The sun shone bright that afternoon, bringing a warm relief from the freezing temperature. Verlian stood basking in its rays as he waited for Ashke to arrive at their designated meeting spot. It was a hidden area in the forest that one would only be able to get through if they crawled underneath thick brush near a cliff. If you crawled underneath in the wrong area, a drop of death is what would await you instead, so this was the best place for them to exchange secret information.
Ashke showed up soon after and before he was able to say anything, Verlian stopped him. "I have something important I need to ask you about first." Ashke held his hand out, motioning for Verlian to go on. "It's about that shadow of mine. She came home late and ignored me the entire night, even this morning she continued to ignore me up until she left for Serin's."
Verlian placed his hands behind his back and faced away from Ashke, looking out over the cliffside as he huffed. His long black hair was tied up in a high ponytail and it trailed all the way down to his mid back. This helped keep it from tangling against his pelt. "Do you think there is something wrong with her?"
Of course, Ashke already knew the answer to this, but decided to lead the conversation in a different direction. "Perhaps that is something you should ask her yourself Verlian. You shouldn't worry about it right now though. We have much more important work to be paying attention to. Whatever her trifles are, hold no importance over our mission at hand."
He knew Ashke was right and turned back around to face him, an extremely serious look befalling on his face. "You're right. Tell me what you have discovered."
"Well, I've finally found the previous entrance. The only problem is, it's been sealed off."
"Can we get through?"
"No. Even with our combined effort, using maximum power, it would be impossible. The seal is too strong for just the two of us. We'll have to figure out another way."
"Tch." Verlian stopped and thought for a moment, rubbing his hand on his chin as he paced around. Finally, a thought occurred to him. "When I was younger, my parents told me an ancient tale of a way that our kind would travel back and forth millennia ago."
Ashke raised his eyebrows, "Truly? Even I haven't heard of such a thing. It must be forbidden knowledge. It's a good start but it'll be incredibly difficult to find without any sort of clues or idea on where to start."
Verlian closed his eyes, searching for the memory of the tale his parents would tell him long ago. "All I remember from the tale is, 'When the water meets the earth, the two will become one with a fiery passion once the sky gives its blessings. From the light to the dark and from the dark to the light….' Damn. I don't remember the rest of that part." He scratched his head in frustration, trying to remember the rest of that line.
Ashke nodded in response, his eyebrows furling as he tried to think of the line. "When water meets the earth....hmmm...rain? Blessings from the sky…..lightning perhaps? Lightning comes with rain, but where would that be located? Is it any location? There has to be something that pinpoints it."
Verlian shrugged, "It was before even my parents' time. They didn't know any more than what they tale told them, I'm sure."
"I'll do my best to find it. I'll depart for other villages and see if they have any tales passed down among their people. Maybe someone else has more information. It's a long shot but it's worth the effort." Ashke gave Verlian a salute and Verlian nodded, sending him away.
Meanwhile at the medical clinic, Ravynne was ignoring Serin. "Ravynne, go grab some logs for the fire, it's beginning to get low." "Ravynne, go boil these rags." "Ravynne clean the floors, there's blood all over!" Ravynne did each task, without saying a word, which only caused Serin's anger to escalate.
"Do you have a problem working here or something? Shouldn't you at least say, 'ok'? Don't forget, I'm doing YOU the favor Ravynne. You're not doing anything miraculous like curing diseases or stitching people up, you're just the clean-up girl. Or was it that now I'm paying you so you don't have to act sweet and innocent anymore? Or maybe because I complimented you, now you think you're too good for conversation."
Ravynne slammed down the wet cloth on the floor and stood up from scrubbing the floors. She whipped her head to the side to stare at Serin, her hair going flying over her shoulder.
"No Serin. I don't have a problem working here. I'm doing the work am I not? You're not having to correct any issues do you? So what is the problem? It's not working here, it's not the work you're giving me and it's certainly not that I'm getting paid or that you gave a compliment, it's you. You're the problem. I know EXACTLY what you did." Ravynne was fully facing Serin now and was pointing her finger at her, jabbing her in the chest.
"You ruined our dinner. It wasn't my money you wasted, and it wasn't just my stomach that you made go hungry. You did it to Verlian too. You caused HIS money to go to waste, you caused HIS stomach to go hungry and you caused HIM stress. You claim you have feelings for him, yet you would do such a thing to him? Over what? What was the reason behind it? I don't deserve to be treated this way by you, I haven't done anything wrong."
"Well maybe if you had cooked it yourself, instead of bothering other people in the village who actually have important things to do, you wouldn't have run into an issue. It's not my fault that I was so overwhelmed with tasks that I accidentally ruined your dinner. Of course I wouldn't hurt Verlian on purpose. Take responsibility for your actions. You should be grateful that I even said I would help at all." Serin pushed Ravynne away and crossed her arms.
"If you were too busy, you should have just said something. As my FRIEND you should have said you couldn't, or even didn't want to, help. Instead you decided to hurt your friend and loved one in the process. I hope you're happy with yourself. Finish the day yourself, I quit." Ravynne grabbed her coat and stormed out of the medical office.
Verlian ran into her as she was pulling her coat on. "Shadow, what are you up to at this time? Shouldn't you be working?"
Ravynne ignored him and continued walking. He and Serin had known each other for such a long time and they were obviously close. Of all people, Verlian was the number one person she could not tell, except for maybe Dino, and even then it would probably be easier to tell Dino about this than Verlian.
He gently grabbed her arm and pulled her toward their home. "Come with me." She tried to resist, not wanting to see him right now, but he was too strong.
When they arrived, he sat her down on one of the chairs and got on his knees to stare up at her. "Shadow. Something has been bothering you since last night, what is it? Are you feeling sick? Are you uncomfortable? Did you injure yourself? You can tell me."
Ravynne avoided eye contact with him, "I've had a fight with Serin."
"Oohhh, is it because you mess everything up?" He chuckled, "I can see how that would cause some discourse between the two of you."
"No! It was Serin this time AND she did it on purpose!" Ravynne yelled out and stood up to leave. Verlian widened his eyes and stood up, placing his hand gently on her arm. "I was teasing, I'm sorry. What do you mean Serin did it on purpose?"
"Our dinner that night, the one where you said I improved because it looked nice, Serin was the one who made it and seasoned it. All I did was chop the ingredients and stir it. I didn't know it was ruined until you tried it."
Verlian nodded slowly and patted her on the head. "It's okay little shadow. Don't worry about Serin alright? She's a good person, she's probably just going through something right now."
Ravynne clenched her fists. Good person?! How can he say that? She really wished she hadn't told him anything…how could he defend her? Hearing that just hurt all that much more…..