Chapter Six

Familiar Spaces

Thorn watched the sky shift from orange to blue.

With grass tickling his ears and trees crowding his periphery, it was almost the same as any morning back home. Almost. This corner of Tyr Park was the closest he would be for some time.

He let out a long sigh, unable to stop the day from starting.

With only a little bit of concentration, the traces of dust and dirt on him or his clothing dropped to the ground, and he made himself presentable – though he would need to find somewhere to bathe soon – then checked his belongings. Leaf had taught him a trick to sense vibrations through the earth even as he slept so he knew for certain no one had robbed him, but he checked anyway.

And realized that he had eaten the last of his food last night. In all the chaos, he hadn’t even noticed.

Foraging the park for food was out of the question; Leaf had made him promise not to do that. He grimaced at the reality that he would have to cross that vast, grey, ocean again, but it could not be helped, not if he wanted anything more than to lie there and starve to death.

Time to go.

Now.

Thorn let himself fall back into the grass.

Maybe a little while longer.

…

Meridian buzzed with an urgency and activity that irritated him and made the simple act of walking unpleasant, so he was in a poor mood when he walked into the first grocer.

Any meat farmed this close to a city would likely be flavourless and stale, so he found the produce section, and found it lacking. When he poked melons, the rinds began to give under his finger, most everything with leaves on it was wilting, and many of the berries were unusually soft.

He brought a soggy carrot to the man at the counter. “Excuse me, do you have anything that’s fresh?”

“It’s all fresh. That came here today.” The man said without looking.

“This is not fresh.” Thorn stated simply. “This is a closer to rotting than anything I’ve eaten. I’m not even certain its edible.”

For some reason, the man took offense to that and asked him to leave.

Thorn found two other grocers of a similar quality and asked similar questions to the same odd reaction. Did anybody in this city sell edible produce?

His search had brought him to the edge of a residential area. He stood in front the alleyway between Krashwer Avenue and Fuhroh Street Grocers. As he was resigning himself to going back into the grocery and buying something to stave off his hunger a blur darted past his legs.

His heart nearly jumped out of his chest. After the shock wore off, curiosity replaced it.

Thorn crept into the alley, keeping his senses sharp in case the creature had claws or venom. It had run into a wooden crate and hidden. He circled around the crate to get a better look.

His first thought was of the nightweavers that stalked the outer rim of the Baji Forest. Anyone willing to venture that far had to have a minimum knowledge of Fire or a bladed weapon to ward them off.

But this thing was small.

Much too small.

Nightweavers shoulders were level with a man’s waist, but this thing barely came up to the middle of Thorn’s calf. They had pure black coats and green eyes that blended perfectly into the night while this thing had dark brown fur marbled with orange and amber coloured eyes. They could shriek and be heard across the forest, freezing the blood in a man’s veins, but this thing just gave a high-pitched whine.

The small-cat had puffed its fur up to look bigger.

“How can you be this…small?” Thorn asked.

The creature gave no answer.

Thorn’s interest in it quickly died and he left the alley.

He returned to the grocer’s and tried to purchase their subpar vegetables but for some reason they wouldn’t sell to him.

Was there any aspect of this city that made sense? The vegetables were rotting, the trees were tiny, even the cats were wrong. There had to be somewhere in this city that made sense.

Thorn was so lost in thought that he walked several streets deep into the residential area without noticing and what broke him out of his stupor was the sound of a water flowing.

Right. The river here runs through to the ocean. He remembered. He was about to fill his water sleeve before deciding against it; this was not a river he wanted to swim in, much less drink from.

He was about to turn back when he noticed plumes of black smoke rising up from further ahead.

What was this? Was this simply a fire or something important, another thing for Thorn to not understand about this place?

He had had more than enough of that and began walking towards it to see what was going on.

Of the row of houses facing the river, the one on the very end was being consumed by flames.

An elderly couple stood outside on the sidewalk while a group of three men stood on the very edge of the river with one hand in contact with the water and creating three streams of water, thin as whips. The water whips fizzled ineffectively into the blaze.

“You need more water.” Thorn said, approaching the men, “Use more.”

Two of the men said the nothing while the third gawked up at Thorn for a moment, “What are you standing around here for? Get somewhere safe!”

“Concentrate more. Draw more water,” Thorn said before realizing he was being rude.

This was really all they could manage, and it was less than the proficiency he’d had in multiple paths as a child. Yet…Water was not one of those paths. He doubted without further education that he could summon enough water to douse this fire.

Earth and Air were another story.

A shower of dirt. Suffocate the blaze but don’t destroy the house. Thorn stepped onto the lawn, ready to leech his vitality into the soil beneath his feet and command it. The old couple will be irate about their lawn.

He imagined the soil underfoot rising like a wave and crashing down on the home and…

Nothing happened. There was a moment of disbelief before someone pulled him backwards by the scruff of his neck.

It was the man who had shouted at him, “Are you deaf and dumb? Get out of the way!”

Again.

It had happened again.

“No…no earlier was a fluke. I…I…” Thorn mumbled to himself, watching the flames rise.

Powerless once again. Worse yet, the fire had begun to spread to the house on the left and it was growing larger by the second.

And Thorn could do nothing.

“Hey! Stay back, lady! Can’t you see the fire?” The man shouted behind him.

Thorn turned to see a young woman, a few years his senior perhaps and perceived her with sharpness. Garbed in typical city wear, with skin as dark as his and eyes as green as Baji leaves, carrying bags in either hand.

She strode towards the river’s edge with purpose, ignoring the protest of the man until she stood at their side, feet soaked in the river and closed her eyes, seemingly concentrating.

The river rippled and churned unnaturally, forming a whirlpool with her at its epicenter.

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A torrent of water as wide as any of the nearby houses, as wide as a baji trunk, flowed out of the river and formed an arc over the burning house. Droplets like rain dripped onto Thorn who stood underneath.

The massive torrent was poised to crush the house, and would have if it had fallen, but instead it simply rained a sustained torrential downpour out of the very tip.

Thorn watched in awe, and he was not the only one. The raw strength was immense, but even more immense was her control. He doubted that at his best he could handle Earth, Air, or Fire with even quarter of either.

After a few minutes, the fire sizzled into grey steam wafting off a blackened husk of a home, as had the fledgling fire next door.

The torrent surged backwards into the river until it vanished, its flow was set right, and everyone was silent as the young woman stepped out of the water.

Thorn’s heart pounded as she walked towards him; she was beyond gorgeous. Staring at her was like looking into the sun, but at the same time it was impossible to look away, and that pounding only strengthened as she neared until he could not hear his own thoughts.

She gave him a small smile before walking past him, the scent of her perfume filling his nose.

The elderly couple clambered over themselves to thank her.

“It was nothing.” Her voice was light and airy, she actually seemed flustered, “If I had gotten here sooner…”

“Nonsense, you’re a hero.” The woman said, “Please tell us your name so we can thank you properly.”

“Ivy.” The young woman said.

The curse binding Thorn’s tounge broke, “You’re a Naturalist?”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “Yes…”

“A real one, from the Baji Forests?”

Her confusion turned to a warm smile. “I knew I recognized those leaves. Welcome to Meridian, little brother.”

“You’re stron-strong.” Thorn’s face grew hot at the voice crack, but she did not seem to notice.

“We were just lucky someone around here knew what they were doing.” The old man grumbled, “The three of them did as much as good as a tossing bucket of oil on it! Would have been more useful running back and forth with buckets than their measly abilities.”

Ivy’s voice lost a bit of its lightness, “They tried their best to help save your home, don’t think too harshly of them.”

“You got more done in three minutes than all three of them in double that time.”

“They performed admirably for ordinary citizens,” Ivy looked a bit bashful, “But I am a teacher at Meridian Academy so that’s to be expected.

A professor!

Thorn would have thought she was lying, if not for what she’d just done. The group seemed suitably impressed.

“You? but you’re so young.” The old woman said.

“The youngest teaching right now.” Ivy said, “One year and a half since I started.”

“Can you teach me?!” Thorn said, louder than intended, “Oh, I’m…I’m a student at Meridian Academy as well and it seems like I could learn a lot from you.”

“Don’t listen to that liar.” The old man said, “He was even more useless than those three! He’d never get into a school like that in a million years.”

Thorn opened his mouth to tell the man how wrong he was when the old lady let out a scream.

“Marble!” She shrieked, “She ran out of the house once the fire started but I forgot all about her. Oh, she must be so scared.”

“What does Marble look like?” Ivy asked.

“Black. She’s black with amber fur, just like a marble.” The woman sobbed and pointed to where Thorn had come from. “She ran off in that direction.

“Is this Marble one of your small cats?” Thorn asked. The woman nodded.

“First we should make sure no one needs medical attention and that the building is secure before searching for you pet.”

“Please you have to find her!”

“I promise I will do everything I can to help you find her,” Ivy said, grabbing the woman’s hand and patting it, “But right now we need to make sure everything and everyone in safe here.”

“I’ll find it.” Thorn said, drawing all eyes on him once again, though he only looked at Ivy for approval.

She nodded.

A small-cat. Thorn pushed past people on the street. I’ve been sent to fetch a small cat. Why am I doing this? He had tried to help, surely it didn’t fall to him to search for some animal. Much less for an unpleasant old man.

He traced his steps back to the alley and found the wooden crate. The small cat was still inside, puffed up and eyeing him warily. He reached in to grab it and the creature hissed and swatted at him, catching an arm.

Thorn cursed and tried to grab hold of it again, “I’m trying to take you to your home, you stupid beast.” It was like wrestling a hairy serpent, each time he thought he got hold of it, it slipped away, or bit or clawed its way out of his grasp.

Both of his arms were dripping bright red blood within seconds.

If my abilities worked, I could create a cage out of Earth and carry the animal in that.

Pessimistically he tried.

He failed.

Ivy would certainly be able to retrieve it. Even a beast this wretched couldn’t hate Ivy, anything more intelligent than a plant couldn’t.

“Why are you so difficult?” He looked it in the eyes, “I told you I was taking you home. Don’t you wish to go back home?”

The creature hissed at him.

“Your masters miss you. Do you not miss them?”

The creature merely watched him.

“Why would you even come to a place like this?”

The creature gave no answer.

Thorn stood up, ready to return to the burnt home and hand this task off to another, but that thought irritated him.

Perhaps it was the idea of someone else earning Ivy’s favour, perhaps it was the idea of the old man mocking him further, perhaps it was simply the thought that no matter how much this creature attacked him, the idea of it being away from its home any longer made him unhappy.

He extended a hand towards the small-cat and cursed when it swiped at him. Why does it hate me so much?

Perhaps it wanted to stay here?

He lay against cold, solid stone, looking up at the bright blue sky, surrounded on all sides by buildings.

He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

Then heard the creature take a step towards him.

Maybe I can grab it now and…and get scratched again? He made no movements towards it. Each step brough it closer and closer to him until it was right beside his chest. It sniffed his cloak and to his shock began rubbing against him, as if trying to coat him in its scent.

When he opened his eyes again, it was resting its head on his chest, making some sort of rumbling with its chest and sniffing at the leaves.

My cloak.

He returned to the burnt husk of a home with Marble wrapped up in his cloak. The other men had left but Ivy and the old couple were still in discussion when Marble made a strange high pitch mewling to announce her return.

The old woman scrambled to pick the cat out of her arms and thank him profusely, the old man said nothing and refused to meet his gaze.

Ivy looked impressed with him, “Cats can be tricky to find, you must have a way with animals.”

Thorn laughed, perhaps a little too loudly, “The beast hates me.”

“It didn’t look that way to me.”

Thorn showed her his bloody arms, “Look what she did to me.”

Ivy frowned and grabbed the water pouch she wore at her side. With the same control as earlier, she commanded the water a large bubble of green-tinged water out of it, and gently interlaced her fingers with Thorn’s.

The water was cool to the touch, and Ivy’s hands were soft and delicate. Thorn felt blood rushing to his cheeks and his heart raced once more. The water climbed up to his elbows and began to gently swirl in circles. It stung for a moment before the pain was replaced by a soothing sensation.

“This water is infused with herbs. It’ll stop the bleeding and prevent infection, and hopefully minimize any scarring.” Ivy explained.

“Thanks.” Thorn mumbled, unsure what to say. “I really am a Meridian Academy student.”

“I believe you.” Ivy said and began humming a song. “I know about your traditions.

“Oh.” Thorn said. The two stood like that, Ivy holding his hands for some time before she asked another question.

“You’re new to the city, aren’t you?”

“How can you tell?” Thorn asked.

“Housecats.” Ivy said with a grin, “Though I can see why you’d call them small-cats. They’re quite small compared to nightweavers. And much more adorable.”

“This city is so different.” Thorn mumbled. “Everything is so different. Even the food. How do you live when everything is so strange?”

Ivy’s eyes lit up and she stood to her full height, a head taller than him, he’d noticed. “Follow me. I have a surprise.” She managed to leave the water enveloping his arms.

Ivy led him on a brief walk through the city and it seemed to change step by step. The trees looked healthier, the lawns were not just simple grass, but not long grass and wild flowers and weeds. The homes looked humbler than before.

“Where are we?” Thorn asked.

“Shh.” Ivy hissed, “Not yet.

She did not let him speak until they were in front of a large building. It seemed to be carved out of Baji wood and Naturalists walked in and out. Ivy led him inside.

There were shelves of Baji leaf creations. Satchels and bags, cloaks and water sleeves. Most of what Thorn had seen back home.

What’s more there were rows of fresh produce: kell leaves and anasai roots and more.

This little building seemed like the backdoor opened directly into the bounty of the Baji Forests and its owners knew how to harvest it.

“We call it the Little Forest.” Ivy answered the question on Thorn’s lips and gave him a wide grin, one which he could not help but return.

“I never imagined a place like this was anywhere in this city.” Thorn admitted.

“Meridian contains multitudes. I know it’s a chance but give it a chance. You’ll always find something, somewhere, or someone that feels like home. I promise.” Ivy said.

“I believe you.” Thorn said.

“What’s your name, little brother?” The man at the counter asked.

“Thorn.” He answered.