Two || Arrival

Mint stood at the edge of the ragged path that lead into the forest, wine-red eyes tracing their way as far as she could see before it was swallowed by the shadows of the forest. Looking up, over the tree line, she could just see the edge of the town's wall peeking out above the dense greenery. It looked...

...farther than she had thought.

"Seriously, Rod?" she asked, turning around and scowling. "This is the best you could do?"

A short distance away – smack in the middle of the little meadow, halfway between where Mint stood at the tree-line and where the bend of the river kissed the grass – a man was scraping away the debris that cluttered an old fire-pit. He was tall and lean, and possessed of a head of long, fiery red hair that was not hidden very much at all by his surprisingly dapper silk hat. The rest of his outfit wasn't quite so dapper; the pants were fine, but whatever the hell he had chosen for his torso had a bizarre combination of long sleeves and no abdomen, letting him show off a set of well-developed abs.

Apparently, he had not heard her; he continued scraping out ancient ashes and damp leaves and the beginnings of grass trying to poke through the earth. She watched him for a few seconds.

"And can you please put on a shirt!"

At that, he stopped and turned his attention to her, leaning on the makeshift hoe he had been using.

"Is there something more you need, Mint?" he asked.

She ground her teeth. The way he had worded the question, there was only one answer; "No, not... not really."

It was somewhat her fault, anyway; Rod had been offering a ride out of the port and out to Carona at a deeply discounted price – minimal luggage, only one passenger, fastest ride you'll ever have – with the caveat that he just happened to have some extra space in the second cockpit of his boat and was headed not quite to Carona, but to a little isolated hovel just outside the city walls. He had no intention of going up to the city, and no intention of paying the harbor's docking fee.

Mint had kind of assumed that he could just drop her off right outside the wall and she would work her way into the town that way.

Mint had also forgotten to take altitude into effect. Turned out was quiet difficult to land right next to Carona when Carona was sitting at the top of the cliff.

She didn't doubt that he was right – that this particular bend of the river was the closest he could get her to town while circumventing the harbor – but that didn't make her any less frustrated. She wanted to talk to one guy. One guy. She had already dragged herself across the continent and out to the middle of the ocean in her quest, and while another short hike was hardly much of anything compared to all of that, it was just one more thing on top of a cavalcade of other things and she was just sick of having to deal with that. With things.

She heard a bark and looked down. A little puppy, black furred with little white accents on his paws and ears and chest, had set himself down at her feet and was looking up at her with massive brown eyes and an equally massive puppy-grin. His tail was snapping back and forth so fast he was probably going to sprain something. Mint knelt down and scratched behind his ear, and an expression of absolute satisfaction crossed his face.

"You're all right, Johnny Wolf," Mint said. "Keep out of trouble."

Johnny Wolf barked.

"Oi!" Rod yelled. "No words for the man who got you here?"

"Not really!"

"Bah."

But as he cleared the last of the debris from the fir-pit, suddenly she did have words.

"You're not going up to town?"

She had not quite realized until that moment that whatever Rod was doing, he clearly had no intention of actually making his way to civilization. Already he was turning to the large pack of supplies he had brought and untangling gear strapped to the back, unfolding it into the items that would eventually construct a tent.

"No," he said, turning to face her again. His eyes were closed, his expression drawn and contemplative. "My work – my artistry – is best done in silence and isolation. I come here so that I may be alone." One eye cracked open. "Other than Johnny Wolf, of course."

Well, of course.

"So your silence and isolation is spitting distance from a town."

He waved off her words. "A small town," he said, "of people who also value silence and isolation." His eyes opened completely. "And they have a wonderful bar."

She wondered if the man was actually listening to himself.

"Supplies," Rod said testily, seeing the expression on Mint's face. "This island is far enough away from civilization that I don't need to worry that it taints my inspiration, and I may stay here longer because I can return to town for food, when necessary. Her walls and the forest are enough to form a barrier between myself and those who might impugn on my craft."

Which sounded only slightly less crazy to Mint. But whatever; he could pilot that boat of his out here without killing them, and that was what had mattered.

"Right, well, have fun," she said. Then, looking down; "See you around, Johnny Wolf."

The dog barked at her again, and she rose and turned toward the forest. From behind her, Rod whistled, and she heard the tiny sound of puppy paws in the grass. She almost turned again to watch them – Rod was a nut-job, but she had heard him talk about his art and she was curious about what he was going on about – but resisted the urge. The ways things tended to go for her, that was just an invitation to crazy.

Instead, she focused on the forest. Heavy boughs, thick foliage, dancing shadows. The breeze whistled by and sent whispers through the trees; movement up above made the dappled sunlight writhe across the ground. Not that this was anything she hadn't seen before; in fact, with everything in the forest so richly alive, it was probably one the more pleasant splays of trees she'd seen.

She absently flipped her strawberry-blond hair over her shoulder and reached to her sides, her hands brushing against the two thin golden hoops she had tied to her belt. Even with such gentle contact, they sent a little crackle of energy up through her, causing the hair on her arms to stand on end and prompting a dark grin to spread across her face. One last check of her supplies – money pouch, supply pack, energy-infused rings – and she stepped into the shadows of the trees.

The forest breathed cool against her as soon as she was out of the sun, and within only a few moments she found that the little side path she had been using opened up to something much more well-worn, clearly the main path through the forest. She took a look back and forth, found her bearings, and followed the path as it lazily wove its way up the incline leading to town. A gentle slope, a pleasant breeze, the scent of crushed leaves and tree sap– it was a bother to walk up to the town like this, but at least it was pleasant.

A few things flitted out of the corner of her eye; local wildlife, no doubt. She paid it no mind, and it seemed content to leave her alone. The sounds of the forest buzzed around her, but it was all quite muted; not far away, just keeping itself quiet. Leaves rustling, something snapping twigs, the buzz of insects, the–

–voice–

Mint stumbled to a halt, suddenly snapped out of her reverie, and stood still, listening. There was quiet for a few seconds, and she thought, for a moment she must have just been hearing things. But before she had taken another step it cut through the forest again– faint, distant.

Frightened.

She couldn't make out the words, but she waited again, eyes closed, and when the voice echoed through the trees again she had worked out its direction. She plunged off the path and into the forest, moving at a fast walk to weave through the trees and brush. The voice became a little clearer now – moving in the right direction – and now she could just about make out the words.

"Help!"

Which didn't tell her much, but she could work with it.

As she moved, the forest became a little brighter, the leaves and the trees themselves thinning out, although that invited more ground foliage and made moving through it just a little more frustrating. Up ahead, she could see the trees parted completely and opened out to sunlight, and with a final push she thrust herself out of the tree cover and nearly stumbled off a cliff.

Mint yanked herself to a stop just before the ground crumbled away beneath her and teetered for a moment, seized by vertigo. She stumbled back, away from the ledge, and blinked rapidly. Her head was starting to even out again, and her eyes were adjusting to the sudden explosion of sunlight after traversing the shadowy woods, and after a few seconds she was back to herself enough to take in what was going on.

She stepped forward, up to the edge of the cliff, and looked down. It wasn't really a substantial drop – maybe fifteen feet, at best – but it was sheer. Even that wasn't so much the problem, though; the end of the fall, which should have been into the soft loam of the forest soil, ended on solid rock.

She traced the rest of the area and felt a little trill of excitement run through her.

She could still see the forest, but it was further away, forming a ring around the vista in front of her. Down below, taking up a fairly large chunk of space, was what appeared to be the ruins of a building, or maybe a small series of building, all cracked stone and crumbling architecture. She couldn't tell how old it was, but much of it was overgrown with weeds or vines, and a central depression – probably once a room made for receiving guests – was filled with algae-crusted water, forming a pool around which she saw the distinct, lithe bodies of pollywogs swimming through the air. Near the pool a tree had broken through the stonework and grown around and into one of the walls, and now stood massive and proud over the ruins, casting an impressive swath of shade over the ruins.

As she looked, though, that glimmer of excitement flickered and faded. Despite the nature choking out the old buildings, the area actually looked fairly clean; much of the debris had been swept away, the detritus she expected to see already plucked up and taken. She didn't know why she had let herself get excited about it in the first place; Carona was home to one of the foremost Relic researchers on the planet. Any ateliers in the area would have long since been ransacked.

She almost pushed away from the edge when the voice floated up to her again, and she realized it was coming from somewhere in the ruins.

Mint stood up and looked around. Dropping from here would be painful, to the say the least, and she didn't quite trust herself enough to break her fall on the way down. But there had to be a way to get down there; clearly somebody had already managed it.

Her eyes raked across the edge of the cliff, and she saw it, a little ways further down; a series of weathered rocks jutting out toward the ruins. They looked a little awkward, but they formed a fairly clear set of steps that wound down to the ruin's level.

She made her way to the rocks and began to work her way down, a bit cautiously at first, but with more confidence once she was about halfway down, where the tops of the rocks flattened out and the consequences of falling became much less painful. She slid down the last rock to land at the base of the natural staircase, and looked around. Now, down at the level of the ruins, she couldn't help but feel that same excitement building a tight knot in her chest; she could almost smell the old magic that wound through the stones.

The voice called again, and Mint headed toward the origin of the sound.

"Calm down!" she yelled, ducking under a fallen pillar and emerging into the brightness of the courtyard, illuminated doubly by the sunlight dancing off the surface of the pool. She raised an arm to try and shield her eyes. "I'm comin'!"

Her second shout caused the pollywogs to snap around to face her. They hovered stock-still in the air, their large, liquid eyes focused on her. When she took another step, they wheeled, their thin tails lashing through the air as they shot off into the shadows of the ruins.

Mint took a few more steps, glancing around warily, until the voice came back to her; "Is somebody there?"

It was quieter now, but because the speaker was no longer shouting, or not shouting so loud. Mint could tell a few more things about the voice now; it belonged to a girl, probably a bit younger than Mint herself, and sounded muffled and hollow– echoing. She was under something, or inside.

"Yeah, somebody's here," Mint said. "Where are you?"

"I'm– I'm stuck. Something broke one of the pillars, and it fell in front of me. I– I can't move it..."

"You're inside somewhere?"

"Yeah, it's, um... the face."

Mint stopped for a moment, contemplating the statement, then responded, very levelly; "What the hell does that mean?"

"Oh, sorry! Over the pollywog pool, there's this– this big ugly face-thing, in the wall. I– is that you?"

Mint stopped where she was and turned, taking in the area. She was next to the pool, and she hadn't seen another one from above. But a face? She turned slowly, looking out one way – just the battered remains of the wall – then behind her. There was a shallow set of stairs leading up to some kind of structure– another wall, although this one was heavily accented by patterns and smaller statues. She couldn't make out anything that looked like a face–

But she saw why.

A pillar lay in front of the wall; it had fallen at an awkward angle, and the upper part of it had broken a new hole into the side of the wall. It was leaning up the stairs, and she could follow it to where it had recently cracked and crumbled; the damage hadn't yet weathered like the rest of the ruins. That must have been what the girl was talking about.

"Probably," Mint responded. She looked to where the pillar intersected the wall and ducked, trying to get a better look beneath it. "Can you reach out of there at all? Wave, or something?"

She saw a hint of movement in the shadows below the pillar, then an arm emerged. It groped around along the ground for a few seconds, then gave up and simply waved. Mint headed up the steps and sidled next to the opening.

"Found you," she said.

The arm retracted, and she heard movement from within. Then, suddenly, she was looking at a face, stuck under the shadow of the pillar, barely illuminated by the sunlight bouncing off of the white stone. Mint had been right; it was a girl, maybe ten or eleven years old, with light brown hair and large, dark blue eyes.

"Hello!" the girl said brightly. Her fear seemed to have vanished. "I haven't seen you before!"

"Just got into town," Mint said. She pressed her hand against the pillar and closed her eyes, listening to the soft hum of old power that still coursed through it. She opened her eyes again and found that the girl was still staring up at her, her eyes a little wider. Mint stood back up and stepped back. "How much room do you have in there?"

"Uh... a couple of feet, going back."

"Then get yourself as far back in there as you can," Mint said, her hands trailing to the two hoops at her side. "I haven't tried this too often."

"Tried what?"

"This," Mint growled. "Just move."

She heard a faint scrabbling from behind the pillar, and when she was sure the girl had moved out of the way, Mint grasped the hoops and pulled, yanking them free of their bindings. As soon as they hit her hands, the dull gold metal suddenly igniting, the faint patina burning away to reveal brilliant metal beneath. Their power coursed through Mint with a gentle, crackling heat that made her skin tingle and her heart palpitate in anticipation.

The magic burned through her blood, but that wasn't quite what she was looking for. Instead, she extended that energy and wrapped her mind around the magic that she had tasted when she had first arrived down here. It was ancient magic, long since unwoven, but she didn't need the old spells; she just needed that energy. She concentrated on it, grasped it in her mind, willed it to tangle into the kudzu that still strangled the pillar itself. She felt it tighten under her command, and steeled herself.

Then she clicked the rings together.

At once she felt a wave of energy as the kudzu vines gripped down on the pillar, cementing their position so strongly they actually bit into the stone, showering dust and particulate onto the ground. The vines leapt backward from the end of the pillar, meeting up with its shattered stone back and wrapping themselves tightly there. Then as one they stiffened, and with a lurch of power Mint could feel digging into her stomach the vines straightened themselves upward, dragging the mass of the pillar behind them. She gritted her teeth, and slowly the pillar settled fully into place, the web of vines holding it steady.

She exhaled all at once and pulled the rings apart from each other, leaving a trail of snapping sparks and the faint whiff of ozone. Mint was used to channeling magic directly through herself – it was how she had been taught, all those years ago, and it was what she had continued to teach herself – and commanding that kind of energy independent of her own body was still exhausting. Her extremities were shaky and her legs felt weak, but she also felt flush with the residual magic working its way through her, and she couldn't help but grin.

Nonchalantly as she could, she returned the rings to her sides, re-applying their loose binding to hold them in place, and looked up toward the wall.

The girl was still pressed against the far corner of the little room, staring at Mint with what could only be awe. Slowly, the girl extricated herself from where she was standing and stepped out into the sunlight. She was covered in dust and there were flecks of rock in her short-cropped hair, but other than that she looked to be in excellent health. She also looked to be practically vibrating with excitement.

"That– that was amazing!" she cried, her already high-pitched voice somehow hitting a new octave. "How did you do that? That thing with the plants, and the– oh! Are you a witch? I know a witch, she can do cool stuff like that too, but I've never seen something like that!"

Mint simply folded her arms and stood up straighter, smiling. "Please, that was nothing," she said, trying hard not to sound breathless.

"But that was magic, right? It had to be magic. Are you a witch?"

"Nah," she said dismissively. "I'm just awesome."

This was enough of an explanation for the girl. "Oh, wow," she breathed. "Who– who are you?"

"Mint," she said. "Princess Mint."

She had put special emphasis on that, as was only fitting; it wasn't every day that somebody got to meet a bona fide princess, after all, especially all the way out here in the middle of the ocean. That had to be worth another few points of adulation, at least.

Suddenly the girl slammed into her mid-section, wrapping her arms tight around Mint. Mint was caught so off-guard by the hug she barely had a chance to register what was going on.

"Thank you thank you thank you, Mint!" the girl cried. "I dunno what would have happened–"

"Princess Mint," she grumbled.

"–if you hadn't come along, thank you!" The girl broke contact and almost danced a few steps back, breathing hard. She was exuberant, but now that Mint had another chance to look at her she was clearly tired; how long had she been trapped back there? "My name is Elena."

"Elena. O-okay." Mint shook herself off and looked at the girl again. She was fairly unremarkable, but–

"Elena," she started, her voice taking on a slightly syrupy tone. "You live in town, right?"

"Well, yeah!" she said brightly. "Not a lot of other places to live!"

True enough. "How about I walk you back to your parents? I'm sure they'll be grateful to see you're okay."

Elena seemed almost shocked by the words. "Oh! Of course." She looked up to the sky and traced out the path of the sun. "They'll start to worry if I'm not home soon. Thank you so much, Mint! I'll never forget this!"

Princess, Mint added in her mind, but it was apparent that if she pursued that she would be fighting a losing battle. "C'mon," she said, taking Elena by the shoulders and beginning to steer her back toward where Mint had gotten down. "Let's get you home."

The girl was chatty, and normally that would have driven Mint crazy, but at that moment she was counting it as a blessing. Elena would clearly be more than happy to recount this story of her fantastic rescue – hopefully embellish it – and Mint was already thinking of all the ways these poor parents could go about paying her back.