*clears throat*

I suddenly realized that I should probably have put one of these in here.

This story is not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16! It has non-explicit references to abuse and/or child endangerment/violence, some general violence, and the descriptions of injuries resulting of such things- so there will be gore.

Which is why I've decided to rate this story as Mature (M).

If you're okay with that- then great! Please proceed!

(This was my warning, by the way. I won't bother with another.)


Breaks:

[L1,2 or 3] represents the beginning of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives. There is more than one past life, which is why I have put up the numbers. Though, these memories are usually told as she sleeps and Elena herself cannot remember them.

[/L1,2 or 3] represents the end of a flashback to one of Elena's past lives.

[P] represents the beginning of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.

[/P] represents the end of a retelling of a memory in Elena's current life.

~3~ is just a time skip

AN: Enjoy the story!


Laying on his back was a very unconscious person. One tanned hand was over his chest while the other was above his head, grip tight around the handle of his sword. Hair, orangey-red in color, was stuck up on his head in a massive cowlick, very much resembling a flame. His face was uncovered, leaving the pink skin on his cheeks and the bridge of his nose to the mercy of the hot sun. From what I could see, there was no wooden mask to be seen anywhere in the vicinity, and I briefly wondered if his village had cast him out too.

Adverting my eyes shyly from his face- in case he had simply lost his mask at sea- I noticed how his mouth was left hung open. I could only imagine how dry his throat would be when he woke up to the sun beating down on him like this. Luckily his tunic was mostly white and wouldn't hold too much heat, even if his trousers were black.

Carefully crouched beside him, I tentatively placed the back of my palm against the man's forehead. With a second sweep of my eyes, I noticed how his arms seemed to be cut up pretty badly- as though he had faced something exploding in front of him. They were still bleeding, but not as much as they would have been if they were still fresh.

With my jaw set and my lips pressed in a thin line, I contemplated what to do. In my satchel I had some medical supplies that would help him heal. Even if I left him though, I knew that this person was in no serious danger of death. My eyes wandered the red-head's figure, taking in the wounds and considering what I could do to help.

[P]

The shadows of the forest were cool as I slowly picked my way across the ground. Roots and rocks stuck up from the dirt, hoping to catch my feet and trip me as I walked. My stomach grumbled, and I wondered for the fifth time that day what I could eat within my reach.

Moon didn't like to come down to the village if he could help it, and often left me alone when I went. I briefly thought about my magic, how new to me it was and how unstable it could be, then immediately dismissed it as an idea to get me out of here faster. I couldn't risk using the portals on myself just yet.

"STAY BACK!"

My head whipped up towards the sound, startled. The voice sounded young, even younger than me, and it sounded frightened and in pain. It was also much too far from the village to be heard by it's people.

Forgetting my hunger, I surged forwards at a run when I heard another yell quickly turn into pained sobs. Luckily it didn't take very long for me to reach them, but I couldn't help the sudden frightened beat of my heart when I saw the Bow Wow pacing at the edge of a three meter drop to the craggy stone beach. Breath hitched in my chest, I felt absolutely frozen from my fear as the animal noticed me and turned it's hungry, wild eyes towards me.

It let out a low growl that shook it's chest as it turned towards me. The sobs that had called me here came from beyond the animal, and had stopped. All that I truly knew in that moment was the Bow Wow and me. It took a step towards me, and I flinched back instinctively.

As though that were it's permission, the spotted creature sprang forth. Yellowed teeth that were slick with the animals spit, gleamed at me menacingly as the Bow Wow came forwards in a single leap.

Heart pounding so hard I feared it might break out of my chest, I stumbled backwards as best as I could as a startled yell left my lips. My vision began to blur with my tears, but I could see enough to witness those sharp teeth snap down inches from my nose as I tripped backwards on something. I tumbled onto my back and large paws dug into the dirt on either side of my head as the animal missed and landed behind me.

The panic that had been in my chest seemed to snap then, as I realized that I had just almost died, and a single thought ran through my mind.

'I don't want to die.' The thought sent an icy hot chill all throughout me. My tears stopped and I felt my body stop it's trembling.

Everything seemed to go on slow motion as I watched the Bow Wow slowly turn towards me. 'I don't want to die.' Muscles in it's haunches bunched, and the animal's hungry gaze met my own frightened one as it leapt once more.

A hot thing deep inside of me suddenly leapt forwards and surged to my hands. My arms came up to cover my face as I felt the thing that I had come to recognize as my magic come to my defense. 'I'm not going to die!'

There was a yelp and a horrible angry buzz heated up the air as something hot and wet landed all over me. Slowly I opened my eyes- which had closed on reflex- and stared up numbly at the round, fractured portal that was above me. It buzzed with angry energy, black fracture lines spiderwebbed all over the incomplete manifestation, and I felt myself begin to tremble as I realized what I had just done. With a zap that singed the air with the scent of ozone, the portal then closed and I realized just how quiet everything had become.

There were no bugs that sung with the sun. There was no breeze that rustled tree leaves. Birds had no songs and even the kid I had come to aid no longer cried. The forest was utterly silent, which left only the faint sound the of waves that crashed against rocks in the distance.

Ever so slowly I sat up, and was grateful I hadn't eaten anything. Stomach instantly queasy, I fought the urge to hurl as I took in the deconstructed remains all around me. Blood, entrails, bits of fur and bone- everything that had once consisted of a living animal was now scattered around me for full display. It made me feel sick, especially when I noticed how I had been completely covered in it too.

Disgust filled me as I slowly stood, and the sticky red substance clung to my skin stubbornly. Secretly hoping I was no longer needed here so that I could run off to the nearest body of water, I gingerly made my way towards the three meter drop. I set myself down on my hands and knees, cringed at how I felt the dirt and dried leaves stick to the palms of my hands, and peeked my head over the edge.

Down below was a small kid that looked to be two years younger than me, no older than five at the most. From the bright colors that could only be new paint on their mask, I knew that the item had to have been carved out for them recently. Then my eyes traveled down to the kid's torso- where I spotted a long claw mark on their arm- and to their legs. A long jagged gash had been made on their calf and from the blood on the sharp stone just beside them, I knew it had been made during the fall.

"Y- you okay?" I called down worriedly, and watched at the kid's tense body seemed to freeze at the sound of my voice. Their head tilted upwards, and I stared at the vibrant face of the mask that I was shown.

The kid gasped when they spotted me, and then their body began to tremble all the more. The action caused their cuts to bleed even more and I couldn't help but frown in worry.

"Stay still, I'll help!" I called again, and pulled back from the edge of the drop. My head twisted from one side to the other as I looked for something sturdy to help, until I spotted a thick vine that clung to the bark of the trees. Before I could even get up to go and get a sturdy strand of the vines, the voice that called up to me from below had me freeze.

"You stay away from me, monster! I don't need help from the likes of you!"

For a long moment, all I could see was the blood and bits of wet flesh that clung to me. I was covered, absolutely filthy, and couldn't fathom what the kid had seen when they looked up at me. And then the pain that was disguised behind false bravery reached me from within their voice, and I decided that it didn't matter.

"Is that so?" My fists clenched shut, trapping some dirt in my palm, and I looked over the edge once again. "I'll just leave you down there then. Bye." Face carefully blank as I called out to them, I was sure they believed me with the disinterested tone I had used.

A small sob reached my ears as I pulled back again, and I felt my heart skip a beat from the sound. "Good riddance!" they called back angrily, the hurt no longer disguised.

"Just so you know," I didn't bother to look back over the edge as I stood, "you'll bleed out in a couple hours. Of course, you may have a little longer than that if you manage to stop the bleeding and keep still. Not that you'd be able to manage a simple task like that."

From the curse that they spat out at me I knew that my words had been heard, and I quickly went off into the forest in the direction of the village.

[/P]

The memory caused me to flinch involuntarily. Angry voices from the villagers seemed to echo in my ears as I barely got away from the crowd that I had lead back to the kid. It caused me to be hesitant here, as I looked at someone who couldn't even voice if they would accept help or not. Would this person be angry if I left him be, or grateful?

But then, this person before me wasn't a villager either. I had never seen them before, their clothes were made with woven plant fibers (like mine were) and this person had no mask that I could find. How was I to know their reaction if I tried to help?

Gently, I reached to bring his arm down from above his head (for better circulation) and I noticed it. Just above the red-head's hand was the sword. And the red hilted sword had an eye- which was staring right at me.

A squawk of fright left my throat as I jumped back; sand flew around me and a voice that sounded hollow mocked me with laughter. My heart beated quickly in my chest as I carefully looked at the (apparently) sentient blade with wide eyes. With my hands buried in the sand behind me to keep me upright, I then lifted a foot and chucked some sand at the blade in retaliation.

It cut itself off from laughing and made a noise akin to spluttering. "Hey! Don't just try to cover me with sand! Ack- my eye!" It complained!

"Y- you speak." I stated, and my voice wavered with my surprise. I could handle magic war hammers, carried by an immortal monkey, which summoned totem poles out of thin air. A talking sword... I'd have to get used to.

"Of course I do! I am the mighty shu-shu Rubilax!" it responded rather heatedly. It then began to recount the many things that it has done, all of them involving destroying one thing or another. Quickly, I realized that it wouldn't bring me any harm without me picking it up, and I began to loose interest the more that the sword kept talking- so I decided to see if anyone else had been washed up on shore instead.

Turning my head about, I quickly noticed a second person. Not too far from the red-head was a woman. She was on her side in the sand, back up against the craggy stones that made up most of the shore of this island.

Her eyes were closed tight and blood still ran from a deep cut above her eyebrow, over the sharp bridge of her nose, and down the curve of her pale cheek. Bits of blonde hair that had been tied behind her head had gotten loose from it's hold, and dangled around her uncovered shoulders. Dried blood from the visible cuts on her arms and legs had pooled at the edges of her dark colored clothes. There was no mask to be seen for her either.

When I reached her side, I winced at the damage that had been done here. My eyes went up to the stone the blond had her back against, only to see a bloody smear mark of where she had initially hit the rocks before she skidded forwards to a stop here in the sand. Something like that would have left a lot of damage on her back, especially if she had any injuries beforehand. Any wound she had would need to be checked before any infections could set in, and cleaned of anything else that had gotten in the wound.

My eyes closed tight as I realized that these people probably really would need my help. A shaky breath left my lungs as I looked up from the blonde. My eyes landed on the sword- Rubilax it called itself?- and I stood up in order to walk to it. Pin prickles ran the length of my legs as circulation was resorted, and I winced as I tried to walk properly.

"Hey, sword," I interrupted it, stopping a tale of how malicious the shu-shu trapped within once was. "How many were here?"

"What?" it asked, and it's eye seemed to narrow at me as I leaned down to massage my sore legs.

"On the ship. How many people traveled on it?" I demanded, not wanting to waste any more time.

Rubilax seemed to study me for a moment before finally, "there were five." he answered.

"Five...?" I questioned, surprised. I was expecting for there to be at least twelve crew members in order to run a ship like a schooner.

Never the less, I have no reason to believe that the sword would lie to me. So my gaze combed the beach carefully before I looked up to the ruined ship. From the angle that I was currently standing, looking up at the broken ship, I could see directly into the main hold. Broken barrels littered the area, letting their contents of food and fresh water spill out.

My hands went up, and I used two portals to appear within the broken hold. Fruits, vegetables and meats alike were scattered in the vicinity, some of it skewered to one wall or another with stray splinters of wood or smashed against the wooden boards to the barest of recognition.

Having noticed something in light blue, I had to mind my steps in order to reach it. Carefully I ducked under a mast that had snapped and fallen between the hull and the hold when the deck separated, then moved some pieces of boards that had fallen in a pile from the deck above. My eyes then widened in shock as I took in the boy who I had uncovered.

His light brown hair reached just above his ears. A yellow tunic and azure blue pants covered most of his body, leaving his calves and shoulders exposed to the heat of the sun. And an azure hat (which had the exact same design as my own) sat securely on his head.

Numbly, I had let the wooden boards fall where they wouldn't land on top of this person again. I sank to my knees at their side, and took in the clear damage that I could see.

Deep purple and blue bruise marks covered the boy's left shoulder. The appendage was twisted in an odd angle and I could see that the skin at his shoulder was strained and inflamed. Splinters of wood had been stabbed into both of his lower arms. Both his nose and left cheek had a large purple and blue bruise on them, his nose broken, and his cheek cut badly. It looked like something had hit him hard from his left, and had enough force to hurt both his shoulder and his face at the same time. With how close the cut on his cheek was to his eye, it would seem that he was rather lucky.

My chest hurt at the sight. For the other people who were hurt, yes I felt bad for them, but I didn't feel like this either. I couldn't really understand it, but I felt like this person- whom I've never met before- was important to me.

'Or maybe' I thought as I let one hand touch my hat and the other hover just above the 'ears' on the boy's hat, 'I've found someone similar to me?' I wasn't sure, but I certainly felt as though this was important. The palm of my hand began to prickle with heat, and I knew immediately that he had the exact same thing that I do hidden under there.

In that moment I knew that I would help these people. It wouldn't even really matter if they rejected the help afterwards. I needed to know about this boy dressed in yellow and blue, in the same way that I needed to eat food. As in; why he was here. Or where he had been planing on going. Maybe I'd even get to know if there were more people who had hats like these...

Knowing what I had to do, I pulled my satchel in front of me and began to rummage inside of it. Easily, I found a medium sized jar and I untied the cloth that I used for a lid. Then I dipped my forefinger in. A murky green ointment that was cool to the touch came out of the jar, and I began to spread the stuff sparsely over the gouge in the boy's cheek.

Within a few minutes the sun would dry the ointment and by the end of the day it would crumble off of his skin. In that time, the ointment would prevent infections by sealing the wound and aide the body in healing.

Once that was done, I wiped the leftover ointment on my shirt and covered the jar again. I dug through my bag a second time, and pulled out a more liquid medicine. This was extracts of a plant which was very good for numbing pain, but it sent people to sleep as well. Often I had to put a few drops of this into Botan Ficus's tea when he was just beginning to heal, so that he could fall asleep at night.

I maneuvered myself so that I could gently sit the boy up without jostling his arm too bad. His upper back leaned against my legs and a painful groan left him as his arm moved only a little. Ignoring the frightened jolt to my heart at the sound, I pushed down on the boy's chin with my thumb until his mouth opened just a little. Then, as carefully as I could, three drops of the pain medicine fell into his mouth.

It would be a few minutes before the medicine would work, so in the meantime, I put the cap back onto the medicine jar and managed to stuff it back into my bag. With that done, I gently set the boy down and got up from my spot beside him. My legs prickled from the sudden gain of circulation again, and I rubbed at them for a moment.

Two more portals I created, and I appeared on what was left of the deck of the broken ship. With one sweep of the area, it was easy for me to spot the last two figures.

Crushed under a pile of wood, (much like the boy in the hold) I could see half a body. And from where I was, it looked to be an old man. What had caught my attention though, was the long cut that had ripped through the white sleeves of the old man's cloak which tainted it's color red.

With a frown on my face, I noticed how it was the collapsed wall of the cabin that was on top of the old man. There was no easy way to reach him, and I would probably only cause more injuries if I tired to manually remove the debris from around him. A beat of silence passed as I thought, then circled my hands in front me. In response to the movement, the dormant magic from within me sprang to life, and created two medium-sized portals before me. One appeared under the old man, and his body disappeared within it, only to be deposited by a second portal that I placed near the center of the deck, where the least amount of damage to the ship seemed to be.

Silently I made my way over to the old man, and crouched down at his side. To curious not to look, I took in his face. There were wrinkles that covered the entirety of it, which made his skin resemble that of a dried fruit, but didn't look nearly as dehydrated. White hair grew on his chin and around his mouth. It was long and scraggly, and a complete contrast to his wrinkled yet bald head.

Head tilted to one side slightly, I wondered silently if this old man ever ate his own hair during meals, and why he bothered to keep hair over his moth if he did. Then I shook my head from the thoughts, and began to assess his health.

The red stained sleeve was ripped open and stray fibers had stuck to the outside of the deep gash that had been torn into his frail-looking arm, bonded there by the drying of blood. The very sinew of his arm had been exposed and I couldn't help but mentally cringe at the amount of pain the old man would be in once he was awake.

My hand dipped into my satchel and I pulled out a piece of cloth. It was an old tattered thing that was more a rag meant for cleaning stuff than anything else really, but I still tore it into a long strip before I tied it tightly around the old man's arm, directly above the injury. The bleeding would slow to a stop with the rag there, but in the meantime there wasn't much else that I could do at the moment. So I simply got out the same sleeping drought that I had used on the boy in the broken hold, and slipped a few drops of the powerful stuff down his throat. Hopefully it would help ease the old man as much as it would help him gain the energy he needed to recover.

Up on my feet once more, I had cast a glance around the deck again. 'The fifth member of this crew was very lucky,' I thought as I made my way over to the curious pile of vines that were grown near the main mast of the ship.

By some sort of miracle or luck, this girl didn't have a single scratch on her. Pieces of splintered wood were scattered about her and stuck in her bright green hair. Vines were underneath her body, cushioning her from the hard wood of the ships broken deck, and wrapped around her torso, arms and legs. Now that I had a proper look, I realized that these vines were probably what had kept her from being injured too badly in the first place.

Brow furrowed, I took in how her clothes (with the sole exception of her top) were only large tree leaves. The waxy plant appendages were only large enough to cover what needed to be and left nothing else to the imagination. And her top was cut short at her ribs, just far enough under her chest to not show anything. It reminded me of the way the villagers dressed, with their tree leaves woven into the edges of their masks and their dry grassy skirts that clung to their hips and brushed their upper thighs. Even the pigment of the girl's bronze skin matched those of the villagers and I knew immediately that she must be one of them.

It made me weary. Especially with how, even with all the broken wood scattered about me, I knew there were no masks here for this girl or any of her companions to wear. Had they been kicked out of their own village? Did they come here purposefully or accidentally?

As I looked from the girl in the vines to the old man on the deck, I couldn't help but think about the boy asleep in the hold. These people traveled with someone who was so similar to me... surely they couldn't have bad intentions being here?

A long breath was taken as I tried to settle my thoughts. I would have to worry about what they're doing here later. For now, there were people who needed my help.

~3~

The mid-morning sun was harsh with it's beat down on the island and it's inhabitants. It made my skin pink with warmth, my cheeks overheated and the bridge of my nose tender. Even in the shade of the forest the humid sea air was stifling to breathe.

A long, low breath was let out of my lungs wearily as I took a short break from cleaning up the blonde traveler's battered back. After I had found all five sea travelers in their various states of unconsciousness, I had taken it upon myself to get the lot of them under the shade of the forest trees and keep them asleep as I helped to heal them. Everyone except for the boy in blue had cleansed their stomachs in their sleep moments after they had passed through my portals, which I couldn't blame them for.

The first time Botan Ficus went through one of my portals he did the same, then declared that he'd would never use the portals again.

My stomach grumbled as I finally finished patching up the blonde and was reminded of my original mission when I had left the Summit Tree. I still hadn't eaten breakfast, and was certain that my stomach had started to eat itself as the morning faded into afternoon. Luckily, there was nothing left for me to do, other than fix the boy's shoulder.

The medicine that I had given him should have taken affect by now. With his two companions no longer in any danger of bleeding out (the blonde's back was in worse shape than I had initially thought) I could now deal with his dislocated shoulder properly.

Knelt down at the boy's side, I took care with the pressure I used as I carefully began to coax his shoulder back into proper position. With one hand on his elbow and the other wrapped around his wrist to prevent any unwanted movement, I gently shook his arm as though I were shaking his hand in introduction while keeping his arm parallel to his body. The skin of his shoulder was white with the strain and the boy's brow furrowed in his sleep.

Only when his limb had been raised up to be completely level with his shoulder did the joint finally slide back in place. It sent a sudden jolt that traveled the length of his arm. A pained gasp escaped him then, to which I glanced up to his face with concern. Carefully rotating the shoulder as I continued to move it higher, I gave the boy a soft look as dark eyes weary with fatigue and confusion caught sight of me.

"Relax, you gotta keep still. It could pop back out if you don't." I stated, my voice in a low whisper in attempt to be comforting. He blinked at me as his mouth opened, then closed in a thin line of discomfort as I lowered his arm and bent it at the elbow to tuck it as close to his chest as possible. "You'll be alright." was all that I could think to say then, to try and reassure him as I lightly wrapped up his arm in a sling.

Tired eyes opened again to stare at me, and I felt myself blink back him curiously as I felt something akin to deja vu settle over me. Head tilted to one side, I couldn't help but lean a little closer to him as my hands stilled from tying the sling around his neck. This boy... he seemed so familiar, now that I could see his eyes. They were a light brown in color, but even as I stared, I could see them start to lighten to a grey and then a beautiful azure blue that enraptured my attention.

Heart stuttering behind my ribs, I let out a small breath of air in my surprise. Those eyes, I definitely knew them. They were so familiar. A warm sensation of recognition made itself known within me and spread out to super-heat my skin. Then, a strong urge to wrap my arms around his shoulders and bury my nose in the side of his neck in unadulterated relief hit me like a stone the moment that I noticed the same odd-recognition in his own eyes.

Tears prickled the edges of my eyes, threatening to pool over as I sucked in a sudden painful breath. Then the sound of his own shortened breath, letting out a gasp of pain, reached my ears and I froze. My hands had gone out to touch his shoulders, the intention of pulling him up so that I could act on my sudden intense drive still within my system. He had closed his eyes from a sudden flair of pain when he had tried to move his injured arm, his other hand griped tightly on my upper arm.

It was like the sudden spell that I had been under broke. The bubble of silence that had been created when we locked eyes disappeared and the sounds of the forest and ocean crashed in against me. Overwhelmed from it all- especially the sudden, odd fondness I felt for him- I pulled back, frightened.

I didn't know him, I've never met him. So why did that fact suddenly stab at my heart like a lead knife?

The air felt so heavy around me, as though it were trying to pin me in place as I scrambled to my feet, desperate to be out of this boy's line of sight. Was it just me, or was it suddenly hard to breathe? I fought to suck the air into my lungs as I stumbled into the treeline, needing to get as far away from this as possible and pushed the image of the eyes that seemed to plead for me not to go towards the very back of my mind.

Behind me I heard movement, and the very real possibility of the boy trying to follow me came to mind. A sudden fear akin to that of a hunted animal came over me, and I stuck my palm out in front of me desperately. A blazing blue portal came to life in front of me, it's very presence a manifestation of my desires. Then without thinking on it any further I dove right in, happy to escape.

~3~

When I arrived back at the Summit Tree, Moon was happy to see me. As soon as my feet touched down on the soft stone surface of the totem atop the Summit Tree, the monkey had let out a screech and tackled me from his position in the lone tree planted up here. Air was forced out of my chest as I took a step back to catch my balance before I felt the small warm hands clutched around my neck.

Any stray thoughts of the boy in blue were promptly forgotten as I giggled happily from the display of affection. My arms wrapped around Moon in return and I felt him rub his soft nose against mine in greeting. Then he was crawling down my side, large war hammer head-down beside my feet, and digging through my satchel.

With a thump of regret in my heart, I gave my monkey friend an apologetic smile as he turned to poke his head back out from the bag. Fabric flap pushed aside just enough for me to see Moon's face and tail, I cringed back from the large imploring eyes that stared up at me.

"Ah, I'm sorry Moon, I got... distracted." I told him nervously, and rose a hand to scratch at the side of my head underneath my hat. Moon hopped out of the bag, his tail curled around the handle of his war hammer, and sat back to look up at me with disappointment.

With a sigh, I turned and sat down heavily at the edge of the stone totem so that my feet could freely dangle in the air. Moon made a noise of confusion as he settled next to me and I noticed that my body was still shaking. A deep sadness that felt like it was cutting into me welled up, and I picked up my friend to cuddle him.

"I'm sorry Moon, I don't know what's come over me." I whispered to him hoarsely, and sniffled. He wrapped his arms around my neck and I rubbed my cheek to the top of his head as I told him of what happened. "Now, I can't seem to stop crying."

Several times on my way over to the Summit Tree, I had to stop on a sturdy branch of a tree to catch my breath. My legs shook worse the further away I got, confusion and shame rooting me in place for running. While my fear of what happened battled against the urge to turn and go back, I wrapped my arms securely around the trunk of a tree. Pressed into the bark with enough force to leave behind marks on my skin, I stayed exactly where I was as I had trembled from the tsunami of emotions that washed over me.

Now we sat in complete silence, the only movement made was by Moon as he rubbed my back soothingly. The sounds of bugs humming their happiness to the sun, birds singing their songs in the trees and wind rustling leaves was what we listened to. Then our stomachs grumbled in complaint, and I realized that even though the sun had started to dip in the sky we had yet to eat anything for the day.

Eyes wide, I looked down at Moon with alarm. "Oh man, we haven't eaten anything yet!" I complained as I hauled myself to my feet. Moon hopped out of my arms and chittered up at me with a wide smile on his face as his tail wrapped around his war hammer.

With an excited jump, Moon motioned for me to follow him as he began to run down the spacious stairs that I had made down the side of the totem. Easily following after him with my portals, Moon lead me into the thick island forest where we began to gather fruits from the trees.

Citronanas were the most abundant in this forest along with kokonuts and hazelnuts. Lower to the forest floor I was able to find some mottled mushrooms and when the forest thinned enough to let proper plants grow, strawberries were found. Greedily I ate the sweet red fruits, as it was rather rare that I actually found some. Above me, Moon sat comfortably in the branches of a hazel tree and casually plucked citronanas from the bunch that hung just over his head. He flicked the empty peels down at me after stuffing the white fruit into his mouth carelessly and I ducked before it could hit my hat.

"Hey you! Watch where your throwin' stuff!" I called up to him with a frown as I sucked the red that now colored my finger tips.

Moon glanced down at me, a certain glint in his eyes that caught my attention. He then kept eye contact as he plucked another yellow fruit, ate the insides, then threw the peel down at me again. My hand came up and the peel landed limply in my hold. Eyes narrowed, I showed the monkey my teeth in displeasure.

"Moon..." I warned, to which the small monkey grinned. He showed off his sharp fangs in a mock yawn, that mischievous spark in his eyes growing all the brighter, then reached up for another citronana. "Don't you dare."

Showing no signs of hearing me other than a lick of his lips, he peeled his citronana ever so slowly. I watched him eat his fruit wearily, and slowly reached down for another strawberry. Just as I turned my attention away from Moon, to clasp my fingers around another ripe berry, the heavy plop of a citronana peel landed on my hand.

"That's it!" I growled, whipping the peel away from me and pointing a finger at my offender. "Your going down you bug-snacker!"

Moon let out a startled noise as I conjured my portals, then bolted from his tree. I appeared on the branch that he had sat so comfortably on, then leapt after him with a loud shout. Swinging from one tree to the next, my hands burned from the catch and release of my own weight over and over. Only when I came to a jump that I wouldn't be able to achieve on my own did I use my portals, to which Moon would squawk in fright since I'd suddenly appear in front of him.

With an evil laugh suppressed from the wide-eyed look of surprise Moon would look at me with as I popped out of portals in front of him, I decided that I had tormented my friend enough for the night. Opening a portal above the forest, I let myself free fall for a few moments as I took note to how close to the beach we were getting and where I could herd Moon to go for his capture. With a wide toothed smile on my face, I created my portals and appeared in front of Moon.

A loud shriek of fright left him as he scrambled to stop his forward motion and redirect it sideways from my sudden appearance. My grin widened as excitement grew in my chest and I shouted after him, "just where do you think you're goin'?!"

Moon made another screech as he did a twirl between branches, and I saw the challenge in his eyes when our eyes connected for a second. That little monkey still thought that he would win.

My grin was wiped off my face when I saw why. Moon no longer held his hammer with his tail, the magical relic now in his hands, as he waved the thing in my general direction. My eyes grew wide with sudden panic as I witnessed the heads of two stone totem poles suddenly appear out of the tree trunks Moon had passed, aiming for me with the speed of a charging gobbly.

With a gasp from my surprise, I jumped in a forwards roll with my palms out in front of me and set two portals into the world. One to absorb as much of the totems as possible and the other to fling the items in a flying arc towards the sea.

"You cheating jerk!" I called out to Moon as I landed on one of the sideways totems and ran across it to the nearest tree. Moon chittered happily from the safety of a tree a few feet away from me, he jumped and pointed at me as though I were putting on a show for him. He already knew that I could only conjure up two portals at once, and was using that fact to his advantage; the closer to the sea we got, the trees without branches were more abundant.

When the totem stopped growing from the side of the tree like some mutant weed, I let my portals wink out of existence. The distant sound of the totem crashing into the ocean waters met my ears and Moon gave me a wide grin as he twirled the handle of his hammer around his arm.

"So that's how you're gonna be, eh?" Warmth bloomed in my chest as I pushed my magic out towards my palms, like drawing water from a well. I sent him a wide, excited grin. "I ain't gonna go easy on ya!"

Moon and I soon lost all track of time as we played with our magic's together. Totems sprouted out of every surface that Moon slammed his hammer into, the heavy stone objects becoming deadly projectiles if not for my portals cutting them off and sending them flying towards the water.

With the large folded mountain at the center of the island blocking any view that the villagers might of had of our mock battle at the opposite side of the island, Moon and I had very little concern with people that might get hurt from our actions. Which was why, when a sudden frightened shout rang out as we neared the craggy beach, the sudden reminder of visitors stopped me cold.

Much like Moon across from me, I held onto a branch-less kokonut tree with wide eyes. Moon's tail wrapped around his hammer quickly and the monkey used his advantage to climb the tree with all four of his limbs to get higher. I watched him go for a moment, before I began to scooch my way up the tree as though I were an inch worm.

Down below at the beach where sand met stone and a wrecked schooner lay scattered about, was a totem pole as thick as a tree trunk and as tall as one of the snapped masts. It had speared the ground near the ocean where waves now lapped against it's sides, and a mix of water and sand were splattered outwards from where it had landed. I carefully concealed myself behind the bulk of the tree trunk I hugged as I stared down at the five travelers that now stared at the thing with wide eyes, three of which had turned to scan the forest tree line to see where it could have possibly come from.

There was the girl with green hair, her hands covering her arms in fright, her stance off balance as she nervously bounced from foot to foot while only staring at the totem. Then there was the red head, his shu-shu sword transformed so the blade looked to have molten lava within it and pointed towards the totem as his head swiveled from the stone item and to the forest. The old man awkwardly held a golden shovel in his uninjured hand, probably his non-dominant one, to try and shield the group from the totem as though someone might appear from behind it. Trying to get to her feet from her position on her stomach where I had last left her was the blonde, a wooden bow was tightly gripped in her hands as she strained to look at the forest behind her. She would hurt any progress her back had made from my healing if no one stopped her from moving.

From behind his tree, Moon made a noise that sounded somewhere between relief and regret and I couldn't help but silently agree. Who knows what would have happened if someone had gotten hurt for our carelessness?

When the three returned their attention back to the totem pole without any answers for their suspicions, Moon jumped from his tree to land on my back and put his hands on my shoulders firmly.

"Yeah, let's go." I nodded when I heard Moon give me a questioning coo. But even as the words left my mouth, I couldn't help but stare down at the back of the boy in blue.

The urge to go down there to see if he was alright had flared up inside me as soon as my gaze drifted over to him. My arms tightened around the tree as I refused to get closer, and instead contented myself with watching the way he moved. There was no limp to his step. His shoulders weren't relaxed, but they didn't scream pain either. Overall he was fine, despite still healing his shoulder, as he too turned his attention away from the forest.

My eyes shut tightly as I thumped my forehead on the tree trunk gently. Why was I so concerned for this person? He had the same origins as me, I was certain of that, but that didn't mean I had to instantly like the guy. What if he and his friends were here to kill everything on the island?!

"I'm starting to feel sick of this Moon," I complained quietly as I used one hand to create two portals, one down by the tree line where the visitors were and the other directly in front of me. The same hand then slipped into my satchel as I dug around for some fruits that we had gathered along with my jar of fast healing goo and fresh bandages. One by one I gathered in my hand and pushed the items through the portal, to set the items down on a flat stone. Only when I was about to place the last item down did I pause.

Moon made a curious noise as I instead pulled back my arm and threw the citronana through the portal. As soon as I spotted the fruit down below, I had my portals disappear and watched as the red haired guy with the shu-shu turned and cut the yellow item in half before it could hit him. I only stayed long enough to watch as the sword wielder and green haired girl curiously approached the items I left behind for them before I allowed myself to let go of the tree and fall into another portal with the clinging Moon still on my back.

~3~

The sea seemed to be alight in gold and scarlet flames as the sun descended beyond the waves. Moon hopped off my shoulders and landed lightly in front of me before he pushed the main doors to the Summit Tree wide open. I followed in behind him, and stopped short as the doors closed shut on their own.

The fire in the pit had gone out hours ago, the grey ashes cold with no more wood to burn. The cauldron that still hung in the pit now had the water taken out with a long wooden ladle for tea. On the low table was the used tea pot with no more hot steam that could escape from it's spout. Sat at the end of the table was Botan Ficus, a cold cup of tea in front of him and his staff still beside him. It almost felt as though I were brought back to this morning after I had set the table for Botan before breakfast... a meal that never happened.

"Cold tea really isn't too awful." Botan mused as his fingers played with tea cup on the table. "Of course, it's much more bitter and the leaves have gone a tad bland after so much use in a single day, but it's not the worst that I've tasted."

Feeling awful at having forgotten about him in the light of today's events, I swallowed. The loud gurgle of a hungry stomach pierced the air in that silent moment which followed, and I winced. Before anything else could be said, Moon made a noise that sounded alarmed before he rushed over to me and climbed my leg. With one hand kept in a tight fist full of my tunic he reached into my satchel with the other and pulled out fruit that we had stopped to gather more of on the way back.

Arms full of goods, Moon jumped down and hopped onto the table only to deposit his treasure in front of our guest. "I got a bit distracted today." I explained lamely with a scratch at the side of my head in my discomfort. Botan simply picked up his offered food and began to eat it underneath his mask silently. For a moment I waited, expecting him to say something to me angrily (which I wouldn't blame him for) but he stayed silent. Not sure if this was a better alternative to yelling, I turned towards the hall where all the bedrooms were after depositing my satchel beside the doors.

"Thank you for the food."

The words seemed to echo in my head as I tried to process them. They were spoken almost silently, and if it weren't so quiet in the room I probably wouldn't have heard him. With a bewildered blink, I turned to look at Botan over my shoulder and saw that his bandage covered back was hunched as he leaned forward over the able to eat. Small tremors seemed to plague his shoulders and I wasn't sure if it was from being happy or sad.

"N- no problem." I spoke then, unsure of the entire interaction.

As I faced towards the hallway again, I couldn't help but think about how many times Botan Ficus had thanked me as I tended to his injuries. There was the one time when I initially came across him, when it sounded as though he were crying behind his carved mask. And the last time when he had awoken after I had finished preparing his body to properly heal- he had thought Moon and I finding him had been a fanciful dream.

Why the village Shaman would thank me for forgetting to stock the place with food... who knew?

All seven of the rooms in this hallway were for people to sleep in. But it has only been Moon and I whom lived here for the past seventy-some moon cycles, and I never really expected a villager to come join me with Moon, so I had changed up some of the bedrooms to be used for more practical purposes.

One room I use for myself when there is rain out. I typically like to sleep outside under the stars with Moon, but come inside whenever it starts to rain. A room just beyond my own I used to store cotton fluffs, wool, and treated hemp along with a moderate sized loom and spinning wheel to turn these items into usable cloth. A second room beyond that one I used to treat the long stems of plants before they can be used in the loom, which can take a very long time to prepare. The beds I had taken out and moved to a third room, where they would be out of the way. While the wardrobe chests I used to store the different items, finished products and unused material were brought into whatever room I needed them to be in so I could use contents inside at my convenience.

We had put Botan in one of the three untouched bedrooms for the duration of his stay. When he had recovered enough to get out of bed without reopening his wounds, he didn't really explore much. Once he could move on his own, throughout each day, he stayed in the main room of the Summit Tree where the fire was hot and tea was made for him regularly. He seemed content enough with that. It was only then that he had begun to question me on my knowledge for healing and where I could have possibly learnt it.

Retrieving newly weaved cloth (from a couple days ago) from within the room I used to store my raw and finished materials in, I then made my way back down the hall and into the main room. Botan still sat there, his back now straight with the peels of citronana's layed out on the table before him. I watched him take a sip of his cold tea and set the cup back down on the table before I had put the new cloths down beside him on the floor.

"Be right back." I stated as I then turned towards the kitchen.

Instead of entering the kitchen however, I went through the closed door beside it, which was the large storage room that I used for medicinal plants. In here were large clay pots, some with water in them, most with dried plants, and others with odd liquid concoctions that I made (but have yet to figure out what they did), that were lined up against the far wall. There was a small motor and pestle and a large rolling set placed beside the north faced window in the room. There was a large piece of cloth that I had layed out beneath the window to set plant on to properly dry in the sun, which shone through the window all day. Small clay pots were in here too, placed along the wall closest to the door, and in them I kept my finished medicines- which could be dry, wet, or slimy in consistency.

One by one I carefully removed the cloth lids from the smaller clay pots and put them back on as I checked the contents inside. Dry medicines were the ones that were made solely of ground up plants which had been dried first. These ones were mainly diluted in water before being consumed or applied directly onto a wound.

There was only one wet medicine, as Botan had to tell me how I could properly make pure extracts from plants with the use of lye, vegetable oil and water- which took up a lot of time in individually creating then mixing together. It was meant to be drunk in small amounts to help with pain, but put people to sleep as well.

My goo-like medicine was a by product from the wet medicine, and much more effective than the wet medicine had been. Once applied to an injury, the green goo hardened somewhat- discouraging infections- as it helped with skin repair. After a few hours the goo would flake off and, depending on the severity of the injury, leave behind freshly mended skin. It acted exactly like a scab would, which I had been fascinated to discover.

Once I had found the correct pot, I had cast my gaze around the room. My eyes landed on my stone mortar bowl, which was empty at the moment. I picked up the item, went back over to the pot with my special goo inside, and began to scoop some of the green stuff out with two of my fingers in order to fill the bottom of the bowl.

Only when I suspected that I had enough did I replace the cotton lid on the pot, tying the thin line of twisted rope tightly around the rim so it would stay in place, and got up to go and see Botan again. He hadn't moved from his seat at the table, except to remove the bandages from around his torso.

The sharp rocks that Botan had encountered down the side of the cliff had done most of the damage. A knee and elbow had been dislocated, gashes had been cut all along his back with a particularly deep one on his side while small scrapes and bruises had been scattered all across the rest of his skin. Now after healing for a few weeks under my care, all that Botan had left to heal was the deep stab wound in his gut, just below his right ribs.

It had been deep and it had bled profusely. Anything I used to cover the wound got soaked within minutes. Only when I managed to start a fire- while keeping Botan from bleeding out on the floor- did I have the ability to sew the wound closed with a hot tipped needle, which then left the man with several small burns around the original injury but kept it from bleeding out all the more.

The puncture wound wasn't very wide, but the wound had been deep, and if it weren't for Botan's luck, something inside could have been severely damaged and I doubted that the man would have made a recovery at all.

Gently I placed the stone bowl on the table in front of Botan. He gave me a nod of his head as I pulled my hand away, and by the way his shoulders relaxed during the action I knew that he was grateful. I moved around him to get a proper look at the man's back and took in the healed injuries verses the ones that had been deep enough to require more attention.

With the green goo still on my fingers from when I had scooped it out of the jar, I carefully traced the injuries that were still present. At the same time Botan worked on covering the wounds on his front, more comfortable doing so himself and letting me deal with what he could not see.

Done with my part of covering up his injuries, I stood and made my way towards the door again. Before I exited the Summit Tree, I stopped to glace back at Botan who had moved on to slathering the goo over his stitched up wound. "Keep the wounds open to air for now," I reminded and walked out the door without my satchel of medicines.

I needed to go find a dead tree to fell, so that I could bring it back for a fire.


AN: Don't be afraid to comment Readers, cause I know I probably made a butt-load of mistakes within this monster of a chapter. But mostly, I just love to hear what you think xD