The Kelpie's Cries (Completed)

New Friend

In the morning, Enfys was the first to wake up and make noise inside the quiet hut. The woman woke up the girl, who was sleeping beside her on the bed and then Odan, who had fallen asleep sat in a chair. Nevada had stayed up all night to watch over the others, along with Össur who had fallen asleep in the middle of the tunnel after about an hour of patrolling. It was super obvious that the dragon cared more about his beauty sleep instead of keeping everyone safe. Maybe he just thought that nothing would come to harm them in the night despite the numerous humans lurking in the blue forest. Then again, those humans were moving inland towards the core of Blue Peace, they wouldn't stop to check if who they were looking for was hiding in some tunnel of mud and sticks.

The woman shortly thereafter left with Odan and Össur to go find the remainder of the humans, saying little to Nevada -other than to stay and babysit. Of course, he stayed in the hut as he didn't want to have anymore run-ins with another human. He would wait until the problem was resolved before entering reality again. After Össur was out of sight, Nevada went inside the hut to find the girl. She was so small and human-looking, that it was hard for him to believe that she had the genes of a selkie. She had no fur on her skin, no tail, no button nose, nothing that would remind someone of a seal unlike the purebloods in the pond near the heart.

"How did you end up here again?", he asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat beside her on the floor, where she was poking around the fallen beads that had fallen from the half-finished necklace on the table.

"Um...",  the child didn't know how to answer. Enfys was so forward when she had told him how she ended up in hers and Odan's hands but she couldn't find that forwardness in herself. Even if she opened her mouth to speak, no words would come out because she didn't know how to phrase the event. The idea of calling her father a monster felt weird and the idea that her mother had died made her sick to the core.

"Was what the woman had said true?".

She did not know how to tell him so, she decided to show him. Without a word, she stood up and located the backpack she once carried on her shoulders. Once she located it, she rushed over and opened it to drag out the dozens of notebooks from their hiding place. Nevada approached her and took a look over her shoulder with a puzzled look.

"Here", she handed him the notebooks the other adults had read through, the ones that had the most information about her father's job. She believed that he would be able to understand by the words, or at least she hoped that he would because her own hands had began to shake a little. Maybe the reality of her situation had just sunk in her skin and that was why she could not speak about it.

"What are these?", Nevada asked as he shuffled pages of the book, his fingers lingering on some of the letters. All he saw were lines of blue and black that some created sketches and the rest were some weird runes from an unknown culture. "Is this what writing is? I have never seen it before", he said as he shook his head in confusion, the gems on his hair jiggling and clinking as they parried each other's blows.

"You don't know how to read?", it was the girl's turn to throw him a confused look. Why did he not know how to read? It sounded unreal, like the toddlers she had met in her lifetime. Well, she had not seen any type of school around, maybe his parents didn't teach him either? "Why?".

"I didn't need to learn how to read. Crisiant wyverns communicate verbally, not with swirly lines", he told her with a slightly offended look but it soon melted away when she looked at him with those innocent eyes. There was no way he could hold a mean look when she was looking at him like that.

"I can teach you!", she said, her eyes shining. Suddenly all the saddening thoughts went away and were replaced by happy ones. Quickly, she jumped up and grabbed the notebook out of the man's hands and began to read the words to him. She read the whole text to him like her mum would teach her history at home -minus the patience. At least, Nevada managed to grasp the image of a few words through the whole thing. During the 'lesson', the girl had ended up on his lap and he had ended up looking at the text from above her head, since the height difference was to his advantage.

"What does this sound like?", he would ask and she would respond with the appropriate sound. However, another sound came from outside, one that did not feature a single letter but many in a cohesive line. 'Prt, prt, prt', that was what it sounded like and it was a sound the girl recognized with ease.

"My friend has returned!", she exclaimed as she got off Nevada and grabbed him by the hand to hurry him to stand as well. The girl led them to the door and out in the tunnel. She looked to her left, she looked to her right and finally to the entrance of the tunnel, where she saw the kelpie galloping towards them. "I'll introduce you two!"

"I don't think there is a reason for that, I know him", Nevada sighed as he crossed his arms under his exposed chest; Enfys had only given him so much to cover from his waist down. The girl raised her eyebrows at his statement but lowered them afterwards to drag him towards the entrance.

The Kelpie stopped once they were face to face, his eyes locked on the hand-holding of the other two with a suspicious look. His attention soon shifted to the girl who he found hugging his front legs with her small arms. He reached down with his head to wrap her in a small embrace before looking up at Nevada.

"Long time no see, Farrell", Nevada greeted and right away, he took the girl away and hid her behind him. "What are you doing so far away from your lake?".

The Kelpie flicked his tail in annoyance and dag the ground with a hoof. What is the matter with these two? The girl thought as she tried to get away from the anthropomorphic wyvern but his grasp on her wrist was unbreakable. Not strong enough to actually hurt and leave a bruise but strong enough to render her immobile.

"And how come you're going after children now?"

What?