"Wait, you're leaving me here?" Faris asked incredulously.
"Yes, I am." Angela said as she packed. "You can speak the Urgralga language, you are privy to as much of their culture and habits as I am, thus you're well equipped to survive with them for the three years it will take for the herbs to be prepped for your body.
Faris gulped, "Uh… won't they, kill me though, without even trying." He envisioned one of the giant kull children, forcing on battle princess armor and using lipstick dyed with the blood of her enemies.
Elva laughed. One of the things Angela had helped Faris work through was the removing the spells he had cast earlier, despite hers and Elva's warnings, he chose only to remove the aspect that hid his fears and pain from Elva. As for why he did that…
"I'm not scared of Elva's words, and I'll take it as training, and it's the first spells I cast, and I cast them perfectly, so I don't want to completely get rid of it." He had announced proudly. Touching as it was, Elva still openly exploited his weaknesses, though her actions were slightly more playful than before, and a good deal less malicious. Though, her chuckles and laughs that burst whenever he experienced discomfort came about as a result of her being able to feel his entirety of emotions.
"Faris, you can survive here, due to the invocation of Otragkith they cannot harm you to the point of permanently killing you. And due to your size and ability, you'd have to wait till you were maybe 4 years old before they treated you like someone capable of play-fighting with the children."
"Great, so 2 years of doing nothing?" Faris asked.
"Not nothing," Angela handed him a satchel. Opening the satchel, Faris stared down at a piece of crystal.
"Quartz? Wait…" He smiled lightly, "Why quartz? Why not something more eye-catching, like topaz?"
"Because something more eye-catching would get robbed, even then, quartz is still relatively good, it's strong, and common." She smiles, "Imagine you have the magical ability to lift one 1-lb stone up 1 foot in the air for 1 hour."
"I can at least lift 2-and-a-half stones, I don't suffer from too much strain."
"No strain entirely, so that should show you that you have a low magic capacity." Angela smiled. "So, all you'll need to do is-"
"Yup. Put the energy of one stone in it once a day…" He looked, "By the time I'm back home I can maybe lift a bolder for a day."
"Don't go relying on magic too much." Angela admonished, "Galbatorix for all his power lost."
"I know, so I'll just make sure I have an unflappable mind." Faris joked.
"And how will you do that?" Angela asked.
He has a good sparring partner. Damien announced suddenly. Since their mental development was tied, they were similar in mental strength, to the point that while Faris was the superior, they developed as they fought mentally.
And like that, it was settled, Angela gave Faris the mirror. "It's enchanted to allow you to reach them once a week… try not to get into too much trouble."
Elva added dryly, "Because they'll kill Angela if you have a single bruise."
"Ha-ha, then I'll try my best…."
"…Ha-ha, she's screwed." Faris winced as the urgal dam stitched his stomach.
"Be still child," Hamma said as she boiled the needle that had pierced his side and threaded his stomach back together once again. "Every time you move you risk spilling the little blood you do have."
Faris grit his teeth. "I take in your wisdom Hamma." He winced as the hot needle pierced his flesh, tears streaming.
OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! Damien screamed internally, perhaps a blessing of their odd relationship was the fact that Damien could, and in many cases did block the pain Faris faced and took it in himself, how it worked wasn't something either of them could fully explain but Faris was certainly capitalizing on it. You capitalize on that a little too often you know!
Faris grimaced as he remembered the kull child that hurt him.
Zhodar was the leader of the Kull youth, and at 5 years old, looked closer to being a 10-year-old. He seemed to hate Faris with a passion simply for being human. And Faris, who didn't like being the stooge of any relationship, wasn't warm to him in the slightest either, and to Damien's discomfort, neither of them were content to just let things be. Whilst Zhodar would bump into, shove, and sometimes strike at Faris lightly, Faris would insult his intellect, beat him out in lessons the Urgal Shaman, Naclak taught, and proved that despite having such an inferior body compared to the Kull youth, he was a superior tactician.
The kids had been preparing for a wargame. They armed themselves with sticks with blunted, widened, leather and cloth tips, round slabs of wood as shields, clubs wrapped in cloth and downy feathers, their "armor" was also suitably wrapped, but Faris had none of those, he lacked the physical might to hold even one of those sticks.
"Confound this body." He muttered to himself as Zhodar sauntered up to him, laughing and pushing.
"You! Hornless runt! You should be in the nurse maid's home, suckling milk and crying, not wasting our glorious time. You being here waste's our time, your time, and the time of Gork who I'm beginning to wonder…" He turns to a shorter kull child, Gork, the child of Hamma. "Are you even a real Kull?"
Gork's face flushed with anger, "I'm a real Kull you hornless! Ushnek Faris is way smar-" He had been cut short when Zhodar kicked him in the chest and pinned him to the ground.
"You! You dare call me Hornless?!" He laughed, but his eyes contained no humor. "You? Who crawls behind this… this…"? He turned to Faris, "This pale-skinned freak, with words beyond its years? This… manling, that dares try to think it's worthy of gracing our grounds?" He turned to strike Gork, but was knocked off his feet. As he scrambled up, he looked in shock and rage at Faris, who clutched his quickly bruising right arm.
WHY THE FUCK DID YOU PUNCH HIM?! Damien railed.
Shut up! Shut up for a second and let me think! Faris blasted back as he began perusing through Damien's memories on martial arts. After visualizing some of it he gripped the quartz in his other hand. He had little practical understanding of what he was doing, only that he used magic to supply a 'certain amount of force' behind his punch, enough to knock down Zhodar, but evidently not enough to knock him out, but too much for his hand to handle. The fact he felt pain meant that the agony Damien was going through was likely severe.
"Waíse Heill" He whispered, alarmed at the rate his reserves in the quartz were depleting, already losing a 10th of it's stores from his single year of storage.
We're not even 4! We wouldn't have that much energy! Damien retorted angrily. And he's getting up!
Faris allowed himself to fall to the ground, just barely missing Zhodar's reckless charge. Zhodar tumbled and slipped, Faris took the opportunity to gain more distance as his mind raced. If he let this continue, he'd be killed for certain.
"Hornless… to think you'd have some strength in those feeble arms." Zhodar wiped the spittle from his mouth. "Alright then, come at me!"
Faris raised an eyebrow, "No thanks! You're smell is bad enough over here!"
This enraged Zhodar, who charged low this time.
"Sharialyí" (move) Faris muttered, hopping to his right just quick enough to avoid Zhodar's charge, the kull youth, not one to be caught by the same trick again, dug his fingers into the ground, using them to scrabble and quickly turn to charge Faris. Faris nearly passed out as Zhodar's left horn stabbed him in the side. Using a bit of his panicked strength, Faris brought a fist down on Zhodar. The kull youth flinched but kept charging, hurtling for a tree. In panicked desperation Faris screamed out "Slytha!" Zhodar hit the ground, Faris slipping from his now unconscious grasp and rolling on the floor. Just as the adults were led to the scene Faris awoke Zhodar, who got up, narrowing his eyes at Faris. If not for Hamma, who grabbed the boy by the back of the neck and tossed him, Faris would have been crushed. As the Urgals came to pick him up, he barely found and grabbed his quartz, keeping it close to his body.
So, what did we learn… Damien asked?
Faris grit his teeth, sighing as Hama put away the needle and applied a foul-smelling poultice to his wound. Just kill him and be done with it…
What the hell… sometimes I wonder who's the child. Damien's shock was short lived as he spoke. No… we prepare… don't go after someone and just stand there like that, you might be the dominant part of the psyche but you're sure as hell not going to get us killed.
"So, teach me." Faris muttered in English, if Hamma had understood, she made no note of it, simply wrapping Faris in cloth and letting him rest.
Faris's rest was short-lived. Gork came into the room.
"Faris… Ushnek, are you okay?"
"Yeah Gork… I am alive." Faris announced, smiling, "I'll be as strong as ever."
Gork's face broke into a smile, "That's good! I was worried Ushnek would be…"
Faris closed his eyes for a bit. "Hey, I'm tough."
Seeing as how you could still sing soprano that voice is very unconvincing. Damien retorted dryly.
"I'm worried Ushnek, the elders don't want you in the village anymore."
"What?" Faris asked, "Why?"
"Because you've been disrupting the peace, and Zhodar's father is the tribe's top warrior. He lost his dam from the Oath Breaker's Betrayal." Hamma said somberly. "So, both he, his son, and many of our warriors have a great disdain for your folk, the fact a child lives amongst us and is privy to our culture and language is to many an insult to their traditions."
I wasn't even born then… Faris sighed, "So… is there anyway I can defend myself?"
"Disagreements are settled by fighting, since the issue came ahead because of your fight with Zhodar, they want you two to fight again." Hamma shook her head. "Many of these warriors seem to overlook what Mooneater has done for us, that they dare raise a hand against her disciple."
"That's why Ushnek, it's not safe for you…" Both Gork and Hamma looked on at Faris's smile.
"Hmph, okay, I'll play their game." He looked at Gork and Hamma, "I'm not of age, so I can request at least a year of preparation, and determine the time and place, as long as it's within the village. As I'm an outsider, I'm not allowed to pick the weapons, but that won't matter too much." Faris grit his teeth, his determined look juxtaposed with his childish face and body striking an odd light. "They'll regret making light of me…"