Chapter 25 - Maya's Rifle

Using the money they pilfered from the cabin, they bought a room at a hotel within Elkinare, choosing to buy a large room instead of two smaller ones.

The bigger room was much nicer than he expected. Two beds were put up against the wall, spaced out to provide room for the wooden drawer in-between them. The carpet was blue, and to the side lay a door to the room's own bathroom. He nodded in approval. This was much closer to his world's hotel rooms than he expected.

The Elf fell asleep immediately upon lying down on the other bed, leaving Maya and Peter to converse alone. She looked down at her rifle, the stock still damaged beyond repair. She kept it out of her mind while they traveled back, but now that they had some downtime, she couldn't ignore it anymore. She put the pieces together repeatedly, hoping that there was some way, some angle, to just put the pieces together and fix everything. Of course, no such thing was possible.

"Hey, about your rifle..." Peter asked gently.

"What about it?"

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but what's the story behind your gun?"

"My gun? There's not much to say about it, but if you want, I can explain."

"Go ahead."

She sighed. "It was a gift from an old neighbor of mine, Mr. Hayabushi. I never knew my father much. He died when I was still a baby, so I didn't know much about him. And my mother... she fed me, but she was always too tired to do anything with me, so I'd go outside a lot. I met Mr. Hayabushi when I was eight. He was a hunter, and the only one in my village who had a gun. He had a son too, but he had a job outside the village, so he never got to see him much. He lived in this small house on the outskirts. Looking back, I think he was really lonely. He offered to teach me how to hunt, so I took it. It beat having nothing to do in the house all day. I learned a great deal about hunting thanks to him. How to skin, how to aim a rifle, how to reload... everything I knew about shooting, I learned it from him. I loved him. He became my father, in a way.

"Then, after two years, he died in his sleep. Age caught up with him. I was the first one to find out. I found his gun on the table, with a note that read 'Maya, I give this rifle to you'. Even after the funeral, I kept that note. I held onto it for as long as I could. Mother didn't like the idea of me having a gun, but I refused to give it up, and that was that. It was one of the few things she didn't take away from me. And I used it, over and over, and made sure it'd keep working. I've used it for about nine years. I suppose he'd be proud of that. He never did like throwing things away."

"I'm sure he would be. Can it be repaired?"

"It could be. I'd just have to replace the stock. It would probably even be better than it was before. It's just... it wouldn't feel the same. Not to me. It's like a confirmation that he's truly gone, if that makes sense." She shook her head. "No... apologies. It's a bit silly to get sentimental over tools like these, isn't it?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Really?"

He nodded his head. "That rifle was a gift to you, from him. And it's been by your side for a long time. I think anyone would be saddened from having such a precious item damaged like that."

"I guess so." She leaned the rifle against the wall. "Well, it's my fault either way. If I didn't want it damaged, I shouldn't have taken it to the Tarlands."

"It's not-"

"It's fine. You don't need to pretend I had no fault in it." She smiled slightly. "Thanks for trying anyway. You remind me of Beatrice sometimes. Always telling me everything's fine, even when I'm the one who's causing trouble."

"Speaking of Beatrice, it's been a long time since we've been in Holdenville. What are you gonna do after we get back."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Go back to the way things were, I guess. Go hunting in the day, read up on magic at the bookstore... that kind of thing."

He nodded in understanding. "What made you so interested in magic?"

"Hmm... that's a little hard to answer. I've always been interested in magic. I think it started when I went to go see a magic fair as a kid, back when my mother would still do things with me. I remember thinking how cool it was, seeing all those fireball tricks. I bought a book about legendary wizards that day. I still have it, actually. It's in a shelf at the bookstore."

"Right, I think I've seen it before. 'Wizard Heroes and their Heroic Deeds', right?"

She blushed a little. "Yeah, that's it. I read that book a lot as a kid. All those stories about wizards saving a village from a dastardly villain, about witches giving impoverished families another chance at life... that book gave me a lot of hope. I wanted to be a hero, just like they were. When I wasn't helping Mr. Hayabushi hunt, I did chores all around the village, trying to earn as much money as possible. Then, with my money, I bought myself a spell book and committed everything to memory. I was pretty good as a kid, let me tell you that!" She looked at her left hand solemnly. "And then, well... I couldn't do it anymore. I was a little crushed, but I kept at it, until eventually I had to give it up. I still studied magic as much as I could though. Didn't want to stop trying to be a hero just yet." She chuckled a bit. "I'll admit, I was a little jealous when you started practicing magic too. You got the hang of everything I couldn't do anymore. But not anymore. Thanks to you, she wouldn't have survived."

"Couldn't have done it without your regeneration spell."

"But I'm not the one who cast it."

"Yes, but you're the one who knew it. Without it, she might've still died. The regeneration allowed her to produce enough blood to stabilize. So thanks for that."

She seemed a little shocked for a moment, then nodded. "Huh. Never thought about it like that."

They sat in silence for a while. Just before he thought up something else to say, his stomach growled, echoing through the room. That's right, they hadn't eaten anything during their journey back to Arkalo!

The Elf sat up, confused. "What was that?" She asked.

Peter tripped over his words. "Um, well, I... I'm hungry, alright?"

Maya giggled, the burst into a hearty laugh, surprising both Peter and the Elf. 

"What's so funny?" He asked, even more embarrassed than before.

"It's nothing, it's nothing..." She wiped tears from her eyes as she regained her composure. "It really has been a while since we've had any food, huh?"

The Elf nodded. "You're right. We should at least get something before sleeping. I'll show you what I ate when I lived here."

The three left the room, their spirits a bit higher than before.