Lasting Hope .5

Meeks 2

The golden leaves of many past autumns crunched loudly beneath my hiking boots. It was annoying me very much. Back home, the leaves turned to fertilizer a mere days after falling. Making it a very clean and less work. Which was good, we had better things to do. I shifted my attention to Opal, or should I say aunt Oprah. She had halted, and started to send tendrils of white mist. I waited for her report. I smiled fondly at her, gods, she was my best friend and companion, even if she was a whole decade older. She never acted like I was superior to her or her to me. I appreciated that. I was the eldest of three princes. And it gets annoying when everyone treats you out of fear, or as if you're very fragile.

But not only that. When we were prisoners, she cut her meager portions for the growing children. She'd play with them, comfort them, and just bring a ray of sunshine to whoever needed them. She's an amazing mage and angel. She's has the highest ranks among her kind, yet she doesn't use a lot of the privileges offered to her."Only about ten meters more my lord." She smiled a bit flattered, telling me that I had forgotten to shield my thoughts. It's a technique adolescents grow to develop, and I had been working on.

"Excellent work then. So nobody had actually come to hike here and camp?" I looked at her curiously. It seemed to me that these humans had taken over everything, or at least been everywhere. The fact that one little spot in a hiking trail wasn't occupied by them is a little far fetched.

"Actually, it seems to me that only two humans have discovered it, but they haven't visited in a bit under a year." She answered me, as we came to a dense wall of of oaks, maples, and pine trees. It was amazing to see how these these trees could grow in such close proximity.

"So we have to go through that?" I asked for confirmation. I was skinny, but not skinny enough to pass through the small openings between the trees. And not to be rude, but neither was Opal.

She smiled and said, "Actually, no. The humans very conveniently made a passage over...here."

And there was a little trail obscured by some bushes. Clever. An untrained eye would've missed the spacing behind the bush. I closed my eyes, and started to visualize the path ahead, with the white tendrils Opal had used. The hidden trail opened up to a big clearing, after about three meters. That was good. I stepped in front of Opal, and pushed the bush aside to let her come in. "M'lady." I bowed and with my free arm gestured inside. She flashed me a smile, and told me to race to the opening, I grinned, and raced as fast as I could, ducking branches, jumping over roots, and not sliding on the mud. Naturally, I won. I'm sorry. I needed to fill my ego. I meant, naturally she won. Of course I'd like to think I would, had she mentioned this wasn't a no spell race. That little cheater.

As I took in my surroundings, I gasped. It was...it was so beautiful.... There were at least thirty different colors of flowers. from the darkest purple to lighest of blues. I bet they'd be even more beautiful in the daytime.The grass was a light green, and naturally short. Well, I had to assume that. There where no twigs or stones that I could sense, making it very comfortable to walk on. The air was warm, perfect. I turned to Opal, taking in the atmosphere like I was. But she didn't look very comfortable. "What's wrong Opal?" I asked her gently.

She pursed her lips, as deciding whether or not I should hear what she was thinking. I opened my eyes, big and round. I stared at her with my puppy dog eyes. Don't judge me. I know that a seventeen year old making puppy faces is pathetic, but I'm just trying to break the tension. And I did. She sighed and ruffled my hair, though she had to stand up on her toes to do it. " I think I know who those two humans are."

I wrinkled my nose in confusion. " I'll give you a hint. One fell for a forbidden love, the result of a hybrid and their exile in this place." Which was of course, more than a hint. "Hazel and her mom? How do you know?"

"Because this is the place I left them at. They'd also be naturally attracted to this place. Thats why it looks so sacred. It's a bit of Angelica I left with them. I didn't realize that at first. We could go somewhere else...." Opal glanced up towards the heavens, where our kingdom was.

Surely she isn't suggesting we go back, is she? She turned to me, and smiled, rolling her eyes, and shaking her head no. Oh no, my shield fell again. Blush colored my cheeks, as I put it up again. Sure, when you're an angel, you have powers that are part of your kind. But others, like thought shields, don't bloom and develop until you're ready. "If you're fine being here, then I will be too. Whatever you decide." I gave her the choice.

"We'll stay then. A little bit of Angelica will do us good. Meeks, would you mind putting up the tents and the rest? I feel drained." Translation: Meeks, I've done most of the magic. Get your butt to do some of the work as well.

I smiled, and nodded. How do you expect me to help you when you keep pushing me out of the way though Opal? I walked over to the thickest tree. It's width was easily twice my six feet, four inches. This looks like a good secure place. I cleared my mind, and took a big breath. Then I started to project my thoughts toward the air/atoms. Hello guys! How are you guys doing n this fine evening? Well, considering they don't have brains, I sent my emotions of joy and happiness that could get translated in their fields of energy like that. I sent out a lonely, misunderstood, useless kind of feelings, at their shock. Kind of useless I suppose, floating out by your selfs. Suddenly I receive a feeling that could only be described as the happiness to be understood, but mixed in with loneliness. So I send out hope and joy for them, unity and a job. Well, why don't you guys turn into this for me? You'll be together, serving a purpose... And I keep a steady image of the tent in my mind. Relief rolls in from them, and in less than a blink of an eye, I have two tents, big enough to fit two inside. This will do very comfortably.

Let me clear up, even though this seems to take at least five minutes, it lasts no longer than a minute. They're always up to it. But here, on Earth, atoms aren't so used to becoming something. So they aren't so fast. But I promise you, this was still a very quick exchange. "Sire, I was wondering, what if we used our magic to send food back home? They'd just be receiving food, not using magic."

I furrowed my eyebrows. They'd technically be using magic, the food was magic. But since it wasn't magic by them.... Well, let's say I was desperate enough to save my people to try anything. "Yes, I want to send the children sweets too." I manifested a pound of milk chocolates i had sampled at the office when buying the cottage, and about twenty pounds of baked potatoes. That was the first thing we ate when we came here yesterday, and we found it to be very fulfilling. This will do better for our many hundreds of people. Sure, it's still not nearly enough, but we can't really send out the two thousand pounds that we actually need. We still need to remain inconspicuous. A little bit more is a lot better than nothing.

The food disappeared inside the golden light Opal was producing, along with a motivational note. Opal walked up from beneath the canopy our tree was making and shrugged her leather jacket off. A fine fashion statement in the town of Tiffany Selene, but not so much in the air. I ran up to meet her, but she had already launched herself into the black sky of the night, her golden wings contrasting very nicely. But then again, all the wings do. I flapped my own aqua ones, and with a loud cry of joy, I joined Opal.