23: To The Point

Having company was nice, I guess, but a new awkwardness sank in after the lesson on resonance. At least, that's how it felt for me. Maybe she felt it too, because she rarely checked to see if I was still behind her.

Small talk might have helped to diffuse the tension between us, but that was never an easy task for me. Considering my circumstances were anything but normal, whatever that was anymore, my mouth remained shut.

Fabrienne moved at an increasing pace, weaving through the overgrown underbrush using a well-practiced forest parkour. I didn't bother attempting to do the same. I walked around any obstacles in my path instead, trying not to lose sight of her for too long. I didn't need to act like a fool and wind up hurting myself more than I already had.

Maybe she's… trying to lose me? She's stopping less, and there's no way someone goes from mistrusting someone to just offering them help. I knew I made a mistake. This… might be a trap, or… Dammit. I should've stayed in the ruins. I looked back to where I thought they should be. Would I even find my way there again? Where did she say the stream is? Or… What if I just… stop?

I didn't, though. My pathetic option to leave dwindled with every step. I zoned out and marched on.

Why? I asked myself the same questions over and over again. Figuring out the answer felt impossible. Why is she helping me? She already has everything she wants, right? The question festered in my mind like the wound on my hand. My focus drifted from watching for her, to just looking down at the bloody bandages. Would she even answer me if I asked—?

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

She popped out of nowhere, looking up at my downcast face.

"Wah!" I jumped back, tripped, and lost my balance. Fabrienne caught me by my wrist before I hit the ground. Suddenly, I was the one looking up at her. "Don't do that!"

"Something on your mind, Skyler?" She pulled me upright, snickering about something.

"I, um… No. Nothing."

"Is this about what I said before?" She ran a hand through the hair at the side of her head, scratched a bit, and pulled a handful of hair behind her ear. It must have been a nervous tick, something she did without thinking "I thought… Nysh, I don't know how else to—" She caught me staring. The top of her ear curved down, stretching back, and formed a point. She wasn't human. "K-keep staring, and I… I'll give ya something to stare at." Her aggressive tone from the ruins returned. Her cheeks reddened and her frown narrowed into a glaring pout.

I stepped back.

The statue's broken ears seemed different, too. I just never figured out why. She'd mentioned visiting the ruins, the Elvish ruins, because of nostalgia. This wasn't a hike to her home for safety. If she thought I trespassed, stole the sword, and lied about everything, then I wasn't safe. I was on a death march.

"W-why?" I backed away further, scanning the immediate area for any other elves laying in wait. "You could have just left me…"

"To what, die? No way. That's why I'm taking ya back to Docheo, remember?"

She admitted it!

"So you plan to… You're going to kill me there?!"

"Kill?! When did—?! If I wanted ya dead, I wouldn't have bothered with all this, now would I?" She closed the gap and grabbed my left wrist with the vice-like grip from the fireside. I had no escape.

"S-so then… Why? Why are you doing any of it? I don't get it."

"Helping? Because it's the right thing to do. Decency, remember? Now, let me have a look at this. I should probably change it again, little man." She squeezed tighter. I winced, twisted, and dropped to a knee as she tried to get a better look at my hand.

"I-I… but you… I can do it myself."

"Not from what I saw. Besides, your shirt's nothing but filthy scraps. Do it a favor and keep the rest in one piece." She already had my hand unwrapped and brought it closer to her face to inspect. "Good. The cyruba juice is helping. Snacking on them like ya were… It's probably the only reason your injuries are healing this fast." Needing a second hand, she let me go.

"People don't—" Is she 'people'? "It's never that simple. I don't believe you." I squirmed away, though probably not far enough. "You're just being nice to get something, but I have nothing left. You already took it all!"

"Enough. Now, give me your hand, Skyler." She stood over me, reached out, and waited for me to let her continue working on my injured hand. The fact that she could easily overpower me again, but didn't try, left me even more confused. Fabrienne just remained there, waiting.

"Why?" I held my ground, still unsatisfied with her overly simplistic reason.

"Nysh, ya aren’t gonna let it go, are ya? Fine, then." She pulled her scarf down a bit more from her face and uncovered her other ear before sitting on a nearby fallen tree. "I guess we're really doing this. C'mon, then." She patted the spot next to her like an invitation. "Well? We don't need ya getting that hand infected. Asa would have my head if I let it get any worse."

I got up from the ground where she left me and sat on the log to her right. There was just enough space between us for my hand to reach her. Not taking the obvious hint, she scooted right up beside me, hip to hip, before rinsing my hand and crushing another berry over the wound.

"Whoever abandoned ya in the ruins really did a number on ya, aye?" I didn't answer. "Is it because of…? Forget it. Maybe it's none of my business. Ya don't have to answer if ya don't want to." She splinted my fingers again before wrapping a fresh cloth around my hand. "There ya go. See? All done." I pulled my hand back the moment she let me go.

"Why? Why do you… care? Why are you really helping me?" I cradled my hand in my lap.

"I'm not like those troublesome bandits. Did ya really expect me to just leave ya by yourself to figure things out… alone? It's dangerous out here alone, even if ya know the area, and what you're doing. No offense, but ya seemed pretty clueless about surviving out here. A week and a half, and ya did it without being able to…? I had to help. It's my duty to assist young ones like yourself." Fabrienne remained right at my side, and I caught her smiling from the corner of my eye.

Duty? Young? I told her I'm twenty, right?

"I'm… sorry." My voice was a whisper. The way she treated my injury, however forcefully, made me feel guilty and ashamed for suspecting her intentions, but what did she expect? "I… It's just… Why would someone be nice to me here? I don't… I'm not… Even if I need it, I guess I don't ask for… I just want a break from it all."

"Ya don't think I know? It's… hard, feeling like an outsider." Fabrienne gently bumped me with her shoulder. "Like ya don't… belong… anywhere, but…" She gave my knee a squeeze and a pat with a rigid motion, then slowly retracted back to her own lap. "Nobody wanted me around when…" She took a deep breath before continuing. "When I first appeared in Docheo…" Her voice shook with a nervous edge for the first time, and she trailed off. We sat in silence for a moment. "Ya might have noticed I have certain… qualities?"

"So, what? They already had a blacksmith, and didn't want you around?" It was the only skill or 'quality' she actually bragged about, from what I remembered.

"Of course not," she laughed. "I mean, Docheo is a human settlement. My father, well, he's a dwarf, and a proud blacksmith." A wide grin stretched from ear to ear and reached her eyes. "I learned so much from him."

Dwarf, huh? Is that why she's so short? I figured the question was better left unasked. I didn't want to push it and upset her again.

"My m-mother, though. She… she was…" Fabrienne's grin fell, replaced by a quivering lip. "Res—" She stopped, swallowed, and took a deep breath. Looking at her hands, she slowly interlaced her fingers, and turned her palms up as if holding something only she saw. "Resonance… sings loudest in silence. All of…" A strand of hair fell from behind her pointy ear and made her pause. "All of us… a chord, heard and… and unheard… playing a part in the… in the g-greater song. Praise… the whole, the… the s-song… unbroken." She blinked something away, rubbed her nose, and sniffled before bringing back a smile. It just wasn't the same smile. I recognized this one from every failed interview. I practiced it in the mirror. It was forced. It was fake. It was a lie. She tried to make light of it, but there was something about her unfocused, glassy eyes. "I'm… different too… I-I'm not… I'm what's called a… a Dwelf, ya see?"

After the big revelation of her ears, the label of elf, dwarf, or apparently, dwelf, didn't phase me much. She could have admitted to being a leprechaun, and I wouldn’t have batted an eye. Something else she said bothered me instead, the part that made me feel sick to my stomach.

So even when someone's… gone, their resonance is… left behind? What does… that mean about…? But I… I’m…

"They thought—Docheo's had some… bad experiences with outsiders, so they've grown to be fairly self-reliant and wary of visitors." Fabrienne continued her explanation like she hadn't just dropped a bomb into our conversation. "Being at the edge of a few different regions, bandits or other criminals are usually the only ones that make it to the gates. That is, only if they can survive the nasties out here. It's not so bad nowadays. Everyone's grown up with me living in the village. I had to prove myself to the generation that came before them, though." Her comments about being young and treating me like a kid made more sense. She had to be old, but I dared not ask how old. Surely that would bring a slap. "That's the reason I made it my duty to stop anyone else in Docheo from ever feeling the same way I used to. So, why did I help ya? Because… Well, because I'm not… heartless."

Fabrienne hopped off the log and reached out to take my hand again. Her lighter mood returned at record speed.

"I don't know how you can…" My face was hot now, considering the way I reacted when I saw her ears. Making eye contact was more difficult than before. "Thanks, Fabri. I'm sorry if I…"

"Nonsense. We both have baggage. Things happen to everybody, and… not all of them are good, aye? We should get going now. We had a good start, but we really shouldn't be out here after sundown. There’s still plenty of ground to cover."