The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 53

Ajana was so fascinated by the sight of true royalty that she stopped noticing anything else.

She didn't even feel when Rex landed on her shoulder and didn't see him fly away in a hurry, or the way everyone started staring at her and Kieran.

"Kieran? Are you alright?" Mailliw asked.

His voice was so much different from the one of a powerful leader they had heard just a moment before, it was the voice of a father worried for his child.

Two contrasting images were still able to coexist in one person, and Ajana was fascinated by the range of emotions Mailliw possessed.

"Yes, I am alright, father. Why do you ask?" Kieran asked.

"I do not wish to be rude, but the two of you seem to be melting away," Mailliw said, pointing at Kieran and Ajana.

"Oh, our potions must be wearing off sooner than I expected, probably because of all the excitement our bodies have expelled it more quickly.

I might have added a dash of a melting effect to it, thinking it would be a nice shock for the other students." Kieran said.

As he said that, Ajana looked in his direction and could see that a part of his face was melting away funnily, but she still found it troubling. One part even peeled away revealing one of his elf eyes.

Worrying about the way she might look, and thoroughly annoyed with Kieran for not telling her the whole truth, Ajana started looking around for a secluded place where she could wait out the transformation.

"The bathing room is unoccupied at the moment. You could take shelter there." Mailliw told Ajana.

It was as if he could read her mind, and Ajana was more than grateful. It was already embarrassing for her that they got to meet her as a chimpanzee first, but they didn't need to see the messy transformation, as well.

"Thank you, you are very kind," Ajana said.

"Follow me. I'll take you there." Kieran said.

"No, do not depart brother. We wish to behold the miracle of our brother emerging from the wolf by melting away." Riken said.

Kieran ignored him and proceeded to the right part of the enormous forest. Although Ajana was annoyed with him, she followed immediately after wanting to avoid any more embarrassing moments.

"Can I come along to watch? Pleeease. The last time was so fun!" Bluebells said.

"No!" Kieran and Ajana answered in unison.

Even without turning around, she could feel that he was pouting which must have looked strange on his equine face, but for the first time she didn't feel bad about hurting his feelings, he needed to learn that it wasn't nice to laugh at others. She didn't want him to make fun of her, yet again although she knew he didn't mean anything bad by it.

"Why didn't you tell me about the melting part?" Ajana asked Kieran.

He continued walking down the dark forest path that surprisingly enough led to another smaller cave.

The whole geography of the place was so confusing that Ajana forgot she had even asked anything when the answer finally came.

"I thought it would be a fun surprise. Honestly, I wasn't thinking straight. I wanted to do something to shock them, to make them see me, remember me. It's childish, I know, and I am sorry I didn't tell you." He said.

"It's okay, I understand, but next time, please don't hide from me the things that influence me as well.

It's annoying to be embarrassed all the time." Ajana said.

"I promise," Kieran said, as he led her inside the cave.

It was a beautiful spot with crystal clear water that Ajana would have called a lake, had she not encountered it inside a huge cave behind the waterfall.

"Wow, it's wonderful," Ajana said, smiling brightly at the dimly lit room.

Her smile disappeared quickly when she saw her reflection on the water's surface.

It was like one of those bad horror movies she had seen at home. One part of her chimpanzee face was hanging off with a chimpanzee's ear dangling on the end as the strangest jewelry, her true face partly visible.

"That's awful! Has anyone seen this?" Ajana asked, horrified.

"No, it just came off while we were walking here," Kieran said.

"Well, that's at least some good news," Ajana said.

"It's not so bad. I am sure sometimes you had the problem of skin peeling off your body after spending too much time on the sun, this is similar. It's like...like a snake changing its skin." Kieran said.

It wasn't too comforting for Ajana to hear those comparisons, but she decided not to worry too much about that. There were many bigger things at stake, much bigger than her flesh peeling problem.

Turning away from the reflective surface of the lake, she decided to at least get some much-needed information from Kieran.

"So what happens now? Will the Dark Elves attack Mag because they didn't get you?" Ajana asked.

"I don't think so. As far as they are concerned, the people of Mag fulfilled their part. I escaped while under their watch, so they have no one to blame but themselves." Kieran said.

"That's a relief.

What happens now?" Ajana asked.

She could hear the crunching of bones rearranging themselves before Kieran could speak again.

"My father will call upon the War Council, and discuss our next move.

Some of the citizen of Mag disagree with the decision made by the majority, and have decided to secretly lend us some help." Kieran said.

"How do you know that when we just arrived?" Ajana asked.

"My brothers are very talkative, and their favorite topic is warfare. So, while you were admiring our place, I was brought up to speed on our current situation." Kieran said.

From his tone of voice, it was obvious that he loved his brothers. Even when they were teasing him, Ajana could see true kinship, stronger than any other bond.

Still, Ajana's heart was also trembling in fear at the thought of a War Council. War Councils usually led to war, and that caused fear to spread through her heart, spoiling the gentler emotions.

Ajana was not afraid for her life, she knew that she couldn't live in fear, and yet she couldn't stop herself from being afraid for everyone else.

Wars meant a lot of injured parties on both sides, and Ajana knew she wouldn't be able to stand that amount of pain being brought down on other beings.

She wasn't a warrior, she was a healer, and even though she could understand the necessity of war, she had difficulties accepting it.

War was her greatest nightmare, and she was pretty sure that any other healer out there would agree with her.

So much fear, pain, and devastation could bring a lot of grief to her since she oftentimes felt the suffering of others more than she did her own, and that weakened her. In her weakened state, she couldn't help as much as she wanted.

Her thoughts were interrupted with the final transformation overtaking her body. Soon enough, Kieran and she were back to their regular selves hurrying to catch at least part of what is said during the War Council.