Travellers Trinkets

The grey clouds didn't do much to hide the sun's radiant beams. Every time I looked upward my eyes would strain even though the sun was blocked by a myriad of clouds. Patches of blue would pop out of the cloudline every now and then but it wasn't nearly as common as the blurring grey sky above. It was strange sitting atop a horse, I'd never ridden a living creature much less an actual horse before. Before today I hadn't actually seen a horse in real life before. Behind me Diantha sat holding the horse's reins making sure I never fell off. It was comforting to be surrounded by her.

In front and behind of our horse were the carriages brought by those kidnappers which were now being dragged by horses. Watching a convoy of horses and carriages felt like something I'd only see at a fall festival back on Silt but on Ennath I guessed it was a normal thing to see. Dozens of people were sitting inside of the carriages without much to do but talk

In my hands was the emerald gem that Diantha had given me the night prior. Rubbing my fingers against the strings I remembered that night as that blue scarfed man tried to kill me. The coarseness was like sand paper against my skin. The most interesting part about the gem was when I made a five pointed star using the strings and my fingers like the one on my revolver. Suddenly where my empty was now held a tiny brown pebble.

“Diantha look!” I held up the rock upwards so Diantha could see what I'd made.

“That's certainly a nice looking rock dear.” Diantha hesitated before continuing her sentence which made it sound like she hadn't just seen me make it out of thin air.

“Look!” I decided to demonstrate what I'd done by making another slightly bigger rock the size of my palm.

“Mayhaps you could try making something other than rocks, focus on a shape when you're forming the stone.” She nonchalantly said that whilst not even looking down at me and instead at the dirt road ahead.

If she was going to ignore me then I'd just show her something she couldn't possibly ignore. Trying to take Diantha's advice I formed another star using the green string and concentrated as hard as I possibly could on squares, square cookies, square bread, square rocks. In my palm the strings began to flow as they did whenever I created a star and out of the light came a rock in the shape of a square. It was by no means perfect, the corners were rounded and uneven but it was a facsimile of a square. I knew just this wouldn't be impressive to Diantha so I knew I had to go even further than this.

It took me two rocks before I was able to create a square with even sides and pointed corners. I could show this to Diantha and she'd probably tell me it was alright, I needed something more. As I conjured my next star I conceived an ingenious idea, why just stick to simple shapes, why not try something harder? The image of the woman behind me filled my mind, her hair, the shape of her body, the way she comforted me on that night. The picture was clear as day as light shone once again within my palm. Arising from the threads was a statue that looked exactly like Diantha, and on my first try too unlike those squares. I presented the brown figurine of Diantha to her like a trophy as I held a proud grin.

“Is this me?” Diantha held up the sculpture of herself with what I hoped was awe in her eyes before mumbling to herself. “It usually takes sculptors years to make something this precise.”

“I'd thought that maybe you'd like a carving of yourself.” I tried giving Diantha that smile she always gave me.

“This is incredible work Mikayla. Maybe you can make a figurine of yourself for me.” She stashed the statuette of herself into a bag and gave me that smile that I failed to replicate. I knew instantly what my next task was.

The picture was blurrier this time, less consistent than what I'd been trying to imagine. I didn't really know what I looked like that well. The few times I'd seen myself were when I didn't want this body, these urges that plagued me no matter what I did. Forming from my palm was a disfigured mess of a rock, it was jagged in all the wrong places and was more colored like shit than an actual person. As it grew in my hand some of the spikes pricked my hand and I threw it into the nearby forest.

“Mikayla!” Diantha immediately grabbed my now bleeding hand and cast another one of her spells that instantly stopped the bleeding. A tiny bit of water from her finger washed away what little blood had come out.

“I'm alright.” I didn't want Diantha to waste any more of her energy on me and pulled my hand away from hers.

“Are you certain?” Diantha asked with caution.

“I'm fine.” I responded hoping that would be that, it was just a prick on my finger nothing more. Diantha finally seemed to relent as she turned her focus back to riding the horse.

Looking down at where my hand was pricked I saw no visible scar yet I felt like there was one. That figurine of myself should have been just as good as the one of Diantha yet it had obviously failed and backfired on me. With this next green star I had another idea of a figurine. I thought of Mikayla, not that girl that Diantha thought I was but the Mikayla of my dreams, the one that I'd seen a million times on T.V. Her dreams of becoming the new princess and ruler of her country, that resolve to do whatever it took to find her family again. It was something I'd dreamed of ever since that first episode aired. Out of my palm formed a figurine nearly identical to the one I left at the Silver Bell except it was brown and made of stone. Showing it to Diantha I expected praise but was instead greeted with a frown.

“This isn't you Mikayla.” She only gave a cursory glance before exhibiting her disappointment.

“It looks exactly like me!” I thought that the statuette was a near complete replica of myself.

“This figurine has hair much longer than yours, her clothes aren't the ones you're currently wearing, her ears aren't pointed like yours, and her face doesn't match yours at all. You're much cuter than this.” For some odd reason that made me blush, it was a strange feeling of annoyance and satisfaction that Diantha noticed those things about me. 

“I… uhm. I'll try again.” Diantha gave me a smile before stashing the figurine into her pack like the other one.

Diantha actually seemed to care about me despite everything I'd done, everything I am, and I didn't want to disappoint her again. This would be my final statuette today and I knew I'd make a me that Diantha would be proud of. I closed my eyes and focused on the ears that Diantha had pointed out, my according to her cute face, and of course the hair that Scarlet had cut just for me. The image was clear, it was me. Out of my palm came forth another version of myself, one I knew would satisfy Diantha.

“That's amazing!” Diantha said with a tone full of Wonder that made me feel proud.

“It's just a statue…” My words faltered as the compliment filled me.

“Not just that, you didn't use the gem.” Diantha spoke with a voice that made it known I'd pleased her.

I realized that I hadn't even made the star or even did that finger thing that Diantha and Scarlet could do. Diantha plucked the figurine out of my hand and inspected it with greater detail than she had the previous one. Her eyes are likely searching for any deformities and things that would differentiate it from me.

“You're amazing Mikayla.” I couldn't stop the smile on my face from forming even if I wanted to and I didn't reject the head pats that followed.

After a minute or two of headpats from Diantha I became aware of the fact that I had no idea where we were going. I decided to ask Diantha since she seemed to be the one leading this camp of people. We'd been riding for two days now and I still hadn't asked Diantha. I didn't want to inconvenience her but now finally seemed to ask. 

“Where are we going Diantha?” I asked hoping that me pestering her wouldn't sour her mood.

“It's this wonderful city named Rosurnan.” She responded cheerfully as I came to grips with what that really meant.

—

Rosurnan's walls stood higher than ever before as we entered. Diantha led the group while trying to comfort me as my nerves yelled at me to run away. I'd ran away from the Silver Bell and now I was unwittingly being forced to return. Would they even want me back after what happened to Kael because of me? Diantha seemed to notice my displeasure and tried to comfort me.

“Don't worry, the Silver Bell is a safe place, I'm sure you'll make friends there.” She didn't seem to understand where my anxiousness was coming from but she tried to comfort me nonetheless.

As we meandered through the city we hit a street that I recognized and I knew the Silver Bell would be approaching soon. Soon I saw the two story inn come into sight and I knew it was far too late to turn back now. Maybe Kael and Scarlet weren't in, or maybe Damian wouldn't recognize me. It was a stupid hope considering they probably hadn't even noticed I'd left, none of them would even want me back.

Diantha hitched her horse onto a post outside the Silver Bell, everyone started getting out of the carts. I was embarrassingly lifted off of the horse and down to the ground but nobody seemed to care. Some of the staff were speaking to the new arrivals and assigning them rooms, they spoke to Diantha but not me. I clung to Diantha's side hoping to stay hidden. Then my worst fears came to pass. In a booth within the tavern area Kael was sitting and Diantha waved at him. I stayed near Diantha and followed her as she sat down to meet Kael, but I stopped halfway and slipped into the booth just before Kael hoping I wasn't spotted.

“Kael! You're walking again.” Diantha spoke with happiness in her tone, she seemingly knew Kael already.

“Would've been faster if you healed me properly.” Kael held a joking tone, one I'd only use for friends.

“Well whoever patched you up first obviously needs training.” If Diantha knew I was the one who healed Kael she would've been nicer, but it's the truth that I only did the bare minimum of keeping him alive.

“About that… he's gone missing.” His tone almost sounded like he actually cared that I was gone, he probably only said it to save face. For some reason his choice of pronouns stung. “I was wondering if you found him. He's a Steilae about half my height, tanned skin, black hair with green highlights, and scales of the same color.”

“That sounds remarkably similar to this poor girl I'd found. I wonder where she went, I could swear she was next to me when I entered.” She spoke about me like I was a lost puppy and not a person, honestly that was better than whatever I am now.

I couldn't be here anymore, none of them would want a monster living with them. As silently as I possibly could I slowly rose from the table as Kael and Diantha kept talking. Shuffling out of the booth something beneath the table caught my leg causing me to fall onto the ground just outside the booth. With a thud Diantha and Kael turned to me, both with vastly different expressions in their faces.

“Michael?” Kael said with confusion at the sight of me.

“Mikayla!” Diantha exited the booth and rushed over to me, helping me get up.

I kept my head low even though I knew Kael had recognized me. I didn't want to look him in the eye, the first time since the cave, he probably hated me. Diantha began to wipe away some tears that I hadn't noticed. She was saying some words but they only sounded like white noise to me. I didn't want Kael to hurt me because of the cave.

“P- please don't hurt me Kael.” In an instant after my whisper Diantha turned to Kael with a horrifying stare I'd never seen her make before.

“What did you do to her Kael?” It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

“I've got no clue Diantha, do you really think I'd hit a kid?” He sounded genuinely hurt from Diantha's accusation. “Why would I hurt you Michael?” 

I didn't want to say why, if I did nobody would believe me, nobody would care. But the tense air forced my hand. “Whenever my dad got hurt he would… he would…” 

I couldn't say it. No matter how much I tried I couldn't parse the words. My throat choked on itself, not letting me speak what needed to be spoken. They wouldn't care anyway, mom never cared and she loved me, these strangers would never care about me like my parents did. But as I finally stared Kael in the eyes his expression was one full of hatred. I knew what would happen now. Kael approached, each step felt like doom. 

Then I felt two arms enveloping me in their warmth.

“You're safe kid.” Kael spoke with a tone I never imagined he could express as he hugged me.

I flinched as he spoke, expecting a hit that would never come and I needed to know why. “Why didn't you hurt me?”

“Why would I hurt you?” Kael's question was rhetorical as if he had nothing to be angry at me about.

“Parents shouldn't hurt their children. Whatever your father did to you was wrong Mikayla.” Diantha spoke in the same manner as Kael, trying to comfort me.

I wasn't sure what to say so I said the first thing that came to mind. 

My voice was strained but I needed to say it. “Thank you.” 

I wasn't sure to who I was saying it to but it felt like the only thing I could say right now. My tears soaked into Kael's clothes as I realized that the entire floor was staring at the three of us making a scene.

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