Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Issues

Two bright green eyes are revealed when Kumiho’s eyes shoot open, and she quickly sits up, her head and eyes quickly darting around the entire flower field surrounded by dark green trees marking its edges. When she finally sees what she's looking for her body freezes up: a young black-haired man with pale white skin and bright blue eyes is sitting on a small rock in the field with a small book in his hand; he wears a simple all black short sleeve shirt and black pants. Propped up with his back resting on the side of the rock is a tanned skinny grey-haired boy with two small little grey fox ears poking out of his hair. His lightly tanned skin looking just the same as it did before but now with a large gaping scar on his neck.

The man glances from his book and notices Kumiho staring at the young boy next to him and warmly smiles at the girl, “I see you kids are finally starting to wake. I was starting to get worried honestly.”

Kumiho looks at the man, her expression frozen as her quiet voice barely comes out “Is he... Alive?”

“Oh, don’t worry. His heart’s still beating and his soul still his, I’m just wondering where that scar came from.” He points the now closed book at the boy’s scar for a moment. His voice loses its lightheartedness and becomes serious as he continues, “What happened in there?”

Kumiho’s expression freezes for a moment again as her ears lightly twitch atop her head, “The Keeper killed him...” Her voice is nearly a whisper as she wipes her reddening eyes with her hand.

“The Keeper interfered...?” Oswin mumbles to himself, “Wait and you said this ‘Keeper’ killed Fang?” Oswin questions.

“He slashed his throat...” While answering Oswin’s questions her eyes never leave Fang’s resting body.

Oswin attempts to speak again but a sudden scream cuts him off completely. Sune suddenly sits up with a bloodcurdling scream as she begins to uncontrollably sob while mindlessly muttering “Sorry.” repeatedly.

Oswin puts his book down and walks towards Sune before lightly shaking her shoulders, “Everything’s fine.” he lightly whispers to her as her tears begin to end and she lightly sniffles with a flushed face and puffy eyes.

“But... He’s dead... Another person is dead! And I couldn’t do anything about it!” Sune’s voice raises, beginning to sob uncontrollably.

Oswin simply stares into her crying face without knowing what to say and before he can think of something to say a joking voice cuts through the constant noise, “Who died?”

Sune stares at Fang standing there behind Oswin with a light grin on his face, her face still covered in tears with reddened eyes and cheeks. Oswin gets up away from Sune and slowly backs away from the two, almost backing into the now also standing Hollie who is watching the scene in a silent daze.

“You-you’re alive...?” Sune mumbles while wiping her tears.

“I think? Maybe I’m a ghost. OooOoooOO” Fang makes some strange gurgling noises as he wiggles his fingers at Sune before breaking into laughter at his own absurdity.

Sune gets up after properly wiping her tears and lightly grabs his outstretched hand still wiggling its fingers. Feeling the warmth of his hand in hers she lightly sniffles with her head down, lightly muttering to herself, “How are you alive...?”

Fang’s other arm that isn’t caught in her tight grasp goes to rub her back before freezing and changing course to lightly rest on her shoulder with a little squeeze, his cordial voice filling her ears, “It was probably Oswin’s strange magic, but...” He pauses for a moment before speaking in a lightly teasing voice, “Who really cares? I’m alive, aren’t I? Or maybe I’m not and actually am a ghost. Oooo-Ack!” Sune lightly pushes Fang while wiping her tears with a smile.

“Stop with your silly jokes. They aren’t funny.” Her face is covered in a smile despite her words.

The small field is engulfed in silence as all the children look towards Oswin with a myriad of different emotions on their small faces. Seeing their glances he sighs before speaking in a tired tone, “Well... I was going to ask you what happened and see if any of you have figured out how to use your abilities, but instead... Who's hungry?” He puts on a cordial smile for the children as they all nod in agreement and Fang voices his excitement; Sune staying oddly quiet while staring at the excited boy.

As they walk down the path Oswin asks Kumiho what happened, where she explains what happens with a very short story of the events of their time. The whole walk she continuously fiddles with her torn leather gloves.

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As they reach the end of the forest the group can finally see the bright little town and upon its sight their steps become lighter and quicker, except for Sune. Sune for the entire light trek through the forest was walking sullenly while deeply immersed in her thoughts and occasionally grimacing. But with the sudden chatter from the children in front of her, she looks up from the ground and as she does, she trips on an exposed root. She lets out a yelp while falling, bringing her arms forward with her eyes shut tight to brace for the hard thud and pain that will meet her as she meets the ground. But instead, there is silence as her eyes remain closed and she feels a strange cold grab hold of her body and a gasp comes from the group in front of her. As she slowly opens her eyes, she sees a large black mass under her with thin little black tendrils wrapped around her arms and torso lifting her up. The dark shadow under her is connected by thin black strings that connect to the ends of Hollie’s darkened fingertips as her amethyst eyes glow a thin purple with swirling black wisps around her eyes. The black-haired girl lightly pants, awkwardly moving her arm back and grabbing the black strings, causing the shadow under Sune to lightly shudder before propping Sune back up on her feet and slowly slinking back into Hollie’s tightly gripped fist.

Hollie opens her fist and stares at the black painted skin of her left hand as the shadow slowly seeps into her skin, revealing the pale skin underneath. Her eyes drift away from the hand and towards the flustered Sune staring at Hollie in a daze. Her mouth opens slowly as her awkward voice comes out, “Ar-Are you okay?” Her amethyst eyes slightly dim as she waits for a response.

Sune stares at Hollie with a confused expression for a moment before she shakes her head and responds strangely quiet, “Yeah... The err... Shadow. The shadow cushioned me, I didn’t even feel anything happen.” She attempts to give Hollie a smile, but her face is stilled marred with a barrage of strange emotions.

Hollie’s fingers begin to fiddle and tug at the sides of her cloak as she meekly speaks again, “Uhm. I’m glad...” Her quiet words come out as she continues to squirm under the cloak.

Sune quickly changes her expression upon noticing her discomfort and throws her hands forward, “No no no! I-I didn’t... I’m just...” Sune lets out a loud sigh as Hollie’s concerned gaze falls on her, “Thank you for catching me. I’m just a little worn is all.” Her tired voice rings out as she slowly exhales and puts on a smile. Jumping towards the meek little girl and grabbing Hollie’s raised right hand with both hands, “See? I’m fine.”

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Hollie awkwardly smiles at the pink eyed girl and remains silent as Sune lets go of her hand and gazes softly Hollie. “Ahem” A short cough is heard as all the children stare towards Oswin, “So... Where do you guys want to eat?” He says with a cordial smile.

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The chosen store is a small establishment with just a few tables and lots of plants all over the store. Large potted plants line the walls and plenty of plants hang from the ceiling, letting their vibrant green leaves hang above the head of the patrons while they eat. The group walks up to a large wooden desk at the back of the store that has been finely decorated with plenty of beautiful green plants of a plethora of different shapes and sizes. And behind the desk sits a slightly chubby, tanned woman wearing green tinted glasses with dark green hair that has been braided in a way that resembles entangling vines. Her brown apron and simple white shirt have been properly embellished with plenty of flowers and even a little potted succulent that is securely attached to the woman’s chest. The woman is watering the plants with a silver watering can but upon noticing the group she puts the watering can down and her face beams with happiness as her cheerful voice loudly enters the ears of the group.

“Hello~! Welcome to my wonderful establishment~!” As the lady cheerfully chirps, she raises her left hand that had been behind the desk the whole time, revealing a large mass of slithering vines that take the shape of a normal five fingered hand. Oswin smiles lightly at the woman as the children gasp at her hand and begin chattering amongst themselves.

“Hello miss. Oh, and before you ask these kids, besides that one...” He points towards Sune “Don’t speak Imperial. And please don’t mind their reactions, they’ve probably never seen a fae.” Oswin calmly informs the tanned woman.

“Oh, don’t worry! I’m plenty used to people being shocked at my appearance. Especially with our rarity in such a small town.” As she responds to Oswin she looks towards the children with a warm smile and begins to happily speak in the children’s language, “Hello cuties~. I’m sorry if my hand scared you, but I promise I don’t bite.”

Fang’s eyes glitter as he stares at the woman’s hand, “How does that work? Why is it like that? Were you born like? If not, what gave you that hand?” As the boy begins to excitedly rapid-fire questions towards the woman Oswin softly interrupts him.

“Alright Fang, we don’t need to barrage the poor woman with questions.”

“It's quite alright Sir. I understand his curiosity and love his enthusiasm actually. So, I’ll be quick with my answers: I was born like this, as were all my previous family members, a little family quirk you could say~. The hand simply listens to my thoughts and acts on them accordingly using: ‘magic!’ I would go into more detail but honestly no one is sure how fae magic actually works, not even us faes.” Fang is constantly nodding his head while excitedly bobbing up and down while listening to her short explanation. “Now are there any more questions~?” She happily asks the little boy.

“Actually-”

“Now now Fang, don’t you think we should order first before you continue pestering the poor woman with questions?” Oswin’s kind voice scolds the child.

Fang’s cheeks puff out as the woman happily chuckles at the two’s banter.

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After ordering the group sits down while Fang continues to enthusiastically question the fae woman. A few minutes later the woman comes to their table with Fang happily in tow. She places down the different dishes they all ordered: Oswin got a simple green salad, Hollie an assortment of different colored berries and fruits with some sugary syrup drizzled over them, Sune a fruit salad, Kumiho a strange heart shaped fruit, and Fang got a sandwich with dark green buns and a plethora of different fruits and vegetables inside. As the small group finishes eating, they begin to get up to leave.

“Thank you for coming~! And my name’s Leah by the way, please come again!”

“Thank you for answering my questions!” Fang happily responds.

“We’ll surely come again!” Sune says to the woman, her mood improved greatly after the meal.

“Uh-Th-Thanks...” Hollie cautiously waves at Leah as Kumiho quietly watches the children all say their goodbyes.

“I’ll make sure to bring the kids around again if you don’t mind.” Oswin quietly chats with Leah before leading the children out of the store and back home.

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As the group enters the tavern it is another loud night filled with the raucous laughter of the many men; most of the men completely ignore them but a few of them lightly whisper to their companions upon sight of the group where their friend tiredly tells them something that makes the questioning men’s faces freeze before quickly looking away from the group.

After Oswin lightly talks with the girl at the desk of the tavern, they all quickly go their assigned room. “By the way, in like, maybe tomorrow, if nothing comes up, I’ll bring you kids to a friend of mine where you’ll get fitted for some clothes. As you can’t just keep walking around in the same smelly clothes, right?”

The skulk of children tiredly nod as Fang loudly yawns with his arms stretched up, “Yawwn, man, dying really tires you out.”

Sune stares daggers at Fang as a thin smirk lines his face and Oswin rests his hands on Fang’s shoulder. “Alright that’s enough messing with the poor girl’s heart.” Oswin says with a warm smile on his face. “Let's just go to bed and rest. As I’m sure you all need it.”

As all the children slowly drift off to sleep Sune is left alone in the night unable to sleep, her eyes are haggard and yet she finds herself unable to sleep due to the whirling thoughts in her mind. The thoughts of what could have happened, what could have been reality plaguing her. As she lays in this state, she is suddenly awoken from her stupor by Oswin quickly getting out of bed and rushing to the closed door of the bathroom. Sune can hear quiet coughing from inside the candlelit bathroom. She slowly wiggles out of bed to avoid waking up the sleeping Hollie who is clutching the leather book Oswin gave them. Once the girl is out of bed, she quietly slinks to the bathroom door that is slightly left ajar. While trying to get a view of what is happening inside, she accidentally brushes against the door, causing it to loudly creak. She completely freezes as Oswin quickly lurches towards her with his left hand reaching towards her face before he suddenly stops right before her.

His hand is coated in a deep red as he tries to give Sune a kind smile, “Hey... What are y-bleugh!” He suddenly vomits blood into the sink. He uses his red stained dark blue sleeve to wipe the blood off his mouth, but all he does is smear it across his face as he crookedly smiles into the blurry mirror with small splatters of blood near its bottom.

“Are... Are you okay...?”

Oswin stares at her with a thoughtful look before responding with an exhausted voice, “Yeah. I’ll be fine once I get my medicine. It just seems I’ll have to get it earlier than I thought. But I still need to get your fittings...”

“We don’t need it!” Sune quickly responds in a worried voice. “You shouldn’t put your health below getting us some stupid clothes. And plus, we can just do it ourselves whenever.” Sune scolds him in a stern voice.

“Ha!” The bloodied man quietly laughs to himself before grabbing his stomach and puking blood again into the sink. “You sound just like her...” He quietly reminisces with a peaceful expression on his face before suddenly laughing again. His laugh once again interrupted by a grunt of pain, “Alright. If you say so, I’ll do it tomorrow. So, just go to bed and forget you saw this... Please?”

His pleading voice is rather pitiful in the young girl’s ears, and as she hears it her stern face softens and she answers his plea, “No... I’m going to stay with you!” Her voice becomes resolute as she speaks to herself in a near silent whisper, “I don’t want to lose someone else.”

The man tiredly sighs before waving the girl off, “Just watch from outside the room. When these relapses happen, they can make my magic erratic and dangerous.”

Sune spends the rest of the night sitting on the wooden floor leaning against the opened door watching the man slowly stop coughing blood and start to wipe down the stained sink. The entire night she continually radiates a calming energy while trying her best to stay awake all night. But despite her best efforts, she finds herself slowly become groggier and groggier and after dozens of minutes of a hard-fought battle, Sune eventually loses and succumbs to sleep.

As she wakes up to the peaceful morning rays, she finds herself lightly snugged up in bed with Hollie’s book having been replaced with Sune’s arm and she notices a small note and different colored coins with a gold pendant sitting on the small desk. And upon its sight she can’t stop herself from smiling sadly.