Inherently Innocent

If We Know The Dangers That Come With It?

Peony painfully limped towards Liliac and Golshan. Thyme barely made out the words she signed, but gathered something about Xochitl and Aloe going out of the cave to take some fresh air and grow some fruit.

Thyme found himself smiling at the group away from him when he meant to be concentrating on the ground under him.

He closed his eyes and asked for the earth to show him Onix Heseltine. That was wrong. He had to be honest.

Show me my mum. And in that word he carried the memories of a healing scraped knee, of a warm shared pancake, of a chilly summer night, all three of them looking at the stars. Of a family.

The earth answered slowly. It didn't know where to begin.

From the core of the mountains, Thyme could see more than he could have ever done with his eyes.

He saw rivers, hills, lakes, forests. He saw the settlement, and ishine homes too. Some were simple resting places under trees, others were built dens like Horizon Hill, and others were humble wood and dirt houses, just like humans could build. He saw a small ishine bloom from the earth, and open its golden eyes under the sunlight. He saw a river ishine that was resting against the bank, and he saw every little detail that distinguished them. The fins, the scales, the wider eyes and smaller, almost gone, noses. They were more fish-like, but still oddly human. Thyme wondered if he could meet someone like that, hear their stories. But another image caught his attention. A bullet had hit the earth, and the river ishine moved away, unable to communicate. Thyme followed the bullet's trail until he reached the source, the settlement. He felt a guard's feet stand on the ground, felt it turn around, walk back into the boundaries.

Could he see Program Imaginaria from the mountains? Could all mountain ishine look at humanity's crimes?

He scanned the agricultural grounds of the prison before realizing he was on the human side. The human side! He searched for any figure, any single one that he could recognize as Byeol Lee, but there were none. Even figuring out how many people were standing on the dirt was hard with such a limited sight. She was probably inside, if she was alive at all. Thyme shook the thought off and moved towards the original part, the nymphs zone. He saw the carrots before they would become mushy, some onions, potatoes, and finally a nymph. There was a nymph! Could he talk to them?

Can you hear me? He tried to say.

There was no answer, so Thyme concentrated harder on finding out who the nymph was. But by just making out the contour of their body, he couldn't tell. The earth answered for it, shaking at the shout that it received from a guard. Just faintly, the dirt vibrated. It said Ocarina. The name rang a bell.

Something caught Thyme's attention first. A small rodent crawling under the earth. It was speaking with the nymph through the very same dirt Thyme was using. He got in between the communication.

Ocarina! He silently shouted.

Silence.

It was the hurt nymph. The one with dirty teeth and red eyes, the one whose hair had started falling in patches. Well, that didn't narrow it that much, but Thyme only remembered her in detail.

"Thyme?" He heard the voice louder than before, but then he heard a loud thud.

"Shut up," Another voice said, probably a guard.

Ocarina, listen and keep quiet. We're going to return, we're going to get you out of there, Thyme's voice accelerated, tell everyone, but tell everyone to stay quiet. You're going to need to wreck shit up.

There was no answer. Ocarina was quiet already. There was another thud, and her body fell on the ground. Another guard stood closer and shot at the rodent in the earth. Thyme could only assume they had hit the nymph, but before he could order the earth to rise, he was pulled away.