"Grandma, what are you talking about?" The young boy crunched his eyebrows and looked at me.
The grandma looked at me again and I stared into her strange mirror-like eyes, I had never seen anything like them. I wanted to ask what they meant but was too afraid to speak. I knew that eyes in this world often depicted someone's magic. For example, people with blue eyes like me and Cai were Water Mages, Fire Mages had glowing orange eyes, Air Mages had purple eyes, and people without magic had dull-looking eyes that would probably be considered normal back on earth. But I was never told about reflective mirror eyes... I looked at the grandson again and stared at his eyes instead, green and vibrant, he must be and Earth Mage, what else could it be?
"Willard." The old woman said and gave her grandson a stern look. "You listen to me now, we are buying this slave!"
The boy -Willard- looked dumbfounded, "Grandma. We don't need another slave! Aside from that we don't have the money!"
I blinked at this strange interaction.
~Are these people really arguing over whether or not to BUY me?~
I felt sick.
The old woman sneered when Willard argued with her again, so she grabbed him by his earlobe and pulled him down to her height, which was quite a feat considering how short she was and how tall Willard was. "You are disobeying both your grandmother, AND a seer!" she spoke into his ear, "If I say that we are buying this slave, then you go get the money and purchase her!"
"Ow!" Willard cried when she yanked on his earlobe again before letting him go. "Yes grandma," he finally said when he stood and rubbed his now-red-tinted-ear, "I'll go get the money."
"Good," the old lady smiled, then turned back to me. Then she did about the last thing I would have expected, she stepped forward and sat on the ground beside me. "Now tell me your name."
~Is this some kind of test? What would a slave do in this situation?~
"Erm- I- I'm Azul" I sputtered when she sat in the dirt and leaned her back against the pole that was behind me.
"You're a long way from home, aren't you?" She said and stared into my eyes again as if in deep interest.
"Uh-"
The answer to that question was 'yes' in multiple senses of the word. But what did she mean by it?
"I don't have a home." I finally decided to answer her.
"Now, don't lie to me!" she laughed, "I know you have one! I'm a Seer after all!" she placed a hand on my shoulder and it felt full of pity. "it's just a home you cannot return to."
I stared at her. What did she mean? was she talking about my home at the Palace with Altan, a place I thought I could never return to? Or was she talking about my old life: my home in Seattle that I could never return to no matter how hard I tried?
"Yes." I finally answered, but wasn't sure if I should elaborate.
"Now now, darling." The old woman spoke, "There is no need to cry."
~Cry? I'm not crying.~
But even as I thought that I felt tears escape me. And I realized in that moment, with my acknowledgment of this lady's words, how terribly lost and lonely I felt. Since the moment I came into this world I had been running and all alone. And in truth, I would do anything to snap my fingers and wake up from this like it was one bad dream.
The old woman stared at me and looked terribly sad. "I'm sorry." She said, as if she understood all of my thoughts and feelings, then she held me as I cried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earth Nomads.
I was bought by a group of Earth Nomads who happened to be the travelling through the town where I was being sold. They were a group of about 100 or so people who travelled with wagons, oxen, horses, and a plethora of other animals. They were all very dark-skinned people, and it made me wonder if all Earth Nomads were this way, or if it was only this group.
Aunt Ava was the lady who found me, she gave me water until she decided that I shouldn't drink anymore, then she helped to load me into a covered wagon with a few other girls who didn't speak the same language as me.
I was fairly certain whatever language I spoke was not English, but it was a common tongue in this world because so many people knew how to speak it. Well, I thought everyone could speak it, until I met the women who road in the wagon with me. I assumed they were other slaves, based on the clothes they wore, and they seemed kind enough. But in reality, I had questions, a lot of questions, like what is a 'Seer'? And if Aunt Ava is one of them, does she know I came from a different world? Also, where are we going now? But these women couldn't answer any of my questions.
One of the woman, a younger looking one with long braids in her hair, applied an ointment to my shoulders that had turned red and blistered from the sun. "We. go. where?" I tried to ask her in the simplest manner I could with a large rising inflection on the the last word.
She laughed at my words like they were cute then said something to the women behind her then they all laughed together.
~Great, this is not going well.~
I made eye contact with one of the older women in the wagon, "Aunty Ava." I said, and the women nodded her head, she knew at least that much. "Can see what?" I pointed at my eyes then pointed around at all of us then up to the sky.
Again the women laughed and I sighed, giving up.
~There is no getting through to them.... Well, at least I'm safe for now.~
I looked out the open back end of the wagon, and watched more dirt and sand go by.
~I'm travelling with a group of Earth Nomads to who-knows-where, the odds of Cai or Altan finding me now are really low... I don't know if I should be happy or not.~