Aiko and the guard whose name she now realized she had not bothered to ask stood to the side and waited on the people within the room to finish whatever discussion they were currently having. On that note, Aiko decided that now would be a good time to ask and gently tapped the guard with her other small clawed hand. As he bent down she whispered into his ear. “I’m sorry that I’m just now asking you this but what’s your name? And also my name is Aiko. Thank you for all of your help.”
As Brimit leaned down to hear what the small creature had to say he was still left in awe of just how discordant her personality was when compared to how she looked. What she said only served to further reinforce this. Brimit couldn’t bite back the chuckle That formed from her words as he prepared his reply. “Oh no need to worry about that. My name is Brimit. It’s nice to meet you but I think that we should save all of our interactions till after the Council is Ready to hear you out.”
He stood and as If on cue the council seemed to take notice of them and the discussion that they had been engrossed in till that point came to a halt. Almost as one, the five members seated around the mat all turned to face the pair that had entered the room behind them. At first, they only looked at Brimit but soon realization caught them and they all pointedly stared at Aiko.
“Brimit what… who is this that you’ve brought to the Council? And why have you brought this child here?”
Brimit seemed to shrink a little bit at first but then stood firm and thought momentarily before simply shrugging and introducing her. “Men and women of the council I would like to introduce Aiko. Apparently, she comes to us through the trees many days travel from here. She is also a bearer of the power and quite potent at that. When we first spotted her she was walking through the air towards the far Bush Warren exit.”
This seemed to garner a lot of attention and Aiko shrank in upon herself a little bit but she quickly bit back on that and reminded herself that not everyone would treat her poorly. After all the elves had been more than kind enough to her. If not for their kindness in fact she would be dead now.
Aiko steeled her resolve and spoke up in the most commanding voice that she could muster which still came out small and squeaky much to her dismay. “I-I, um. I have something that I need to tell you. You are not the first of your kind that I have seen.* There was a quiet murmur that went through the council but she quickly went on before she lost her nerve.* I don’t mean just today either. I saw one of your kind about 5 days ago.”
“I only bring this up because they were killed in a most brutal fashion. There was a large red creature called an Ogre that grabbed it out of the ground and began eating it. I imagine that you have guards to keep that from happening here but I thought I should let you know. I wouldn’t want anyone else to end up that way.” Aiko wasn’t sure when but at some point she had started crying and quickly tried to wipe the tears away before feeling herself being wrapped in a hug.
Aiko opened her eyes to see Brimit was the one who had wrapped her in a hug. The guardsman was currently patting her back after having apparently laid his spear down and crouched down at some point. Aiko wasn’t sure why but suddenly the elven village came back to her and sent her few tears into a literal flood and she grabbed the guard in a fearsome hug as she bawled into his shoulder.
After some time, Aiko became aware of a feeling of a large hand on her back rubbing her and yet she knew that Brimit’s hands were not there but were holding her more towards her head. The sensation was a bit startling and yet somehow very comforting at the same time. The strange sensation left her almost as soon as she became aware of it and was replaced by her awareness of murmurs of conversation in the Council.
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When the council realized that she was done and had begun looking at them again there was a strange awkwardness among them. She couldn’t quite tell what the emotion they had on their faces was because these were not the kind of faces that she could read at all. It was strange to think that the only faces she could currently read were those of the elves. She wondered if she would even be able to read the face of one of her own kind but now was not the time for such idle thoughts.
The Councilwoman Who was nearest to them and turned away from them when they first arrived was now turned around to face them. She was the one who spoke up to them first. “We thank you, traveler Aiko, for informing us of this tragedy. We certainly wouldn’t want to downplay the death that you have witnessed however none of the members of this Warren are missing.”
What sounded to Aiko to be an older councilman this time with black and brown fur took over from the slight Grey-furred Councilwoman who had spoken first. I’m afraid that what my fellow council member has said is true. “While we do regret the death of one of our kind we cannot endanger anyone from this warren to go investigate the death of one from another warren. If you would be kind enough to provide us details of where this might have happened then we will be more on guard to keep the threat from happening here.”
A third and rather old-looking Councilman spoke up next with his long whiskers drooping along with his long ears giving Aiko the impression of an old man. “While this death may not have been one from our Warren all loss of life is tragic. May we all go to our goddess Reyal’s loving embrace and come back stronger next time.”
The council members all spoke the same words after this one. “May we all go to Reyal’s loving embrace and come back stronger next time.” Apparently, this was their form of prayer for the deceased. Aiko knew From Atha that there were many gods and that the head of all of the gods was a goddess called Kaori but she wasn’t going to bring that up in case it went against their beliefs somehow.
They then spoke about why she was there and she told them that she didn’t have a particular purpose but was simply traveling in a direction and decided to stop in. She told them that she recognized what they were and was afraid for them, described how big the ogre was, and told them what it looked like so that they could be prepared if it ever came near.
When asked further what she intended to do, she told them that she wouldn’t be opposed to trading some of the things that she had or could grow. The council seemed to talk about this a bit and Aiko could pick out some murmurs and questions about whether or not she truly had the power.
Aiko decided to interject a little bit in the conversation by showing off her abilities. Of course, she knew that the powers that they were referring to were her spells. She took out one of her seats and looked up at the grading overhead to see where the strongest light was before planting a seed in the dirt In the left of the chamber.
She used her green thumb skill instead of one of her spells because this still seemed like a spell but was a lot less scary than some of the other things that she could do. It was only then that she realized that some of the things that she had done or perhaps the way she looked might be scary to others. She hoped, by using this skill and growing a plant instead of walking in thin air or cutting something, that she would present a better image.
It had the desired effect as the council seemed to regard her in an entirely different way the moment that the plant sprouted and began snaking its way up the wall toward the source of light. Aiko marveled once again at how plants always seem to head towards the light. She kept pushing Her mana into the skill until it started to bear fruit and then plucked a few of the small fruits before handing them out and eating one herself. She knew that the fruit was a bit bland but it didn’t seem to matter much to the council who all immediately agreed to letting her trade as she liked.