Gifts

Chapter Nine: Negotiations

It took me a minute to process what he said. The... Seer...is...my...father. I gasped. This was ridiculous! After all I've been through, I find out my long lost father is a whacko doodle!

"Now, I need you to pay me." My "father" said impatiently.

I will never understand how he expects me to be able to negotiate a price after he just told me he was my father who I hadn't seen in fourteen years! Part of me wanted to run up and hug him, but the other part of my wanted to stay away. Far away.

"I was thinking, which is never a good sign, by the way, that I should take something that is very close to you. That is part of you. Something that would make life very different, if I took it."

I gulped. "What would that be?" I said, wanting to curl into a little ball. To be honest, I was terrified of what he was about to say.

"I want..." He paused for dramatic emphasis, which was really annoying, "your Gift."

"No," I said plainly, not sure how to react. It may not seem like my Gift is a big part of me, but life without it would be completely different. For one, if I didn't have my Gift, the chances of beating the Aari would be none. Our chances were already slim, without my Gift, there would be no chance at all. None.

"But that is a fair price."

"For starters, it's not even a fair price! And you said we could negotiate, not you give me a price and I'm forced to accept it!" I fired back.

"Isn't that the definition of negotiate?"

"You have been in this cave too freaking long!" I exclaimed angrily.

"Give me your Gift." The Seer said.

"Fine."

I envisioned his feet in ice and slowly watched it crawl up his legs.

"Stop it," he warned, "Stop it now."

"What are you gonna do? Stare me to death?"

His face was getting red from a mix of anger and being cold. "STOP!!!"

"Change the price." I grunted.

"Fine!" He finally gave in after a few moments of icy torture.

"You can have..." I started, not sure what to say, "My pinky toe." I said saying the first thing that came to mind.

He burst out laughing. "You expect me to just accept that?"

I envisioned the ice again and he immediately changed his answer.

"Well, I've always wanted to start a collection of toes. Whatever." He said, giving up on getting a fair price.

Ewwwwww. That's pretty disgusting. A toe collection?!

He did some weird hand motion and the next thing I knew, my smallest toe was gone. There was no pain or anything! That was kinda cool, I must admit. He now held my pinky toe in his hand. Again I must say ewwwww. The idea of that being cool completely disappeared and it was totally disgusting now, but at least I still had my Gift.

"Umm," I shifted uncomfortably, "is that all?" I asked, not sure what to do.

"Unless you want to give me some other toes, we are done."

"Oh, well, thanks." I said, starting to walk out.

"Nobody has ever said 'thanks' to me before." He said softly.

"What?"

"Nobody has ever said thanks." He repeated.

This made me feel overwhelmingly sad. Sure he was a bit crazy, but he had been through so much. He was pushed out of the throne by the Aari, his wife sacrificed herself for the two daughters he had barely known, and now he was trapped here and no one even expressed gratitude towards him. It could be hard, I understand, because he can be difficult, but a simple 'thanks' wouldn't kill anyone to say. And before I knew what I was doing, I turned around and walked back towards him. I knelt down to where he was sitting and gave him a hug. I could tell he was very surprised, but he eventually hugged me back.

"Thanks." I whispered to my father as I let go. I saw tears in his eyes as I walked out of the cave, trying to keep my own tears from falling.