Aftef I asked the question, he just looks at me.
" Sir, may I ask if you live in the forest?".
I tear my gaze away from the sky and turn my gaze to him.
And I just stare at him.
I don't stare at him because I am offended or something.
I just stare at him for a few seconds, letting the question sit in our minds.
" I have a question that even the dumbest person can answer".
I inhale quite a bit of air, slowly filling my lungs with air.
" Do you actually think I would answer you?".
He shakes his head.
He stands straight like he remembered that he is talking to a person he can't offend.
" Since we are getting acquainted with each other and you would likely have to follow me to the main city or whatever you call it".
He pauses and inhales a bit of air.
The words in his mouth come out clean.
But the words sound forced but perfect.
Like he forced them to be perfect.
He stands straight and looks relaxed, but the tension on his body tells me a different story.
After the short pause, he continues.
" I would like to know a bit about the area you live in, so that I decide if it is going to be me escorting you there, or someone who lives in the same area or an area that is similar".
A smile comes on my face.
" You really are thoughtful".
My smile becomes barely visible, but still there.
" I appreciate it ".
The smile on my face disappears, but a friendly expression stays on my face.
I see him relax.
His shoulders loosen slightly, and the tension that has been holding his body stiff all this while disappears.
Somehow, all this while, he was on edge and had very taut nerves.
But now they are relaxed.
A smile comes on his face.
" Do you want to be friends?".
I shake my head.
" I would like to, but I can't".
He looks confused by my answer.
His expression changes instantly, like the answer was unexpected.
" How come?".
" Can you just answer the question I asked earlier?".
He nods.
But his eyes shake a little as be nods.
I look at him.
And I see multiple emotions.
Fear, respect, and so many emotions about fear and respect, almost to the point of being called worship.
But the sight of all these emotions makes me pause.
Every single day, more things just randomly appear in my head.
They feel like they are part of my memories.
And in some of them, it mentions how emotions are ethereal.
Unseeable.
' If that is so, why can I see them?'.
" It's something you will know once you get the memories pertaining that knowledge".
The little lass talks to me as she gets another biscuit from a space that I can't see.
" So don't think about it now, as it will just bring you whether it ha mental, physical or spiritual burdens that you would not be able to carry the way you are now".
I just listen to what she says.
As she talks, she takes large bites, that I thought not possible, out of her biscuit.
Crums go on her face, as the way she is eating is like a little girl.
I just stare at her in silence as she takes big bites off her biscuit.
" You should just look around instead if staring at me".
I move my eyes away and start looking at Derek.
That's when I notice all the things other than the emotions.
Some are not as hard to describe as the emotions and are as simple as colors and such, while others are even more impossible to describe than the emotions.
I look at them for a bit then turn my attention back to Derek who is still calming his emotions.
The degree of the emotions he has now are way less than earlier, but they are still the same emotions.
I expect to wait for sometime, but he talks.
" Well, you see, there are a few people who everyone fears".
He sits down on a log that is somehow behind him.
But the moss growing on the rough surface says that it has been there for a long time.
" Whether it is the young or old, wise and foolish, strong or weak, they still fear these people".
The expression on his face and the emotions I see turn to surprise, wonder, fear, curiosity and so many other emotions.
He turns to look at me.
" And these are the people who released the order".
He looks at me.
" So what did you do to make them want you so much, whether it is good or bad?".
I just shrugg.
" Don't know and don't care".
" Just tell me about them so that I can find the best ways to avoid them".
He nods.
" I don't know all of them, but there a few I do know".
There are slight tremors in his voice as he talks.
But he talks very clearly.
I sit down under a tree and turn my head to the sky and look at the stars and moon.
The branches stretch out in the darkness, hiding the night sky from my sight.
But, the branches twist and turn, leaving open spaces for the moonlight to hit me.
" One of them is Nivalis, I don't know much about this one but the name".
" The next is Lysera".
" She is called the spirit of the forest".
' And I stay in her house'.
" I can't say much about her, otherwise I will meet an early grave, but I will speak what I can, that I know".
I don't pat attention to the next few things he says, but I still listen.
Barely.
" So let me begin".
" She stays in this big forest".
" Her house is in the middle of the forest".
" It is said she is unimaginably beautiful".
" Hmm".
' The way she looks is beautiful?'.
' I did call her a beautiful girl'.
' Is she a beautiful woman instead'.
' And apparently she is very old'.
' Maybe that's why she didn't tell anyone her age '.
The image of her appears in my mind.
" OH, I said that it is said she is unimaginably beautiful".
I nod.
" I heard".
He nods.
" It is said she is as powerful as she is beautiful".
" Element and age are unknown".
" How she acts when someone comes cannot be said".
" Last thing I can say is that she teaches at the best academy in the world".
He then keeps quiet.
I wait for him to continue talking, but he doesn't say anything even after a few minutes pass.
And because of my emorsion with the starry night sky, I don't ask him to continue talking.
After some time, I am still looking at the sky withput any thoughts, but then I suddenly hear a crunch sound that breaks the quiet.
CRUNCH!
I turn my head slightly to look at the little lass who appeared out of nowhere on my shoulder.
At the moment, she is eating something round and brown , with a rough surface texture.
It is has bite marks.
And it as small as the center of my palm.
But it still bigger than her.
" Num num num num num"
The noise of her chewing echoes loudly in the silent forest.
Which is surprising considering how small she is.
And as she chews the brown, half eaten thing, she speaks to herself.
" It was really, Num, worth it to go to, num num num".
She doesn't say where she went, but takes another big bite off of her biscuit.
She holds the biscuit in her tiny hands.
Her cheeks puff for eating too much at once.
It makes look very cute.
' Little lass, where did you go?'.
' You have been absent for a few hours'.
The little lass left at the start of the night, a few minutes after I arrived in this area of the forest.
And she has come back in the rising minutes of the sun.
The stars above me are beginning to fade as the darkness slowly gives way to the first light of dawn. The outlines of the trees are becoming clearer, and the cold air of the night is slowly being replaced by the faint warmth of the approaching morning.
The light of the sun has already started chasing the darkness away
" It doesn't matter".
She starts swinging her upper body left and right while kicking her legs with a happy expression on her face while eating the biscuit.
"Instead of asking that, you should look at what that guy over there is doing".
She points at Derek as she says that.
" And can't you see how my appearance has changed ".