Chapter LXXIII – From the Beyond

It was sooo boring.

Everyone was being weird and she was getting bored. The last few days have been so disappointing. It was annoying.

Things weren't great. Hrefna hated hiding in the mine. She hated being scared of that thing. And there was nothing to do in the mine and everyone was just scared too. Nobody would talk to her and play with her. Not even Derkeethus. And he always played with her. She hated how much things changed.

But now mister hunter and elf lady were here! She was always so excited to see them. They had so many fun stories and so many of them about dragons! She loved the stories about dragons. And she loved watching the dragons fly. Except for this one. This one was a mean butthead that kept scaring them and flying too close. They were beautiful when they were gliding across the sky, but they were really big and mean-looking up-close.

Still. She wanted to hear about the other ones.

But mister hunter and elf lady didn't have any stories about the dragons this time. And everyone kept chasing her away because the 'adults were talking' and she didn't know why and they all looked so scared and it just made her feel worse.

There was nothing to play with in Sondas's house, yet she had to spend the entire afternoon there because nobody wanted her around the fire. Why did adults have so many secrets? What was so important they needed to keep from her? And why couldn't they tell her? She wasn't a kid anymore! She would be turning eight soon! She could hear their secrets.

It was that mean dragon's fault. She just knew it. Elf lady and mister hunter went to kill it and they would come back and it would be dead and everyone would stop being afraid again and she wouldn't have to hide in that stupid boring mine anymore.

But she didn't even see them come back. She saw mister hunter leave Sondas's house with the wolfie, but they didn't go anywhere. They just stayed there by the wall and they weren't doing anything. They just sat there. She wanted to go play with the wolfie, but her mom told her not to go there at all.

Why was she always forbidding her to do stuff? This place was boring already and now she couldn't even play with the wolf?

But her mom was really mean about it and Hrefna was worried about disobeying. She usually would, but sometimes her mom got this really serious expression on her face and Hrefna knew she shouldn't poke that bear.

Then, later on, Sondas called mister hunter and the wolfie in. And then he left the house. And mister hunter stayed there and she only saw him come out from time to time, stay outside the house for a bit and then come back inside again. Weird. What was he doing?

What was everyone doing? Everyone was being weird.

It was almost her bedtime, but she wasn't ready to go to sleep yet.

Maybe it wasn't just everyone being mean and boring. Maybe it was a mystery. Something was going on and she needed to know what.

That was why she hid in the bushes by the lake. She was supposed to go wash up, but she stayed closer to the camp and listened in. Mom, Sondas and Verner were there, talking quietly. But when she stayed like this, in the bushes and hidden in the dark, she could hear them.

"It's a relief, is all I'm saying," Verner grumbled. He was always grumbling. Hrefna didn't like asking him for stuff because he always grumbled. "Seems really irresponsible in the first place." He talked like he always did. Always chastising people. It was annoying, but it made him kinda scary too.

"I don't think they planned it," Sondas sighed. He sounded tired.

"How can you say 'it's a relief'. That's horrible," mom shook her head. At least Hrefna thought so. She couldn't see them, but she knew the exact tone when her mom shook her head. This was it.

"Oh, stow it, you know what I mean. What would we all do? You all know what's going on, so why pretend? Can't have her disappear and leave the whole fucking world in a lurch because she has something else to take care of," Verner continued to grumble.

"Verner," Sondas let out another tired sigh. "Just… don't talk to them. Don't bother them. I know you were worried about what happened so… now you know. She'll be fine, I'll make sure of it."

"Why can't we talk to them?" Mom huffed. "They might need someone to talk to. It must be difficult to…"

"Just leave it, Tormir. You're practically a stranger. It's best you pretend like you don't know at all. I'm only telling you what happened to deter you from talking to them in the first place and to stop you from prying," Sondas let out a little growl.

"Yeah, why do you care anyway?" Verner scoffed.

"You're not a parent. You wouldn't understand," Mom had that tone again that told Hrefna she was shaking her head.

"Neither are they," Verner said. He sounded kinda bored with the topic. And Hrefna was getting bored too. They weren't talking about anything! She didn't understand any of it. What was it all about?

"Verner!" Mom sounded surprised. And kinda angry.

"What? It's true!" Verner answered. What was? This was so confusing.

"Both of you need to stop talking. I said my piece," Sondas sighed yet again. He was always sighing. Was he really tired? From what? What happened?

"Hang on," Verner didn't stop talking like he was told. That was odd. Everyone usually listened to Sondas. Mom said that if Hrefna didn't listen to Sondas, she might get hurt. So every time Sondas told her not to do something, she tried to listen. He was a smart man. But sometimes things were just too tempting to do and she couldn't listen. But he understood. He chastised her after, but he was always nice about it.

"What about the dragon? Is it dead or not?" Verner asked.

Oh! The dragon. Yes. Hrefna needed to know too! Was it dead? If it was dead, she wanted to ask for the story! Would mister hunter tell her? Why couldn't anyone talk to him? And where was elf lady?

"From what I gathered, it is," Sondas answered.

It was really dead? Really? No more hiding in the mine? Finally!

"Good. That's all that matters," Verner said, but it was quickly followed by mom's angry hiss.

"Prick."

Hehe, mom always called Verner that. She told Hrefna not to tell anyone and not to call him that herself, but she still called him that. It was a fun word to say. Prick. She knew it was supposed to be a mean word, but it was still fun to say.

She heard people walking. She should go wash up before she gets discovered.

It was a little disappointing that she didn't get to the bottom of the mystery, but at least she knew now that the dragon was dead. She wouldn't have to be scared of it anymore!

With a skip in her step, she moved further away towards the spot where she always washed up. She wished she could ask Derkeethus about the mysteries. He always helped her uncover any secrets, but yesterday he chased her off too. She was sure he wouldn't tell her a thing.

That was alright. She was just happy about the dragon.

Hopefully she would hear the story tomorrow.

…

Mister hunter and elf lady were still nowhere to be found the next day and mom told Hrefna to stop asking about them.

Well… she did see mister hunter sometimes get out of Sondas's house, just like before. This time, he went to get some water once, but other than that, he just stayed there, standing by the house, leaning on the wall, and doing nothing in general. Hrefna didn't understand that.

But everyone just told her not to talk to him and that she was 'too young to understand'. What was there to understand? What happened? The dragon was dead! Everyone should be happy. But mom and Verner were always fighting about something and Sondas kept telling them to stop talking. Derkeethus was spending all his time underwater where Hrefna couldn't get to him. And everyone else just ignored her.

She had no one to talk to and nothing to do. Annekke had been gone for a while too and the place felt so much emptier without her.

Everything was changing.

Everything sucked.

Mom told her not to go near the house, but she was working in the mine now with the others. And Hrefna was sooo bored. Maybe she could find out what was going on if she listened under the window? Or was mister hunter alone in there? People were talking about elf lady as if she was here, so Hrefna assumed she was in there. She probably got hurt. Sondas always kept people in his house when they got hurt – it had the best bed for anyone to rest on. Sometimes Hrefna pretended to be sick just to lie on the bed, but Sondas always found out.

Well, now she was here alone and she could…

Wait!

What was that?

Were those… packs? Those were the packs of mister hunter and elf lady! They were just lying there by the side of the house. Maybe they forgot to bring them inside? It was weird.

But those were the packs of adventurers! They were sure to be filled with exciting stuff. There would surely be some magic items and potions and maybe some treasure!

She couldn't stop herself. She needed to see. But if someone saw her rummage around there, she'd get in trouble. Big time, probably. Everyone seemed a little more angry in the past few days. It worried Hrefna about getting into trouble.

But she needed to see what was inside.

She quickly grabbed one of the packs and hugged it to her chest. She needed to disappear with it. Nobody could see her.

She rushed back towards the bridge. Nobody would be by the bridge by now. Derkeethus was usually by the waterfalls and everyone else was in the mine. Well… except for Sondas. He was likely in that big tent instead of mister hunter and elf lady.

When she was safe, hidden under the bridge, she quickly began to rummage in that pack. She was so excited, so curious. There would be some interesting things in there for certain. First, much to her disappointment, she pulled out only some pieces of charcoal wrapped in a cloth and then some parchments. Not that exciting. She had parchments and charcoal of her own to draw on.

She decided it would be fun to just reach in and pull something out. That way it would be like a fun mystery game. And the next time she reached in, she knew it was the right decision.

A bright purple gem glittered in the sunlight getting in through the cracks on the bridge. It… it glowed. It was beautiful! What was it? It was big and the lights shimmered inside mesmerizingly. It was definitely treasure!

She didn't want to steal it – she just wanted to know what was inside. But now she was actually tempted. She would love having something so beautiful. But mom would find it and it was definitely not something she could just claim she found on the ground.

With a sigh, she placed the gem next to herself on the ground and reached in again.

Wait… she felt something familiar.

Another one! Shor, there were more?!

Well… maybe they wouldn't miss one then? Hrefna would just… see how many there were and decide then. She kept those glowing gems by her side before she would make a decision. For now, she wanted to see something new.

Hmm… a potion. It had bright red liquid inside and Hrefna recognized it. It was a healing potion. Sometimes she got one when she got hurt, but only one. Mom always said she shouldn't drink more unless something really bad happened and Sondas agreed. She never needed more anyway.

Sondas had these in his house. Many of them. She didn't need this. She wanted to see what else was there.

She continued pulling out various items – washcloths, some rations, more potions along with some blue ones which she knew were for mages. Was the owner of this pack, either of them, a mage? Hrefna never saw either of them do any magic.

There were more of those glowing gems. Five. She determined they wouldn't miss one, but she did take the smallest one.

Then she found some clothes, mostly underclothes, that only let her know that this was elf lady's pack. That made her hopeful that she would find some pretty jewelry or maybe a dress. But elf lady was an adventurer. Surely she didn't wear a dress!

That was alright. Adventuring things were better than dresses anyways.

There was a dagger made out of that pretty Dwarven metal and it had a strange purple glow to it. She shouldn't touch that too much. It looked dangerous. Things like these were always dangerous. What if it hurt her if she just touched it?

No. She didn't want to mess with a glowy weapon. If it wasn't glowy, she would play with it more, but not like this.

There were some books in there, but Hrefna didn't want to read. She was having an adventure of her own. Reading was boring anyways.

Most of the things she pulled out she had no use for, but then, she found another vial. This one felt really big – bigger than the blue and red potions she had found before.

Wow! It looked different! It was bigger, but most of all, the liquid inside was so strange. And kind of beautiful. It glowed with blue and green colors, swirling in one pretty mess. She'd never seen this one! What did it do? What was it for? She was so curious.

Would… would anyone find out it was her if she took it? She would get rid of the evidence! She would drink it to find out what it did and then she would bury that bottle by the trees.

No. They would surely notice the potion missing. She had to be strong.

She rummaged around, finding a few more very ordinary things like wrapped up soap and those small vials that Annekke used to drink once a week. She explained to Hrefna once that it was only for tall women so that they wouldn't grow more. That was years ago, but Hrefna didn't want to stop growing back then and she didn't want to stop growing now either. She wondered why elf lady would drink these when she was so short, but maybe she liked being short. She could fit into small caves better.

There were two waterskins there and also some vials with what smelled like stuff to wash hair with. She expected so much more! She expected real treasures. There were a few coin purses in there, but she wasn't going to steal money. She wanted to see mysterious and unique things. So far, the best parts were the glowing gems and the strange potion.

Wait! There was another one!

A second potion just like that. It looked so strange. Hrefna had never seen a multi-colored potion. It was so pretty.

What was it for? It must do something amazing.

They had two. Maybe they really wouldn't notice one missing? Would they? Could she really try it? They were potions, right? All potions were good for people. What was the harm?

And by the time they noticed it was missing, if ever, they would likely be long gone from the village. It was the perfect opportunity.

Hrefna started to put all the items she's pulled out back into the pack. She was now so excited, she didn't want to search anymore. All she left out was the small glowing gem and one of the strange potions.

She stashed the gem covertly into her small satchel and then she left her hiding place. She needed to put the pack back. And then she would find out what the potion did.

She couldn't wait.

Fortunately, everyone was still in the mine. The coast was clear. She rushed towards Sondas's house to place the pack again back where she had originally found it. It was just tossed on the ground by the wall, so that was easy.

But the second she dropped the pack, the front door of the house swung open.

Crap!

She ducked down behind the corner of the house in record speed and peeked out from there. It was mister hunter again. It was the same thing again. He stepped out of the house and leaned on the wall. He let out a deep sigh and buried his face in his hands.

Weird. Why was he doing that?

But she should really not dawdle here. She needed to try the potion. Everyone would be back from the mine again soon. She needed to do her experiment before that.

She ran towards the trees behind Sondas's house and hid in the tall grass. This was a good spot. And she could bury the vial afterwards here. She buried a bunch of stuff here before.

Everything was ready. She was determined. She could just drink it now.

She pressed the bottle to her lips and drank steadily. It tasted funny. Like nothing she ever tasted before. But it wasn't exactly bad.

She drank every last drop. She had to, right? That was how potions worked. But she didn't feel any different after.

That was so disappointing. She expected something magical to happen!

But just as she was starting to feel down, a strange light appeared in her sight. Her hands began to glow blue. The light began to spread through her body and she became a little scared. What was it? What was happening?

The light enveloped her and her skin became see-through.

She kept watching herself, but she didn't feel any different. Soon, the process stopped but she felt fine. She just… looked odd. She looked like… like…

A ghost!

She looked like a ghost! That was incredible! She was alright. She felt alright, but she looked like a ghost.

Oh! She could go around spooking people! This was going to be so much fun! Like that time she covered herself in mud, head to toe, and she was pretending to be a monster. Everyone got so startled! And it was sooo funny!

Her mom was mad and she made her wash all her clothes then, but it was so worth it. This was gonna be even better. And she wouldn't have to wash anything after.

She should hurry. She had no idea how long this would last.

She needed to scare as many people as possible while she could.

…

This was perfect.

Derkeethus just left the lake. He was already dressed and now he was stretching by the shore. He always did that after a good swim. She could sneak up on him and scare him real proper. He was going to freak! This was gonna be so fun.

She moved through the bushes as stealthily as possible. She was almost there, but the leaves kept rustling too much. And a second later, Derkeethus's head snapped to the side and towards the bushes.

Crap! He saw her.

"What… what is that?" the Argonian's eyes widened. He couldn't see her properly yet, but she knew he could see the light. She needed to make the best of this.

"Hoooo!" She began to make the scariest ghost sound she could. She had never seen a ghost before, but she heard many stories about them – how their voices carried anywhere, echoing through spaces. "Hoooo, I came for you, Derkeethus!"

The man almost jumped at the sound and his beautiful colorful eyes widened. That was when she struck. She jumped out of the bushes and gave him the scariest look she could muster.

"I come for you from the… the… beyond!" That was what people said, right? That dead people were 'beyond'. She had no idea what it meant, but it sounded scary. And ghosts were just dead people, right?

"H-Hrefna?" Derkeethus gasped. "Hrefna! My deek-beeko! Oh no! Hrefna! What… what did this to you?!" He panicked so much! It was so funny! He fell to his knees and stared at her with wide eyes. His face was still wet… or maybe he was crying. Sometimes Hrefna got so scared she cried. Did she do that to him? That was so funny!

Hehe. Now she would make it even better.

She rushed against him and Derkeethus flinched. He looked so terrified. He looked so terrified when she reached him and poked him in the chest.

"There! Got you! Now you'll be a ghost too!" She giggled. Now he would be even more scared.

"Wha… h-how?" The Argonian blinked a few times and he tried to wipe his eyes. He touched the place on his chest where she poked him and stared at her for what felt like a long time. He was so scared he would be a ghost now too! That was so funny.

"Hrefna! What is this? What are you doing?!" Suddenly he scowled at her. Really scowled. He never ever before scowled at her. Why was he scowling? "How did you… are you insane?!"

What? But… she was just trying to scare him! Why was he angry? She scared him many times before and he always laughed. Why was he like this?

"Boo! I was just being haunting!" She giggled, but he was still scowling so much. She got unsure. Why did he react like this?

"I thought you were… Hrefna, xuth, you can't do this! I don't know how you did this but… come here! Before someone else sees you," he hissed.

What? No! She was not going to let him hide her away and end her fun! She had so many other people to scare!

She instantly broke into a run in the opposite direction. He was not gonna get her. And he was still on the ground and she had a head start like that. She had to find her mom quickly before Derkeethus would chase after her.

Her mom would be coming back from the mine soon. Or maybe she already has! Hrefna could see three people by the mine entrance.

As she ran forth, she passed some of the miners who let out a shocked gasp when they spotted her. Hehe. She was scaring everyone!

And when she neared, she saw that mom was standing there with Sondas. Another miner, Lenea was there with them, but she turned on her heel and began leaving. Perfect. Hrefna could just scare Sondas and mom directly. All the others would just have to be scared by watching her.

"Boo!"

She jumped in front of them and only now mom and Sondas noticed that someone had been approaching. They both looked quite worried, but when they spotted her, the fear set in. Yay!

"Hrefna?!" Sondas gasped in shock. Hehe. He looked so terrified. And mom was…

"Hrefna?! Shor! My baby! No! What?!" Mom started babbling instantly. Just like Derkeethus, she fell onto her knees. But this was a little weird. She buried her face into her hands and began crying. She was crying so much. Hrefna had never seen mom cry so much. Was she really that scared?

"Hrefna… Gods… what happened?" Sondas gaped at her.

"Boo! I'm a ghost. Hoooo!" Hrefna giggled, but mom only began to sob harder. People were staring at them. Hehe. They were sooo scared. This was working so well. Now for the perfect touch.

She poked her mom's shoulder and then she poked Sondas's thigh.

"There! Now you're gonna be ghosts too! Everyone's gonna be a ghost! Hooooo!" She laughed.

"What? How did you…?" Sondas's jaw hung open now. He was so shocked! That was priceless! "Tormir! She's not a ghost. How did you do this?!"

What? How did he know she was not a ghost? He was gonna ruin her prank if he told people!

"What?" Her mom still sobbed, but she looked up from her hands. "What's happening? Hrefna?"

"Psst. I took a potion from elf lady's pack. Don't tell. You'll ruin it!" Hrefna whispered. She needed to scare more people.

"You did… what? Come here! We need to get rid of this effect. You can't be doing this, Hrefna!" Sondas hissed at her. "You will let me examine you this instant and then you're going to apologize for stealing!"

Hey! She was just having fun. What was the big deal? They were ruining everything. Even Derkeethus wanted to ruin her fun. Why? Everyone was so sad all the time, she just wanted them to laugh at her pranks. They did laugh at the mud!

She wouldn't let them! They were so angry… she was already in trouble. It didn't matter anymore. She wanted to have more fun before they punished her.

"No!" She poked her tongue out at Sondas while her mom still sobbed on the ground. Sondas knelt down by her side and wrapped his hand around her shoulder comfortingly while he kept throwing angry glances at Hrefna.

"I'm gonna scare more people!" She huffed. "Mister hunter will laugh! I know he will. You're all just spoil-sports!"

She turned on her heel quickly. All she could hear was a sudden panicked call from Sondas behind her back.

"What?! No! Hrefna, for Gods' sake, don't!"

They didn't know what they were talking about. Hrefna knew that mister hunter would like this. He looked so sad and he needed cheering up. She always told him about her pranks and he always laughed so much. She told him about the mud, about the time she hid Derkeethus's clothes up in a tree when he was swimming, the time she stole all the pickaxes and hid them at the bottom of the lake. He laughed at all of that. He would really like this. And she never got a chance to prank him before!

She ran towards the house, intent on bursting inside. But just as she approached, the door opened again and mister hunter came out with a waterskin in his hand.

Perfect! Just as he closed the door behind him, she jumped in his way and made that scary sound again.

"Hoooo!"

Mister hunter turned around sharply and then he saw her. He was going to love this!

His eyes widened and he stared at her. She felt like his face suddenly turned several shades paler. He looked so spooked. He even stumbled back and collided with the closed door behind him.

"I'm a ghost! I came to haunt you from the beyond!" Hrefna chuckled.

He didn't say a word. He… he looked kind of sick. And really… really sad. That was… no… he was supposed to be scared and then laugh. But he just looked… she didn't even know. She hadn't seen anyone look like that.

"I… I'm not really a ghost," she started to shuffle her feet nervously. Everyone was so angry. Wasn't it a funny prank? Her mom cried so much. Did she overdo it? Was she too scary?

He still didn't say anything and just stared at her in shock. He was really, really pale. This was making her feel guilty. She didn't like feeling like that.

Sondas said she needed to apologize. Maybe elf lady needed the potion and mister hunter knew it. Maybe she really did take something they would miss. She didn't want to do that.

"I… I took a potion from elf lady's pack. I'm sorry. I… I thought it would be funny to scare people."

Finally, mister hunter moved. He placed his hand on his face and drew it across it. Sometimes Sondas did that when he was tired of her questions. But she wasn't asking any questions now!

"Fuck." It felt like the first time she noticed mister hunter let out a breath. He said a bad word! But adults said them all the time, even though they told her she can't. It was unfair.

"I'm really sorry for taking it. I didn't know it was important," she pouted. "I was just so bored and everyone was so scared because of the mean dragon. I wanted to do something fun."

He looked a little angry, but he took a deep breath before he spoke. Sometimes mom did that to calm herself down.

"It's… fine. It's not important," he sighed. "But you can't do this! People will think you died!"

Well… well… that was… true. Was that why people were crying? They thought she died. It… it made sense. She kind of didn't think about that. She just thought it would be the same as the mud thing. But the potion really did make it look real. She thought her mud monster looked real too, but people just got scared and startled but they knew after that it was her.

"I… I didn't think of it. I'm sorry," she shuffled her feet again. "I'm sorry for scaring you and for taking the potion. I… I should go say sorry to elf lady for taking her potion."

"NO!" Mister hunter's eyes widened in horror again, but he tried to calm down right after. "Don't. I'll… I'll tell her. She won't be angry with you, I promise. Just… go to the people you scared and make sure to apologize to them."

Alright. She needed to. She didn't think this one through and now she felt bad.

This was a bad prank. And she just wanted to make people laugh and have some fun herself.

She messed up. And she felt really bad about making her mom and Derkeethus cry now.

Before she could leave, Sondas appeared by her side. Apparently, he caught up with her rather quickly.

"Hrefna! What did I say?!" He hissed before he looked at mister hunter with concern. "I'm… I'm sorry… apparently she took a potion from you. She's not…"

"Yeah… she said," mister hunter let out a tired sigh.

"I tried to stop her," Sondas scowled at her meanly before he addressed mister hunter again. "I'm really sorry. Are you… alright?"

"Hmm-hmm," mister hunter nodded a bit, but he didn't sound too convincing. Did she really scare him so much? "I… I don't know how long the potion will last."

"It's alright. We'll make sure everyone knows so that… nobody has to panic anymore. Again, I'm very sorry about her."

Hey! She hated it when people apologized about her!

But… maybe she should stay quiet right now. She was in a lot of trouble and she felt bad already.

She just wanted everyone to stop being so sad and worried.

But it seemed like she only made things worse.

Now all she could think about was making sure mom was alright. Whatever punishment she had for her, it was gonna suck, but it was alright.

She deserved it. She didn't think her prank through.

Her next one was not going to make anyone cry! It was just going to make people laugh and make them happy again. She would have a lot of time to plan it properly when she was doing chores as punishment.

She would think everything through this time.

Everyone should be happy again after all.