Once inside his cabin, Alistar and Emely sat around the dining table as Mr. Herst prepared some blueberry tea. A short while later, he placed three wooden cups atop the table and motioned toward Alistar with a smile.
“If you would, Alistar.”
Understanding his intentions, Alistar lowered the temperature of the drinks so that they were cold enough to warrant drinking on such a hot summer’s day. After he did so, he summoned a light breeze with the basic wind magic that he had learned from the book that Lessa had lent him back when he'd bumped into her at the collegia’s library a long while back.
“Why did we have to come inside?” asked Emely, who was sweating quite profusely after sitting in the stuffy room for several minutes. “Ah, Alistar, could you make the wind a bit stronger?”
He did so with a nod, wondering why Mr. Herst didn’t look the least bit bothered by the fact that a large snake was casually resting atop Emely’s shoulders. Alistar, for one, was quite restless.
“I’m quite curious, lass. How long have you been able to communicate with animals?”
“Since as long as I can remember.”
“I see. And what about plants? Can you feel their emotions yet?”
Emotions? Of plants? Alistar contained his confusion and waited patiently for the conversation to play out.
“Um…how did you know about that? The others poke fun at me enough as it is, so I haven’t talked to anyone about it.”
“As I suspected.” Resting his arms on the table as he cradled his cup, Mr. Herst stared at the little black swirls that decorated his arms, something he only did when he was lost in thought. “There are people in this world who are born with special constitutions which allow them do to things that ordinary people could never dream of. One of these is known as the nature’s blessing, and people born with this trait possess a natural affinity for all things living, sentient or otherwise.”
“And she has this particular constitution?”
“Yes, and quite a predominant one at that.” Turning to Emely, the old man took a sip of his chilled tea and then cleared his throat, giving her a stern look of caution. “How many people know about this gift of yours?”
“Just my friends, but none of them believe me. Why?”
“Nature’s blessing is a very rare trait that, as far as I know, is believed to have disappeared from the world many centuries ago. You see, most of the people that had such a constitution were Drunish, like myself—ah, Inverted, I should say.”
Alistar immediately recalled what Mr. Herst had said before they had moved the conversation into the cabin, that it had been quite some time since he had seen the constitution in question. If it had truly fallen out of the public view as long ago as he claimed, then wouldn’t that mean that Mr. Herst was several centuries old? After learning that Felians had been the most long-lived of the Drunish peoples, he’d suspected that his elderly friend was far older than he appeared, a suspicion that he was finally able to confirm based on the context of the man’s comments. Mr. Herst seemed to notice Alistar’s realization, responding with a light smile that contained a great deal of fondness.
“But I’m not an Inverted person.”
“I didn’t say that all people that possessed this trait weren’t human. Only that most were Inverted.”
“If that’s true, then why haven’t I ever heard of it? I’ve always wondered why nobody else could hear and feel the things that I do, but I’ve never met anyone else like me.”
“I suspect that has something to do with the church.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“The church?” Emely gave Alistar a worried look, as if she had done something wrong. “What do you mean, Mr. Herst?”
“Nature’s blessing, along with many other constitutions, are largely associated with the Original Sin of my people, as the church terms it. That is to say, it’s a blessing from Drune, who is viewed as a devil in the minds of Lucianists. Because of this, there have been many large-scale purges of such people in the past, for this blessing is very unique even amongst the other constitutions that were once common throughout the land.”
“Oh no… What do I do, then?”
“You keep it a secret for the rest of your days. It’s also important that you don’t use your gift in front of others. It won’t matter that you’re just a young lass, the church will condemn and capture you all the same. I’ve seen it happen several times before.”
Emely glanced at the snake with unbridled sadness. “Is it really such a terrible thing?”
“Far from it, dear girl. Nature’s blessing only manifests in people with the purest of souls. Aside from the viewpoint of Lucianists, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that you’re a friend to every living creature in this world.”
“When you say every creature,” commented Alistar, who suddenly saw Emely in a new light, “you mean…?”
“I mean that even if she were to come across a ferocious danger beast that only had the slightest sliver of its sanity left to it, it would sooner protect her than harm her. The same goes for all living creatures, whether on land, in the air or at sea. It’s because of this that people with such abilities are shunned and feared by the church.”
“Why doesn’t it work on humans, then?” As far as Alistar could determine, humans were also animals, simply the most intelligent ones of the bunch.
“It does, to an extent. People will automatically be more amicably disposed toward those with nature’s blessing, but for some reason that’s the extent of its effects on them.” After hesitating for a moment, Mr. Herst seemed to come to an important decision and said, “This wasn’t always the case, however. It’s said that before the Inverted Wars, nature’s blessing had the same effect on humans as it did on every other living creature. It’s only speculation, but something seems to have happened at that time that changed the nature of the blessing, though there’s no explanation for how things came to be as they are.”
Emely stroked the snake’s midsection with soft hands. “This…this means that I’ll have to let him go, doesn’t it?”
Mr. Herst nodded, giving her a sad smile. “It’s in your best interests to do so. From now on, this will be your most important secret. Try not to showcase it, even in front of your friends.”
Looking at Alistar as if for permission, Emely responded with a downcast nod.
“Don’t wear such a sad expression. It should be fine so long as you’re mindful of your surroundings.” Resting a light hand on Alistar’s shoulder, he added, “And if you ever feel the desire to talk to anyone about it, or to have someone around that you don’t mind using your gifts in front of, you’ve got yourself a trustworthy friend in Alistar here. He’s quite good at keeping secrets.”
“I know,” she said, a small smile fighting its way onto her face. “Thanks for your advice, Mr. Herst. Alistar was right; you’re a very dependable person.”
“I try to be. Anyhow, why don’t we talk about something more lighthearted? Have you two been up to anything new these days?”
Alistar and Emely began to describe recent developments in their daily lives while taking brief bites of their skewers, Mr. Herst soon joining them with words of thanks. Talking of such things, they hung around the cabin for the next two hours or so before the pair bid farewell to the old Drunish man and then began to cut across the countryside in an effort to get to the Greyline as quickly as possible. According to Emely, the others had agreed to meet up today to enjoy the nice weather, Zech having promised to bring a few cuts of meat so that they could grill up some dinner once evening rolled around.
On the way to The Spot, Emely released the cattle snake with no small amount of reluctance, scratching at its head in an affectionate manner before watching it slither off into the surrounding fields with slightly wistful eyes.
Sure enough, by the time they arrived by the Greyline everyone was present save for Lessa and Anice, the former having headed over to Caedmon’s estate in order to fetch the latter. The two girls arrived a short while later, bringing with them a sack full of vegetables that the gardeners had pushed onto them when Anice had asked them to pick a few for her and her friends. Funnily enough, not a single potato had been included.
Lessa smiled upon laying eyes on him. “So he was already here.”
“Here, Alie,” said Anice, tossing his swimming trunks at him. “You’ll need these.”
Looking closely, the other boys were already wearing theirs. “We’re to swim, then?” Blushing at a sudden thought, he blurted, “Hold on, you girls are swimming with us too?”
“Why wouldn’t we?”
“But what will you wear?”
Lessa smiled in amusement and raised her dress, causing him to cover his eyes with a hand out of modesty. Even so, he couldn’t help but peak through the gaps in his fingers, lowering his hand when he saw that she was wearing a pair of boy’s swimming trunks.
“You look a little disappointed,” she teased.
“I was just taken aback, is all.”