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~ Time is an illusion, right? Then why won't the clock stop ticking in my ear…~
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A cold cloth was patted down over his brow as Riley slowly let his eyes drift, weary and weak as they had become in only a short time after that daring escape from the wasps.
~ Riley! ~ Lily dropped Wodin off of her lap as she leaned forward to touch a rough hand to his cheek. He was no longer with fever. Here in this world, pain did exist, yet not death – unless the World allowed it.
Riley had to live, that much she recognized as he soon blinked, fully – awake.
~ Has he lost the swelling; did it go down already? ~ Bast looked up from his map, tail swishing in curiosity. ~ Ah, we made it! You were exceptionally noble. ~ The cat praised as Riley sat up with Lily's help.
The cat bounded over with its tail still in the air, the airs of a royal lord instead of a hermit's cat.
~ I am forever grateful that he brought me to this hollow rock…though, your landing was. ~
~ Can you only be rude to me? Ow…~ Riley cupped the back of his skull with one hand.
The cat turned to let the kid rest, tail still about the air as he walked taller than any pharaoh. ~ It is called "tough love" among your kind. ~ Smirked the Maine Coon, wryly.
~ Anyway…did we find the right cave? Are…is everyone ok –
~ Oh, oh! ~ Wodin wobbled over, already partly fine thanks to Lil's care. ~ Your tongue! I can understand it more than before! See?? See it!? ~
~ Would you look at that. ~ Bast flicked a whisker as he stayed all cozy on his side. ~You're one of us, now. ~
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Riley had returned to his dreams while he'd been sick. He still remembered his grandmother's eyes. Like Lulit's, they were deep and meaningful to him. She was so kind, yet his mother had let the boy off with "can I buy you some cheap soup," or "pay me back the rest this week when you can" as was her dynamic…To be tough with love did not come without meaning, yet he'd already had enough of its message.
~ So, the caves on this map are five in total. ~ Bast trailed off to change the topic, stirring everyone's attention as he was prone to being the center of it.
~ We cannot go down to navigate through one and not see to the others, yet the camel as you call it, is very strict about its privacy. The only thing in truth that can lure out that sordid figure you seek…~ He said it; as if the cat had choked on a hairball only moments ago, ~ Is that you must tell the beast an interesting "story." ~ The cat ended, none in the room bothering to clap their hands.
~ I did tell some very famous tales in my village to my siblings and the youth there. ~ Lil interjected, eager to get started.
~ We can leave it at that, right? ~
~ No, dear Wodin. ~ The cat shook its paw at the bird's question. ~ A tale, from EACH of those seeking its lost knowledge and…. herm, tufts. ~
~ Riley can go, then. ~ Smiled a hopeful, Lily. ~ We do not need to make this journey, yet he must, in order to go back to his world. ~
~ I…can draw, but I can't really…my life is actually pretty boring.~ Riley said to the three others, ~ There really is nothing I –
~ Make something up, then. Don't be so timid. ~ The cat suggested. ~ You have lips and a tongue, or sing to it if you want to "get" creative. ~
~ Tough love, huh? ~ Riley held himself up on his elbows, looking right at the two – toned eyed figure.
~ More like throwing me right to the wolves. ~
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A story…...he'd once made a whole diorama of the age of dinosaurs. He even had narrated it to his class with gold stars as the standard reward.
In first grade. This, was really important. If he failed…
The World would give up on him too.
His friends already had.
His grandmother wasn't here anymore to chase the blues away.
His parents were selfishly fighting among themselves, so no help there either.
And…
His new companions…
He bit his lip, courage slowly fading to tell them a lie they'd expect of him to speak.
"I can't do it. Not alone or by myself…"
~ The voice! It no longer works!"
~ It has to be a stunt in this story's development. ~ Huffed the cat as he came up to Riley for a less than heart to heart. ~ If you reverse your growth, child…you may never pass through this way again. You must move ahead, no matter the price. You are here. We will not let you fall. So, do not –
"But what if I can't do it and I get sent back to the desert again? I'll fail you guys too."
~ And, maybe. The world understands all of that. ~ Bast expressed some sympathy by those words before it faded to dust, quickly. ~Your role is to create a world that will allow you to complete your task well. But trying isn't good enough. You have to take the chance and do as we did with those nosy hornets. ~
~ Bast speaks true, for once…~ Grumbled the bird at his side.
~ You cannot be afraid when no die has been cast, child. ~ Bast purred as its smile was all cat, less magical feline to Riley. ~ Try, and you may just surprise yourself. ~
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~ Trying is easy, trying a second time can bring you down but never give up trying at all, Riley Baxter. ~
A tear to his cheek, Riley felt as Lily had brought up her long sleeve to wipe it away. ~ We will never give up. You must never let your past tell you otherwise. ~
~ Then, letting go. ~ Riley realized something he hadn't before. Without saying much, he gathered himself from the cave floor and started to walk down into the darkness. Lil stayed right by him as he still had a small limp.
It might never leave, yet his reason to keep going at such a young age was admirable.
Bast beamed with pride as Wodin's sorry looks no longer bothered the cat as before. ~I cannot wait to see your role in action, companion pigeon. ~ Smirked the feline.
While Wodin flew on ahead and spoke of nothing, feeling left out yet knowing that he was still truly with Lily in more than simply spirit. And that the World needed him to watch over her at all times, as he would continue doing until his time had drawn nearer.
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The foggy breadth of the few grew to fill their lungs as the sweat poured down. A dangerous road to travel as soon the path ahead could only fit, one.
~ This is where we must part until you've received your tufts. ~ Bast sat along the least narrow end of the tunnel and panted a bit, fur being a bother.
~ I shall carry him back, yet Wodin? Have you not been hurt by the temperature inside this cave? ~ Lily asked the bird, who did not have sweat glands, and like Bast he was still vulnerable to roasting on a spit inside a dragon's belly.
~ I WILL BE ALRIGHT! ~ Lied the immobilized bird as Lil shook her head, scooping up the cawing fool on her own accord.
Riley was then left to his own devices as he crawled on through the tunnel with the narrowest entranceway.
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The trodding was silent. There were no lakes or streams to sip from as Riley's hands clung to the red earth in his grasp from above. He hoisted himself up, the tunnels a maze of dug burrows and ways to fall to the ends of the earth. He'd imagined never being a gopher before, but now he had to wonder…
A humming sound resonated through the caves. Riley ducked his head as a few large hooves stepped directly over him. Though, this was not a bull, but a greater tank!
The camel was large, as big as a rhino with a neck craned up, then down. The space waved as ripples in a pool, while Riley saw the creature open its mouth to speak to itself.
~ I'm tired of standing around upright like a foe! What good am I to this order if I cannot say what I'll sew? Have I not a hammer; bang! ~
Riley almost lost his grip on the stone as the camel stamped, rhyming while Riley stayed quieted by its ranting.
~ Forget it…I cannot speak as I used to…~ Sighed the camel with a downtrodden look on its long face. It wore a hat closer to something from Lulit's time, and a red tapestry along its back for a rider to sit comfortably on.
Yet, this grumpy quadruped was old, it even had a beard that ran down a length which…. was quite odd.
A story…Riley waited for the elderly camel to turn around, and then he made a hop and a dash for the wall there. Yes, he could try something, anything for it was dark enough. Yet, would the World approve if he wanted to get creative?
Yes! He found a bit of rock and used it as his conduit without touching the sharpened edge to the wall.
~ Once upon a time…~ Riley whispered as he drew pictures of a story, he had heard from a loved one, long ago.
~ Once upon a time, there was a little girl who had a red ball that she loved to play with. One day, out in the grass where the pond was close by, she accidentally dropped the ball into the water and tried to fish it out with her shoe. She did not succeed and tried to find a loose branch to use to push it over to her. Again, she found this task impossible and began to weep. Her show was now floating in the pond, bobbing about. Her eyes soon dried and she did not give in, looking for a rope from the shed or a tool that the gardener might use in this same situation. As she tried and tried, the sun had soon begun to set. The girl grew quite tired and restless as her heart was to see her bright red ball back in her possession, she drifted off without a care on the steps of her home. Soundless as the night air. ~
Riley crossed his arms over his chest, liking the pictures he knew how to draw very well. He continued, seeing the dromedary yawn behind him.
~ Drip, drip. The girl tossed to her side, not realizing that it was very late now. Drip, drip. She turned to where the pool would be, leaning over until her arm felt a strange dampness come over it. For there, in her hand was the hand of another. A boy with skin as scaly as a fish's and eyes as big as a frog's by how he eyed her curiously. In his other hand she saw a red figure. "Oh! You brought back my red ball! Thank you!" She leaped up and was touched by the kindness so of the strange boy, that she spoke again, saying she was so grateful that she wished to reward him for returning her treasured toy to her. He blushed red as a pile of cinders and only asked but once "I would like to play with you, with the ball you were paying with before by my home." He spoke. "It looked to be such fun, it would be a shame if you could not have others to join in." The girl agreed that it would, and together they played well until dawn's first morning light approached the horizon. The boy bid the girl farewell, and she promised to come back tomorrow after her studies to play again by the pond's edge. However, the girl's father brought her to him one day after and said with such command in his voice, "It is high time you inherited your mother's poise and promise. You are to go away to a school in the west of our fair country in a few days time. Bring only what is permitted and say farewell to everyone by the early morning on." ~
The camel was listless and dull to himself, yet this story piqued his interest. He turned his head yet never his eyes to the view from behind and to the artist who had made a mural out of his caverns. The camel did not live here, yet he loved the sound of his voice as it bounced from celling to floor in seconds.
~ The girl was so distraught that after her meal that evening, she fled away to find the boy and explain everything. Carrying her only item she wished to not be disposed of once she was no longer living within her childhood quarters, her heart ached to know if he'd be true as before and come to her as he had with that shiny red ball in his scaly hands. What her mother had always spoken was that kindness shares only one feature, and that is of the heart. So, along she ran to the ponds edge to call out. She waited and waited, yet he did not bob up his head to meet her glancing eyes staring back. ~
~ How dreadful! She lamented and for a moment, knew what to do. She hid that night in the bush and by the time she'd located the perfect spot to bed down, her ball had fallen right into the swampy pond, gunk sliding from its surface as the girl pretended to cry and cry until she was soon fast asleep as before. ~
The dromedary hummed a tune, so Riley had no choice but to finish this story from a book he remembered, word for word.
~ By the time the sun had left and the stars had come out from their hiding places in the daytime sky, a ring of bubbles had appeared on the pond's surface. The girl blinked and awoke to the boy, aged to be as she now and nearing the age of a lady, carrying not a red ball, but something far more precious in hand.
It was a token of his thanks as the boy smiled back kindly as before, helping the girl to stand as she looked and looked for the bright red ball, then turning to ask; "Where has it gone? What is that in your hands? I will not be here to cherish such a wonderful gift…" She wept softly as he comforted her. "My father has sent me to move far away to become as my mother and change, to now no longer be as I was with you! What will I do? I cannot stay and anger him, yet I am too young to live out on my own in this big world. You, are kind and I know, yet we are not the same. We may play and frolic, "she said" ~ Maybe some other time when we can one day not be kept by our many civic duties. Do you understand? ~
~What, uncertainty…~ The camel nodded, its views then seeming less dismal as Riley continued to litter the cave with his creations.
~ "I do, yet if you will one day grace me with your presence again, one day you may return to this bog and speak of your travels. And I, of the many treasures I too now possess. He said in a longing that could have them to believe it otherwise." ~ And to this, she rejoiced even so. ~ "I will, for friendships such as this are not to be left to stand as muck in the pond's bottom. ~ She smiled back to he, and they both exchanged glances, the special gift in her hand as he was left to bid the girl off. To sit beside the water and wait for the day when she would come to him to speak of her true feelings. ~
~ It, ended at that? ~
Riley froze. The camel's head was on his shoulder identifying the scene that would be next.
~ No, it's still going on. ~ Gulped Riley as he used up all of his hidden courage and talent to ignore the camel and to continue telling his story.
~ The days went by, years passing with a frozen pond and then along, came spring. The cold had passed over the world, the sky brightened with sunshine and flowers blooming by the many as the weathered steps off that home seemed lonesome and lost as that boy now felt. She never returned, as humans were bound to come and go as fast as there legs might take them. The season changed and so too did the boy who was now a young man, a different look took to his scaly face as he gazed up to see her, just once. A year more and one more, and once more came a fall to forget her face for a lifetime as the pond's edge was no longer fertile. The grazing animals and birds had since abandoned it for the southern countries until spring again arrived. But arrive, she did not. Winter came, and the man he became then slept until again the sun graced his cold skin, again when the laughter of children rung out and the faces of two not one, came to stare into the water's edge. "I'm home. Did you wait very long?" Came a sweet voice from up on the surface of that boggy pool. "Go away." The bubbles from his lips rose and fell. The magic lost in their reunion until…~
~ Oh! I know very well what might happen! Please. ~ The camel cleared its throat. ~ Continue. ~
Riley nodded and felt at ease as the words at his lips and the figures on stone began to come together in full circle.
~ Jeanette! Do not harm the water! ~ The large splash of a figment of red and the cry of a child as she fell towards her demise into the deep sent the watery faire being to rush along, fins and all. Scooping her up as he had that ball that one fine day, the boy no more yet a man, saved the child and swam along to place her gently into the arms of an old friend. She gazed into his eyes, seeing the pain kept within them and began to weep. She spoke of her family's lost fortune and her difficulty forgetting that she wanted another to court her. That she could care for none other than the one who had saved her that night. ~ I want you to come to the surface as before." She professed strongly to the fae. "I now hold stocks to repair father's home and wish to keep my promise as before. You and I cannot be among those who walk, for I know what you are and who I am. This child is that proof that the ball would never be forgotten. See?" She pointed to the child's scales along her neck. "She is just as you and I. The trinket was a vow, and I will make you see that." She spoke surely of her decision, the little girl delighted as the boy soon realized it to be true. His friend would be here, and he had given her a greater gift than any child from the womb could bring. A lifetime of a joy that would live on forever by that sacred pool, as long as they were together. They could always remain forever young at heart. ~
Riley breathed a sigh, placing a bow of white atop the young child's head of chocolate shaded hair and the luminescent scales of the fae from the pond whom would be a life long companion that the woman would surely wish to protect as he had both she and her half – faire person child.
The dromedary let the pictures, images and any hidden morals drag him deep into the world of this boy's creation. ~ This story, are there more? ~ The camel was hooked as Riley dusted his hands with a big smile on his face. ~ I can give you a whole set of stories, if you'll let me have a tuft of your hair in return. ~
The camel nodded turning and telling the kid that it wasn't just the tail it carried, but the stick AND brush which had to be plucked, clean off.
~ For such an enjoyable and romantic tale of acceptance and promise through magical means, if you can in fact create this wonderful book with so many stories for my days here within this drizzly cave, you may have my whole tail as the World has intended, I should then only then, give my very greatest thanks. ~
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