Arthur stands in shock as he witnesses this unprecedented event. "You're telling me mom awakened as an arcane?" He asks, his body trembling in excitement.
[Yes, it seems your mother's innate desire to help others manifested into that. It's a fascinating sight.]
Slowly Jane finishes healing up the wound completely, but as a result, she depletes all her aether. "I feel kinda lightheaded," She says, slowly losing consciousness and falling to the ground.
Arthur rushes to her side, placing her head on his thighs and cradling her. "Mom!" He yells, shaking her and tapping on her cheek.
[She's fine, she just passed out from aether depletion. She'll wake up in a few hours.]
While he is still occupied by his mom, the girl finally speaks. "W-who are you people?" She mutters, lowering her head as she tries to avoid eye contact.
Arthur turns to look at her, then replies. "We're passerbys who happened to hear a call for help."
"Thank you for saving me," She says, veering her gaze to Jane. "Is she gonna be alright?"
"Yeah, she's just tired," He replies, carefully putting her head on the ground and standing up. He walks to the trolls corpse, placing his hand on it and absorbing it.
He walks back to Jane and carries her, walking towards the direction they came from. "Coming?" He asks, looking back at the girl while he advances.
The girl hurriedly stands and follows behind him as he goes in search for a place to spend the night. They search for a while and he finally finds a secure spot. He gently puts Jane down, asking the girl to look after her while he does some reconnaissance and look for food.
He leaves for about an hour, coming back with some fruits and a rabbit. He sits and looks at Jane, whom is still passed out and then looks over to the girl, who has been quiet ever since their first encounter.
"What's your name," He asks, staring at her as he waits for a response.
"Sophia," She replies, awkwardly trying to avoid meeting his eyes.
"I'm Arthur. How did you end up here, Sophia?" He asks, tossing her a fruit as he starts skinning the rabbit. "I didn't think there'd be anyone in these woods."
"Me and friends were out camping, when suddenly monsters came out of nowhere and attacked us." She replies.
"Where are your friends then?" He asks again.
"They…," She stutters, tears filling her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a sensitive subject," He says, attempting to apologize to her.
[Sigh, you went and made the girl cry.]
"But I didn't mean to," He yells silently.
They sit in silence for a while after that statement, as he continues skinning the rabbit and she eats the fruit he gave her. The atmosphere seemingly continuing to get even more awkward by the second.
"God, I need a miracle right now," He whispers to himself, praying for something to break the awkward silence. Seconds after, as if the heavens heard his prayers, Jane wakes up.
"Ugh, it feels like I'm having a terrible hangover headache," She comments, opening her eyes and trying to sit up. "What happened to me?"
"Mom!" Arthur yells excitedly, partly because the silence is finally broken. "You passed out because you used too much energy healing her."
"Oh, I remember. It felt like I just knew want to do." Jane says, thinking back to when she healed Sophia. "How is she?"
"Well you can ask her yourself. She's right over there," He replies, pointing his finger at her. He leans closer to Jane's ear, before whispering. "It's been very awkward. Please do something."
"Sigh, you've always been terrible at interacting with others," She comments, turning her whole body towards Sophia. "Hey, how's your leg doing?"
"It's fine, it doesn't even hurt anymore. How did you do that back there?" Sophia replies, her voice less shaken.
"Even I'm not entirely sure, haha," Jane claims, putting on a smile on her face in the hopes that it'll make Sophia feel more comfortable. "But I'm glad that you're okay, you don't have to be scared anymore. You're safe with us."
Jane continues to lead the conversation, they exchange names and Jane asks her more about herself.
"I'm sorry, about what you had to go through, it must've been really hard," Jane says, her face softening in concern.
"My best friend died protecting me, I can never forgive myself," Sophia comments, tears rolling down her face. "I should've been the one who died instead."
"Don't say that, she gave her life to save you, so you have to keep on living to honor her sacrifice," Jane claims, trying to console her.
Meanwhile as they are talking, Arthur strikes his sword with stone in an attempt to start a fire, he hits over and over, creating spark until finally it lights up. He picks up twigs and throws them in to make it even bigger, after stabilizing the fire he takes a long stick and skewers it through the rabbit. He roasts it for a while, before finally speaking. "Food is ready."
"Let's eat," Jane says, holding Sophia's hand as they sit next to the fire. Arthur cuts the rabbit and hands each of them a part. They all eat as she tells her about the saddledome and about their plan to go there as night slowly falls.
"Hey, I'm sorry for being insensitive earlier. I didn't mean for it to go like that," He says, slightly lowering his head.
"It's fine. I'm sorry for acting like that too." She replies.
"Now that everything is resolved, I want to propose something," Jane says, turning to face Sophia. "Since you've got nowhere else to go now and it would be a terrible idea if we just left you alone, why don't you come with us?"
"Would that really be ok? I don't wanna be a burden," She replies.
"Of course it's ok, you can come with us," Arthur asserts.
"Thank you," Sophia says, as tears fill her eyes yet again. "Thank you."
"Oh Arthur, you've made her cry again," Jane comments, teasingly as she shakes her head.
"C'mon!" He yells, concern visibly present in his voice.
[Tsk tsk, oh Arthur.]
"Hey! Not you too!" He yells again, still confused about what's going on.
Jane and Sophia laugh at Arthur as he tries to figure out what's going one.
"I am so lost right now," He says, placing both hands on his head.
[END]
To be continued…