"Weee!" Ira shouted in glee as he swung from branch to branch. He had been doing this for half an hour now and he did not seem exhausted at all.
"Ira, get down from there" Samira, the water lady spoke to him with her mind thingy powers.
The 3 years old child however, did not listen and kept on swinging on the branches of the giant Willow tree. He swung with the dexterity and agility of a young ape, his large and bright smile seemed to contain all the innocence in this world.
Ira was thankful; he was never lonely and now had a new parent to take care of him. After a while, he was finally tired and went back to his tiny tree house. The house only contained a makeshift bed and nothing else.
He walked inside and collapsed on the bed which caused Samira to sigh once she saw this scene. Deep in the waters below she sat on a giant stone, surrounded by sea-life which ranged from aquatic plants to underwater animals.
Samira was a beautiful Uralian, beings of the sea that had upper bodies of a human but the lower body, a mass of tendrils. She had long black hair that reached down her back, a beautiful face that can only be compared to the princesses in fairy tales. Her chest was covered by a piece of white cloth.
Her jet black tendrils reached up to his room and tucked him in his blanket. Being a mother was tough, she had to provide food and water, and she then built this house for him and was his teacher in reading and writing.
But she enjoyed it.
It seemed like retirement was her best decision she made in her whole life. She gazed at the giant rock, where Elizabeth was. She had mixed feelings about all this, if it wasn't for her death she would've never had a son but she felt sad about Elizabeth since she never really enjoyed parenthood.
The only thing she could do was to honor her memory, which she did every afternoon with Ira. They would come up to the rock and speak a few words while offering some food. Ira more or less finally managed to move on.
The next day, Ira woke up with his hair disheveled, his eyes droopy and a trail of dry saliva running down the corner of his mouth. He slowly wobbled to the front door and looked down to see the blue lake underneath.
Without thinking anymore he leaned forward and plummeted to the lake.
Splash!
"What the fuck?!" Samira woke up abruptly, startled by the noise to see Ira floating on the surface, motionless.
"Ira!" She screamed as she swam up to the surface with all her strength.
She darted through the water like a bullet. She burst out the water, arriving next to him next to him she glanced at inspected his body to see no injuries except for some red marks due to the impact. Ira faced the clouds as he floated, aimlessly.
"What do you think you're doing, young man!?" She bursts into boiling anger.
"Floating" He answered, indifferently.
"Argh!" The culminating stress for the past few weeks caused her to explode.
"Why did you do that?" Her voice strangely calm but her face said otherwise.
"I was a bit sleepy so I woke myself up by swimming" His head rested on his hands and crossed his feet.
"You little brat! Come here!" She pounced on him but stopped mid-way once he saw Ira's expression.
Ira covered his head with his arms, tears threatened to fall out of his eyes, his eyes were filled with fear at what Samira was about to do.
"It's okay my little boy, Mama just got a little angry, Mama won't hurt you" Her face revealed an expression of regret as she pulled him into an embrace and began stroking his back.
Unknown to Samira, once in her embrace, Ira's once tearful eyes curled into a crescent shape as a wide grin was worn on his face.
"Hehehe" Unfortunately, Samira had heard his chuckling.
"You damn brat!"
Echoes of screaming and grunts of pain resounded in the forest.
Months quickly passed by as the mother-son pair enjoyed their peaceful time in the forest. His house grew each day; Ira would gather wood and watch Samira build and expand his house with the use of her tendrils. He learned as he slowly did the building himself.
From repairing simple holes and cracks in the planks to slowly expanding the house, within a few months he had finally finished his little project. His previous house which was similar in size to a corner of a house had been upgraded to the size of a wooden shack!
A small achievement but Ira was ecstatic nonetheless!
He built a balcony which was tested by Samira for safety. The job was a bit messy but it was understandable since this was his first time.
Eat, play and sleep, this was his routine. He ate delicious food prepared by Samira, then after resting for a while he would play with her or wander around the forest or swim on the lake. Lastly, he would take a refreshing and comfortable sleep every night.
In the massive branches of the Weeping Willow tree was Ira's little house. Surrounding the enormous lake was a clearing with fences of trees at the edges. Ira held a branch that acted as his wooden sword, he ran around while swinging his sword at the empty air.
"Die! Die! Hahahaha!" Any normal mother would be concerned by her child's behavior if what came out of her child's mouth was this.
Samira however, looked at him from inside the deep like with a loving smile. Her tendrils were always to intervene if an unexpected situation happened.
As Ira was playing around he heard a faint whimper in the woods. Ira stopped in his tracks and turned to face the direction the sound was coming from. His guts told him to go to the source of the sound but his rationality kept telling him no.
Ira however, was one to trust his instincts.
He kicked off the ground and began dashing towards the sounds. Samira, startled chased after him with her tendrils.
Ira placed his sword on the ground and used it to jump over the wooden logs in front of him. Once he landed he rolled forward and resumed his running. Ira's breathing was heavy and rough but he kept pushing his body forward.
He soon came to a clearing, an injured animal with blood leaking out its belly laid on the ground before him. It looked like one of those stray dogs but smaller and fluffier. He knelt before the poor thing and carried him with his arms.
He looked behind him to see Samira's tendrils in front of him.
"Mama help!" He gently placed the small doggy in her care.
Without waiting, the tendrils retreated back with Ira closely following. They soon returned as the doggy was placed on the soft grass.
"I will help him, go back to your room" Samira said in a serious tone.
Ira nodded and swam to the Willow tree and climbed up the branches up to his house. He went to his balcony and leaned on the fence, staring at the injured animal that he rescued.
He looked at his Mama's hands, glowing green with a tint of blue mixed in. He saw the fatal wound of the dog slowly close as the bleeding stopped.
Looking outside, the sun was setting and without eating his dinner, he went to sleep. Exhausted, he fell asleep immediately and dreamt about leading his army of doggies to fight against a man shining like the sun.