One Bitter Man

The spring over the western farmlands was the best. Every day I would walk up to one of our trees, place the mesh under it like my dad taught me and with a single kick, I would make Ura beans rain down.

I loved the sound and feeling of them falling, rolling past my body. The more of them I felt, the better job I had done. I wrapped up the mesh, and carried all the beans back home.

“Mom! Dad! Look at all the beans I got.”

My parents’ smile wasn’t as big as I’d hoped. Maybe I needed to try harder next time. Either way, we were going to have fresh bean soup that night. So tasty!

Before I carried the mesh full of beans into the kitchen, I noticed great unc Urmirr sitting on the dining table.

“Great Uncle Urmirr!” They’d told me how many greats were before his name, but I’d forgotten. Maybe great great great great uncle? Elven families were complicated like that, and I don’t think he minded. I squeezed him with the tightest hug I could. He didn’t visit a lot… I missed him.

All he did was place one of his arms on my back. I couldn’t even call that a hug. Classic great unc, that’s how he showed he loved me.

“Illaera,” said my great unc.

“Isn’t my name Ilara?”

“That’s… the human version.” After that, great unc started talking in Elvish. I didn’t really know the language, so that was a problem for another time. He said a lot of words, but he really liked saying the word “human” in the language that I did understand. He also pointed at my dad a lot, who at some point said he had work to do and left the house. It was a busy harvest season, after all.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to live a peaceful, humble life.” I think my mom was bored of listening to great unc talk in Elvish.

“That’s for her to decide,” said great unc with his heavy accent. He unwrapped a cloth to reveal a stick hidden inside. “Illaera, practice magic with this every day.”

I couldn’t believe it. Magic! I could be just like Mom and Great Unc Urmirr! I rushed to grab the wooden stick. It smelled so nice and had a beautiful blue rock stuck on top. I could finally use spells! I wonder what I could do? Could I make it rain like Mom? Could I use the wind to harvest more Ura beans? There was so much to look forward to! I. Could. Not. Wait!

“She still isn’t old enough! She could hurt herself!” Mom reached for the stick and took it away from me.

Several Elvish sentences from my great unc later, Mom finally gave me back the stick. “Ilara. Promise me you’ll only use this while I’m around, alright?”

“Promise!”

◆

“Promise!” exclaimed Ilara, embarrassed when she realized she woke up on the cart, being carried by Alric.

“Anything wrong, Ilara?”

She composed herself quickly. “No.”

“Good, then can you help me draw the cart, or at least get off?” Alric joked around; it was nice to see that he was still in a good mood.

“My spells help you more than I ever could...” Everything around her looked unfamiliar. “Alric, how long have I been asleep?”

The frequent bumps on the road coupled with an ungentle handling of the cart got in the way of Ilara’s daily planned naps, a lifetime tradition of hers. No amount of padding from her clothes, stored hastily in her luggage, managed to soften the frequent loud blows that the chipped wheel was unable to absorb over the rural roads littered with debris.

After a few days of discomfort in which she could only barely sleep at night and missed her daily naps, Ilara finally used her magic to force herself to sleep.

“It’s been a couple of days, maybe three…” said Alric with a smile.

“And how long have you been awake?!” Ilara jumped off the cart, touching Alric’s neck with her hand. “Sanae!” Her quick thinking might’ve saved Alric’s life. “Alric, eat and drink. Now.”

“Why? I’m not hungry, I’ve been feeling great since you gave me that blessing!”

“Stop. Now.” Ilara's cold, commanding tone made him obey, even if he remained as gleeful as usual. “We’re sleeping here tonight.”

“Sure Illy.” Illy? Did he just make up a new nickname? “Can you explain why?”

“The blessing has been repairing the damage to your body due to your lack of eating and sleeping. Once the damage outpaces my healing, you die.”

Alric spit his food out. She wished he hadn’t done that, given that their resources were limited. Even worse—he spit out the meat jerky that she had allocated to him, realizing they would need his muscles strong for their journey ahead. It was the optimal distribution of food, or at least it was until her favorite snack ended up half chewed on the ground of the forest, ready for some worms to eat while Alric stood there in shock.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Ilara realized her question should’ve waited for Alric’s shock to pass, but he eventually came back to reality.

“I know you’ve had a hard time sleeping in the tent, and you looked really tired. I just wanted you to sleep peacefully for a little bit.”

So he was being kind and selfless, one of the worst kinds of stupid. But Ilara didn’t blame him, she knew what he was like. Fool me once, and all of that. She underestimated the potency of her sleeping spell on her tired body, after all.

Ilara tried to mask her concern. “Even with my spells on you, do not forget to eat, drink, and sleep regularly.”

“I felt so great, I had no idea. And you’ve been so tired, Illy, I thought we’d get there faster this way.”

Right, she’d forgotten about his other, more ordinary kind of stupid, enough that she once again left her new nickname unaddressed—which she would regret going forward. “We need to eat and sleep for a reason, Alric. We’ll set up camp here tonight so you can rest properly.”

As the day grew darker and colder, Alric finished up setting up their camp next to giant trees which hid them from the sun for better or worse. Ilara, secretly horrified, had to witness Alric gobble the last bit of their meat jerky.

They were at most one day away from the next town, anyway. Of course they could restock there, right?

As soon as Ilara stopped her spells, Alric fell into a deep sleep in their tent.

Nightfall came, and with a small cast of Lumina, Ilara spent the night guarding a sleeping Alric. She was well rested, anyway, and he was the reason they’d gotten that far in the first place.

That whole situation made Ilara realize many things. She was far from home, school, and every place she was familiar with. There was discomfort, lack of food, energy, and even something as small as that could put Alric’s life in danger. Nothing was guaranteed anymore.

She extinguished the light. It could be dangerous if they were spotted, and her sharp hearing would be enough to protect both of them.

Ilara spent the night in darkness and silence.