Threads and Promises

Once I could see again, Loali offered me a brief apology and showed me how to adjust the output of the glasses myself. It took a few times for me to "feel" the magic in the glasses, but eventually I had enough of a sense of it to change the light, though I had to concentrate to do so. Loali took the fact that I was able to adjust the output of the glasses at all as a surefire sign that I did have magic, as it would otherwise be impossible for me to do so if I had no control of magic at all. Even some people with obvious magic had a lot of trouble making what were, in her words, “simple adjustments.”

"I have hope for you yet, Danny.” She smiled, before her eyes turned serious. “Doubt is the thing that kills the prospects of most people who want to make magic devices. The second they doubt their ability to make devices, they're outta the game. So promise me you won't go doubting before you've even tried, alright?"

I vehemently nodded in agreement when I felt the force in her words, and decided not to think about it anymore for the time being. Something about what she said made me feel as if I suddenly understood her personality a bit better.

After she provided me with a few pieces of advice about when to come to her or Itelber for recharges and secured a promise from me to visit her workshop soon, she left with half-a-pep back in her step. She apparently had to get back to her usual work, as she’d already been over long enough for half the moon to have passed.

I was simply overjoyed that I was now able to see around me with little trouble, even when Zida intentionally tuned down her own flames and brought several of the brighter rocks that’d been on the table back into their respective rooms. I’d been able to make out colors and all of that before with the help of the light they’d been creating for me, but now everything was much more vivid. The things around me still didn’t look the same as they would under the light of the sun or a lightbulb, but the world truly did come to life when the corners of the room were no longer lingering abysses.

I spent the time after that with Zida, who was the only other person left in the house since Creyna had already left to play with the other children in the neighborhood tunnels. They would apparently be fairly safe in the tunnels close to the underground village homes, though there remained some risk of monsters digging their way into tunnels that hadn’t been as heavily reinforced and finding their way further in. Zida advised me not to go out without an adult for now, as all the other kids had much better hearing than I did and would know when to flee to one home or another, not to mention their natural defensive capabilities which I lacked, such as their claws or fire magic.

Since she said we still had enough time to do so, Zida took me out of the house and only a minute’s walk away to another door, where we were greeted by a birdlike person whose appearance differed greatly from the night phoenix I’d met so far.

“I’ve got a request for you, Luen.” Zida said, and without a moment’s hesitation she received a nod in return.

“So this is the boy? C’mon inside, I’ll get him sorted out. Usual vests and dressings are fine, I assume?”

“Yeah. All of it should fit him the same- ah, but he has no tail.”

“I see.”

While I followed along with their conversation, which mostly centered around determining if there were any differences about my body that they needed to keep in mind when adjusting the clothes, which I made a few comments on, I focused mostly on Luen.

I was pretty sure I’d encountered several people like him yesterday, when I was too tired to really think about them, but now that I could both see clearly and was wide awake the differences between him and Zida were fairly obvious- the first of which was, of course, the distinct lack of flames around his body. I’d recognized that a few of the feathered people I’d passed weren’t covered in fire, instead lit by intricately patterned feathers which were especially bright right around their long necks, but each thing I noticed now made it more and more obvious that Zida and Luen were clearly two different kinds of people. Luen had an actual beak, instead of a dinosaur face like the night phoenix I knew, stood a bit straighter and slimmer, and had shorter, tucking feathers that made his “wings” better resemble arms. I also took particular note of his scaly hands, which looked almost entirely like mine besides their sharp nails and the fact that what would have been his pinky finger was pulled to the side like his thumb.

At some point, probably as a result of some interest showing on my face, Zida told me that Luen was a seraphid, and that apparently Vernae’s family were as well.

I guess there’s at least two types of bird-like people here. I haven’t seen any more lumosids like Itelber yet either, so maybe this is mostly a village of bird-like people? Are there any more heralens besides Loali’s family?

When I worked up the confidence to ask Zida and Luen as much, they nodded.

“Itelber and his son are the only lumosids here, and Loali’s family are the only heralens. This village has mostly been only seraphids and night phoenix for generations, until Drufyna’s grandparents sheltered here a long time ago.” Luen explained, “back then there was a particular bounty out for heralium, so many of them scattered to keep themselves safe, or so I hear.”

“And Itelber?”

“That was quite the stroke of luck for us,” Zida cut in, and I caught a bit of excitement in her voice. “He and Illose were from Boundary City, and somehow Drufyna convinced them to come back with her from her spouse-finding mission.”

After a few more exchanges I began to understand a bit more about the chieftess, namely that she got her position from being both bold and well-loved by the villagers. Loali apparently resembled a younger version of Drufyna, namely in her passion for the things she cared about, and just about the same time Drufyna came of age she had declared to her parents that she’d set out herself to the city and bring back a spouse and villagers. Her parents were reluctant to see her go, but after many of the villagers offered to join the regular merchant caravan with her and protect her they had eventually relented, mostly expecting with the rest of the villagers that she’d come back in a few weeks disappointed but wiser than before. Little did they know she’d be gone far longer than a few weeks, and that she’d come back with exactly what she promised. Though she’d wanted to bring back at least 10 people, in exchange for the quantity she brought back quality.

In Zida’s own words, “Drufyna single-handedly improved all our lives. I doubted her at the time, and since I’d already reached adulthood myself I felt like it was my responsibility to try to rein her in. Now I’m thankful every day that I failed.”

From there on Luen’s measurements and consultation didn’t take long, and as we left he told us he’d bring my clothes over in a couple moons, lending me a slightly worn out vest and fresh dressings that were a little large to tide me over, which I’d put on tomorrow. It was only then that I realized that practically everyone I’d met, besides Drufyna and her husband, had been wearing the same vest and similar draping clothing underneath. There were some differences, like a lack of sleeves in any of the night phoenix or seraphid’s clothes where Itelber and Loali’s clothes had them, but otherwise they were essentially the same.

For all intents and purposes, the cloth that went under the front-clasping leather vest constituted a knee-length dress with sleeves that reached about halfway down my forearm, with accompanying undergarments. I figured I’d get used to it quickly enough.

Once Zida and I were back home, I happily volunteered to help her with her work, which for the time being consisted of managing the food storage.

By the time Creyna returned, Zida had just started to prepare the second meal of the moon. Behind Creyna another kid, which I immediately recognized as a seraphid like Luen, came in as well. He was a head or so taller than me, and after his eyes met mine he quickly strode over.

“You’re Danny?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I’m Biarn, Vernae’s son,” he introduced himself, “you’re living here now, right?”

“Right. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Ah, you don’t gotta be polite, Danny!” He beamed, and though I couldn’t exactly see a smile on his beak I could see one in his eyes. “From now on, I’m your big brother, just like I am for Creyna here. If you need anything, you see a monster, whatever, you just gotta holler for me!”