Wicked

I awoke the next morning, slightly incapable of opening my eyes. Wrenching them open, I saw that Frank was sitting against the wooden wall behind me. He smiled happily at me, I returned the gesture. I crawled out of our hut, seeing that Cynder had come again, and was cheerily talking with the boys.

"Hey everyone, what's up?"

"Hey Sleeping Beauty! Nothing, want some breakfast?" Bob said.

"Who?" Cynder cocked her head to the side, looking confused.

"It's an Otherworld thing." Mikey answered. He seems to know more about this than the rest of us, he's always got his nose stuck in a fantasy book.

"What's to eat?"

"Crook eggs and Knur'lan." Cynder laughed at the startled looks on the faces of Bob, Ray and Gerard.

"Knur'lan just happens to be a gigantic boar said to be from Dwarf tales. I don't know what Crooks are though. Care to explain?"

"Crooks are birds native to this forest, their eggs have many magical properties, and we can hatch Sprites from them with the correct spell." We all nodded. Cynder took a mouthful of a purple fruit, abruptly sitting up straight.

"Oh no! Arya! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She jumped about twenty feet into the air, and flew off.

"What the hell was that about?" Frankie exclaimed, his head poking out from the hut's doorway.

____________________________________~ ♦ ~________________________________

I flew frantically towards the village. Me and Arya were going to practice today with a few friends... she's going to kill me for this. Arya and Tizzi were hovering above the clearing as I landed. I ran to them, panting. They landed as I got to them, doubled over, breathless.

"Arya! I'm so sorry! Please don't--"

"You forgot to come to practice! Again! I told you that you were to meet us here at Sunhigh, but no! You have to run off and miss the whole thing! I swear sometimes...." Tizzi shook her head, a few sparks flying from her nose as it twitched.

"I'm sorry... and I have a reason... but you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Arya had her hands on her hips, skeptical. I would have winced, but I... don't like to openly show weakness. Tizzi flew off, a yellow and white line of lightning flashing as she lifted into the air.

"Tell me, we're all alone now."

"I... I have to show you, come." Together we flew out toward where my human friends were camped, and promised myself to make sure she didn't haul off and kill them.

When we landed. I took her hand and walked around the tree. Her arm tensed up, I looked back at her and the fire in her eyes flared brightly, clearly angry at what and whom she saw.

"Humans?! You're fraternizing with filthy humans?! You should be exiled for this Cynder! You'll be killed!"

"I know! I know! But look at them, do they look like the scum that we have come to hate so greatly?" she cast a look their way, and saw their odd clothing and the way they spoke and played about. Her look softened a very small bit.

"Humans. Are. Humans! They cannot be trusted at all! You know what they've done to hurt our people, and how they've been helping the Dark Empress! What if they're her spies? Did you ever think about that?" I never took into consideration that they could be the Dark Empress' spies. Ever since Link and his little traitorous girlfriend were caught, we've been on the look out for more spies... and they could be them.

"No I didn't. But they speak of another world, with... with this Sleeping Beauty character and something called a Care Bear and 'Smashing Pumpkins'. I believe them. Come speak to them and see my reasoning. Please Arya." I plead. She shook her head, then looked at me, the fire gone, and the cool watery blue said that she worried about me, then agreed with a nod.

"Sam... boys. This is Arya, my best friend." Arya nodded, and the human party said hello.

"It's great to see you we've heard a lot about you from Cynder."

"It's... nice to meet you as well. And to be honest, it goes against so many of my boundaries to speak with humans, after all that they've done to our people." I wished that she had never said that, but the fact that she's brutally honest kills me, it's like my wings are getting ripped off!

"Well, we're not like that. We would never hurt your kind, not on our own lives." Gerard said. I hope that worked!

"Still trust is harder to earn when your race history is brutal and bloodthirsty for magic."

"Uh... bloodthirsty?" Frankie asked.

I saved the situation before she could get angry again. Arya isn't the person you want to question, let alone defy at any time... she get extremely violent. We sat down and talked, Arya was withdrawn, but still participated. Once the sun began to sink low in the sky, we flew off, Arya was deep in thought I could tell.

"Arya?"

"Yes Cynder, I still don't approve of this secrecy. No, I will not turn you in. And... we need to get them some clothes, and suitable shelter." I looked at her, disbelief that that just came from her lips.

"What? I'm not heartless! I understand that they are not of this world of war and pacts, so we have to either kill them, earning ourselves a bit of glory and a lot of bad conscience and grief, or we can help them adapt and even get them back where ever it is that they came from." she stated simply, a hint of reluctance in her voice. I nearly fell from the air with the impact of her words. I was sure that she would kill them behind my back or turn them in. She was very devoted to the village, and would do not a thing to put it in danger.

"Come on, then. Lets go set them up."