Something caught his attention as it ran between his feet, though he didn’t react rashly and simply allowed it to proceed on its way.
“A mouse!” Rather than shrieking and running off as he had seen the other girls do on multiple occasions, Emely got down on her hands and knees and then crept about as close to the skittering critter as she could without touching it. “Don’t be scared,” she said in a gentle voice, the rodent coming to a hesitant stop as she surprised him further by scooping it up and holding the little thing as if it were the most precious of treasures. “How adorable you are.”
Alistar watched with interest as she fawned over her little friend like a parent to a child, attempting to feed it little pieces of grass.
“I don’t think he wants to eat that.”
“You mean she.”
“It’s a girl? How can you tell?”
“You can’t?”
She placed the mouse down as carefully as she could, the rodent disappearing into the well-trimmed hedges as soon as it was free. Now that her attention was on the bushes, something caught her eye and caused her to rush over to another section where she directed his attention to a small lump of white fur that was tucked away beneath the foliage.
“Look! It’s a baby bunny.”
The rabbit was so small that he couldn’t even sense its life signal.
“How did you know it was there?” Mice were common in the central gardens, but he rarely saw rabbits. “Is it alive?”
She reached into the bushes and carefully removed the little rabbit, which was shaking in her palm. “Are you okay? Where’s your family?”
Alistar gave her an odd look, as the girl was speaking to the rabbit as if it were a human being. “Its family is probably somewhere close by. That, or she somehow wandered in here from the outside.”
“She was dropped here by a bird. See how her legs are all crooked? I think they’re broken.”
Looking at the pitiable animal, he saw that she was correct about its legs. “How can we know for sure that it was a bird that dropped her? Maybe someone stepped on her without noticing.” Some of the house servants liked to enjoy their meals here, after all, so he figured that his theory was more likely.
“It was a bird,” said Emely, who appeared thoroughly convinced. “She says it was a bird.”
He ignored a sudden impulse to clean his ears. “She said? As in, the rabbit said?”
“You can’t hear it either, then.”
Seeing the flicker of dejection that filtered through her face, he couldn’t help but ask, “You don’t mean to say that it spoke to you?” When met with a nod, he suppressed a thought that questioned her sanity and instead became quite curious. “I didn’t hear anything, though?”
“It doesn’t use words. It’s like…it’s like a feeling. I just get the feeling that a bird dropped it here, and it makes sense when I think about it.”
“Ah, so you’re just guessing.”
“I’m not guessing. She was dropped here by a bird the day after her family was killed by a fox. Now she’s all alone.”
After living most of his life in Crystellum, Alistar had become quite capable at reading people’s expressions. He’d had no choice but to develop this habit, as the guards there had been far more likely to lie to him than to offer him a genuine response, and the people there tended to be very dangerous and violent individuals. He’d seen with his own eyes what happened when somebody let their guard down in front of a smiling face; food was stolen, bones were broken, and sometimes people were even killed.
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Staring into Emely’s big, brown eyes, he was positive of one thing. Even if communicating with animals was impossible, this warm-hearted girl truly believed what she was saying.
“You know, Uncle Caedmon supposedly knows some healing spells. Maybe we can ask him to help mend its legs?”
“Good idea, Alistar. Do you think he will help?”
“If he can, he will.”
“Do you hear that? We’re going to make sure you feel all better. Then I’ll take you home to the orphanage.”
Holding the rabbit as if it were made of the most fragile glass, she followed after Alistar as he led her back the way they had come.
All throughout the walk back to the others he thought about what he’d just witnessed. During this time, Emely continued to talk to the little rabbit as if she wasn’t simply having a one-sided conversation with an unintelligent creature but a young child. When the two of them returned out front of the manor house with the addition of their little friend, Jaden and Woods immediately began to tease Emely over the baby rabbit.
“A rabbit this time, huh?” said Woods, whose expression betrayed his contemplations of trying to cook the little animal. “What happened to the rat that you made friends with last time? What was his name, again?” He was covered in sweat, his face, hands and clothes smeared with dirt.
“It was Little Grey.” Jaden walked over and looked at the rabbit with squinted eyes. “What’s wrong with him? His legs are all crooked.”
“Her legs are broken. Alistar was just about to go ask the lord to mend them.”
Alistar nodded when Jaden looked his way. “Even if it’s only a rabbit, it’s just a baby. We can’t just leave it like this.” Looking at the shivering, frightened animal, Alistar subconsciously saw a shadow of himself. Fear and pain had been constant throughout most of his life, unwelcome companions to him, and there had been many nights where all he could do was shiver and cry, much like the little critter in front of him.
The adults were all congregated around the tables that had been brought outside, which numbered four more than had initially been brought out. These supported a healthy stock of drinks and snacks, mostly consisting of wines, juices, crackers, breads, cheeses and fruit.
“A baby rabbit?” said Caedmon, whose conversation with Madeline and Alder had just been interrupted by a polite intrusion. “Sure thing, Alistar. Where is it?”
“It’s with Emely. Should I bring it here?”
“No need, no need.” His uncle put down the glass of wine that he had been sipping at and promptly took the lead as the two of them made their way over to where the other kids were horsing around.
It wasn’t long before Emely had carefully handed over the little rabbit to Caedmon, who inspected it with probing eyes for several minutes before he nodded to himself in a convinced manner.
“I’ve never healed an animal before, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for one so small.” He placed his other hand over the rabbit so that it was completely cupped in both of his hands, focusing intently as all of the kids stopped what they were doing so that they could see the man work his magic.
Most attentive of all was Alistar, who focused intently on the rabbit in Caedmon’s hands both with his eyes and his magical awareness as a gentle stir of energy began to seep out of his uncle’s palms and swirl around within his grasp.
The kids watched with wonder as a gentle green light began to emanate from the gaps between Caedmon’s fingers, their oohs and aahs punctuating the backdrop for a few moments before the count calmly opened his hands to reveal a healthy albeit still shivering rabbit.
“What spell was that, Uncle?” asked Alistar, the first to speak after the wondrous phenomenon that had just enchanted him and the rest of the children. “Was it difficult?”
“It’s nothing special, Alistar. Just a bit of normal mending magic.” He handed the rabbit back to Emely, who accepted it with words of heartfelt thanks. “No problem, dear. It was very nice of you to worry over that little guy.”
“Of course,” she smiled, “she’s my friend.”
“Ah, then I should say ‘little lady,’ shouldn’t I?”
Alistar tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. “What did you mean by normal magic, Uncle? Can anyone learn it? Could…could I learn it?”
Caedmon let out a sigh that quickly turned into an affectionate grin. “I knew you would start asking questions as soon as I finished up here.”
“Normal magic is the same as basic magic, right? The sort that anyone can use as long as they’ve come into their energies?”
“Where did you learn that, Alistar? I thought I removed all of the books on magic from the library.”
“I read about it at the Collegia,” he admitted, feeling a bit guilty. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to practice magic in secret or anything. I just wanted to know more about it.”