Aya's POV
As I walked down the stone steps with Diamon, a frown creased my brow as I began to wonder if the man I spoke to in my mind for the past eighty two years ( Actually 87 in his age. He was five when we first met. ) would still be there once we reached our destination. I wasn't quite sure if I would be too far away, since it had happened before on the far side of the island.
He was an Elder now, but I also remember the young man that he had once been. To be safe, I had never given him my name. In return, he had never given me his. From his descriptions of the world he lived in, he was not on this island but was instead, very far away, across an ocean.
Right now, he lived with a group of men that dedicated their lives to keeping the peace between the supernaturals and mankind. At first I was merely amused by this. Though the more we spoke of it, and kept an open 'mind-link' during his battles, the more I came to see that where he lived, this group of men and what they did, was a necessity.
To think.. There were so many of my own kind! Other types too! It excited me, but made me fear for the humans as well, knowing some of what my own kind could do. As for myself, I wasn't quite sure of what all I could do. There had been no need for my parents to teach me everything. Just enough to survive.
Questions, so many questions..
The trees had closed over us as we walked, until Diamon took a side path to the left that led out to the coast. There was a small village to the right that could be seen through the tree trunks. "We're almost there now." She said as she turned her head to look at me, a smile lighting up her face.
Moving across the ground at human speed, we quietly entered a residence through the back. Reaching up, I gently touched the hanging straw of the roofing as I passed the bamboo doorway. Lighting the central fire to keep the place warm and give us light, Diamon straightened up and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Now we need to get you all fixed up, Aya. So you can blend in like the rest of us." She looked to the floor a moment and then looked back up to me. "We need to.. uh.. start with your hair.. "
I stepped forward and bent my knees onto the mats on the floor before the fire sitting on my heels, letting it warm my skin a bit. "Is there a problem with it?" I asked, my brows arching, not understanding completely.
Coming around the fire, Diamon took a close up look at my really long hair and groaned. "This might take hours and hours to do. How long has it been since the last time you used a comb or brush?"
As she stood behind me, I turned my head to gaze at her and having turned bright red in embarrassment, I told her quietly "I do not know what those items are."
Well, I sure found out. It took several days for Diamon to get the matting from my hair. By the time she was done, it trailed at least two feet behind me on the ground! Once my hair was thoroughly washed and rinsed which took over ten buckets of water, my body was thoroughly washed and scrubbed too.
Exhausted, we both got changed into simple kimonos and at before the fire. "You know, you really should cut it a bit to at least get it off the floor and keep it out of the dirt."
Smiling I gazed up into her bright blue eyes, and considered all that she had done so far. I had never really known that my 'wavy' long black hair was actually 'straight.' That those waves had been created due to the matting underneath. So I conceded to her expertise in these matters. "What do you have in mind?"
I could see the instant excitement in her eyes and the twitching of her fingers. "Maybe cutting it to the back of your thighs?" She scrunched up her face, afraid it might get me mad.
Nodding to her with a grin, Diamon jumped up quickly flashing a bit of leg through her beige kimono as she got up. "You are going to love it! I promise!" she beamed, as she took me by the arm to help me stand since the added weight of the water in my hair set me off balance easily.
As Diamon cut my hair, I could feel a great weight being lifted off my neck and shoulders. It felt wonderful. Though for a few moments, I actually mourned it's loss. It had been a part of me for so long.. Not to mention, it was a piece of me. But Diamon understood, as she cleared the mats that had caught the hair away and replaced them with fresh ones.
Walking back to the other side of the fire, she sat down and began to unravel her own hair from on top of her head. I fanned mine out across my shoulders and sat back down in my blue kimono, making sure it stayed closed. As I looked back up, I saw that her hair was at the same length when it tumbled down her shoulders to hang straight down. "Oh Gods, that feels better!" she said out loud, as another question came to mind.
Leaning forward, I looked at her with a serious expression on my face. "Do you believe in the Gods, Diamon?" I asked her this because I knew that many didn't.
She looked at me as if I were a dragon with only one horn. "Of course not. It isn't as if one has done anything to help me or anyone I ever met, and believe me, I have been all over the place. Why?"
Looking down into my lap I smiled softly, "Oh, I just thought I might show you something.. Well, someone."
Diamon looked at me like I was a crazy vampire until total and complete understanding dawned. Her bright blue eyes went wide. "You do not! Do you?"