Fear, Bravery And Newcomers

"All right Aisling, we will try this one more time," Mother told me, in a patient tone. I nodded, as I turned to the small squirrel next to me.

We were currently in the forest, training the mist spells. It had been three days since I unlocked my wolf from, and I started being taught the spells. By now I had mastered, controlling and moving the mist to wherever I pleased. Now my mother was teaching me, how to turn objects and creatures into mist-like spirits. We had of course started doing it on objects first, as that was both easier and safer than starting with a living being, and when mother was sure I had mastered that we went on with living creatures. We were using the squirrel as a test subject (We had asked for his permission first.)

Before starting, I turned to my mother one more time, and nervously asked her: "Are you sure, it won't hurt him? I do not want to harm animals."

My mother sighed, and assured me: "Aisling I told you, he will be fine. At worst he will suffer from a minor headache and dizziness afterwards. And if something serious does happen, I will turn him back before then. Now, are you sure you want to do this? I won't force you, to do something you don't want to."

I gave it some thoughts for a few moments. I was a bit, unsure about this whole thing, but mother had never lied during our training, and after training for so long I should be able to handle it. I turned to my mother and nodded again, and turned to the squirrel one more time. I sat down, took a deep breath, concentrated hard and after a short while I sang the spell: "You mustn't fear, this will not be long…" As I kept singing, a glowing mist-like substance escaped my mouth, and floated around the air. My mother was observing me, to make sure that everything was fine, while the squirrel was looking at it confused. I simply kept singing: "Little one, little one. Nil sa saol seo ach ceooo. Is ni bimid beo ach saol beag…gearrr."

After singing that verse, the mist touched the squirrel and it was immediately changed shape. Floating upwards from where it had stood once was a large mist-like squirrel. It was the same shape and size as the squirrel, but instead of having eyes it had two holes on the face part, it's ears and front legs were floating nearby its original places and it's lower half was nothing but a long tail, with several misty trails next to it. As I kept on singing, I watched as the squirrel-turned-spirit floated around my mother and I. It almost looked like it was dancing, as it did small summersaults in the air, and moved like a leaf through the wind. After a while of watching and singing, I thought that it was time for the squirrel to return, to its proper form. "Little one, little one…" I sang, which caused the squirrel to turn to me. "The time has come for the spell to stop…" He slowly floated to me, and sat on my lap. "You can return to your usual self," I finished the spell, as the squirrel turned back into its normal self.

After that, it quickly ran off back into the forest. "Thank you very much, for the permission my friend! I will find a way to prepay you!" My mother shouted to the squirrel, before it disappeared into the forest. After that, she turned to me with a proud smile. "Good work Aisling. You have progressed, much faster than I anticipated."

I blushed a little, and gave her a shy smile back. "Thanks you mother," I told her in a shy tone, almost like Ronan.

"Um, hi there Aisling." Ronan said quietly, as he, Oisin and Nuala walked towards me.

I let out a light chuckle, as I turned to them and greeted: "Hi there, everyone."

"So, are you done with your lessons yet?" Nuala asked, in a bit of a bored tone.

"Yeah, we haven't done anything together in a while, so we thought maybe we could play once you're done with your training," Oisin explained.

I smiled, turned to my mother and asked: "Well mother, do you think I can play with them?"

My mother frowned a bit, and stated: "Actually, I was hoping we could train for a few more hours."

"Oh come on mother. You said yourself, that I was making fast progress. I think we can afford to skip a few hours. Besides, we can just train a little longer next time," I playfully replied, while look at her with pleading eyes.

Mother sighed in a bit of an annoyed tone, rolled her eyes and gave it some thought. After a few minutes she shrugged, and answered: "Very well. You may go."

My smile grew a bit, as I briefly hugged her and quickly stated: "Thank you mother," before letting go and running threw the forest, with my friends.

"Remember to be back, before sundown!" My mother exclaimed in a remanding tone. I could barley hear her, as we ran deeper and deeper, laughing all the way. We kept on running for a while, until we eventually slowed and finally stopped to catch our breaths.

After standing there for a while, Oisin turned to us and asked: "So, what do you want to do today?"

"We could play with the pup again," I suggested.

"I don't know, we have already done that the last two times, we have play together," Nuala pointed out.

"We could have another race. I have gotten, a lot faster since last time," Ronan suggested/boasted proudly.

"I am sorry if I'm disappointing you, but I am not really sure, if I am really in the mood for a race today," Ronan quietly informed us nervously.

"That's okay Ronan. Besides, I am sure Aisling is going to win anyway," Nuala reassured Ronan. The statement made me smirk a little. Not because I agreed with her, but because I still haven't shown them my wolf form, and that would have been a perfect time to do so. I suppose I will just do it, later today.

"Well, my father told me that there is a large colony, of bats in a nearby cave not far from here. We could go and see them in person," Oisin suggested.

"That sounds like fun! I am sure I am going to enjoy, not seeing a single one of them." Nuala exclaimed sarcastically.

"…Ups. I am so sorry Nuala! I keep forgetting that you are…"

"Don't worry about it, I will probably just take a nap, while you go inside," Nuala sighed in a bored

"You know now that I think about it, I do not think that's the best idea. I mean, Ronan is afraid of the dark," I reminded them, a bit concerned about Ronan.

"Don't worry Aisling. I'm not as scared of it, as I used to be. Besides I'm sure I will be okay, knowing that the three of you will be there with me," Ronan quietly informed us. We were a bit surprised by this at first, but we quickly started doubting what he was saying.

"Are you sure Ronan? You don't have to come along, with you don't want to," I told him, in a caring manner.

"No, no Aisling. It's all right. After all, I'm sure that I will be all right. You don't have to worry about me. I can handle a few minutes in a dark cave," Ronan tried to reassure me, a bit louder than his normal tone. Though he did sound serious, I was not completely convinced, that he was.

"…Well, if you say that it is fine, that is good enough for me," Oisin said, a bit unsure himself, before turning to me. "So what about you, Aisling?"

I was wondering why Ronan, was hiding his fear from us, and acted like this was nothing. Deciding to put those thoughts aside, for the time being, I sighed as I turned to Nuala and answered: "Well, unless anyone else, has any other ideas I am sure that could be entertaining."

"All right then, if I remember correctly the cave should be, somewhere over there," Oisin pointed to the left. "Come on."

We started following Oisin, and after a short while of looking, he finally shouted: "There it is!" He pointed to a large cave, not to far from here. "Just a few feet to the right! Let's go!"

As the four of us started running, I began to smirk as an idea formed in my head. In mid-run, I crouched down and started running on all fours, picking up speed. Oisin and Ronan were giving me weird looks (while Nuala just kept running), and just as they were about to ask, I turned into my wolf from right in front of their eyes. I could clearly hear, that the two of them stopped running while Nuala just kept on. When I reached the cave, I turned back into a Tuatha Dé Danann, and went to see the looks on their faces. Both of them had their mouths wide open, and their eyes were the size of plates. I just laughed loudly at their dumbfounded expressions, while Nuala was just confused by all of this. After a few minutes she asked: "Okay I will bite, what is going on?"

"I turned into a wolf, right in front of them. I have just unlocked it yesterday," I calmly explained to Nuala. After hearing this, Nuala started laughing with me as the boys recovered from the shock.

"Oh…um…sorry, for the whole silence thing. I hope we did not scare you, or anything…" Ronan apologized quietly/shyly as he awkwardly avoided our gazes.

Oisin meanwhile, ran towards me with a big grin on his face. "Aisling, that was awesome! Why didn't you tell us, that you unlocked your third animal form?" he exclaimed amazed.

I chuckled lightly and slyly answered: "I wanted to surprise you."

"It is very great to see, that you've unlocked your third form Aisling. We are all very happy for you," Ronan complimented with a shy smile.

I smiled back and said: "Thank you. So should we still go inside the cave? We could sill do something else."

"No, I think we should do it, now that we are all ready here," Oisin said.

"Well you have fun, with your bat watching. I'm going to find a nearby tree and take that nap, I talked about earlier," Nuala calmly informed us, as she walked with here arms stretched out, to try and find a tree.

I turned to Ronan and kindly asked: "What about you Ronan? You do not have to do this, if you do not want to. I'm sure you and Nuala could just do something else together."

"…No it is okay. I will be fine…I can handle myself," Ronan reassured me again. Though I could tell, that he was still scared about this.

Knowing that at this point, there was no way I was going to change his mind, I sighed deeply and quietly said: "All right then, let's go. But remember to stay close together so we do not get lost inside."

With that statement, the three of us gathered together and carefully walked inside the cave. As the cave got darker and darker, I could feel Ronan shiver and got close to me. Worried about his safety, I turned to him and asked: "Ronan are you all right? You can still go back outside, if you prefer that."

"…No, no. Everything…is all right. I'm…I am fine…" He whispered nervously and quietly, almost like he was trying to reassure himself rather than us. Just then a few water drops fell down, and landed down not too far from us. However one of the water drops, landed right onto of Ronan's head which caused him to let out, a small scream of fright.

At this point Oisin was starting to get worried about Ronan, and he turned to him and kindly told him: "Ronan if you really are scared, than just leave. Aisling and I, will completely understand if you can not handle this anymore."

"…No, it, it…it's…it is all right. I…I can handle myself…" Just then we heard several, loud flapping sounds in the cave. We turned to the source and saw, the whole bat colony flying towards us. As three of us ducked down, Ronan screamed out in fright. When the colony had finally left the cave, Oisin and I stood up and looked down at Ronan, who was still crouched down and looked very frighten. The two of us felt horrible for him, and were about to comfort the poor thing when he turned to us, and quietly said: "…Just…f-fine."

"All right that is it! You are coming with me!" I exclaimed annoyed, as I helped Ronan up, then grabbed his hand and went outside the cave with Oisin following me. I was getting sick and tired of this whole, trying to be brave act that Ronan was doing, and right now I just wanted to know what was going on.

"Aisling, it's all right-"

"NO! It is not! You are going to get scared for life, if you keep up this act," I sternly lectured Ronan.

"P-Please, don't yell at me…" Ronan begged in a hurt yet quiet tone, almost as if someone had slapped him.

Seeing this, I quickly calmed down and gently placed my hand on Ronan's shoulder. "I'm sorry I shouted at you Ronan, but I just can't stand seeing you like this. I mean you have never lied or acted like this before. Why the sudden change?"

"I just…I just wanted to overcome my fear. That's all," Ronan, whispered innocently.

I sighed sadly, as Oisin walked over to him and said: "I know and I can understand why. It's just…well…"

"We just do not think that was the correct way of doing it," I finished for Oisin.

"Hey are you guys okay? You don't sound like; you are in a good mood. Did something happen in the cave?" Nuala asked, as she walked towards.

"Well, we were searching for the bats, but Ronan was trying a bit too hard to overcome his fear of the dark, so we decided to take outside and talk to him about it," Oisin explained.

"I just do not want to be afraid anymore," Ronan said quietly.

"Ronan, can I tell you something?" I asked Ronan. He nodded. "Like Oisin said, we can completely understand why you would want to overcome your fear. But at the same time, you shouldn't have gone the route you took. You could have told us about, and asked us to help you or at the very least waited until you know that you are absolutely sure that you are ready to do this."

"But…I was re-"

"I know you might tell yourself that, but thinking that you are ready and knowing are two different things. You might say to yourself that you are ready, but deep down you know that you are just saying that, and don't completely mean it," Oisin explained kindly.

"Yeah, and besides it doesn't matter if you haven't overcome your fear. Most kids your age haven't either. But that's not at all a bad thing. Fear is a natural part of life. Everyone has a least one fear, and we all have to face it at some point. But that doesn't we should do it right away, but rather when we're ready to do it," Nuala joined in, as she grew an encouraging smile.

"Maybe…but…but what if we were attacked by something? What if we got lost in that cave, and I was the only one who could find a way out? I do not want my best friends to be hurt, just because I was too afraid to do anything!" Ronan cried out in pain, before calming down and quietly apologizing: "Sorry that I yelled."

"Ronan, if that did happen we would be able to take care of it," Oisin reassured him.

"No one can take the four of down that easily!" Nuala boasted proudly. Oisin and I simply rolled our eyes, as I turned to Ronan.

"Ronan, I know you want to overcome your fear, but you're just going to have to wait until, you know that you are ready to do this. I am not saying you should never try, to overcome your fear, but you shouldn't force yourself, to do something you are not ready for. And I know it might be hard to wait so long, but it is just the safer and better thing to do. The older and more mature you get, the more ready you will be to face your fear when the time comes. So for now, don't go worrying about being afraid. Just know that it is completely okay, and being afraid does not affect, just what a kind person you are." As we reassured Ronan, that it was okay to be afraid, and what we thought was the best thing to do, he quickly began to feel a lot better than before. When it almost looked like he was about to cry, Ronan quietly asked: "Do you mind if I hug you?"

We chuckled and answered: "Not at all Ronan." And we all shared a group hug. We hugged each other for a minute or two, before letting go of each other. "And besides Ronan, when was the last time we were in trouble?" Nuala asked jokingly.

"He, I guess you are right there. Hey…thank you for, helping me out there. I…I really appreciate it," Ronan thanked us, in his normal shy tone.

"It's no problem Ronan, that is what friends are for. We help each other, when we need it," I said to Ronan, in a reassuring manner. "Now, how about we do something different? How about a game of tag?"

"I would like that very much, Aisling," Ronan answered happily.

"Well in that case…TAG! You're it!" I shouted slyly, as I tag him and ran off laughing with my friends, Ronan soon following after.

And so we played tag for a few hours, and eventually we became tired and decided to rest near the edge of the forest. It was a nice place full of sand, not too far away from the tress of the forest. Next to the sand rested the soothing water of the ocean, and around it was a thin, misty fog. As we caught our breaths, I looked toward the sky and saw the sun was setting. I sighed disappointingly and said: "Well it has been fun, but I think I should be getting home now."

"Yeah, we should probably get home before our parents get worried," Oisin agreed. We got on our feet and started moving home.

We had barley moved, when he heard Ronan nervously ask: "Um…Aisling…what are those things?"

Oisin and I turned to see, what Ronan was looking at and we widened our eyes a bit, when we saw it.

"What? What is it?" Nuala asked, as she turned towards us.

"I…I don't know…"I whispered nervously. All I could see through the fog was several large objects moving towards us. As they got closer, we saw that it appeared that something was inside the object. We hid behind the trees, while spying on them.

One by one, they landed on the shore. I could now see, that the objects appeared to be made out of wood. As they stopped, I saw as the beings leave the objects.

"Do you think, they're fellow Tuatha Dé Danann?" Oisin asked, trying his best not to be heard by them.

"I don't know. They do look very similar to us, and yet they look…different," I whispered back.

"Who? What are we talking about?" Nuala whispered confused.

Instead of having the Tuatha Dé Danann's white skin and hair, they all had a different colored skin and hair. Some had darker skin, lighter skin and pale skin and had had brown hair, black hair, yellow hair and red hair. And most of them weren't as tall as a full-grown Tuatha Dé Danann. They didn't just have orange or golden clothes or ropes. While some did, most of them had brown ones, black ones, green ones, red ones almost any color there was. And we all took a close look, we all quietly gasped as we saw that most of them, were wounded. Some simply just had a few scratches and bruises, while others had long scars on various parts of their body, thick cuts which were still bleeding and there were even a few that were missing a leg or an arm or both!

"Should we help them?" Ronan asked, concerned about them.

"I do not know. I think it might be best, if we leave," I answered back, not knowing what to do.

"What are we talking about? And why are we whispering?" Nuala quietly asked, clearly annoyed by all this. We decided to ignore her for now, and the four of us quickly ran back home.

When we arrived, we saw father quietly walking towards our home. When he noticed us, he stopped and asked: "Aisling? Is something wrong? You look a bit nervous…"

I was about to tell him what happened, when we heard a loud noise. We turned and saw a white kestrel flying towards us. When it was close enough to the ground, it turned into a one of our guards of quickly exclaimed: "My king I bring urgent news!"

"What is it Connor?" Father asked sternly.

"New humans have come to the land."

And that's the new chapter for you. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and sorry, if it was too similar to chapter or anything like that.