Wolf sat at the table stirring his breakfast with a fork, watching the mess he made with indifference.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2XXzHtQIL
“You’re moping, dear.” Teva’s soft voice broke through his swirling of food he neglected to eat, even though any other day there wouldn’t be a single leftover bite.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPKNwf56Mj
“I’m not moping… just thinking,” Wolf replied, a bit harsher than he intended.
“Well, are you going to tell me, or do you not want to include me in the matter?”
Wolf grimaced. It seemed he was shutting people out again, and now his lover was living with him…
“Sorry, Tev. It’s the fairies that got me worked up.”
“Cute little things, but annoying. They won’t reappear, even when I offered them treats,” Teva said, taking both plates to be washed. She did not resist.
“Best they don’t. They’re ignoring the risk. If they were hunted in the past, it can happen here.”
“You don’t trust our town?” Teva asked, sounding surprised. Yet Wolf was more surprised she was so carefree about it… Must be the beastkin thing.
“I don’t like knowing they trust me to help them, and they could get hurt without me knowing—or worse, unable to stop it.”
Teva came close, kissing Wolf on the cheek. “I understand, dear. Sorry, I won’t chase them anymore, unless you think it’s safe for them.”
“That’s not—”
“It’s fine, Wolf. Promise. I have enough things to worry about. They were just interesting, and I’d rather you figure it out than get them to appear. Truthfully, I care more about writing Nina and demanding she hurry up and come home so I can yell at her.”
“Think she’s worried I might need something from the tribe and doesn’t want to come until she knows it’s clear. Or she would’ve just shown up like she said in her letter.”
“Maybe,” Teva said, no plus. “Going to check on Mom again and gossip for a bit. Will you be okay for the day if I’m gone for a bit?”
“Yeah, enjoy your day.” And with those words, Wolf was left with his problem alone. He knew he was just delaying, but figured until he confronted the fairies, he could only assume.
The shop was slow. Mist said she could handle it, but did say it was strange. A few customers came with rumors that were spreading about the fairies at the lake, even when they tried to downplay it…
And true to Misty’s words, a small crowd was watching the lake. He wondered if the beastkin spread talk, or if just the fairies appeared and talk spread from there. It could just be people sensitive to mana, with mana sight saw them. Too many variables to be sure, and that was what fueled his fear. It only took one with ill intent, no matter how many good people were here…
He went into his house and looked for a cloak to help hide him. He feared he’d stick out like a sore thumb trying to hide in plain sight, so he did his best to take a long way around into the forest and slowly work his way closer to the lake.
He could still see the crowd in the distance as he was careful to be farther away, but watching the lake he saw nothing. He was unsure how to summon them. They did not work out a signal or way to communicate…..
“Whatcha doing?” a little voice spooked Wolf. He turned and saw a small blue-hued fairy floating near his face, making him jerk back, slamming into a tree and hurting the back of his head…
“You okay, Elder?” the little thing asked, annoying him.
“No… I’m… not…” rubbing his head, trying to bite back his words lest he draw the attention he tried so hard to avoid.
A gentle healing soothed the pain, amazing him. “You have water mana? Is that why you glow blue?” Wolf asked, surprised the pain was gone before he added, “Thank you, I’m better now.”
The fairy watching him flew up, staring at him before speaking. “Fairies have all mana, you know that already, Elder.”
“I’m not an elder, and I don’t know anything.” He grimaced as it kept getting closer, watching him.
“Really? But you’re so strong with all mana, you must know! You must!”
“I want to help you, but I need time. Is there anything you can tell me that will help? Why do you think I’m able to save you…”
The fairy thought for a bit, telling him random things but never really clear, as if it was not important…. They were hunted for being pure mana, like balance mana. They did not know how to make more of their kind, as they were born from mana, and I was the strongest person they had ever seen.
What was worse was the longer he talked to the one fairy, the more came, until there was a small collection of dancing lights around him, playing and hiding among the trees, waiting for him to lead them….
He tried to remind them to stay hidden, and they said they were. They were more careful not to be seen since they only wanted to meet with their elder and no one else until they got settled.
A few more times they danced around the topic. He tried to get them to focus until he finally got them to talk about the fairy shells. They confessed they grew where they fed the land mana for years, and grew slowly, and were not sure what they were for. They liked feeding them mana like flowers, but never cared much since they had been on the run seeking help.
Wolf was hopeful at first they could just make him shells, but they denied it was that easy, since mana in the land tended to be unstable until they balanced it, then it grew in time. It was partly why monsters hunted mana in specific areas before the fairies balanced the land with more mana, as the monsters fed on whatever their element type was before they sought more mana elsewhere.
They said there might be fairy shells in the plains with the beast tribes, but they did not want to go back there, it was a long trip. Wolf was unsure if that info would be much help, until they confessed a weaker balance type existed there and knew about the shells.
So with that slow, exhausting meeting wearing him down, he told them to keep a low profile while he worked out getting the shells, and not to get too close to anyone, as he feared someone hurting them. They promised to trust the elder and would remain hidden unless they were sure it was safe.
The letter was composed and sent within the day, but Wolf feared little would change. He hoped his sister Nina was well, and that this wasn’t more of a burden than she cared for. Even with the shells, he feared he’d end up in the same boat as Herbert. What would he do with them? Or worse, they were just that—shells of past fairies and nothing more, and the real missing piece was long gone….
****
Four days since Wolf sent the letter.
“OW!” The voice and a loud thump was heard outside Nina’s tent, and she could not help but grin. She knew it was Rex bumping into her makeshift stone wall she made as a door, since it seemed he was forgetting her desire for space and would casually barge in when she was changing one time….
And even though he did not see anything and left respectfully, he was getting more brazen. Since he was an elder and hero, talks assume he could just come in, forgetting she was space.
She went out to check on him with a grin. “I told you to speak before entering. A girl likes her privacy.”
Rubbing his head, he glared at her. “You said I could come in yesterday.”
“That was yesterday, not today…” She retorted, ears flat.
“I have to ask every day?” Rex looked shocked.
“Yes, that’s how it works…”
“But the elder lets anyone in.” Rex tried pleading his case.
“Maybe she does, but I’m not the elder, and neither are you—not yet, maybe not ever, if you won’t listen…”
“Sorry,” Rex said, seeming to learn, even if slowly.
She rubbed his head and kissed the spot she assumed she hurt. “Come on, kiddo, let’s get some food. You’ve got a long road before you can be a hero, and I’m hungry now.”
Rex seemed to recover quickly despite the start, as they went for a meal.
It was a daily occurrence. She asked if there was any mail, as she was expecting news, and the tribe seemed to deflate as much as she did each day they had to tell her no, not yet.
Or at least, until today, when they beamed with joy, saying it just came within the hour. The words she waited for that set her free, or start her quest to finally get there.
Nina wasn’t sure what to expect from the letter when she finally got a chance to read it. She sent Rex on an errand to get some space and not have him bouncing all over her.
The text was more bare than she hoped from so long with no news….
Hey sis
Your letter timing was weirdly well timed. I saw them soon after. The issue is they think I’m an elder and are asking me for help.
Yet they won’t tell me how to help, keep saying I would know…
So I jumped through a bunch of hoops and the best I could find was something about fairy shells, maybe in the plains?
I know it’s vague and little to go on, but can you help?
He didn’t even ask how I was or when I plan to come back…. Stupid brother.
She smiled to herself. Guess it just means I get to yell at him when I’m back, and will go from there.
“I dunno where the kid got the idea he can be an elder. He keeps going on about it like it’s a sure thing…”
A voice broke her focus from a nearby bonfire. She saw a few gathered tribesmen getting some food, gossiping.
Nina was conflicted. If she said something and helped Rex, it might allow him to be elder, but would anything really change? They’d just be embracing her words, and the cycle will keep being the same thing….
No, the kid needs to give them a reason to believe. Nina’s ears went flat. She knew she had to help a little by talking to the elder, but for now both she and Rex will have to accept that people won’t just embrace whatever change you say because you say it.
Nina reflected on the letter, wanting to focus on her current problem, and wished Clover was here, yet she left for another tribe….
The rabbitkin did try to stay with the wild tribe to wait for news, but the random sighting of humans spooked her to the point she fled to the wolf tribe.
Nina did not like the closest thing to an answer was not here, so the elder was the next best bet. Before she was forced to seek Clover, she would go with Rex to help set up the kid’s future, since he seemed committed to telling everyone he would be an elder. We’ll see if he can live up to it.
The walk to the elder’s tent was easy and brisk. It seemed most beastkin had calm, chasing her tail a little more each day since the statue, making her tail wag. Nina was able to catch the elder at a good time; she had just gotten done handling some affairs in shifting the tribe into a new framework she never thought to hear.
It seemed the tribe would be permanent and become more like a village than a roaming tribe. When Nina asked why, the elder confessed it was part of their desire to change, to break the old traditions. We needed new ones, and part of that would be centered around the statue.
Nina felt like it was slipping back to a way to worship her with extra steps, and told the elder that, but the elder smiled and even said her name.
“Nina, dear.” She let a gentle breeze touch Nina’s face, since she wasn’t close enough to touch where she sat. “We need that statue to show what we once embraced with indifference. It will help guide the new generations to know why we changed, even if you’re not here.”
Ears flat, Nina did not agree, even as she felt Rex’s tail wagging happily with the way things were going. So Nina decided to address the two issues that needed done: helping Rex, and finding out if maybe the elder knew about the fairy shells.
“First, do you know about fairy shells? Are any close by? How rare are they?”
“Fairy shells?” Rex asked, as Nina covered his mouth, trying to keep him quiet as he squirmed.
The elder nodded and spoke clearly. “They were common when I was young, even the fairies too that made them. But an event happened that wiped most of them out, and since they went deeper into the plains, I fear I have no access to them.”
Nina nodded slowly, afraid of that.
“Why shells? Who cares about that?” Rex asked when her hand slipped. The elder did not ask, but her eyes wondered the same.
“The fairies found my brother for help. He needs the shells.”
The elder looked uncomfortable before speaking. “They are part of the land. We don’t like disturbing what the gods did not make for us to eat or use to help our lives be better. Those shells were for the fairies, not us.”
“I can help!” Rex leapt from Nina’s lap and added excitedly, “I can go get them, just say where.”
The elder frowned that he was being an overeager kid, and that would make this next part harder….
“I can handle the shells. Clover might know something, so I will go to the wolf tribe for a visit. But Elder, I also need you to help Rex here while I’m gone.”
Both the elder and Rex said “what” in sequence, which would have been amusing any other day, if not for the serious tone.
Nina took a moment for them to calm before she went on. “Rex needs help. I’m sure you’ve heard he wants to follow in your steps as an elder, and mine as a hero, but he needs to be taught, like you tried to teach me.” Nina then focused on Rex, still stunned. “And Rex, you need to learn if you’re going to lead. You can’t keep just following me. That means I will be doing things alone.”
Rex looked abashed, and the elder conflicted, but neither outright denied her words.
“Nina, I know I said we’d change traditions, but just picking a random child won’t help the next generation.” Nina saw the stiffening in Rex’s form, the near tears but trying not to cry.
“He’s not a random kid. He’s Rex, and he’s eager to learn.” She paused, letting the words sink in for both of them as she said the next part. “Maybe he will prove it was the dream of a child and it will fail. But if he never gives up, we should at least listen and give him a chance.”
“Even if I agree, Nina, the tribe won’t. I fear it will create a divide, of others assuming it gives them rights to be heard. And truthfully, perhaps some are.”
“That’s why I wish for you to help him. If he can prove he can be mature, like my brother Neebo, it could work, right?”
That did cause the elder’s ears to perk up, and Rex to look on, confused, unsure of the turn of events. “I suppose it could work if he was devoted like him…” The elder trailed off, watching Rex before frowning. “But he is still a child, I fear.”
“NO, I’M NOT!” Rex tried to defend himself, and Nina made an earthen hand to grasp him from behind and pull him down into her lap before shrinking the stone hand to just over his mouth, whispering in his ear.
“You’re not going to prove the elder wrong by arguing with her. That’s what a child would do.”
She let him go, and he pulled himself out of her lap, glaring at her, then bolted away. Guess he will be a slow learner…..
“Please, Elder. At least try.” She felt bad for the elder, but if Rex was serious, this would be his best chance.
“Hmmm,” the elder pondered. “The stories I ever was told had elders calm and willing. You are bringing much change.” Nina’s ears went flat, unsure if that was a polite rejection or a quiet reprimanding of her character.
The elder smiled, confusing her more into uncertainty before she spoke. “I will try. Perhaps he is the change we need. And if not? It will help him mature while we find the next true one to lead.”
It wasn’t the outcome Rex wanted, Nina was sure, but it was a start. It would have to be enough, as she now had to start her new quest to find Clover among the wolf tribe, so she could get that much closer to getting home. A mild panic entered her mind, how easy she was starting to blend in here.
When they stopped pushing to love her so much, they were good people. And everyday was just a nice visit that blended into the next. What at first felt like agonizing days trapped in a cage was now turning into a home.
But it wasn’t her home. Not the one she wanted, even if it could be. She liked her old life more, and would leave it at that.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuUVBtoU0H
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