Chapter 5 – Wrong conclusions
I decided to ask Lir how I should talk to Seive. At first Lir was reluctant to talk, but after encouraging him, my companion began to tell his story – Seive is honestly a very kind light. He is constantly looking out for us and our safety. I may never understand it, but it seems to me that Seive puts his all into it. But in return, we must be willing to do selfless acts to protect the forest from various ills. However, that doesn't mean that selfless acts are done by ALL. At that moment, Lir turned his head toward Hept. He reacted to Lir's gaze with disdain, and the situation between them grew tense again. They looked at each other with tension, and at one moment Hept jumped up sharply and pushed Lir off my shoulder and down to the ground. The aggressor was about to pounce on Lyr, but I managed to grab Hept by the scruff of his neck and lift him up in front of my face. Even though I couldn't express emotion in my helmet, I looked at him sideways. Hept started waving his arms and legs and wrapped his tail around my hand. In a moment he disappeared from my hand. I jerked my hand away slightly, but then immediately turned to Lir to retrieve it. The poor guy had a black eye and a sore back at the same time. He tried to bear it, and bear not so much the pain as the hurt. In a moment, all of Hept's comrades disappeared, and I took Lir in my arms. He tried to look at me with a calm gaze, but I pulled him against my body and said: – I understand. I know how you feel. I've been there, too. It'll pass, no offense. Lir put his arm around my hand, and I felt some of the spots in my glove begin to get wet. It was his tears dripping. Tears of trust, a sign that he was grateful for what I had done. I slowly began to calm him down, and I continued on my way to the palm tree. Finally, I could see it. It really was a palm tree. A huge palm tree. So huge that many skyscrapers would be smaller than it. And in the center of this tree, under the foliage and above the trunk at the same time, was a blue–colored vessel. From its leaves also dangled some huge blue drops, which did not look like coconuts at all. As I looked at the palm tree, I moved closer to it, holding Lyra in my arms. In an instant, the glow of the palm's vessel took on a new momentum. I wonder if this thing has a mind. And can it read my mind? Hey, can you hear me? I guess not, since I didn't hear anything in my head. What am I supposed to tell this thing? I'm fucking holding his relative in my arms. What if he misunderstands the situation? Anyway, I'm not going to jump to conclusions, except when that huge thing wants to sizzle me. – Safe! Suddenly, the glow of the tree changed, blinking rapidly and pulsing quietly. A bright, glowing mist began to emerge from the huge blue vessel and lay gently on the ground on its way to me. At that moment, Lyr opened his eyes and looked around the place. He disappeared in a moment and immediately appeared in front of me, beginning to walk calmly towards the light. When the light reached Lyr, his body and short fur glowed slightly. He spread his arms and raised his ears. After a few seconds, the light reached me as well. It was an unforgettable sensation. A slightly pleasant, warm substance that could be seen but could not be touched. It traveled through my entire body, but I could feel it inside me and on my skin. The air in my lungs became more full and my eyes felt as if they were seeing through the dust of life. I was simultaneously able to relax and gain concentration and a surge of energy. A little time passed and the light stopped flowing on the ground. I still had a pleasant sensation, but it wasn't as strong. I lowered my hands and began to walk slowly toward the palm tree. Suddenly a mysterious and well–defined voice said: – Who are you? – My name is Slake. I'm not from around here and I got here by accident. The weather's been rough. And I'd like to get back home as soon as possible. – Come closer, traveler. I've never seen creatures like this before. At that moment, I took off my germ helmet and slicked my hair to the right side. After walking a few dozen meters, the Seive began to glow brighter than usual. I put the helmet back on. Seive was glowing brighter and brighter every second and at one point it flashed with its own light. I clenched my eyes sharply and covered my eyes with my hand. But even so I was in extreme pain. After a couple of moments it went away. I opened my eyes again and saw the blue vessel of light glowing normally again. – I'm sorry, but it was a test. Normally this brightness would turn any creature of darkness to ash, but you're fine. So you're not a child of darkness. But you're not a spirit, either. – Yes, thank you very much. I'd like to wash my eyes after this procedure. – That's okay. Let's just keep the conversation going by getting to know each other. The seive emitted light again, and after a while the spirits began to run towards us. There were an insane number of them, and Lir had disappeared unnoticed in the crowd. They surrounded me and many stood bewildered. One very tall spirit came out of the crowd, his height easily allowed him to look at me from high up and I was about shoulder height to him. He approached me and gestured for me to take off my helmet. I took off my helmet. He examined my face and mumbled something to himself... In a woman's voice! I've never seen that before, but now I have to talk about him in the feminine. She had finished examining me and was now touching me. This costume seemed very unusual and beautiful to her, judging by the look in her eyes. Finally she moved away from me and said something to Seive in her own language. She then walked over to me, stroked my head and, taking me by the shoulder, encouraged me to walk into the crowd. Just then the crowd parted and Lir came out of it. He ran up to me and hugged me. Then he turned to the lady and asked her something, and then he turned to me again and said: – Oh, I'm so glad they liked you! Slakey, you made more of an impression on them, especially Miss Faith. That's the tall one over there. She's our big sister who looks after us. But you're the only one here who's about her height. I think we can easily win her favor in this situation! – Lir, what favor? Would it benefit her to refuse my help? You are the spirits of this forest! That is literally your primary task! At that moment, I felt someone leaning against my back. Leer's face quickly changed to one of fear and shyness. I started to turn my head and saw Faith standing behind me, staring at me. I felt extremely uncomfortable. She looked at Seive, asked him something, he answered, and Faith grabbed my arm and dragged me through the crowd to an unknown destination. I quickly started to pull away, but my strength wasn't enough to fight back at all. Finally, I got tired of pulling, and Faith took me on her back and carried me along. She brought me into the forest, lowered me from her back, and set me down on a flat rock. – All right, tell me what you want me to do. – You're so serious. In case you haven't realized, I don't want anything from you. But I advise you to listen to me and do everything I tell you. – If it's a matter of my life, I'm willing to listen to you. But Lir told me that there is almost no danger here and nothing to be afraid of. If you need help in other matters, you can turn to your spirits. They're only too happy to help you. – And why do you listen to that little bum? He's still small and stupid. But you're big and strong. And you have your own head. – Yeah, and that's why I trust myself more, then Lir, then Save, and finally you. – You make me sad. It's like you're not interested in me at all. – No. You're jumping to the wrong conclusion again. You're interesting, and if you wanted to get to know me, let's get to know you. But why would you literally kidnap me and drag me into the woods? I have my own business and my own opinions. I also have a shotgun. And he'd like to have an opinion, too. – And how's that shotgun of yours going to make a point? – Very simple. A buckshot to the fuckin' face. After hearing this, Faith got very angry and threw herself at me. She tried to take my shotgun away and eventually managed to do so. Luckily, this lady didn't have the brains to take the safety off and learn how to hold it properly, so she threw herself at me and threw me to the ground. She pinned my back to the ground and sat on top of me, holding my shoulders. It made me extremely uncomfortable and heavy. – You say that again, I'll drown you in the nearest body of water. I didn't want to and I didn't listen to her. I never once wanted to be what she thought I was. And her heightened and unhealthy interest in me was very unfortunate. At that moment, Lyr appeared behind her back and pounced on her neck. Faith was confused and tried to pull the little spirit off of her. While she was confused, I pushed Faith away and was able to get out from under her weight. I then took her neck in my grip and tightened my grip with the carabiner I had in my holster. Lir was even a little afraid that I wanted to strangle her, but instead, I secured the carabiner and began to loop the other end of the rope around her body, wrapping it around Faith's arms. Lir started to help me, and in a minute the big–eared thing was lying on the ground, twitching its paws. – Why'd you have to jump on me? – I'm the one who should be asking you these questions, masked asshole. – Be humble, Faith. You're in no position to be impertinent. So tell me why you dragged me into the woods. Faith got shy and started mumbling. I walked over to her head and started pulling lightly on her ears. Luckily for me, Faith was helpless and all she had to do was twitch her body parts and squirm and squint her eyes in pain. I wasn't trying to hurt her, but I was letting her know that silence was not an option. – All right, all right, I'll tell you. Just untie me. – Tell me first, then we'll set you free. – I, uh, just, uh. I've never had an equal in stature or character. The moment I saw you, I could see it in you. Maybe you're the only person who can understand my thoughts and feelings. – Whoa, Faith. I'm–– You touched me. It was accepted. At least someone needs me. I took off my helmet and lay down next to her. She slowly turned her head in my direction, and I looked into her deep black eyes. Moving in close to her, I put one arm around her and pressed my forehead against hers. She closed her eyes and made a big smile. We lay like that for a minute. – Hey, Slake! I'm nothing to you. Stop screwing around with each other, we got work to do. – You're so boring, Lir. Why don't you lie down next to me and go to sleep? – You think she's more important than me? – Lir, stop it. No one's saying that to you. You're very important to me, it's just that the way I want to explain it all, I want to say it with you alone. Faith pulled away immediately and sat up. In her eyes, I saw bewilderment. Suddenly, Faith tried to stand up. It was extremely difficult for her in this position. – And what kind of explanations are you talking about? And why you want to keep them from me. – Because it's our personal business and it's none of your business. – Okay. Untie me immediately, or you'll only make things worse. – And in what ways are we only going to get worse? – Lir will be branded a disgrace, and we'll throw you over the falls. I decided not to push my luck, but to listen to Faith. I told her I was going to take the cable off, but I was in no hurry to do it. I kept going around and around, delaying the moment when I would begin to remove the ropes from her body. Faith was extremely impatient and kept yanking her arms and legs. She tried to free herself on her own, but all her attempts were futile. – And don't you get tired of watching her suffer? – Why would she be in pain here? She's not in pain. Faithy, are you in pain? – Untie me already, I can't just lie here. Still, I was tired of watching her unsuccessfully try to knock me over the head, so I wanted to see what she could do. I started to release her, while telling Lyr: – If something goes wrong and some unknown thought in her head decides to knock her, save her. From the looks of it, you might as well keep her. At least for a little while. She stood up and looked at me with a not–so–kind look. There was a rope lying at her feet, and the grass where Faith had been lying was pressed down after lying down. After standing for a moment, she turned abruptly and started walking away with a quick step. – Another offender. Awesome! – Don't take offense, Slake. She'll come to you anyway. Or she won't, but she'll secretly surprise you. – The only thing I want from her as a surprise is fuel. – And you know how to prioritize.