"𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒃
𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖?
𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅?"
                          - 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚜, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙹𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚜

    content warning: illness, mentions of death

    "Hello," Sophie smiled as a young boy, who couldn't have been more than twelve walked into her tent. His Exillium uniform was much too big for him, and he was wearing the hood, which hung so low on his face Sophie wondered if he could even see. He was Ambi, with the purple handprints on both of his arms. "What seems to be the issue?"

Sophie had permanently retired from both Team Valiant and the Black Swan ever since the war with the Neverseen had ended almost ten years ago. Stina led Team Valiant now, and the Black Swan was run by the new Collective, which consisted of Maruca, Biana, Dex, Rex, and Linh. Sophie herself ran the medical tent at Exillium, helping kids who were just trying to survive. After she had acquired a particularly nasty injury when she was seventeen, she began to pay attention to the medicine Elwin and Livvy gave her. She asked questions about the ingredients, the healing process, everything. Eventually, when the war ended when she was nineteen, Elwin offered her an apprenticeship. She worked diligently with him till she was twenty-two, when she got a job at the Exillium medical tent.

The boy pulled back his hood, revealing ice blue eyes and messy blond hair. Sophie almost flinched, but reminded herself that it wasn't him. He had been gone fourteen years, and was much older now. "It's my sister," he said, in a quiet, nervous voice. "She's really sick, and couldn't even come to school today."

Sophie nodded, already pulling together a bag of elixirs that she might need. "I'll see what I can do. What's your name, by the way?"

"Astin." Of course. Astin. Not Keefe. Ever since the second Mr. Forkle's death, and the Council declaring him a hero, the name had risen in popularity, along with Errol, Loki, Leto, and many more of his alibis.

"Well, Astin, my name's Sophie. Could you bring me to your sister?"

Astin shifted on his feet. "Won't I not get my bead for tomorrow if we leave?"

"I'll talk to Coach Rohana," Sophie assured him. "Stay right there." Coach Rohana had been her instructor when she had gone to Exillium, and Sophie was sure she'd let Astin go.

She left the medical tent, coming over towards Coach Rohana. It was lunch, so everyone, including the coaches, were outside. Coach Rohana was levitating a fruit around to entertain some younger kids. When she saw Sophie she stopped, said something to the kids, and walked over.

    "Hello," the woman said smiling kindly. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Despite her rough exterior when Sophie had attended Exillium, Rohana was quite kind once you got to know her.

    "Yes, actually," Sophie said. "Do you know Astin, the Ambi? Apparently his sister is sick and I need him to bring me to her so that she can get help."

    Rohana nodded, pulling something out of her pocket. " Of course. Here, take these," she said, pressing two beads into Sophie's hand. "For Astin tomorrow, and for when his sister comes back." Sophie thanked the woman and went back to her tent, where Astin was nervously fiddling with his bead necklace. It was a single loop, so he couldn't have been there for years, but it had still been a long time. Why the poor kid was there, Sophie couldn't imagine.

    "Your coach says it's fine," Sophie said, handing him the beads. He tucked them into his boot, reminding her of Amy. For reasons unknown to Sophie, Amy had always liked to keep her money in her shoe, making it slightly damp and smelly when she took it out. Sophie had always thought it was gross, but now she smiled softly, remembering the sister that she hadn't seen in years.

    "Uh, are we gonna go?" Astin asked quietly, shaking her out of her thoughts. Sophie nodded, silently cursing herself. She needed to focus on this kid and his sister, not missing childhood sweethearts or sisters she wasn't permitted to see. She grabbed Astin's hand and he held up his crystal, the two stepping into the light together.

•••

    When the blinding light cleared and Sophie could see her surroundings properly, she was less than a little surprised. They were standing in front of the entrance to the Wanderling Woods, the elvin equivalent of a graveyard.

   "Is this really where you and your sister live?" Sophie asked as Astin led her through the wooden arches with the oh-so-familiar quote.

    "Yeah," Aster said, shrugging. He didn't seem very comfortable talking to her, so Sophie stopped talking as she watched the trees around them grow taller and taller, till the trees created a roof of leaves and branches over them, letting sunlight filter in through the holes.

    Sophie had never been in this part of the Woods, and guessed it was the trees of those who had died during the Ancients times. She had once heard that Wanderlings never died of old age, like elves, and just kept growing until they were cut down.

    Eventually, Astin stopped at a dead end, right in front of the biggest tree Sophie had ever seen. It had dark brown bark and a mix of green and blue leaves, with pink flowers reminiscent of cherry blossoms. The lowest hanging branch was at least twice Sophie's height, though that wasn't saying much, as even in her adult years Sophie was still barely five foot five (165 cm). A plaque in front of the tree had an inscription that kind of looked like elvin runes, but much more ancient. Even if she knew the language, it would have been impossible to read, as it had been weathered and rusted over time. A newer, wooden plaque had been added next to it, reading "Genevieve Iza Conafaire".

    Sophie tried to think, but she had never heard of someone with that name. "Do you know who the tree belongs to?" She asked Astin.

    He shook his head. "No, but Elzi— my sister— always tells me to respect the tree 'cuz it's old and forgotten and it's bad to forget people just because they weren't the most important ."

    "That's very true," Sophie said, smiling.

    Astin began to levitate up, Sophie following suit. He had impressive control for his age, and Sophie winced, remembering how awful she had been at gym during her first few years in the Lost Cities.

    Once they reached the landing of the tree, Astin stopped and climbed into it. Sophie did as well, noticing how big it was. The landing was about the size of a large human bedroom, with some supplies and food against one branch, and a pile of patchwork blankets against another. Sophie could make out a figure huddled under the blankets, who she assumed to be Elzi.

    Walking over, Sophie gently pulled the blankets off the girl, making sure not to wake her. She was probably fifteen, with hair and skin that were several shades darker than Astin's, but shared his skinny frame, and probably his ice blue eyes, though Sophie couldn't be sure while the girl was asleep.

    Sophie touched the girls forehead and could immediately tell it was much warmer than it should be. Fever. Pulling on the colorful glasses Elwin had taught her to use, Sophie pulled a green candle from her bag and lit it. Unfortunately, flashing was one of the few abilities the Black Swan hadn't given her, so she had to use candle instead of glowing balls of energy.

     As she held the flame up to her eyes, her suspicions were immediately confirmed. "Astin," she said, turning to the boy, "Have you and your sister ever gone to the human cities?"

    "Yeah... but it was only once! And we didn't do anything bad!" He looked close to tears.

    "I'm not mad," Sophie assured him. "And I'm not going to get you in trouble. Your sister seems to have a human disease, called the flu. It's usually not that bad, but elvin immune systems aren't used to it so it hit a lot harder for her."

    Biting his lip, Astin asked the question that must have been nagging him the whole time. "Will she-will she die?"

    "No, of course not!" Sophie promised, using the confidence that was so easy to have with elvin medicine. In the human world, things like this had been so much less of a guarantee. "No, she just needs some medicine and rest. And you two might want to stay at my house for a little bit. It looks like it's going to rain..." Sophie frowned at the graying sky.

    Astin seemed fine with that, and already began packing his few belongings. "Uh, Sophie?" He said, a bit more timid than he had been, like he was asking for a huge favor.

    "Yeah?"

    "When we get there, can we have mallowmelt? If it's not to much trouble?"

    Sophie smiled. "Of course."

1516 words

This was supposed to be a short story but now I kinda wanna write more about them. Maybe something where Elzi isn't unconscious.

Please let me know what your thoughts on this are!