Page 48 of Ryld's Shadows
“Hi.” Hank offered a little smile as he hunkered down in front of Ryld. “You all right there?”
A bewildered nod was his only answer.
“Now. I’m not saying I agree or disagree with what anyone said today. But Kai ticked you off a bit. I was dumb enough to take his arm. And this scary little kraken shadow attacked him.” Hank sat all the way on the grass. Might as well join them. “Sweetheart, tell me that’s coincidence.”
Ryld looked from Hank to where Kai sat, a worried frown on his face. He must have thought Kai looked all right because he dropped his eyes, shamefaced.
“I—I’m sorry.”
“I’m well, little brother.” Kai heaved a long sigh and, shockingly, lay back in the grass. “My apologies for not knowing when to end an argument. Tenzin says I always have to have the last word.”
“Tenzin is wise,” Ryld said.
Kai laughed.
“If the shadows are not me, why am I sorry?” Ryld said in a tone so soft it was almost a whisper. “If they are me, I am as much a monster as they are.”
“No, hon.” Hank reached out and took his hand in a gentle grip. “No. Someone put a machine gun in your hands, blindfolded you, put you in a dark scary place and didn’t teach you how to use the damn thing. Those people are monsters. Not you. You’re still not all the way aware when it happens. That’s how badly they crippled your power.”
“I don’t want them. I don’t want to be me anymore. I know why the others like me go mad. Every day, every minute, I have to hold on, and my hands are tired.”
Cracks rippled across Hank’s heart at the anguish in those words. He drew Ryld close, wrapped him tight, rocking him gently. “I’d be very sad if you weren’t you anymore. And I’m sorry it’s been so hard. All your life. So hard. But that’s why we’re here. To see if maybe we can…can help you unclench your fists safely again.”
Ryld laid his cheek on Hank’s chest and let himself be soothed. The three of them stayed like that. Listening to the wind sigh in the trees and the birds twitter and play. Eventually the tension level eased. When Ryld lifted his head again, Hank asked, “Would you like to go for a walk? Sometimes walking helps me to relax.”
“I would like to go for a walk, yes,” Ryld said. “Kai, would you like to walk with us?”
“Thank you, yes. I do believe I would.”
They walked straight out into the trees, following a little footpath obviously used by frequent pedestrians, Hank with Ryld tucked under his arm, and Kai strolling a few steps back, hands clasped behind his back, taking in the forest life.
It was a pensive ramble, no one in the mood for talk, and all wrapped in their own thoughts. Hank was working on some theories of his own about what had just happened and why. Ryld didn’t want to hurt anyone. He’d said so often enough. Yet a part of him did want to hurt people, of course. The people that had originally made his life such hell to begin with, probably. Maybe accepting that was just too much for his mind to handle, and so to protect him, his mind tucked that part away. Hank wasn’t sure that making him face it was right though. After all, if his theory was correct, his mind had protected him from that part of himself for a reason.
Such dark thoughts seemed out of place on such a perfect day. They saw more birds and squirrels and even a small herd of deer across a clearing. Wildflowers bloomed in profusion and butterflies floated above them. Wait. Not butterflies.
“Ah. Hello, little one,” Kai was saying to a bright yellow something flitting around his head. “So you live here as well? Oh? Well, yes, I have a troop who lives with me. I suppose I might smell of flower fairy a bit.”
The air was suddenly filled with bright wings and high-pitched calls. Ryld stopped, frozen to the spot as pink, blue and yellow fairies swooped around his head. He had the same delighted look he’d had on his face when he’d found the perfect color or created a pattern that especially pleased him. He held up one hand and a tiny blue fairy landed on his palm. She looked as quizzically at Ryld as Ryld did at her.
“Hank…” Ryld whispered excitedly. “Hank… Hank, look…”
“They’re beautiful.” Hank leaned his chin on Ryld’s shoulder for a closer inspection. “Hello, tiny miss.”
“There are so many of you here,” Kai breathed out in wonder as he stepped off the path into the glade. The flower fairies immediately swarmed him, tugging at his hair, their tiny voices becoming a constant high-pitched buzz. Kai looked like he was walking inside a multi-colored, moving cocoon.
“You understand what they are saying?” Ryld asked.
Within the odd dome of fairies, Kai turned his head. “Yes. It, ah, took some practice, but you most likely can too if you listen quite closely. The trick is to listen to one at a time, which can be a bit difficult since they will insist on all talking at once.”
Hank swept a glance around the glade. “Look in the trees…there must be…I don’t even know how many. They must live here, or nearby?”
The tiny fairy still perched on Ryld’s hand said something and Ryld’s eyes widened. “Oh, I do understand them…” He looked up. Hank looked up too. Above them was a large nest with various bits of wood, leaves, vines and less natural items like bits of colored glass and mirror. Once Hank saw it, like the fairies themselves, he saw them everywhere.
“I didn’t know there were so many fairies in this world, much less living all in one place.” Kai had wandered over to a bramble, examining the nests there. “Since they’re so small, they tend to be pulled over during Events in multiples rather than singly as most of us larger beings are. Add to that a good nesting environment as you see around you, and they do tend to be rather fecund.”
“Rather…what?” Hank would’ve looked the word up under other circumstances, but he didn’t want to let go of Ryld.
“They breed faster than rabbits.”
