Veritas

Chapter 29

Aislinn sat up, roused from her dream. She looked around groggily, noticing she was alone in the cave. At first, this saddened her; she knew that Rei was likely letting Thaila hunt for breakfast. What she didn't know was where Ryan was, and her sadness then shifted to frustration.

With a frustrated grunt, Aislinn got to her feet and stomped outside to find that the snow had finally calmed down. She was pleased to find that the icy shards no longer whipped into her eyes and bit her skin; instead, large and fluffy snowflakes drifted lazily to the ground. Determined to take advantage of this, Aislinn gathered up some sticks and twigs, as well as some larger logs, with the intention of making a fire.

Once she had set everything up, satisfied with her work, Aislinn removed a small box from her pocket. Her lighter was out of fluid, and her matches had become wet during their travels, so she figured she'd try her luck with the flint and striker.

After a couple of strikes, a few of the leaves on some of the twigs began to smoke, and she blew on them gently. To her dismay, that soon fizzled out and she was left with nothing. Determined, though, she tried again. And again. And again.

Sitting up in a tree, watching her curiously, Drystan could no longer help himself and had to speak up. "You realize that the wood is damp, and certainly will not light, right?"

Aislinn hadn't even realized she was being watched, so intent on her task as she was. When she jumped a little, she dropped her flint and striker in the snow and let out an annoyed groan.

"Ah...Apologies" Drystan said, realizing he'd just scared her into dropping her tools.

"It's fine" Aislinn muttered through gritted teeth, and she rummaged through the snow to find the flint and striker again.

"I simply wanted to save you some effort...I could go search for some alternatives to start a fire if you'd like" Drystan offered, watching his companion begin her efforts again.

"No, no, this will work. It's fine. I can do it" she mumbled, irritable that it wasn't working. Again more of her tinder was catching, but would fizzle out not long after and it was causing her mood to sour even further.

Drystan was confused; but, wise enough to know this wasn't about starting a fire. He stayed where he was, and continued to keep an eye over the determined girl as she kept at it.

"Aha!" She shouted after a while, when her new tinder finally went from smoking to a tiny flame. She quickly went to the other side and tried to light that too. "Who needs Ryan to light the stupid fire? I can do it myself, and cook my own food, since he just wants to abandon me" she grumbled to herself angrily as she kept striking the flint.

Drystan finally understood where her bizarre behaviour was stemming from. She was feeling betrayed by Ryan's reaction during their encounter the other evening, as well as his subsequent distance. Logically, she likely knew that the fire wouldn't take to the wet wood; but, the task allowed her to focus on something other than her hurt.

Suddenly, Aislinn let out a strangled sound of anger after her little flame of hope went out. She began striking the flint violently, angry that she was failing at a task that Ryan always made seem so simple.

"Ah...Aislinn?" Drystan spoke up, hoping to redirect her attention. He knew she was upset, and he'd planned to leave her to her task; but, he was beginning to think she needed something different to distract her.

"No" Aislinn replied with a sob. "No, Drystan! I can do it" she insisted as tears of frustration, hurt, and a bunch of other emotions dripped down her cheeks. "I will" she said firmly, striking the flint again. "Light this" she said again, with another strike. "Fire!" She shouted, with another strike of the flint.

And then, to Aislinn and Drystan's shock, a small explosion of fire engulfed the damp wood, tinder, and the air surrounding it. The sudden change in pressure in the air, coupled with the emergence of flames, had Aislinn flying backwards away from the fire pit. Fortunately, there was a soft blanket of snow to cushion her fall, but it didn't protect her eyebrows from being singed by the fire.

Aislinn's eyes were wide in shock, and she looked up at Drystan who appeared beside her to make sure she was okay. "Aislinn? Are you hurt?" He demanded, kneeling at her side and helping her up.

"Yeah...Yeah, I'm okay" she answered, sitting up with his help. She stared hard at the blazing fire before her, struck completely speechless. Despite her outburst, she knew how to light fires, and she knew she was being stupid earlier. She hadn't selected her tinder carefully, nor had she added enough for a fire to start easily from the damp logs she'd been trying to light. Simply put, she had just reached a point of emotions she didn't know how to express properly, and vented by trying to start a fire.

The question was, how did she start this fire?

"Do you know what just happened?" She asked, looking at Drystan.

"No, I...Am uncertain" Drystan replied hesitantly.

Aislinn raised an eyebrow at his response, but didn't press him. She looked back at the fire, trying to make sense of it.

"You probably just heated up something too much, it had moisture inside that caused it to swell, and it exploded" came the voice of Ryan from behind them. "You were having quite the tantrum there, so who knows what shit you picked up?" He added with a smirk.

Aislinn had jumped up and spun around at his voice, and turned in time to see his smirk. While delighted to see he was safe, and talking to her; she was blushing brightly from realizing he'd seen her tantrum. Additionally, she wanted nothing more in that moment than to wipe that smirk off of his face.

"Listen here, you little shithead!" She shouted, running after him.

With a laugh, Ryan turned and ran from Aislinn, and before long their friendship seemed to fall back into its former place.

Left at the fireside, Drystan watched the two disappear into the trees. He was happy that Aislinn was reunited with Ryan, and he could tell her heart was lighter for it already. Left to his thoughts, he stared into the flames before him and couldn't help but wonder...How had Aislinn started the fire? Was it as simple as Ryan had said? Or was there something more to it? And if so...Was there something more to the secrets surrounding his new friend?