Elemental Soul (Book 1 of 'A Fantasy in Time')

Chapter 9: Caring for a Cub

Chapter 9: Caring for a Cub

As I began the trek back up the pathway to the city, I paused a moment thinking of a solution to keep my hands free while keeping the cub safe.  Kneeling mid trail and settling the little one in my lap, I pulled out my bag.  Digging through it I set aside one of the ore bags and the rope.  Tying the rope to each end of the bag securely and strapping it around my body with one part over my left shoulder with the other end running down to just above mid waist.  In front of me was like a small hammock made from the bag itself.  I gently raised the still sleeping cub and placed it in the makeshift hammock which had the added benefit of hiding it from view.

Finally I was ready to go.  Walking past the usual sentries they didn’t say anything this time except to briefly nod their heads in greeting.  Only a look at the bag strapped across my chest garnered any curious looks, but nothing was mentioned of it.  ‘Yea!’  I thought to myself.  Score one for the accepted eccentricity of Travelers!

Coming closer and closer to the trading district I started to think this was not such a good idea to head directly to the apothecary shop.  Maybe I should do some research on my own so that I could “bring some knowledge to the table” as some might say, before facing Victoria.  With the happy thought of changing my destination, my drastically slowed pace sped up again and off I went to the library.

Stepping in through the doors to the library, as soon as I saw the librarian at the front desk, my stomach dropped.  ‘Oh crud, how was I supposed to tell her about the magic stone not working?’ Was my sudden thought.  “Too late now.”  I muttered to myself.  Walking up to the front desk with a friendly smile I hoped that she had forgotten about me from before.

“Jade!”  She exclaimed.  ‘No such luck’ I thought.  “It’s good to see you again.  You left so abruptly last time that I never got a chance to see how you handled the Magic Stone.”  She paused for a moment as if realizing that it could be a touchy subject.  “Um . . . so did things turn out okay?”  She asked while fidgeting slightly.  I sighed inwardly trying to find out a quick solution to my dilemma.  As I thought it was actually the slightly rough stone counter that made up the front desk which gave me the idea.

“Instead of telling you, how about I show you?”  I said.  Flexing my hands I began pressing upon the rough surface, smoothing it out into an even almost polished surface, spanning the entire length of the counter which was about 4 meters that formed in a semi-circle.  Once I finished the task, the librarian’s eyes shone with joy.  “You . . . how . . . you did Silent Casting Earth Magic!”  She finally exclaimed.

While she gazed in wonder at the now gleaming counter, I was suddenly very grateful to the distraction as the little cub I had almost forgotten about had begun to squirm a little.  Reaching a hand into the little hammock, I was rewarded with some sharp teeth that had begun to gently nibble on one of my fingers.  Trying to hide my squirming, I desperately sent ‘what I hoped to be’ calming waves of energy towards the cub.  For I felt anything but calm at that moment.  Thank goodness it seemed to work, and soon enough the hammock was still.

By then, the librarian had finished with her admiration of her improved desk top.  “How in the world did you ever manage to gain such an ability?”  She enquired.  I groaned inside.  ‘Was there no end to the questions?’  “Okay, I’ll tell you as long as you don’t ask any more on the subject, because it will be too painful to tell you all the details.”  I took a breath as I knew I’d be fudging the truth quite a bit while giving some extremely misleading information.  “I happened to get my hands on quite a bit of Earth Stone, about 2 handfuls and ate all of it, all at the same time.”

Her eyes bugged and she reflexively clasped at her stomach in imagined pain.  “I . . . I see.”  Swallowing back her desire to ask more she just nodded her head in silent sympathy.  “Well, um. . . onto other subjects.  What brings you here today?” she asked me.  With quiet gratitude that the inquisition was over I told her what I was looking for.  “Anything on tigers would be extremely useful.  I caught sight of some in the area and wanted to do some research up on them.”