{Night 11: Kahil and the Tree}
It'd been a few months since the slaver-incident.
My hair had grown back out to my shoulders, though I was wearing it in a messy pony a lot lately. My ears were now pierced, each one having a dull silver gauge in the lobe.
Uriel had hit a growth-spurt, coming almost up to my chest now. Chaya had found a dented copper bell that we'd tied onto his tail using a black ribbon. After his initial playing with it, Ur became very proud of his bell.
And what I was happiest about?
I no longer needed to chain Kahil up so that he wouldn't run away. He still wore the red collar with the length of chain attached, but he said that he felt uncomfortable without it. I was glad that he trusted us now, and that we could trust him to walk about on his own and come back.
He was out right now...
I hummed, looking out the doorway. Standing up, I clicked my tongue to Uriel. Rumbling, he stood up and followed after me. The two of us had developed a sort of nonverbal language between us. Kahil was starting to pick up on these cues as well, though the other three were still lost on it.
As Uriel and I left the hut, I noticed that it was drizzling a tiny tiny bit.
"A sun-shower...?" I murmured, holding out a hand and looking up. This amount of rain wouldn't do much more than create little dewy droplets in our hair, and the sun still being out would dry it up fast.
Uriel rubbed his snout against my torso, reminding me of why we came out in the first place. I jerked my head. As I started walking, he padded along behind me. His tail-bell tinkled softly with each little movement of his tail.
As we walked, we were periodically stopped by someone. We would chat, discuss trivial matters, or boast about finds. At one house, someone from one of the other villages was visiting. Not many of them had actually seen Ur, though plenty seemed to have heard about him, so that guy was rather pleased to meet my feline brother. After perhaps ten minutes of chatting, we resumed our search for Kahil. The rain had stopped at some point in the middle of our conversation, the dampness in the dust already drying rapidly out.
We were over near the well when Uriel suddenly tugged on my waistband, pulling my pants down to my knees.
"Ack! Uriel, you fuckin' 'tard— Eh?"
He was looking at the well. And when I looked, I could see Kahil sitting near where we'd first encountered him. The waterskin was slung over the well-wall, but it was obviously empty. Kahil was ignoring it, his back turned to us as he did something in the trash.
"... Oi, brat!"
Kahil started, gasping as he whipped around. Spotting us, he hastily started moving debris to cover whatever he was doing up.
Frowning, I pulled up my pants and took a running tackle. I barreled him over, and the two of us fell to the ground.
"What the fuck're ya bein' so secretive about?" I demanded, pinning him down and turning my head to look at the hastily-made garbage-heap. I gestured to it, and Uriel padded over to nose the stuff aside.
"Hey! No, he'll kill it like that!"
Both Uriel and I froze as Kahil yelled. I was shocked enough that he was able to push me off.
Kahil hurried to shoo Uriel away from the little cover he'd created. Sighing in relief, he delicately started to remove the things covering whatever it was. Uriel and I both hung over his shoulders, hardly breathing, eyes wide.
"... What... is it...?" I asked.
"... Can't you tell...?"
I blinked.
It was probably as tall as my thumb, small and slender. I could tell it was a plant of some type, but I had no idea what. The stem was skinny and white, and two somewhat waxy-looking leaves split off of the end. They were simple, flat and slender, and the whole thing looked as easy to pull out of the dirt as a worm. The very ends of the leaves were slightly crinkled and wilted-looking.
"... What...? I don't know..." I murmured.
"... It's a baby tree, just barely growing... and I'm pretty sure it's sick, with those leaves like that..." Kahil told me, just barely brushing his fingertip against the tiny plant. It seemed to shudder under his slight touch.
"... A... tree...?" I echoed softly, staring at the small thing nestled in the trash. This thing... this tiny, pathetic thing was a tree? How? He said it was a baby, but...
"It probably needs a little water, and some more sunlight would do it good..." Kahil all but whispered, still stroking the leaves.
Something dawned on me.
"You two stay put, I'll be right back!" I ordered, spinning around to take off at a run.
I barged between people and wove through houses until I came to Master Alban's. From the conversation going on inside, Zaria and Hassan were there too.
I skidded into the hut, clipping the doorway and taking a bit off.
"Careful, you little shit! Are ya tryin' to bring this down on my head?!" the quack snarled, hurling a shower of sparks in my direction. I skittered backwards a bit to avoid them.
"Mal, what's up?" Hassan asked, adjusting his glasses.
"Kahil found a tree!" I yelled.
"What?!" all three of them yelled back.
"Yeah! He said it's a baby, small an' kinda sick, but you guys— Yer life-magic— You could help it, couldn't ya?!" I all but begged.
"Wheresit at?" Zaria asked, already jumping up and grabbing her staff.
"By the well! C'mon, please?!"
The quack hesitated a bit, but Zaria and Hassan ran after me as I left.
When we arrived at the well, we found that Kahil and Uriel had cleared away most of the crap around the well, putting it in a big heap. This left the little baby tree free and exposed.
"What're you gonna do?" Kahil asked, voice wavering suspiciously.
"We're gunna help it grow!" Zaria declared, spreading her legs and planting her staff on the ground. A little more hesitantly, Hassan mirrored the action.
Together, they took a deep breath, eyes sliding closed. Kahil, Uriel and I watched apprehensively. Slowly, a faint purple glow appeared around the tops of their wands. Breathing deeply and regularly, the same glow began to envelope the tiny tree, and it started to grow taller, leaves spreading out.
I held my breath, watching with wide eyes as it grew to be about equal with my knee. More leaves were being pushed out, and small protrusions that developed into branches.
But then it began to stutter.
Zaria collapsed, and Hassan sagged against his staff. Both of them were breathing heavily, faces flushed, and the purple glow vanished. The tree wilted the tiniest bit.
"There now, ya see?"
We all spun around to see Master Alban.
"You didn't coordinate your spells, and focused randomly on different parts. It has to grow evenly throughout, otherwise it'll get sick. Watch."
The quack took a deep breath. Closing his eyes and gesturing with his staff, he uttered a quiet spell. The purple glow returned, more insistent this time, and the tree righted itself, shivering slightly. It only grew a little taller, fleshing out more and thrusting out more leaves. I watched in amazement.
"There."
"Thassit? Yer not gunna grow it no more?" Zaria huffed, looking disappointed.
"No. See, if we thrust this tree into adulthood right now, it'll get sick and die. It'll still be weak and not know how it's supposed to work properly. We've helped it to a point where it's chances of survival have increased— now the thing has to grow up on it's own for a while before we even think of helping out again."
"Like the story of the fish!" I exclaimed. He nodded.
"What story?" Kahil asked in confusion.
"Sumthin' Zahara told me once. Said there was a guy who raised a fish he found from an egg, and then tried to set it free. But cuz the fish was so dependent on bein' spoiled, it died real quick." I said, gesturing a bit with my hands. He blinked once or twice, then made a noise that indicated he understood. I'd really summed up the story and probably mutilated it a lot, but he got it.
"It's so green! Kahil, are all trees like this?" Hassan admired, gently touching one of the leaves.
"Some of them. Others have different colors. Not by a lot, but enough to be different."
Uriel purred, rubbing his head against the brat. I nodded in agreement, turning to wrap him up in a big hug that lifted his feet off the ground.
"Thanks, squirt..." I whispered.