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Pain…

Debilitating headache…

Bright sunlight hits my face, dispersing the comfortable darkness. Rousing me awake.

…sluggish thoughts, slow movements. Dry eyes and heavy eyelids weighing me down. A comfortable warmth covering my chest.

*crunch* *rustle* *crunch* The soft sound of crunching leaves and grass amidst quiet, steady, and slow footsteps. Wisps of wind caressing my back. The smell of nature and mixed herbs, and a cozy fragrance of cloth that was left out in the sun.

*crunch* Left…

*crunch* Right…

*crunch* Left… The soft sway lulling me back to sleep.

“Hhgn…” I tightly hug the blissful warmth closer. Yawning.

“O*#*!... T*≈≈**≈≈k#≈…”

…

‘hmm…?’

…Furrowing my eyebrows as I recall the last thing I could remember… Flashes of vicious carnage went across my mind, fighting until I could not stand anymore. And then, unconsciousness–

‘Whuh?!... Wait What!? Where?! How!?’ I jump with a jolt of surprise and immediately try to get away from whatever I am grabbing. Trashing and fumbling away as I gather my bearings. Tripping over my own tail in the process.

“Sssst!… A–oouch…” My migraine takes a turn for the worse from the sudden movement. I clutch my head. Brain pulsating in and out with pain and disorientation, my sore and tired body sapping away the brief burst of energy.

“*#**≈≈*≈≈*##!!!”

Still in the process of waking. My scrambled thoughts catching up with what happened then and what is now. I make an effort to open my heavy eyelids.

Staring with half-lidded, blurry vision, I see… ‘A man?… Ooh… He sure is handsome… more so than anyone I have ever met before… Where did he come from?...’

Blink.

Realization slaps me and my drowsy consciousness instantly becomes sober. My eyes widened in surprise. ‘Hold up– A PERSON?!’

I look him up and down as he comes closer. ‘What?... Who?... Where did he come from!? When!?–’ A shadow is cast over me and, before I realize it, he’s already crouched down in front of me.

Too close. “AAA!” *Shlap!* “Gufhah!–!” *thud* The man is knocked back.

Scared, I hit him with my tail and immediately crawled away from him.

“≈**≈≈! ≈≈**≈≈*...”

*huff* *huff* *huff*

Hopping up and over a mound of roots, I hide behind a tree, catching my breath and taking in the situation. Letting my jumping heart and the sudden panic be washed away as I calm myself.

‘This… This can’t be real. After so much time searching… for someone to appear all of a sudden, right now? I should be glad– No, he is suspicious. Did he know where I was this whole time? A stalker? Or worse, a slaver? A hallucination?– have I eaten something bad?– Another lucid nightmare?…’

Doubt and denial occupy my head as I hug my knees, coiling my tail around myself, and hyperventilating. ‘–He’s right there–’ My head spins, should I be happy? Angry? Sad? Running for my life?

*rustle* “K**#*≈*... ≈≈s**#?”

‘...What?’ Curiosity takes over me and I peek from behind the tree I was hiding behind. ‘I… I don’t– What language– What did he say?’

I see him slowly getting up. Taking his time to not make any brusque movements as he looks over where I am with a soft expression. ‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

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While the man approaches, I take time to finally observe him, he is wearing clothes of varied green colors and brown padding, colorful plates embedded on his wrists, and vital areas. ‘Are those… scales?’. He is wearing not-quite robes, the fabric being loose and baggy in some parts and tightly fitting in others, allowing ease of movement while covering his whole body. Large, almost oversized wooden sandals that tie around the legs with tall heels, I spot a sheath tied to his left ankle. Lots, a lot of pouches, on his belts and hidden inside the padded baggy areas, one of the belts is holding a quiver instead, and I see the bow, almost as tall as him, laying sideways some distance from him.

The man speaks. “**#**≈≈ **≈... #***?” I focus on his pretty... elven. Face. ‘This feels weird, calling a man pretty…’

He tries to speak and talk to me. Listening closely… I cannot understand a word he says, the words are completely strange and different from anything from my world.

He gets too close for comfort and stops when I flinch and retreat back behind my cover. Gesturing to the bloody bandages wrapping my body ‘since when did?...’ Only now do I notice the sharp pain from my wounds. The blood seeping and staining them under the wrappings.

In the shadows… I look at him, doubting with a piercing gaze.

From the light... He looks at me, a gleam of hope in his eyes.

‘He… I….’

I gulp down the creeping paranoia.

‘Even if it’s not real, even if only for just a moment… It wouldn’t hurt to believe…’

Gingerly approaching, carefully measuring each step while locking sights. I step into the sunlight along with him. He displays a wide smile as I approach.

He slowly crouches down and… gently puts his hand over my head?

‘W-what?’ A confused blush flares on my face.

The man smiled bitterly and did a quiet, hoarse chuckle. Noting the baffled expression on the kid.

The feel of each of his fingers as they glided on my head, covered by worn-out leather gloves caressing my scalp, surprised me. The solid, undisputable presence of someone, anyone. The simple company of another person, rescuing me to reality, shattering the walls that I had been building.

‘This… is this real?...

Suddenly, impacting me with the force of a waterfall. I feel immense relief shower me. Like an overbearing weight is lifted from my entire being. I lose all the air in my lungs as I shakily exhale. sobbing. All the accumulated tension leaves my body as I truly relax for the first time in a long, long time. I fell down at his feet.

‘You… are real?’

The person asked me something in a worried tone, but I could not hear a word… as I was drowning in the deep.

A half-cough and a hiccup, holding back my tears and swallowing down my want to cry. ‘A PERSON!!!...’ *hic* ‘FINALLY!!!...’ *sob* ‘Someone…’

“#**≈≈! #***≈#*...” The man gets startled by the sudden turn of events. Making a worried apologetic face he begins to step back, taking his hand off me.

I do not let him.

Grasping his hand back as tightly as possible, I hold it down. The solid warmth and the coarse texture I squeeze grounding me. A pillar to hold on to.

‘He is real.’

Tears obfuscating my vision, wet snot blocking my breathing, my efforts to hold back aren’t enough. The floodgates are opened.

A sad roar sounds through the forest.

I Cry and shout all of the anguish inside me out, the emotions escaping my grasp, slipping past the prison they were in and finally running free once again…

The anxiety. Built and stored for so long that it towered over me, fell down, further disrupting my turbulent waters in an explosion of catharsis.

The pain endured. From my journey, from my struggles and battles, from the hardships that I have been carrying so far. Getting so much lighter, now that the burden can finally be shared.

“...≈≈*≈≈#≈*”

Amidst the storm I found myself in… I hear a soft, soothing voice, filled with empathy… A light in the dark.

An encompassing presence, promising protection.

And I Feel a big, welcoming embrace around me.

I embrace it back.

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“Ranger’s” POV

‘Well, that was quite the meeting.’ I muse as I rub my face gently. ‘she can pack quite a punch with that tail of hers, such deceptive strength for someone so small… my hand still hurts from how hard she held it.’

A discreet glance back shows that she is still holding my hand, stubbornly looking down at her feet with a glum expression as we travel.

‘At least, now I can partly understand how she has lasted so long here alone… She is abnormally resilient for a child. Wounds that would have put an average person down and out of commission were shrugged off, and are already healing at a fast noticeable pace, she should be completely healed by the end of the week. And also strong enough to put up a fight with medium monsters, apparently without the use of magic… OW… Although, it seems she is not quite aware of her strength. My hand hurts…’ I considered making her let go of the grasp she has on mine but…

seeing her expression, it would be unwise.

Averting my gaze and looking up. Judging by the color of the small patches of skyline visible above the treeline, the sun Is about to set. Nightfall is coming.

I take a deep breath as I stop walking, catching the attention of the little one.

*huff* ‘I understand that I have taken the responsibility of ferrying her back safely in the spur of the situation… I was… uncharacteristically emotional.’

*sigh* ‘But dealing with children… It is not my speciality.’ I recall the reputation I garnered back home…

‘Only love can support the patience needed to tolerate those annoying brats. Gods… bless their caretakers, I cannot fathom how they can endure dealing with such whimsical and undisciplined creatures for 100 summers.’

‘The task was briefly given to me and promptly taken away from me. After making sure they stayed put and quiet for the day as they became my responsibility to take care of. There was a commotion, and ultimately it was decided that such jobs were not to be assigned to me ever again… Hmph, my methods are harmless and effective but it seems they could not handle them. Now, I am regarded as some sort of strange deterrent for misbehaved kids, with me being the high ranger in charge of the training grounds.’

She curiously stares at me with those wide, large eyes of hers as I mused in my own thoughts…

I narrow my eyes and turn away. ‘...Don’t get too attached.’ We may possibly share the same blood… but her fate lies in her own hands, should the village accept her.

“...You are injured, little one, and it is almost bedtime for you, who needs all the rest available. Come.” I gesture to her. She follows me making a weird sour face.

“I assume that you have no experience whatsoever regarding the ways of the jungle and how to properly survive and traverse it. Therefore, I will treat you as a fresh initiate, we are not in a safe training environment, so mistakes cannot be tolerated.”

The utter confusion on her face grows and grows as I speak, I notice she starts to quiver, gulping down the distress. But nods in affirmation anyways when I stop talking.

“Ah… I forget, you do not understand.” I recall the outlandish cries and the unknown characters that I have stumbled upon…

‘It seems communication worsens her fragile state. This will be a problem…’ I furrow my brows, thinking about how to overcome this problem. She starts to shift and shuffle nervously under my stare– ‘Ah…’

I recall that caressing her head seemed to calm her down before, as it does for many children. I reach out, and she jumps in reflex as my hand lands on her, but ultimately settles down and leans into it, tail curling and uncurling. ‘Good. Negative emotions will only hinder us.’

Deciding to resort to a more silent approach, I start by making simple gestures. The sky, the forest, and mimicking sleep. It seems she realizes my intent. So I began to climb a nearby tree to prepare the sleeping accommodations.

“E-eh? awawa… a–aa… O-oi!” Hearing the shout, I stop and look down.

Only to see the child looking up at me, awkwardly hugging the wood and on the verge of crying.

‘Didn’t she know how to?... *sigh* this small journey may take more time than I had thought.’ Having to carry her up and down everywhere every day was… not suitable in the long term.

Dropping down, I began an impromptu ‘how to climb’ lesson, and much to my dismay we had to spend a lot of time lost in translation and gesturing to each other…

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