The Radiant Girl

The walk back through the forest was slow.

Raiko carried Maya without complaint, the younger girl's limp form draped across her back, blonde hair falling loose over Raiko's shoulder. She moved through the dense trees carefully, stepping over roots and ducking branches without breaking stride.

Mika walked beside her, spear in his hand. He picked it up once the Shadow Ape was dead for good.

He had offered to carry Maya himself, but Raiko simply said "You are in no condition to do that." And that was that. This was the second time she had helped him now, which was starting to make him feel a little guilty. He didn't like feeling like he owes people anything, even more so if what he owes them is his sister's life.

"It only makes me feel like a burden..." Mika muttered under his breath, glancing at his sister's pale face.

He trailed slightly behind them, doing his best not to limp, which was mostly unsuccessful. Every other step sent a sharp reminder through his left side that his ribs had strong opinions about the Shadow Ape encounter, and his torn shirt hung off one shoulder in a way that he was fairly certain made him look considerably less impressive than he would have liked.

"You don't have to walk so fast." Raiko said, without looking at him. "I can slow down if you'd like." Her voice was just as calm as ever.

"I'm fine!" Mika said immediately. "I can handle this much."

She didn't argue. She also didn't slow down, which he appreciated more than he would ever say out loud. The last thing he wanted right now was for her to treat him like some weak little kid.

For a while the only sounds they heard were the birds in the forest,resettling in the canopy above, the distant fade of the waterfall far behind them, the soft crush of leaves underfoot.

Mika kept glancing at Maya's face over Raiko's shoulder, his blue eyes watching for any sign of movement. Her expression was still, her breathing slow and even, her lips slightly parted.

"She's still unconscious..." He said. It came out more like a question than he intended.

"She is." Raiko confirmed.

"Is that... normal? After something like that?" Mika's fingers tightened around his spear, his voice rough with leftover adrenaline and something softer beneath: Helplessness.

Raiko was quiet for a moment. "Her body is protecting itself from shock. It's not uncommon for this to happen when people find themselves facing something overwhelming. I'm sure her strong mag-" She paused briefly all of the sudden. "I'm sure she'll wake on her own."

Mika frowned at Raiko's hesitation, catching the way she stopped herself mid-sentence. He would have asked more, but he simply thought "Now isn't the time..."

Instead, he watched Raiko from the corner of his eye, which he was also doing his best not to make obvious and was also mostly unsuccessful at.

She really was, he thought for approximately the fourth time since the clearing, extremely beauti-

"Ouch!" He let out as he suddenly stubbed his toe on a root, stumbling forward a little. He was a bit too busy admiring Raiko's looks to notice the root.

"Focus on where you're walking." Raiko said without turning, though Mika caught the faintest hint of amusement in her tone.

"Grrr!" He couldn't help but blush a little.

After what felt like forever, the village appeared through the trees in pieces. The smell of cook fires first, then the distant sound of voices, then the familiar weathered rooftops of Dolphin Island.

A few villagers near the tree line noticed them immediately, and the ripple of attention spread fast the way it always did on a small island where anything out of the ordinary became everyone's business within minutes.

"What's wrong?"

"Those are the twins! Did something happen?"

"Is Maya okay? Who's that woman?"

"I don't know, man, but she's sexy!"

"Hey, I saw her first!"

Comment after comment. Raiko didn't pay attention to any of them though, while Mika ignored the stares as much as he could.

He was already scanning ahead for the one person he needed to find, and he spotted him before they'd fully cleared the trees.

"There he is, thank goodness..." Mika muttered under his breath as he spotted the person he had in mind.

A man in his late 40s by the name of Soro was standing outside their house with his arms crossed, which was, Mika reflected, more or less his default position. He was a broad, square-shouldered man with close cropped grey at his temples and a jaw that looked like it had been carved from driftwood and left in the sun too long. He was wearing his usual expression, which could generously be described as unimpressed with the general state of the world.

Oh, and he was also the twins' adopted father, on top of everything.

He took one look at Raiko carrying Maya, and his arms dropped to his sides. He crossed the distance between them in about four long strides. "What happened here?"

"Are you these children's guardian?" Raiko asked, shifting Maya's weight slightly to study Soro's face.

"That I am, now speak!"

"Shadow Ape." Raiko answered simply. "In the eastern forest. She's unharmed, just unconscious. She'll wake soon."

Soro's eyes moved from Maya's face to Mika's, taking in the split lip, the torn shirt, the way Mika was definitely not limping. His expression did something complicated that lasted about half a second before settling back into its usual configuration.

"Let's take this inside, people are starting." Soro's voice cut through the murmurs of the gathering crowd. "All of you."

Their house was modest the way most houses on Dolphin Island were modest. It was made up of two small bedrooms, a main room with a low table and floor cushions, a kitchen that smelled permanently of whatever Soro had most recently burned attempting to cook on days Maya wasn't home to stop or help him.

There were also weapon on the wall, It was a spear considerably older and far more battered than Mika's own. The young boy had grown up looking at it without ever fully thinking about its origins.

Raiko laid Maya carefully on the low cushions near the window, settling her head gently before straightening up and stepping back. She glanced around the room, her dark blue eyes used to checking her surroundings out of habit rather than any particular concern.

Mika quickly ran to Maya's side. "Maya..." He whispered as he held her hand.

Soro came in behind them and slid the door shut. "Take a seat." He said to Raiko, gesturing at the cushions. "You too, Mika. You shouldn't be standing."

The boy nodded, though part of him didn't want to leave his sister's side, but he knew his body needed a little bit of rest right now. His ribs were demanding so of him, actually.

Mika sat. He set his spear against the wall beside him and tried to look like he'd chosen to sit down rather than needed to.

Soro turned to Raiko. "You said 'Shadow Ape', right? You killed it?" Soro almost found it hard to believe. Soro was, for better or worse, assuming Raiko was just a normal woman.

"Yes." Raiko answered, fingertips brushing the hilt of her short blade. "You can ask Mika here if you'd like confirmation." She nodded toward him without looking away from Soro.

Soro didn't do that, instead he looked at her properly for the first time then, taking in the blade at her hip. "You're a Seeker."

Mika didn't have much time to process it, but here was that word again. A 'Seeker'. He knew of them, heck Mika would be shocked if there is anyone in the whole word who doesn't know what a 'Seeker' is.

"Monster Seeker." Raiko confirmed. "I'd been tracking the Shadow Ape for three days. It somehow managed to cross from the mainland to the island, which was unusual enough to follow." She paused. "And I fear it wasn't here by accident."

Soro's eyes moved briefly to Maya, then back to Raiko. "No." He said quietly. "I don't imagine it was."

"...Huh? What do you mean?" Mika asked, confused, and a little worried, only for Soro to ignore his question.

"So you know what she is." Raiko said. Not quite an accusation. More an observation, stated simply the way she seemed to state most things.

"I had a suspicion, but I was never sure." Soro's knuckles whitened where they rested on his knees.

The room was quiet for a moment.

"My name is Soro. Soro Ashren." The man introduced himself finally. "And what's yours? I must thank you for saving them."

Raiko gave a short nod. "Raiko. And you don't need to thank me, I was only doing what that I seek."

Soro was quiet for a second. "Can't say I know the name. Are you a new Seeker?"

At this point, Mika was starting to get frustrated. He felt as if these two were having a conversation on their own as if he wasn't in the room, which only added hurt to his already very hurt body.

"I've been a Seeker for nine years, so I wouldn't say I'm new." Raiko replied, her voice carrying an edge that suggested she'd fielded this question before.

"She's been a Seeker for nine years?! That's so long!" Mika thought to himself a little amazed, but mostly shocked. He knew female Seekers were a thing, sort of, but to meet one in person was still surprising. Even more so when he thinks about what a small place Dolphin Island is.

Something shifted briefly in Soro's expression. He pulled out the chair at the head of the low table and sat down heavily, the way a man sits when he's carrying something he doesn't intend to put down any time soon. He looked at Mika for what like the first time in a long time.

"A Shadow Ape..." He started. "You're hurt. I assume you tried to fight it?"

"Yeah..." Mika responded, his voice a little shadky. "I heard from Ryota some 'creature' attacked them. Once I learned he left Maya behind, I dashed towards her right away, with my spear in hand, and yet I..." The boy didn't want to continue his story, as he didn't like how it ended.

He couldn't help but feel a bit of shame as his adopted father stared him in the face.

Soro looked at him for a long moment. Then he leaned back and let out a slow breath through his nose. "You got your ass handed to you by a monster and then sat on the ground crying until this woman here came to rescue you, right? Is that how this story goes?" His voice was gruff, but Mika caught the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Mika's face went immediately and completely red. "I wasn't — I didn't — I was trying to get back up—"

"Boy." Soro's voice didn't rise, which somehow made it worse. "You got saved by a woman. That's what happened. Own it."

The silence that followed had a particular texture to it. Mika's jaw worked silently for a moment. His face was still red. He looked at the floor, unsure how to defend himself. He knew deep down that Soro wasn't wrong.

Raiko, seated now on the cushion across the table and apparently finding something very interesting about the grain of the wood surface, said absolutely nothing.

"...Yes." Mika said finally, through his teeth. "That's what happened."

"Good." Soro nodded once, as if this was the correct and only acceptable response. "Now." He looked at Raiko. "You said the Shadow Ape wasn't here by accident. Explain."

Raiko turned to look at Maya.

"To start with, you do know that girl is able to use magic, correct?" Raiko tilted her head slightly.

Soro nodded. "I do. Heck, I'm the one teaching her for a matter of fact." He leaned forward, elbows on knees. "But she's just barely getting started. Why?"

"...Some people," She began what Mika felt would be a long explanation, but as it had something to do with his sister, he was all ears. "Are different. Their gift runs deeper than the surface. It isn't just that they can use magic, it's that they radiate it, whether they intend to or not. To certain creatures, it reads as something closer to a call, something which attracts them to the source."

Mika had been listening quietly. "And Maya is one of those people?!" He asked, not so quietly.

"Yes, she is."

He was quiet for a moment. "And how do YOU know?" Mika asked, and it was then he remembered the way Raiko had used her lightning magic earlier during her fight with the Shadow Ape. He wasn't sure if her talent for magic had something to do it with or not.

"I can sense magical potential in others." Raiko answered the younger boy's question. "Just like how I can sense some magical potential in you, Mika, and Soro over there, I can also sense just how much of a strong potential is within Maya. It's part of what makes a good Monster Seeker, as you learn to read what creatures are drawn to. When I found the clearing and saw her, I understood immediately why the Shadow Ape had come so far." She paused. "The girl has more potential than I've sensed in a very, very long time."

Mika found all of this hard to take in. The young 12 years old boy turned to look at his sister's still face across the room. Maya, who healed scraped knees with a touch and gentle words. Maya, who carried her staff and begged their adopted dad to teach her how to use it. Maya, the healer, as some people on Dolphin Island call her.

"...A lot of magical potential? A-Are you sure? I mean, yes, Maya DOES know how to use healing magic, heck she's a little famous on the island because of that, but still..." Mika didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe his dear, beloved sister, somehow had something within her which could attract that which is dangerous to her.

"Yes, I'm sure. One doesn't always know just how much potential they truly have." Raiko studied Maya's sleeping face with her dark blue eyes.

"She's been training as a healer since she was a young girl." Soro spoke. His voice was careful in a way it hadn't been before. "Since she was small, she had talent for it. I'm no expert on healing myself, but I have small knowledge on water magic, so I did what I could."

"Healing magic... Yes, with her talent, she'd need a water mage master who can guide her properly." Raiko spoke as she looked at Soro.

"She needs more than what I can offer her, I'll admit that much." Soro said, something in his voice that wasn't quite pride and wasn't quite worry but lived somewhere between the two. "I only know enough to point her in the right direction."

"You mentioned you sensed some magical potential in me too." Mika asked , latching onto that detail before it slipped away. "What does that mean exactly?"

"It means you have some." Raiko said simply. "Less than your sister, but likely similar in nature. That's not unusual for siblings, even twins. You likely are gifted with water magic too." She paused. "Though, given how you fought earlier, I suspect yours manifests differently."

Mika shifted uncomfortably. "Soro tried to teach me some basics. Mostly I just focus on the spear. I knew I had some magic in me, but I always simply thought Maya was the talented one between us when it came to that, so I didn't bother with it..." His voice trailed off as he glanced at his still-unconscious sister, wondering just how she'd react once she learns of all of this.

"The spear is good." Raiko said. "But magic and a spear together is considerably better than either alone." She glanced at Soro. "You'd agree."

Soro made a noncommittal sound that was clearly agreement dressed up as neutrality.

Across the room, Maya stirred.

It was small at first, just a faint crease between her brows, her fingers curling slightly against the cushion beneath her. Then a soft sound, barely audible, and her eyes opened slowly, blinking against the light filtering through the window.

Mika was across the room before she'd fully focused.

"Maya!!" He dropped to his knees beside her, and whatever composure he'd been managing to hold together for the last hour quietly dissolved. "Hey! Hey, I'm here. You're home, you're safe, it's okay."

Maya blinked at him. Her blue eyes moved slowly around the room, the familiar ceiling, the familiar walls, their adoptive father, Soro, at the table, the unfamiliar woman she didn't recognize, before coming back to her brother's face.

"...Mika...?" She let out. For a second, she was wondering if this was all a dream or not. Her voice came out small and rough.

"Yeah." He responded. "It's me."

She looked at him properly then. Really looked at him, the split lip, the bruising already darkening along his jaw, the torn shirt hanging off his shoulder, the careful way he was holding himself that meant his ribs hurt more than he was letting on.

Her expression turned into something more complicated. "You're hurt!!"

"I-I'm fine." The boy lied.

"You're not fine! Look at you! Your shirt is—" She pushed herself upright, and Mika moved to help her without thinking, hands steadying her shoulders. She let him, just for a second, before her eyes found his face again. "What happened? The last thing I remember is the waterfall, and that scary creature, and then—" She stopped. Something moved across her face. "Ryota ran away...."

"Yeah..." Was all Mika could say. His voice was very flat. He wished it wasn't so, but it was the truth. Ryota did run away, and that wasn't something he could or even wanted to hide from his sister.

Maya was quiet for a moment. Whatever she was feeling about that, she kept it behind her eyes. "And then... you came after me? Is that why you're hurt?" She started putting the puzzle together bit by bit.

"Of course I did! I ran to you right away."

She looked at him for a long moment, and Mika watched something tighten and then release in her expression, like a knot slowly coming undone.

"You idiot..." She said softly.

"Yeah." He agreed.

She reached out and touched his jaw very gently, just below the bruising, and he tried not to wince and mostly succeeded. "Take your shirt off." She said, though it was more like a demand. "I'll heal what I can and sew the rest."

"Maya, you just woke up, you don't have to—" He wanted to object, but she quickly cut him off.

"Mika." She gave him a look that was extremely familiar, the particular look that meant the conversation was over and he was going to lose regardless of what he said next. "Shirt. Off."

He wanted to tell her about what Raiko said, but it could wait a bit longer.

With a sigh, he took his shirt off.