POLISHED DRAFT
Finished: 2020-07-04
Chapter Eighteen: Finding a Lost One
After Rekka and Mirth had gotten into the heated argument, Aaralyn had slipped away. She didn't want to hear any more from them, and her side was hurting so much. She wouldn't dare ease the pain, though, especially since she wasn't alone. Another twinge in her side made Aaralyn stop for a moment. She dug her fingers into the ache, the pressure doing little to subside the burning cramp while it felt like spiders were crawling across her skin.
To take her attention away from the shouting voices in the background, she brushed her fingers through a clump of low hanging leaves, drawing the water from them. Feeling just a little bit at ease without being in the presence of the others, she didn't hide the glow of her eyes, nor the oddly saturated blue color of the water she held in her hand. As she had been doing for some time, Aaralyn let the water curl across her skin, cooling her some.
As she twirled the water in front of her face, something beyond the trees caught her eye. Pausing, she pushed away a thick matt of violet and indigo leaves. Immediately, she caught the sickly-sweet scent of death. It wasn't overwhelming, but it hung in the air like a thin veil. The first thing she thought was that a large animal had died, but then she spotted the tiny cabin situated between several massive white-barked trees.
She cautiously sniffed the air again. The scent emanated from the cabin. The water that she had been swirling around her stiffened into something akin to blades, separating into small razors until they pointed every-which direction.
"He-hello? Is anyone there?" Aaralyn approached the cabin, trying to peer through the windows. She couldn't see anything in the darkened interior from where she stood, nor did she want to. The smell of death was all she needed to know what lay inside.
Then there was a sniffle.
The edges of the Water Elemental's blades softened but did not fully break form. Cautiously, she approached the source of the sound, a cluster of dark blue bushes, the leaves edged with silver. "Hello?" Aaralyn stared at the bush. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to know who you are and if you're okay. Please come out."
Another sniffle came from the bush. Through a gap in the branches, a pair of dark brown eyes shined with tears. The skin around those eyes was dark sage green, a bruise just under one eye turned the skin a darker tone of brown.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Please, come out," Aaralyn repeated, crouching close to the ground and holding out her hand. "Please."
Gradually, the figure climbed out of the bush, a tear dripping from his eye. The boy may have towered nearly twice as tall as Aaralyn, but his face was youthful, a few years younger than Aaralyn. He whimpered, rubbing a gash on his forearm as he stared at Aaralyn. Blood stained his tattered clothing, and more gashes and bruises were visible on his arms and legs.
Aaralyn took a step back, some of the water blades falling from her mental grasp while others sharpened to deadly points. The green-skinned teenager before her was bound with muscles typical of his race, albeit not as ripped as most. He bore small tusks jutting from his lower jaw that were a pearly white and well-cared for. His ears were also pointed, barely covered by his shaggy black hair.
He whimpered again, dark eyes drawn to the water blades surrounding Aaralyn. He nearly curled in on himself when she stepped closer. He was far more scared of Aaralyn than she was scared of him.
"Hello?" Aaralyn's greeting was more of a question. Looking over him another time, she finally managed a shaky smile. "You're an Orc, aren't you?"
The boy nodded.
"Is that your home?" She pointed to the cabin.
The Orc whimpered, wrapping his arms tighter around himself. He gave her a feeble nod and turned away from the small structure, another tear slipping down his face. Carefully, he lowered himself to a sitting position so that Aaralyn was now looking down at him rather than staring up at his towering form.
The Water Elemental dismissed her blades of water and pulled more water from the nearby trees. She watched the oddly shimmering blue liquid dance in front of her for a moment, the twinge of pain in her right side returning with a vengeance. She tried not to cry out, but the pain was too evident on her face.
The Orc whimpered again, this time worried for the young woman that had found him.
"Oh, don't worry. It's nothing serious. Just this forest making something act up. I'm okay." Aaralyn smiled, letting the water keep flowing around her arms as if the draw her attention away from the pain until it faded to the same skin-crawling twinge that it had been since she and Mirth had entered the forest. "Can you talk?"
The boy shook his head. He reached above him and snapped off a thick branch with ease and then drew in the dirt. He sniffled again, but carefully and neatly wrote out several letters spelling out G-A-R-R-E-T-H.
"Garreth?" Aaralyn echoed the letters drawn in the soft dirt. "Is that your name?"
He nodded.
The Water Elemental stared at the cabin. She wanted to ask him what had happened, why he was crying, and why he was living in the forest, but she kept her question simple. "Are you alone?"
Garreth whimpered, looking over his shoulder at the cabin that stank of death. More tears slipped down his face, and then he turned back to Aaralyn. A slow nod accompanied with a sniffle.
Aaralyn knelt in front of him, her form dwarfed by his. "Well, the least I could do is help you. Maybe this would help your cuts." She drew the water over his wounds, giving him an apologetic smile when he winced. A sweet song her aunt use to sing to her when she had scraped her knee on the riverbed came to mind. Aaralyn hummed softly, the churning water turning a richer blue, wisps of light blue dancing within it.
Garreth calmed some, lulled by the song as he watched the water swirl around the gashes and bruises. When Aaralyn pulled the water away, he marveled at the wounds, most of which were now sealed with tender pale green skin covering them. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. He resorted with a curt nod of thanks, unable to keep the smile off his face.
Aaralyn smiled back, feeling happier than she had since she had entered the forest. The ache in her side finally didn't hurt so much. "Maybe you should come with us to Bénipryroda's Ring. It's a paradise. I wouldn't want to leave you all alone in this forest." She climbed to her feet and held her hand to the Orc. "Come on, Garreth, let's meet the others."
When he grasped Aaralyn's hand, hers was so small in his. Garreth couldn't help but stare as he heaved himself to his feet.
"Have you met many other races before?" Aaralyn asked, dropping the dark blue shimmering water onto the ground. The wet ground looked no different than if she had poured a bucket of normal water onto it. The blue nor shimmer had not remained.
Garreth shook his head.
"So, I'm the first Water Elemental you've met?"
He nodded.
"Then you're going to meet a Fire Elemental, a Rahib, and a Tianshi who hasn't grown his wings yet. They are all unique, different characters, but I'm sure you'll get along with all of them once they know that you're a big softy. You're not like Orcs in all those stories."
Garreth merely stared at Aaralyn, confused.
Aaralyn brushed her hand across the trunk of some trees, once more drawing water from them. With a place surrounded by water within the trees, she could barely be without it. Once they returned to the wasteland, she didn't know how well she would cope without having the precious liquid just in arm's reach.
"Do you…know what happened to your family, Garreth?" Aaralyn twirled the clear liquid between her hands.
Garreth nodded.
"Would you like to tell me about it?" Even though Garreth couldn't speak, Aaralyn wanted to offer him a way to reveal what had happened, hoping it would help the teenager.
Garreth was silent for a moment, but then he stopped and snapped off another branch that was nearly chest-height on Aaralyn. Aaralyn paused their walk and allowed him to draw. It started out with the cabin, then two people with tusks and large, thick frames. Then he drew a large feline with spots. Garreth pointed at the feline, then to his parents, crossing, and X over them.
"A big cat killed your parents?"
Garreth nodded and then shook his head. He circled the cat and drew and arrow before drawing a picture of a man. He waved the stick back and forth between the big cat and the man.
"He…changed into the cat? A Shifter?"
Garreth nodded.
"Why?" The water circling Aaralyn's arm had slowed to a snail's pace, just barely touching her skin as the coils rippled.
The teenager just shook his head, sweeping his hand through the dirt. He kept shaking his head as he straightened up, tears already gathering in his eyes once more. Slowly, he pointed at himself, then gestured to his small tusks before gesturing to himself with both his hands.
"Because they were Orcs," Aaralyn voiced.
Garreth slowly nodded, tears rolling down his cheeks. He gave a shaky sigh, clasping his hands behind his back as he gazed down at the picture he had wiped away. Tears dripped from his nose and onto the dirt. He sniffled loudly, before wiping the tears from his cheeks when he felt Aaralyn place a small hand on his arm.
"I'm sorry, Garreth. I wish people didn't hate other people because of their race." She couldn't help but frown, her own thoughts reflecting on how, for a split second, her small blades of water had sharpened when she first saw Garreth.
Aaralyn also feared the Magic Eating Demons in the forest and still couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear when she thought of the word 'demon.' However, the Demons that lived in the magic forest, just like Garreth, were as human as she and Mirth. They couldn't control what they were, but they could control their actions. Garreth was an example of that. His race was feared by many, but the teenager standing before her seemed like he couldn't hurt a fly. Besides, like Mirth said, what did she have to fear from Demons that ate magic? And the Shifter that had killed Garreth's family was a prime example of those races that weren't viewed in a negative light being bad, if not worse, than those races that were feared.
"Come on, we have to find Mirth and the others." Aaralyn gave Garreth the brightest smile she could muster. She would teach herself not to look down on any of the other races. She would judge a person by their actions, not the abilities they wielded or the culture their kind may be known for. Not every Demon had to be feared as not every Angel had to be worshiped.
Garreth returned the smile, wiping away another stray tear. Hand-in-hand, the Water Elemental, and Orc searched for the rest of their rag-tag group.