all by itself! Enga didn't know how it was possible, but as he continued to stare, Kezeli's body stretched and strained to accommodate the emerging body.

Overwhelmed by curiosity, Enga put a hand on it. It was slippery and very warm, and the short hair felt vaguely prickly under his hand. He moved his fingers and felt the ridges of Kezeli's vulva, where she ended and her baby began. The skin was taut, like a bowstring at full draw, ready to snap at any moment. Not wanting to see that, Enga reacted the only way he knew how, by pushing back on the emerging baby to relieve some of the tension. Kezeli grunted lowly and reached up between her legs to feel what was happening. Enga quickly pulled away, not wanting to be discovered.

And so began a delicate game of backwards tug-o-war. Kezeli pushed, Enga pushed back, and little by little the skin around what Enga could only assume was the baby's head began to soften and relax. Each time Kezeli pushed, the mound grew a little bigger until the baby's furrowed brow was completely visible. Unable to resist, Enga pushed his hands on either side of the crown and pushed around it, feeling the skin stretch and then release as the rest of the head slid out into his hands. 

The baby was facing the sky, and Enga felt warm fluid dribble down onto his naked belly. Kezeli pushed again and for a moment the baby looked like it would burst out of her, but it didn't move. The invisible midwife watched the baby's face contort. It looked unhappy, he thought, maybe it was in pain, or stuck somehow. So he did they only thing he could think of - he grabbed the baby's head with both hands and pulled. He felt resistance, but the strain was no match for Enga and Kezeli working together. The shoulders emerged quickly, one after the other, and the rest of the baby flowed out, riding a waterfall of fluid that soaked Enga's lap and darkened the ground.

For a split second, everything seemed to stop. Kezeli deflated and began panting, clearly exhausted. The squirming newborn in Enga's arms began to wail, and he quickly put it down, not wanting to give away his position. But he could still look, and he could still touch. Kezeli wasn't looking, she'd never know!

The baby's skin was the colour of fresh grass, and glistened like morning dew. It also had a seemingly endless cry, and Enga could see the beginnings of tusks forming just behind the baby's bottom lip. An opaque blue cord trailed from the newborn's stomach back into Kezeli, and the whole where the baby emerged from was bloodied and gaping. If Enga didn't just witness the event with his own eyes, he would never believe a baby so big could squeeze out of a hole so small.

Eager to get a closer look, Enga grabbed the baby by an ankle and rolled it onto its back, careful to mimic its natural, aimless motions as much as possible just in case Kezeli turned around. The newborn was clearly male, the short member and wrinkled scrotum clearly visible as Enga turned him over. He looked down at his own manhood, smiling as he compared the two and noted just how much bigger he was. To further prove his point he grabbed his own foreskin and tugged, making himself look even bigger, and then he did the same thing to the newborn, wrapping his other hand around the tiny, slippery shaft and beginning to tug. To his amusement he could feel the flesh throb and grow in his hand.

It was at this point, with one of Enga's hands wrapped around his own member and the other cupping the newborn's groin, that Kezeli slumped on her side and turned around to see her baby. Enga froze, then remembered she couldn't see him. Kezeli looked down at her baby and smiled. "You are so much like your father," she grinned, reaching down to where Enga's hand was, "insatiable from the start."

Kezeli wrapped her hand around the baby's member and rubbed back and forth with firm, practised strokes. Enga was astonished, and began stroking himself in unison, or at least as best as he knew how. It wasn't long until both boys climaxed, with Enga spurting a small, clear load onto the newborn's chest. Fortunately, Kezeli didn't seem to notice, her baby was covered in clear fluid anyways.

"I'm going to call you Yedwa," she proclaimed, scooping her baby up and holding him close to her chest.

Enga took the opportunity to escape, sneaking out while the new mother was distracted. Not wanting to push his luck, he ran right back to the shaman's hut but froze as soon as he stepped inside. Imbo was back, and the older orc was looking right at him!

"You might as well come in," he said gruffly, "You made it this far, didn't you?"

Enga, paralyzed with fear, didn't move.

"At least take off the pendant so I can see you properly," Imbo insisted. Enga slowly did as he was asked, his body returning to sight.

"I'm sorry," Enga choked.

"For?" Imbo pressed.

"F-for taking the amulet."

Imbo smiled. Enga didn't know such a thing was possible. "You took nothing," Imbo replied warmly, "The spirits led you hear. Cheetah gave you the haste to make it here, Lion gave you the courage to act on your desires, Vulture lent you her eyes to see the amulet, and then Zebra gave you the ability to hide in plain sight, just like they do. That amulet doesn't work for just anyone, you know. The spirits have to agree."

Enga was perplexed. "What does that mean?"

"It means your training as spirit-speaker begins tomorrow."