The elvish used in this chapter is Quenya.
Childhood Arc IV: Blood on the Saddle
There was blood on the saddle and blood all around,
And a great big puddle of blood on the ground.
A cowboy lay in it all covered with gore,
And he never will ride any broncos no more.
Oh, pity the cowboy, all bloody and red,
For the bronco fell on him and bashed in his head,
There was blood on the saddle and blood all around,
And a great big puddle of blood on the ground.
— Tex Ritter
Books, books, and books. Studying was the last thing she expected when becoming a witcher. The stupid elf told her that she had to memorize the different types of monsters documented and then potions. Then he was going to take her to a place that taught them how to use hand sign magic. Which gravely confused because it reminded her of sign language. She knew a bit of sign language, how to sign the alphabet and some swear words, but not many words. Don't ask how she learned the swear words— from a YouTube video.
Throughout the first few months, they traveled and took on basic hunting contracts for small monsters. She learned to sleep outside, and occasionally hear Gezras talk in Elder language to her— he was teaching her bit by bit.
The contracts they took were easy since she literally did not know how to fight. He told her most witchers trained and studied before they were full-fledged witchers. That confused the fuck out of her because why were they taking on contracts instead of training? They were either to take on easy monsters like Drowners or Alghoul. While he slew them, he had the audacity to quiz her about them. Questions like: what class do these beasts or where do they most occur. Every time that happened, she wanted to shoot him.
What if she got hurt during these stupid contracts? She wanted a fucking weapon to defend herself. There was a time when she stood there while a Ghoul roared in her face. By now, she was used to the disgusting sights of the monsters and wanted to get it over with. If the thing hurt her, she would just heal right up. The one thing Gezras mentioned about her was the healing rate she possessed. Though, maybe just female witchers were stronger in the healing aspect of things than their male counterparts. She could not regenerate a limb, but a scratch did heal quite quickly. A bruise only took an hour. Though, she thinks it might have something to do with the altered mutagens the mages made specifically for the females. Maybe that why she survived the trials is because of the healing factor.
Over time, she trusted Gezras to protect her when she was weaponless. She finally figured out where they were headed by studying the world's map— the Blue Mountains. A place where free elves took refuge. Before that, they stopped at an ancient elven village. What caught her eyes was the monument standing there. There was a detailed image of a woman elf carved into it. She was bravely holding up a flag. Brown eyes moved over to her travel companion kneeling next to her with a prayer stance.
Confused she asked: "What are you doing?"
The elf opened one eye toward her. "Giving my thanks to Aelirenn."
"Is she your goddess or something?"
"Close to it. She's a symbol of hope for my kind."
"What did she do?" Nolani asked curiously.
"She was a beckon of hope for the elves when humans took our land," he explained. "She lead the final battle as a rebellion but ended in a massacre. Because of that, she died and had an image carved into her home village."
"You talk as if you were there."
"I was; the battle took place nineteen years ago."
"Ah, I guess I should pray for her too," Nolani decided, getting down on her knees.
She closed her eyes thanking the elf for her service. Humans and elves have bad relations. Some elves have mated with humans which resulted in elves like Gezras. They were subjected to bad treatment and slavery in some kingdoms. Some of them clipped their pointed ears ends off because their discrimination was that bad. It vaguely reminded her of her own world. Every country fought its own race, establishing slaves. She had been born in the United States and they had colored slaves, but they weren't much different than any other country in the world. Every country, no matter the color of their skin had some type of slavery. People used to go on and on about that in her previous life, but in order to move on from the past, you have to leave it behind.
Slavery was abolished in the United State in 1865 and China abolished its country's slavery law in 1910. Slavery was a bad thing and should never have existed, but the world is a cruel place. No matter what world she is living in, its cruelty will never leave. She concluded that the night she was almost raped.
Gezras gave her a slightly shocked look. No human he had ever come across would ever commend themselves to offering other thanks to an elf. From the time she had met him, he knew she was different. Different because of her odd views of the world and was very open-minded. Most of the humans he has met thought of themselves as the superior race just because they had mages on their side. Elves did as well, but the humans had more. That is how they took over the land when they came through the Conjunction of Spears.
Nolani stood up and looked at the image again. "Whoever she was, I bet she was a beautiful elf."
"She was very beautiful," Gezras smiled slightly.
Nolani raised an eyebrow. "You guys must have been close."
"We were," he admitted.
Nolani was very observant for her age. It almost made him wonder about something. She was very mature, spoke with bigger words, and seemed like she knew how the world worked. Maybe he was just imagining things.
The question never left his head until they made a campfire two miles from the monument. Nolani caught some fish from a nearby stream and cooked them expertly over the fire. She was from a kingdom that didn't require the use of hunting and cooking things over the fire. Her mother was a whore so she had to have brought in some type of coin. A city girl shouldn't know how to cook like this, especially at her age.
"How old are you?" He blurted.
Nolani looked behind herself. "Eight."
"What about mentally?"
"Thirty-five."
His eyes widened. "How?"
She wasn't hesitant on telling him about her case because she knew that he would believe her. It would be hard not to guess her true age since she talked like an adult and knew things most children didn't. Especially, when you are stuck traveling with a witcher 24/7 who has very good wits. Gezras is smart, observant, and powerful. It was hard not to lie to him— he would be able to hear her sped-up heartbeat anyways because he was a witcher.
"I don't know," Nolani replied, finishing the fish on the stick. She handed one to the elf before continuing. "All I know is that I die in one world and end up in the next."
The red-head began to theorize some things inside his head. "Have you ever heard of the conjunctions of spears?"
"Conjunction of what the fuck?"
"It's something I learned spending time with my kind. It's a tail explaining the arrival of humans from another world 1,500 years ago. They settled into this world and expanded all over the continent, establishing them as the superior race after discovering they could use magic. I have always thought about it being an old wise tale, but hearing your case— you might have some part in it."
"How? That was 1,500 years ago."
"Have you ever thought about where the soul goes after death?"
Cold, bitter, and lonely. That was the time that felt like forever but wasn't. A time she never wanted to go back to— the void.
She shivered thinking about it. "Yes, I called it the void. I remember which felt like forever but never did. I floated there for a little bit before being shoved down a tunnel and waking up as a baby."
"Interesting. Do you think your soul was able to pass through during the conjunction of spears and wait for a suitable host?"
"It's possible but improbable. How does sone explain the short time frame I spent in there?"
"I'm not sure. It is possible that your soul was sleeping during that time."
"How is that possible though?"
"It's just a theory, so don't work yourself on it much. Just worry about catching some shut-eye. Our next stop is the Gwendeith and we have a good couple of days on foot," the redhead reminded.
They didn't see many on the road there. When the large fortress came into view, Nolani was in awe. Below the fortress, as Gezras explained earlier, was the valley where the elves lived. The village was lively, children— half and quarter elves played, and adults roamed. It didn't look much different than a human village. When Nolani walked into the territory, she was greeted with whispers and stares which did not surprise her. She expected the treatment because of what the humans have done to them in the past. But she looked past it because those humans were not her.
Gezras glanced at Nolani to see her reaction. Strangely, she wasn't affected by any of the strange looks and glares given her way. That was good. The girl was looking around until a food stand caught her drooling eyes. Now that was a sight to see. Without a second thought, she ran up to it eagerly asking how much the pastry was.
"Not for sale," the owner grunted, crossing his large arms.
Unamused, she gave him a flat look. "Why?"
"Because."
"That's not an explanation."
Gezras debated on stepping in, but he was curious how the girl would handle this situation.
"Look, kid. I don't serve humans."
"Why?"
"Because you are all the fucking same!" That had got the attention of the elves walking by. "You all demanded this and that. I don't know how the fuck you found our village, but get out if you know what's good for you. I guarantee more than half the elves would agree with me, so take this as a warning. Don't think for one second we would go easy on you because you are a kid. But because your nieve little girl, I'm giving you a heads up, so fuck off."
Sighing, Nolani slammed a hand on the stand's countertop. "One, we are not all the same. Two, I am human so fucking what? Three, I'm starving and willing to pay the price for this cupcake. Four, I don't care about the past because it is called the 'past' for a goddamn reason. Five, don't compare me to every fucking human that you've crossed because I'm not them. I respect every race equally and only judge someone based on themselves."
He scoffed. "So what?"
A hint of yellow began to sink into Nolani's brown eyes. "So what? I feel like I'm talking to a toddler when trying to get my point across. Yes, humans have taken over your land, but what race hasn't gone at war with each other? If you want to do something about it, then do something about it. Don't go discriminating against me now because it would make you no better than them. Be the grown-up here and let me buy the goddamn cupcake."
Gezras could feel the rage coming off the older, rounder stand owner. At this point, he walked up behind the child. "Is there a problem here?"
"Gezras?"
Nolani cocked an eyebrow. "You a celebrity here or something?"
"Y-you were the one who fought by Aelirenn's side. I apologize for causing a scene, but this little human here—"
"This little human is under my care."
"I apologize," the owners said. "But I thought she was just a wanderer, I had no clue she was under your care. Here, you can buy the cupcake for her then."
"No, you sell it to her."
He grumbled as Nolani smirked while putting her coins on the table. They walked as soon as the pastry was put into Nolani's hands.
"That was quite the show," the elf commented.
"You could have stepped in," Nolani said through bites.
"No, it was better that way because now you won't have others questioning you; it will give them something to think about. But I must say it is hard for us to forget what humans have done since our life span is more widespread than a human's, so I suggest you keep that in mind," Gezras advised.
Nolani finished her cupcake.
"And it's hard to forget what you guys have done to me," she countered. "Turning me into a witcher, not telling me what I had to do to become one, and all that shit."
After a day of exploring the city, they retired to a tavern with a lodging house connected to it.
"Is she a dancer?"
"Yes," Gezras answered.
The long dark-haired elf danced on the table with others as the music played. She wore a blouse, tights leather pants, and high brown boots. Elegantly, she flaunted her talent for dancing as elves cheered for her and sang along with the elf bard. Today's tale was about some elf love story with a human, then they meet on the battlefield resulting in their deaths.
"She's won't stop looking at me every time she twirls," Nolani pointed, drinking her lowball glass of water— Gezras refused her to have alcohol.
"Might because you're the only human here."
"Could be."
"Or maybe she's eyeing you."
He nearly choked on his drink. "I severely doubt it."
"Why do you say that?"
"She's someone I know from the past because of Aelirenn."
"A fuck buddy or something?"
"No."
"If you know her, tell her to stop staring at a child; it's plain creepy."
The redhead rolled his eyes.
The music stopped as the elven bard announced a fifteen-minute break. Nolani noted the dance as a fairytale, dramatic and graceful. The dancer hopped off the table and made her way over to Nolani after the music stopped playing. While Gezras was distracted, she swiped his mug of beer and drank half of it until he took it back. She ended up with a sprinkle of it on her face. Pouting, she turned to the red-headed elf with a glare.
"Gezras, I'm thirsty," Nolani complained.
"Then ask the barmaids to get you water then," he suggested, finishing the rest of his drink so the child couldn't take anymore. With that, she flicked her finger rather rudely at the half-elf as the waitress came by.
She had a wooden tray in her hands, passing out drinks as she came by. "Can I get you guys anything?"
"A water please."
"Coming right up," she said, walking away.
A hand slammed down by Nolani's, startling her. Dark eyes peered down at her with intense curiosity with a snide smile. "What is this thing?"
Nolani cocked an eyebrow, pointing with her thumb towards the elf in her face. "Yeah, what the fuck is that?"
Gezras resisted the urge to smack them both for being childish— "That thing is a human child and the other thing is my old friend."
"Is that your human child? Is she part elf and chipped off her ears or something?"
"No" he grumbled lowly.
"You both have red hair though?"
"Mahogany," Nolani corrected.
"She's a Witcher," he plainly answered.
"Ohhhhhhh really?" She trailed off. "The only Witchers I have met were male— they had weapons and armor too. It's so elaborate how a young, weak-looking, brat turned into a Witcher?"
Well then. Gezras's friend was almost impossible to agree or reason with. She's got the attitude of a boulder, never wavering in the wind of arguments. Some could say that's a good quality to have, but others despise people who will not listen to suggestions. But Iskra and everyone else knew that only males were Witchers. Nolani was a special case that probably will never happen again. She was the result of an experimental process that one sorcerer decided to attempt to create the first female Witcher. It was an extremely slim chance one would survive and Nolani did. Though, Gezras believes that it was her destiny to survive. There was something planned for her in the future, he just had a strange notion the first time he saw her. Everything about her felt different. He just couldn't tell what exactly it was.
Then there was the fact that she had remembered her previous life before her. Though, none of that matters here. Yet, he is quite curious as to what her world was like compared to this one.
"There's a first time for everything," Gezras said, hoping to settle the argument.
"I see," the dark-haired wood elf said, taking a good look at the human child. "Well then, I shall get going as my dance is done with now. Gezras, let's atsa up ar a hilde present. (Gezras, let's catch up without a human present)."
The last part of her sentence had been coded in an elven language that Nolani replied with: "Ni pole- han- tye. (I can understand you)."
Nolani smirked in Iskra's direction.
"How did you learn elvish?"
"I taught her on our way here."
"How long was that journey?"
"A few months."
"How? No average human can master a difficult language that quickly," Iskra pointed out, crossing her arms.
"As I said earlier: she's a Witcher. Our minds work faster than the average human," the red-haired elf explained.
"Interesting."
