Page 30 of Avelina

The thought popped into my head out of nowhere, almost like it didn’t belong to me, but I wasn’t touching Aaron, so I figured Evilina was just doing her strange insistent questioning thing again. She would try to use the information for our sole benefit, I was sure.

“So, Rogue just showed up unexpectedly?” I asked. “Why didn’t you shoot him?”

Aaron shrugged. “I thought about it, but I remembered my mother saying something about a dog girl, so I waited. He sat in front of my cottage door for twelve hours before I finally let him in. Even greater transformers have a limit. For most, that limit is less than an hour. The most gifted struggle with two or three. It has something to do with losing the ability to think clearly, and they say there’s a kind of irresistible urge to go back to your normal body that becomes painful after a while. They call it withdrawing.”

“What’s a transformer?” I asked.

“It’s someone who can transform themselves and the objects around them. Some can turn themselves into animals, although it’s said to be one of the hardest fragments to master.”

“So, shapeshifting,” I said, “only they can do it to others too? That’s creepy.”

“No, not to other living things,” he said, “only to themselves and nonliving objects, like that shirt you wore yesterday. Transformers can take the raw material and transform it into a fine garment. It takes practice, though, like any skilled trade.”

“Oh, that’s why your shirt didn’t have any seams,” I said. “It was transformed, not sewn. That’s amazing.”

“Yes,” he said, turning to look at me over his shoulder. He had a small smile on his face, looked at my legs, then turned forward again. “Did you bring that shirt?”

I knit my eyebrows together but didn’t answer. “So, you let Rogue into your cottage, but how did he get to Monash? And why did he go back and forth?”

Aaron didn’t have an answer for that. I looked down at Rogue. He was practically clinging to me as we walked. “I saw his skin ripple right before Psycho Snow White threw me onto the bridge,” I said.

Aaron shrugged. “Reservoirs are not limited to people. A dragon’s fire is a kind of Evocation, not unlike mine. That’s how I always know when they’re stalking me.”

“Resonance.”

“Yes,” he confirmed, “and the oardoo use a kind of Transformation during their melding season.”

“What’s an oardoo?” I asked.

“It’s a large bird that runs instead of flies. My uncle sells their feathers at the Harvest Festival every autumn. They’re extremely valuable. Once per year, when they enter the melding season, they release all their feathers and grow new ones in just a few minutes. It’s quite a sight.” He laughed, thinking about it.

“Melding season?” I asked.

“Hmm, that’s hard to explain. It would be easier to show you, although melding season just ended. Maybe next year.”

“We’ll be gone by then.”

Aaron didn’t respond right away, but after a moment, he said, “I hope you’re right.”

For the next few hours, we walked in silence. The only sound was the echo of birdsong bouncing off the redwood canopy.

The forest looked so much like home, but there were some clear differences. I knew our trees well, and I knew the feeling of hiking among them. These trees were slightly farther apart and taller. Though my forest had trees reaching greater than three hundred feet, most were shorter than that due to logging. The majority of the trees near the stables were less than a hundred years old. This forest looked to be all old growth, and most appeared to have reached their height potential. It was glorious, but it also made me sad for my own forest. It must have looked like this before humans left their irksome mark.

Another difference was the ground itself. It was rockier, and there were more glades interspersed within the forest. Within some of the glades were hot springs with red crystals growing around the edges. I suggested a swim, but Aaron told me that the pools were deadly and that if I went in the water or touched the crystals, I’d likely die within a few days. Maybe I was protected enough to prevent it, but it was better to play it safe.

After we had walked for about four hours, Aaron selected a place to rest that was hidden between some bushes. I plopped down on a small log with a groan and closed my eyes. Rogue sat down right on top of my feet. Despite the foot warmer, it felt good to rest. My feet ached and I was developing a blister.

You’re not protected from everything, I guess. Remember that.

The thought struck me as odd. My mind had just put the word you and I into the same sentence while thinking about myself. I’d been having weird thoughts like that since crossing the bridge. Maybe it had been the mind-meld with Aaron, or maybe it was just time for a snack. I pulled out a granola bar and offered it to Aaron.

“No, thank you,” he said, sitting down on my right to dig in his own pack. He pulled out his now-favorite orange water bottle.

“Ya know, you could just tell me the truth,” I said. “I’m not going to be upset because you don’t like my granola bars.”

He gave me a wan smile. “I don’t dislike them, it’s just that they are so sweet. What are those dark brown bits?”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Chocolate,” I said. “You’ve never had chocolate? No beer, no sex, and no chocolate. What kind of a crazy world is this?”

---