A Lingering Question

“Hey Dad! Daaad!” I called out at the top of my lungs as I approached him at speeds only matched by the fastest of dragons.

“What is it?” He turned and responded with a happier voice this time.

“I asked the mage if she could teach me magic, and she said yes!” I explained to him, seeking approval. A worried look began to creep upon his face, but it was quickly replaced with joy.

“That’s great, eh, sweetheart, but um, first we’ll need to ask your mother and see if she approves.”

We walked towards our home slowly, not saying anything to each other. The occasional rustling of leaves could be heard, but nothing more. A great excitement was in control of me, but I was still left unable to say a word on our walk back. There was a tension in the air that was palpable to any stranger, let alone the two of us. After what felt like an eternity of walking, we finally reached our home. I pushed the door out of the way with a force only equivalent to a tornado and prepared my speech. I quickly approached my mother to tell her of everything that happened.

“Mom! So, dad got hurt and was missing an arm, but then a cool looking mage came and offered to heal him with magic for free! And after that, I asked her to teach me magic—and she said yes!” I explained as quickly as possible, almost sure my mother would agree.

She processed the story I told after a couple moments of silence, and a very concerned look showed up on her face.

“Now why did you think that was a good idea? I don’t know who this mage is, but tell them your parents said no and after that, don’t speak to her again.”

“NOOO! Why? I want to learn magic and you can’t stop me from doing it!” I retorted with tears forming in my eyes at this disapproval.

This was the first time she had ever discouraged me from learning something. She taught me embroidery when I asked her to. It’s also not like this was the first time someone else was teaching me something either. She let the neighbour teach me how to cut the vegetables, start a fire, and cook simple dishes. She even let me learn simple sword play from my father. Why was magic off the table?

“If you want to stay in this house you will listen to me!”

“But mom, I need to learn magic! The next time someone gets injured, I’ll be able to heal them like that mage today.”

“N--” She had quickly started but just as quickly bit her lip. She wanted to argue with what I had said, but only let out a little frustrated sigh afterwards. My father walked next to her and put his hand on her shoulder, giving an approving nod. My parents locked eyes for quite a while before my mother said “Ok fine, go learn magic,” with a defeated and airy voice.

“Yes! Thank you!” I thanked them and quickly ran off into my room to try and wait till bedtime.

I didn’t even think about lunch or dinner. All I wanted was to meet with Lady Fae tomorrow. I kept myself entertained with fantasies of what tomorrow would be like. What if I learned the basics immediately? What if I was terrible? What if I could never match up to Lady Fae? What if I become the world’s best mage? I explored each possibility with a silent fervor, playing out every imagined scenario with me being the star of it all. In the end I decided I’d be amazing at this too, like everything else I’ve learned. It wasn’t long before the crickets began to play their songs and the last bit of orange dipped below the horizon. When I got used to the sound again, I felt my eyes tiring and my jaw relaxing. It would seem the whole ordeal earlier in the day really worked me out.

My eyes awoke to a lack of light. After slowly working my way up into a sitting position in the bed, I looked outside the window to see the stars and moon greeting me. They were just as beautiful as Lady Fae’s magic. Or was it the other way around?

“So it would appear I didn't quite make it to the next day in my sleep, I’m feeling a little hungry so maybe I’ll go check if there’s any food since I did skip dinner.” I spoke my thoughts aloud to myself in an attempt to practice my heroism. Isn’t that something Lady Fae would do?

I slowly pushed the warm sheets away from me and got up from bed. My feet bounced off the floor as soon as they had touched it, hovering above it. It had felt as though a blizzard had travelled into my room and my floor was feeling the aftermath of it. Reluctantly, I placed my feet back on the floor as the desire to eat had seemed to beat the desire to stay nice and warm. I do admit that this was not the easiest decision to make.

As I approached the door, I could see a light coming from the bottom and heard voices on the other side. I slowly creaked the door open a bit and peeped through. I saw my mother and father talking. It seemed as though my mother was crying and my father had a distant look on his face. I was worried that they were still talking about me.

“So what are we going to do now that you can’t use your arm?” She questioned my father.

“We’ll make it work, I’m sure of it. Everyone in the village is sure to help out the five of us who have been injured.” He reassured her.

“That good-for-nothing mage. Sure, she reattached your arm, but what good does that do? You can’t go on hunts anymore. You can’t plow the fields anymore! How would you even eat with a spoon now? And you’re telling me to calm down?”

“Oh would you stop that? At the very least, she made it so that we won’t have to spend large amounts of money on medicine for me.”

I closed the door slowly to make sure they didn’t know I had listened in a little. An anger was welling up in my body. My mother isn’t a very jovial woman, but you would expect anyone to be happy now, right? At the same time, however, a question was swirling as well. Why can’t my dad use his arm even after Lady Fae had healed him?

Hungry, angry, and confused, I went back into my bed and tried my best to fall asleep once again. This question didn’t leave me as easily as I had hoped. Like a rooster’s call at dawn, all my thoughts were blocked out, replaced with a single, repeating message. At least you can shut up roosters.

After waiting for what felt like a Millennia, the sunlight peered into my room. I can’t believe I was happy to hear the cackles of roosters. I jumped out of bed ignoring the cold ground, the ear-shattering calls, and my fatigue. I quickly went to take a bath to make sure I gave my very best presentation to Lady Fae. The freezing water that covered my body didn’t deter me from brushing and scrubbing as thoroughly as possible, even though my heart was pumping as fast as it was. I even made sure to clean my teeth until they were sparkling as though they had just been made.

When I decided I was clean enough, I jumped out of the tub and slapped a towel around my waste before I froze to death. I made sure to take extra care of drying and brushing my hair. The brown dress from yesterday was still pretty enough to be seen in public. I cracked open my door as slowly as possible and entered the main room.

It seems as if I had awoken before anyone else in the house had, which was probably for the best in case my parents had rethought their decision. As I put on my shoes at a pace much faster than I had ever before, the question I was thinking of yesterday popped back into my mind. Why can’t my dad use his arm even after Lady Fae had healed him? It had been echoing repeatedly all night in my mind, and after I finally thought it was gone, it seemed to have wormed its way back.

I wish it would just leave me alone. I slapped my cheeks in an attempt to get the thought out of my head and it seems to have worked for now. I gently pushed the front door open and with an equal force, closed it. I took off from my home in a hurry to make sure I would be there on time, though with the sun barely out, I wondered if even Lady Fae was awake.

As I arrived at the bottom of the hill, it felt as if most of my energy and stamina had left me. Looking at the top of the large hill, I took a minute long break in order to prepare myself for the trek. Even without energy or stamina, I still had spirit, and that’s all I needed to bring myself to the top of this hill. I began climbing the hill, with each step tiring me out more and more.

Trudging my way up, a certain tick seemed to have wiggled it’s way back into my brain. Why can’t my dad use his arm even after Lady Fae had healed him? As the question lingered in my mind, it caused me to think about it a little more. It was called healing magic, so what did it heal if my father still couldn't use his arm? It doesn’t make sense. I even saw new skin grow in places it was missing and the colour return to the forearm. I kept asking myself new questions and tried my best to explain them away, but this made the initial question reverberate louder. Why can’t my dad use his arm even after Lady Fae had healed him?

It seemed as though while thinking of this, I had subconsciously reached the top of the hill without realizing it. I could see Lady Fae's house now. The place looked pretty worn down. There were cracks in the wooden board which served as the walls. Moss grew in between each crack of wood. Spiders had begun to make their home around the edge of the roof. The front door seemed almost as if it was off its hinges. Lastly, the colour of the home had looked as though it had once been white, but now looked to be a greyish-purple colour.

I slowly approached the door, wondering if Lady Fae had lied to me and sent me to an abandoned home. Begrudgingly, I gave a knock at the door, half expecting for the door to fall over. To my surprise, the door had stayed standing, but to my expectations, no one had responded. I already defeated this giant hill, it wouldn’t make sense to give up that easily. I began knocking harder and calling for Lady Fae.

“Lady Fae, I’m here like you asssssked!” I yelled hoping she would be in there.

Kercow! Finally after a couple of minutes of shouting I could hear a large crashing sound.

“Why would you ever wake up this early!” An annoyed woman with untamed bangs asked me.

I tried to reply, but as I spoke the words I wanted, a set of words different from those I had willed, had decided to come out. “Why can’t my dad use his arm even after you’ve healed him?”