IRON GOD | 1: Peripeteia

[16] Kolo: A Human Far Hidden

           Kolo stared at her reflection in the bluehole. Deep red eyes stared back at her. They had looked like that ever since the Iron God had lifted her back up. They looked so wrong, but so beautiful at the same time. Her breath caught in her throat and rippled the glassy surface. She reached out and dipped her finger in the frigid water. "Do you ever think about leaving, Aza?"

Azvalath's reflection appeared beside hers. "Sometimes, yes. I think we all do." He shrugged. "Where would I go, though?"

"Anywhere you want." Kolo folded her legs under herself to crouch at the pool's edge like a frog. "Someplace where you can relax, maybe?"

Azvalath stiffened. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine." Kolo made eye contact with his reflection. "You're the ashcrow mobbing the eagle."

The man folded his arms and scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"When I was out there, I used to follow the ashcrows. They always knew where food was." Kolo remembered it with clarity she hadn't had in who knew how long. "But they were cruel birds. They attacked bigger creatures just because they could. I used to wonder how anyone so small could spread so much misery. Now that I think about it, though, it's starting to make sense." She looked up. "I think the ashcrows were vicious because they were small, and it made them feel scared. You're just like them, but why?"

"I'm not small." A slight growl crept into Azvalath's voice. "And I'm sure as hell not scared."

Kolo could tell from his tone alone that he was lying on both fronts. "Oh, really?"

"Did Master Xigon make you grow an attitude?" Azvalath glared at her. "Good grief. He really has to make everything more difficult, doesn't he?"

Kolo cracked a sly grin. "No, I grew it myself."

Azvalath held his hands up and wiggled all of his fingers. "You know what these are?"

Kolo cocked her head. "Your fingers?"

"Wrong. It's a garden of these." Azvalath folded all of his fingers in except for his middle fingers.

She rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

Azvalath lay down on the floor and sighed. A strand of his dark brown hair fell in his face. He brushed it off. "My chest still hurts."

Kolo shrugged. "Sorry?"

He smiled. "No, you're not."

"You sure do complain a lot." She twisted to crack her back and saw Master Qila walking up the stairs to the roof. She waved, but the old woman didn't notice.

Azvalath chuckled. "You like Master Qila?"

Kolo looked down. "She's nice. She's like a mother." Mother. She knew she had to have had a mother at some point, but a haze surrounded that thought. She couldn't imagine it. "Did you ever have a mother, Aza?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "I was born, so someone had to have been my mother." He pursed his lips. "Haven't we discussed this already? I don't remember a birth family at all, but Master Qila insists I had one. No way we could've popped up out of thin air." He made a hand gesture like an explosion. "Say, Kolo, did you ever have anyone?"

"I did." She knew someone had been there once, but whoever it was, they were shrouded in smoke. "Not sure who, though."

"Well, that's more than we had to work with before." Azvalath sat up. "Let's go see if Master Xigon can do anything else yet."