"We need be on our way, Nalbida. You have done what you could for her, but we have an airship to catch."
"How can we just leave her? She will not be lost if I stay for a short time longer. Surely we can afford a while longer."
"That's a viera- and they all dislike humans. She will wake and be ungrateful for your actions anyways. Cidolfus, get away from her."
"It's all right, son. Now everyone hush. We will wake her with all this chatter." Awake I was. Their harsh speech had quickly roused me. Was their accent normal for humes, or were they distinguished even among their kind for it, I was unsure. This added to my confusion. I could not recall fainting, but waking was proof enough. I strained my eyes open, blinking rapidly to clear my vision. I was relieved that I could see clearly. A hume woman knelt beside me with a moist cloth in hand. Holding onto her shirt was a child, staring at me with wide, brown eyes. "Look, she's waking. Cidolfus, go bring me another cloth." The boy, Cidolfus, nodded and dashed out of sight. "Hello there, can you hear me?" I hesitated, unsure how to reply, then nodded weakly. "Good. Now, do you recall what happened?" I was not used to so many questions. This was also the first time I had encountered a hume, and I was taking in everything I sensed about them. They smelled like cotton…and dust, but mostly a harsher scent that contrasted strongly with the jungle. If predators were out, they would be easily distinguished. "Can you remember, dear?" I had forgotten about her question. This was one of the longest conversations I had ever had. If felt strange to speak so much…
"Yes..." I contemplated what to tell her, then summed it up in a single sentence. "I was wounded by a large predator and fell into the brush." I looked around from my awkward place on the ground. "Did you…come to my aid?" She nodded.
"We did. You were lying in the bushes unconscious. That was only an hour ago." An hour wasted.
"Then I thank you for your assistance, but I must be off." As I pushed myself upright, a familiar but unwelcome pain shook my chest. I gasped and froze rigid.
"Oh- please do not move yet. Your ribcage was badly broken."
"Shattered is a better term." A tall, hume male leaned against an overgrown tree a few feet away.
"Please disregard my husband." The woman pushed a traveling crate against my back so I might lean against it. "My name is Nalbida. What is yours?" I was unaware at the time, but Nalbida's question was common, and in fact, the proper greeting for humes. But to a viera, that was a very personal question. Yet this hume had gone out of her way to help me, and she seemed…kind. Even though my people had always spoken against the humes, this one seemed gentle.
"My name is Fran."
"Fran, what a beautiful name. I've always admired the viera's choice of names, but this is the first time I have met one of your kind." She gave me a soft smile, and I was honestly flattered, if not a bit confused. Since I was accustomed to vieran names, this woman's name was as unique to me as mine was to hers. But I was especially touched because of the blandness of my name amongst my people. I was not granted a name exclusive to my kind, but she still found it pleasing to the ears. Was it so because it would be easy for the humes to address me? Maybe I was destined to leave the Wood after all.
Nalbida and her son tended to me for another hour or so, but because of the rush they were in, I felt a kind of guilt that I had kept them so long. As soon as i could walk, I insisted that she leave.
"Will you be all right, Fran? Your injuries will-"
"They will heal." I interrupted. "I thank you for your time, but I have a previous engagement that I must make haste to keep." Then, Nalbida did something very strange. She approached me, coming so close I felt threatened, and then wrapped her arms gently around me. I froze- my ears erect and still until she pulled away.
"Goodbye, dear. Take care of yourself." No malice were in her words. The violating gesture she gave me had been a show of hume affection. Just like that- a hume opened up to me. If she could be so kind, then there must be others similar to her. Would I be so alone in their world when I left mine?
I discarded the bandages and splints before I returned to the village. I would not tell them of my encounter, and give them no reason to ask.
I followed the steps down to a drop off into the darkness and casually, I cast the white magic from my fingertips, and whispered to the Wood. A path of herbs and feathery plants and moss grew into thin air, marking the way to the hidden viera village, my home, Eurut Village. As I stepped onto the overgrown trail, a wind touched my ears. I disregarded it at first, but it developed into familiar words.
'My daughter…you strain to hear my voice. Your encounter with the humes has tainted your ears…go no further down such a path.' I gasped aloud, and covered my mouth with a hand. The Wood. The Green Word had been deaf to me. Even if for a second, I could not hear her. 'Return, and beg for forgiveness. Say you were a fool, and stay with your sisters…My daughter, reconsider.' This discerned me the most. Leaving my family and sisters, my home, and my place in my village…But losing the Wood? I did not reply to the Wood, not in green word or in my thoughts. She would hear both, so I kept my mind blank as I followed the radiating leaves into the trees. I had never taken in so much of my village than in those few minutes. The trees were so different than the jungle- massive and at least a mile from the ground. In this village, viera were suspended in this haven as long as they chose. After sixteen years, I would leave this place behind.
"Sister!" Mjrn had been waiting by the tunnel for my return. "You are safe! After hours and hours of waiting, I was terrified. Oh…you are wounded, aren't you? But, please Fran, I know what you have been thinking, and please reconsider- if you left in such condition you will surely be killed!"
"Fran!" All of my village turned to watch Jote walk onto the bridge as the scene unfolded. "You have completed your task?"
"I have." I stepped forward and offered her the tail. She looked at it, then up to me.
"What is your decision? Do you still desire to leave the Wood?"
"I do." She stared me down with piecing chestnut eyes as a crowd gathered to possibly witness their sister leaving them. Most were convinced I would reconsider, but those who knew me best understood that I was the kind of viera to act on my will. Jote returned to my eyes with a loving stare.
"Fran, my sister. I do not want to lose you to the outside world. Do you hear her, the Wood? Or have you already lost her voice? She cries out, and begs for you to stay! She had lost too many children from her grasp- do not be another to make such a mistake." I shook my head.
"I can no longer ignore that outside world as we all have. We rest in the Wood's protection and turn away from the outside's cries of pain. I cannot stay, Jote." My sister's face hardened instantly.
"Jote- please!"
"Stay back, Mjrn." Jote commanded, as our younger sister dashed forward. Jote glared me down, and suddenly lashed out. The hare's tail fell to the bridge. "Those cried you have heard from the outside world should have been enough to reveal what a place it is. You could have been a wood-warder, but that path is gone from you forever. The Green Word will disappear from your lips, and your ears will be tainted by the hume's rough speech. The Wood will become deaf to you, and ultimately lost." She challenged me with her eyes, as if she was offering one last chance for me to apologize and stay. I returned the gaze, unwavering. Finally, Jote broke the painful silence. "Remove your garb." I complied, first with the beautiful helm of a Wood-Warder, then all the pieces of armor until I stood in noting but my casual attire. I laid each piece of armor beside the next with care and respect. They would be burned and discarded when I left. Like my memory. Finally, I stood. "You are no longer a sister of mine, and may never be welcome in the Wood again. Leave this place, and never walk onto this bridge again, or be shot down by our arrows as the outsider you are." My leader, my sister, turned her back on me. I had won my freedom. But all of my sisters turned away from me, ducking their heads or turning away altogether. I may be free…but I was forever alone- exiled from my home and people. I felt a pain, so great it was as if I'd been shot in the chest with one hundred arrows. It took all my will not to run back to them, and even more not to show my pain. Finally, I turned away as well, then stood still.
"Viera may begin their lives in the Wood, but that is not the only path they may choose." Jote was silent. I had not even walked through my village one last time. I only had my long bow and arrows- the rest of my belongings would be burned as if I were dead. I was dead to them now. A ghost departing from my home. I heard Mjrn cry out in sorrow as I stepped into the darkness of the tunnel bridge. I could tell that others had to hold her back to keep her from following me. My heart ached for her, but if I turned now, it would only be harder on her.
"Sister, sister no! Come back, please! Let me go with you- Fran! FRAN!" That was the last I heard of my family for over fifty years.
