The Spark of an Angel

Chapter 23 - The Shadows Deepen

Around five days have passed since Patrick and Welt had set out. Jett and Nova sat on the steps of the halfling's home, Kenny was pacing the area in front of him, Nova could tell he was panicking, neither Welt nor Patrick had returned to the village, maybe they got lost? Or perhaps in the worst case scenario they were dead, gone with a brush of a finger. Nova didn't want to believe that they were dead. Patrick's with Mr. Matthews. He'll protect him, right? That question still lingered in Nova's mind.

"Should we tell them?" Jett said, finally addressing the two people who were around her.

Nova sighed, shaking her head, "Do we really want them to worry?"

Kenny stopped walking and turned to face the two elves, "No we don't. But isn't it strange we haven't received a single word from either Patrick or Mr. Matthews?"

Jett looked up at him, "just stop worrying about them, okay? They'll be fine. They've got each other."

"Yes, yes. I know. And we trust that they won't get each other killed?" Nova raised an eyebrow. Different answers sprung from Jett and Kenny's mouths, which made Nova even more confused, "what? Hang on a minute... is this the first time we haven't agreed on something?" Again two answers came from the other two's mouths.

"Okay... then it happened again!" Nova exclaimed, "does someone else want to lead this discussion?"

"I'll do it." Kenny volunteered, "Mr. Matthews and Patrick will both be fine."

"How can you be so sure?" Jett asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just a feeling and I don't think we want to worry the others with something as little as this. They'll come back in one piece, Nova and Jett. Believe me, although both of them nearly died when we were on the previous planet. In two different ways."

Nova laughed, "wait, what?"

"Besides that... I believe both of them will be fine, take it from me," Kenny crossed his arms and sighed, "is everyone here okay?"

"Yes. I'm doing alright." Jett said, as she eyed Nova, "not too certain about Nova here." She nudged her with her elbow.

Nova exchanged a look with Kenny then dropped her eyes, "no... that isn't a good thing. We need Mr. Matthews to get us off this rock and back in space."

Kenny laughed, "Marv can do that too, you realize that right?" He raised his eyebrows, giving Nova a look that said you're so wrong.

"Yeah, but he can't take us to our next destination."

"True. Kenny, Nova's bringing up a pretty damn good point." Jett said, agreeing with Nova.

He rolled his eyes, looking at Jett, "I thought you were on my side."

"I was on your side. And we aren't choosing sides here, man. We just aren't." She said, shaking her head, "I believe Nova is right, Marv can get us off the ground, but he can't bring us to our next destination. He isn't like Mr. Matthews. No one I've known is. Not even Marv. He's the closest person we've got to Mr. Matthews but he isn't him." Jett ended her sentence with a sigh, "Mr. Matthews is unique in many ways that just don't seem to fully understand and I don't think you understand him either."

"I understand enough about him to trust his decisions and choices he makes for us. For the group, like who to save and who not to save," said Kenny, raising his hand to quiet Jett and Nova down, "I don't have to understand him to trust him."

"Oh believe me you wouldn't want to understand his past either." Nova said with a scoff, "I respect him and I respect his decisions, but at the end of the day those difficult calls can only lay on one man, him."