goddragonking: Thank you very much! I hope this one is just as good!
wytheeth: She's definitely going to be more of behind the scene's person, but she will most certainly have quite the effect on the future. The actual details you'll see soon enough.
angiewan601: Aren't they?
Weasel Fu: You're welcome!
amgs: I hope this is soon enough!
Day 16: Konohagakure Public Library
"And then he was all like 'you need to trust me' and the bad guy was all 'never!' and then-"
"Kid," Riley cut in, not rudely, "Do you want another book yet, or are you still reading this?"
The little blond, a tiny boy of the name Fish (or something), had been giving her a play by play for the past half hour, regardless of her tasks at the front desk. It was, at least, a slow part of the day, so they weren't in the way of anything. She was still on the clock but she doubted she would get in trouble. Riley was glad that he was enjoying the book, if nothing else. There was a certain glow to his smile she hadn't seen before.
It was nice to see.
The child paused, rocked back on his feet, and then nodded. Like that he could have been mistaken for shy.
"D'you got any more?"
Riley corrected lightly, "have, anymore. And yeah, lots of them. Give me a few minute's and we can go look again?" she offered.
The boy nodded, smiling at her again. He was so chipper, it was blinding.
Day 35: Konahagakure Training Ground 2
"Hey! Hey, lady!"
Riley came to a stop from her stream stalking to look over at the voice, now familiar to her. It was that same little blond thing, Naruto, that she had met in the library weeks ago. Normally when she saw him it was during her work hours, or right after, when he was pestering her to explain something that had happened in his books. The Gutsy Ninja had just been the start, she had him reading a half dozen more now.
The girl watched him come bounding over to her, cross the wide field to get to her waters. She had been looking for something in its depths, something familiar and useful to hang up in her new, cheap as hell apartment.
"What is it?" she asked, patient as could be.
The little boy was standing at the edge of the water, giving her a funny look that reminded her of a confused fox. Riley sunk lower into the water, until it was around her stomach instead of her knees. It was cool and welcoming, arms that reminded her of home. It just needed some salt and it would be her swaddling clothes again.
"It's a Gloine nan Druidh," she said simple, looking against into the crystal depths. There was one here, she knew it. She could feel it in her bones.
The boys face scrunched all the way up. "A glowing what now?" he repeated.
"Gloine nan Druidh," she repeated, then said, for his benefit, "a hag stone."
That apparently didn't clear anything up, as the next thing out of his mouth was, "What's that?"
Riley withheld a sigh. She could not fault a child for curiosity or a lack of knowledge. It was her responsibility to teach, not discouraged.
"A hag stone, an adder stone, or a serpent's egg. There are a million names for it. It's a rock with a hole through it, carved by water," she explained. Her voice was even and slow, keeping it simple to hopefully help.
"Why do you want it?" he asked, dropping to sit on the bank. The boy had a million questions about everything as far as Riley could see. It was good. Those who asked questions, found answers.
"They are said to be magic," she shrugged. "Some tales say they stop evil charms, in others they cure disease, or reveal illusions and lies."
"How does it do that?" he asked again. Riley wasn't sure if she should be annoyed yet, but she decided she liked him. He was cute.
"Magic," she said with a smile.
The boy nodded slowly, humming. Digesting her words, she hoped.
"How are you gonna find one rock in all of those?" was his next question.
To that, Riley smiled. "Another myth, is that they float in water," she said, then stood. Her arms, now bared, lit with intricate tattoos, mixing together with ancient intent and primordial magick. Her little guest sat straight up, his blue eyes alight. They were almost the same shade as her markings.
Slowly, the light sunk from her skin into the water, churning it and lighting it with a pale glow. Beneath her feet stones turned and shook, kicked up by the now rushing tide she had called to her aid.
With a breath let out of her lungs the water again grew smooth and calm, only this time it was murky rather than clear, and there was a telltale lump bobbing along the surface.
Riley reached out and caught the Gloine nan Druidh in her palm. She waded back to the shore to hold her hand out, showing off the little boy her prize. His eyes were wide and shocked.
"How'd you do that?" he nearly fell in the water he was leaning so far to see her. The tattoos had vanished under her dark complexion once more, leaving her appearing, for all intents and purposes, human.
"Magic," she said simply, and brought the stone to her eye to peer out of. What she saw was only a little of a surprise. There was spiral of power rolling across the child's stomach, and the lines on his cheeks were bright with the same thing.
She had sensed there was something off about the boy, but she hadn't known what it was. Still didn't, really. She had never seen spellwork like it before.
"I wanna see it!" he declared, trying to jump up to take the rock right out of her hands. Riley arched a brow cooly.
"If you ask nicely, I'll show it to you," she chided lightly.
The boy fell back on his heels, looking only a little put out before he declared, "Please?"
With a softer smile she handed it to him, letting the child hold it up to his eye. When he turned the gap to her his breath caught audibly. Riley smiled wider down at him and sunk down to the child's level.
"Pretty, aren't they?" she asked, holding up a hand to roll it over so he could the patterns, now invisible to the naked eye, dance across her skin.
"Magic," the boy breathed, nearly hopping closer to Riley. The girl laughed at his amazement. She never got tired of children and their wonder, however their constant noise may grate on her now and again.
He looked up at her, something new shining in his eyes.
Riley faltered. Oh boy.
Day 40: Konohagakure Public Library
"Teach me!" he demanded for perhaps the twentieth time in the past half hour.
Once again, Riley said, "Nope," and moved along the shelf. She was hobbling along with her cane in one hand and a cart of books in the other, putting everything away where they belonged. The boy, who she now knew to be one Uzumaki Naruto, kept tagging along.
"Teach me!" He said again. He had been tailing her since she had demonstrated her magic a few days ago, and showed no signs of letting up. Now it was going from cute to irksome. She had work to do.
Finally, after another four requests that were taking up too much of her attention Riley spun on him, ready to snap.
When he jerked back from the sudden movement she felt her stomach twist from anger to pity. That wasn't a regular child's reaction. The way his arms twitched towards his sides and his teeth bared were anything but.
Riley sighed softly, letting her irritation out like a tide. When she breathed back in she drew with it the patience of a glacier.
The young woman lowered herself to sit on her haunches, balancing an arm on her leg. She squinted at the child, who was now looking weary.
"If you can give me a good reason why, I'll give you a shot," she said at last. Naruto frowned up at her.
"A good reason? Like what?"
Riley shrugged.
"That depends on you," she said simply, and stood again to get back to work. She left a pensive little boy in her shadow, staring at her back.
She wondered what reason he would give her.
