“Mom! Have you seen Lily anywhere? " a voice boomed across the fields as a singular woman emerged from the entrance of her house. She looked around and saw two tiny figures across the distance and smiled. “There they are.” An elderly woman was sitting on a bench reading a book to a little girl, who was sitting on her lap excitedly looking at each page of the picture book they were holding.
“Good morning, you two!” she shouted from across the field as she approached them. The elderly woman, her mother, smiled upon hearing a beloved voice return her greeting. “Good morning, my dear.”
“Morning, mama!” The girl shouts while kicking her feet against the air.
“Good morning, my dear Lily! Is grandma reading this book to you?” She asks, squatting down in front of them.
“YES! It’s about a princess who kisses a frog!” It seems to be a strangely short yet not incorrect summary.
“Oh dear, really? Could you tell me more about it?” She asks, knowing how excited she would get. Children love it when they can explain something to someone, whatever it might be. To be more accurate, it would seem like children liked to talk.
“So, there is this princess, and she finds a frog. Then, she kissed him, and he became a prince! And then… they lived happily ever after!” She proudly summarized the plot with as much detail as a toddler managed.
“Oh my, that sounded lovely! Thank you for telling me this story, sweetie, " she said, kissing her daughter on the cheek, who became giddy from the praise. “I wonder where you got that from? " she asked, blatantly staring at her own mother, who simply smiled in response.
“Will you tell those stories to your little brother when he soon comes?" she asked, as though she didn’t know the answer, and yet the little girl answered it with pure excitement.
“Yes! I will read them all to him!”
“Then he will be glad to have a reliable sister like you, my little flower.” The elderly woman interjected, praising the little girl.
“Granma! You will have to listen when I tell the stories to him, too!” She commanded in an adorably serious tone.
“Of course, I will, dearie. Your grandma will sit and listen, just like you asked, whenever you allow me to!” The girl giggled upon hearing that and gave her grandma a tight hug.
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When Marianne first opened her eyes in the eerie darkness of the cave, she could see a tiny sliver of light through the tiny opening of the entrance, indicating the beginning of dawn. She took a moment to recollect what had happened yesterday.
Melancholy, she remembered. “Oh my, I completely forgot. I’m no longer at home. I already passed on; I fear…” That reality hasn’t been processed enough for her to be overwhelmed by grief. But the emptiness she currently feels doesn’t reassure her in any way. However…
She looks down at the figure sleeping soundly beside her and smiles softly. “Oh right, I encountered this gentle soul yesterday.” In the meantime, it seems like she could focus her attention on someone else while she tries to deal with her grief her way. Strangely, she already feels this affection for someone who isn’t human, but she can’t help the maternal instincts surging forward when she sees someone in need, especially when they're preciously kind beings like this one.
She wasn’t about to disturb the little one’s rest, so she decided to sit for a while before gently lowering his head on the piece of clothing she bundled together as a makeshift pillow. She felt sure enough to let him sleep a bit longer because he hadn't stirred yet. In the meantime, she would take her time exploring the nearby area. Thankfully, she didn’t see anyone within the area except for tiny critters passing her. It seems the rain let up a long while ago. However, collecting firewood would have to wait until later, when most of the wood is dry enough. In the meantime, she began looking for any food she could gather. For now, she would avoid the most dangerous plants, like mushrooms, as she surely wasn’t taking the risk of getting poisoned. Luckily, she stumbled upon the same berries from yesterday. Those will help for now, but she needs to find more reliable food sources for the long term. Berries can’t keep them up forever, after all. She would like to hunt animals, but she lacks any reliable tools. “Now that I think about it, he had a knife. I could make do with that for now. I will need to ask him if he can entrust it to me for a while.”
She decided to head back. They shouldn’t linger in this location for too long, or they might be discovered soon. Upon arriving at the location, she collected a group of stones and placed them in a peculiar pattern so she would recognize it in case they couldn’t find a reliable camping spot and needed to return here. This cave provided them with a lot of cover, which was essential while they were still in unfamiliar and hostile territory.
She headed inside to see that he was already awake. It looked like he was startled and panicking, but upon seeing her enter, he calmed down. It seems like he was worried that she left for good. It made her smile to know he grew attached enough not to push her away actively. And yet, he still looked hesitant to call out to her, so she resolved to be the first to engage in conversation. It would seem like she needs to ease him into it for now. At least it looks like he is genuinely willing to communicate with her properly, no matter how difficult it is for him.
“Good morning. Did you rest well?” She smiled at him.
He pondered for a while until he seemingly resolved to respond. However, he still had trouble letting out his voice, and he was clearly struggling. Before she was about to tell him that he didn’t need to force himself, she was cut off.
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“Y-yes. Thank you… uhm... what should I call you!” After a long struggle he managed to let the words out.
“Marianne is fine enough, but please call me something else. You can call me old bat for all I care.” She jested, but that seemingly didn’t register because he looked at her dubiously.
“But you’re a human, not a bat. That man called you one, too. Why would you be called that?” He asks innocently. For how surprisingly eloquent he seems to be with words, he also had neither grasp on humor nor sarcasm. It was endearing in its way.
“It’s just a figure of speech. Don’t worry; I’m not an actual bat. It would be impressive if I could fool you for this long!” She said, trying to stifle a giggle. That, too, seemed to pass right by him. She would need to teach him a thing or two on that field. She took pride in her snarky personality, and she refused to have that ignored, petty as it might have sounded. But she decided to put off that matter for later.
“Anyways, you can call me however you like!” She left it at that.
“Understood…, Miss… Marianne…” He was hesitant about the name, but seeing that she didn’t react negatively and instead smiled brightly, he sighed in relief.
“Good.” She said, having wrapped up that part of the matter. “Now then, how about you? Do you feel comfortable with me calling you by name?”
This time, he didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes! Please feel free to call me my name!” That seemed to be very important to him.
“Now then, Alpheus. I gathered some berries, so feel free to eat them.” She presented the berries, and it almost seemed like his eyes had started to glitter. Adorable.
“Do you like these?” She asked as she handed him the pile, and he nodded nervously while munching on them immediately. Wincing, she was reminded on how skinny he was. She had no idea how long he was starving before they met, but those berries were not a solution.
With the following sentence, Alpheus was hesitating for a long while before…
“Although… uhm, never mind.”
…stopping right then and there.
Marianne decided not to push for an answer and moved on from that topic. However, she prioritized looking for food as soon as they found a good hiding spot.
“Alright, as soon as you’ve finished, I hope you’ll head out. We need to find another spot for the night in case they look around this area.” He stopped eating midway upon hearing that.
“You want us… to travel together?” He asked this as though it wasn’t glaringly obvious. His confusion from the discovery made her chuckle. “You… shouldn’t be risking your life like that by staying with me…”
“I appreciate your concern, but we’re both wanted people now, so I would rather us stick together. I want us two to be able to rely on each other. We need to under these circumstances.” She said, trying to reassure him that his presence didn’t pose a detriment to her in the slightest.
“People…” That word seemed to have stuck out to him as he pondered her words.
“I would feel much safer traveling alongside you. Unless… you don’t want to travel with me.” She tried to sound as timid as possible. She felt that would be a more effective persuasion than anything else she could tell him. At the very least, he wouldn’t feel as guilty.
“No! Of course, I want to travel with you. If you’re fine with it, then… I would love to.” She feels terrible for pulling that card on him, but they don’t have the luxury of being hesitant under their current circumstances. She must ensure that Alpheus finds a safe place where these people won’t hunt him.
“Good! Then, let’s head out now.” She declared cheerfully.
Marianne pokes her head out of the entrance, signaling Alpheus to follow her instructions. Once she confirms that no one is there, she beckons him to follow her out. Once they’re out, she immediately points toward the rock marker she made earlier this morning.
“Alpheus. Make sure to remember this. I placed a rock formation as a marker for us in case we need to return here.” She said in a severe tone, which made him instantly listen intently.
“In case we need to return…”
“Yes, remember that my markers are always a rock formation like this one. They’re always shaped as a cross. Know that this is how I always leave marks because we will surely come across many different spots, and we need to make sure that we can find them again when we need to. Make sure that you do the same.”
“Understood!” He eagerly nodded, taking every word she said with the utmost seriousness. She feels relieved by that. She can tell that he has no experience and doesn’t have the necessary knowledge to survive in the wild, so she needs to teach him as they progress. After all…
“After all, I won’t be able to help you forever.” This thought she kept to herself, as she didn’t have it in her to push this burden on this poor child, who had already started to slowly but surely rely on her. She was an old woman who could drop dead at any given moment. She might have returned to a point where she didn’t turn frail yet, but that wouldn’t last forever. She might be fine now, but she couldn’t work on the assumption that there wouldn’t be any danger up ahead. That she wouldn’t leave him early. So, she needed to prepare him for that future so that she could rest easily in the end.
“Now then, prepare yourself, young man, for we might be walking for a while today!” She said in a jokingly commandeering voice. He stood straight up, replying quickly. “U-Understood!”
As they began walking silently, Alpheus suddenly yelped, startling even Marianne, who regarded him curiously.
“Ah! Uhm, uh, I’m so sorry. I wanted to say this earlier, but… I missed the moment to say it…”
She waited patiently for his following words.
“G-Good morning! And uhm, did you rest well…?” His question was as awkward as it could be, and the silence that followed made him panic.
“I wanted to say it… all this time, but I couldn’t find the right moment. I almost forgot to say this entirely, but… you already said it…, so it was rude of me not to do the same!” He continued, and the longer Marianne's silence went, the more he felt the need to elaborate, stumbling over his own words.
Marianne laughed uncontrollably, leaving Alpheus confused and at a loss for words. This went on for a while, and when she was finally done, she wiped a tear from her left eye and smiled warmly at him. Such a sweet child, so innocently eager to be kind to someone. Yes, it was for that reason that she felt compelled to protect him and ensure that he would be able to live happily ever after.
After a brief pause, she responded to his earnest feelings. “Yes, I did rest well! Thank you for asking!”
He let out a breath he was holding before nervously asking further. “Y-You’re not upset?”
“Trust me, child. More than anything, I am happy to see that you care so much. You have nothing to fear,” clasped his green hands, much smaller than his, and smiled at him.
He let out a sigh of relief and, for the first time, showed her a genuine smile. “I’m so glad.”
These two embarked on a journey with no explicit goal beyond the company they both sought from one another.
As they happily chat together while traversing the scenery, a small entity relaxes on a tree, silently looming over them.
“That goblin. It’s him, isn’t it? And now he’s traveling with a human? Now, this will be entertaining!”
The mysterious figure starts to snicker happily, overcome with glee.