Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Metal

Chapter 9 What's Mine Is Yours

 "Alright, we're finally at the base of the tree folks. Try to keep up will ya?" Ratatoskr told Yvonne and Nico as they finally got to the base of the giant tree. Both of them were nearly exhausted and greatly underestimated just how far away the tree was. Yvonne reached out her hand to lean on the bark and hunched over. "THAT took us WAY too long!" She nearly collapsed to the ground. "It took us one full night and day to get here. This isn't how I remember things when I was younger." Nico just about did the same. Yvonne and Nico's heavy breathing only made Ratatoskr slowly shake his head in pity. "Honestly you two..." Yvonne could only look at him and wonder. "How are you not tired?!" She asked him. "Better question is, how are you?" "I'm exhausted but thanks for asking." Yvonne was too tired to realize that Ratatoskr simply asked how she was tired in a rhetorical sense instead of asking how she felt in the moment. And Yvonne was also too tired to care.

"Well folks, if you want to see these weird relic things then just keep your heads up because we ain't done yet." Ratatoskr pointed upwards and Yvonne and Nico couldn't help but understand that they were still way too far from the branches they were trying to reach. The worst part of it for Nico was that despite the shade of the tree, the branches were too far up to use his shadow magic on and he was too tired to use any magic to begin with. "I oughta roast you alive if you're lying to us..." Nico muttered. Ratatoskr rolled his arms around and took as big of a stretch as he could. "Well then. Guess I gotta do everything around here. Come on now." Ratatoskr grabbed Nico's shirt and Yvonne's as well and started pulling them up the tree. If a talking squirrel didn't surprise them before, his sudden immense strength did. "H- how is this possible?!" Yvonne cried out. "There's no way a little runt like you is this strong!" Nico told him, kicking his feet. "I wouldn't want to be squirming like that if I were you! It's a long way up." Ratatoskr said.

After a while of having Ratatoskr carry them up the tree, Yvonne's fear got even more immense as she couldn't help but just watch her feet dangle in the air. The ground was further and further away from them at this point. But after a while of climbing, it all just became awkward silence. "You know lady, if you drop those walnuts, I may have to drop you both just to get them back." Ratatoskr said. Yvonne's fear came back again. She looked up at the squirrel to get a better look at their progress. For a moment, when the light shined between the tree's branches, she was able to get a better look at Ratatoskr's face, and his eyes seemed to appear red. It clicked in her mind that he must've been revived by the same magic she was seeking. "You weren't always this strong were you? Are you a star demon?!" Yvonne questioned him. Nico was on alert and looked up at the squirrel as well. "A star what now?! Look lady, you don't get strong muscles overnight. You both really need to exercise." Ratatoskr said to her. The squirrel seemed to be completely oblivious to what he was or what was done to him. "Okay fair... but can you honestly say that your other friends up at the top of the tree are as strong as you?" Yvonne asked. "Haha! Flattery will get you... well I guess it'll get you somewhere in this case. I'm the best there is!" Ratatoskr claimed. Somehow, unintentionally, Yvonne seemed to get on his good side despite being genuinely worried, even when Nico felt differently.

"Watch, he'll drop us any second. I can try to think of a way to have my shadow magic save us when he does." Nico said. "Trust issues much?" Ratatoskr said to him. It was at this point that Ratatoskr started climbing over a few grooves and bumps in the tree. "We're going over the lion's face." Nico said. "Oh is that what it looks like from a distance? I always thought this part of the tree was strange." Ratatoskr said but stopped climbing for a second and perked his ears up. "What is it?" Yvonne asked. It was faint, but she heard it when they all decided to stop talking. All three of them heard the faint roars and growls coming from within the tree itself like a dam waiting to burst. "I'm guessing I'm not the only one who heard that?" Ratatoskr looked to Yvonne for assurance. "No... I definitely heard it too." She told him. Ratatoskr started to pick up the pace. "I lived in this tree my whole life and I never heard it talk back to me. That's the first." This time it took Ratatoskr just under five minutes to finally reach the top. He didn't show it, but Yvonne figured that the squirrel was just as startled as she was.

As soon as they jumped into the tree's foliage, it was like entering a completely new world that was hidden away from their very eyes.

It didn't take long for the other squirrels to stop and ponder at the sudden appearance of an elf and human among their branches, or anything else that didn't happen to be small and furry. Ratatoskr settled them down on one of the tree's giant branches. "Fear not everyone! We just have a few guests for once!" He exclaimed. A few squirrels appeared confused, others scared, and a couple more were curious. Being as high as they were, it was suddenly much harder for Yvonne and Nico to breathe. One look beyond the leaves and branches and it wasn't hard for them to figure out that they were well above the clouds and they could see nothing but an endless blue among the horizon. "We've never had the grounders come up here before. Why now?" One squirrel questioned them. "This lady is here to offer us walnuts." Ratatoskr said. "What's a walnut?!" Another squirrel asked in the distance. Ratatoskr went over to Yvonne's toolbelt and stole her stash to present to the nearest squirrel. "This. Eat it." He exclaimed. The other squirrel did as they were told and shoved it in their mouth and spat it out so that they could speak. "Wow! Okay I see what you mean." The squirrel approved of what Ratatoskr brought to them.

As soon as Nico was able to catch his breath, he stood up. "That's enough. Where did you put the relics?!" He demanded an answer from Ratatoskr. The squirrel thought about it for a moment and looked around. "Well I put a few over there... a small stash over there... Another over there." "Are you kidding me?" Nico interrupted him. "Look pal. I agreed to show you where the relics are and they're here. I wouldn't be taking them for nothing if me and my friends couldn't use them." Ratatoskr's answer made Nico take off in one of the directions he pointed towards. "You can look but don't touch. I swear that guy is just a pain." Ratatoskr looked at Yvonne. "So about our deal?" He asked. "Yeah, I'll show you where we get our walnuts in the Kingdom of Fire and Water. But is it alright if I ask you some questions?" Yvonne asked him. "Go right ahead. You seem to be more trustworthy and cooperative than that knucklehead over there." Ratatoskr said.

"When did you start to get this strong? I want to know exactly what you went through." She asked him. He thought about her question for a moment as if he had to think back. "One day I had a fight with my brother and I slipped and fell from the tree. I thought the fall would've ended me but when I came to, there was this lady who probably felt sorry and took care of me until I could move again. I don't know what she did but after that I was able to be a lot stronger than before. It certainly helps since I'm small and all. I don't think my brother wants to argue with me again. The look on his apologetic face when he saw me return was priceless." Ratatoskr proceeded to laugh it off as if what happened was like a walk in the park for him. To Yvonne, there was no doubt in her mind that the one who revived Ratatoskr was Mithra and possibly the first star demon.

"I guess an elf was the one who showed you these relics? With this new strength of yours, you were able to give them to the other squirrels up here right?" Yvonne asked. "You're a really smart lady- er Yvonne yeah?" Ratatoskr wanted to make sure he had gotten her name right and Yvonne nodded yes to confirm it. "That's exactly what happened. Though to be fair, I just think that elf didn't want that stuff buried underground. Oh well." Ratatoskr said. A thought occurred to Yvonne at that moment. The type of magic she was looking for wouldn't be here, it would be with Mithra. And there wasn't going to be any shot that one of their worst enemies would help her out, making Yvonne's goal to get Cinder back completely impossible. For a single instance, Yvonne felt like she had come all this way for nothing.

Without realizing, a tear rolled down Yvonne's cheek. "What's wrong?" Ratatoskr asked. She wiped the tears away. "It's nothing." She told him. Despite Ratatoskr's arrogant looking nature, he seemed to know better. "If you want, you can stroke my fur. I don't know your whole life but I don't think you would have come all this way if it was nothing." He told her. Yvonne hesitated to answer but eventually nodded yes. Ratatoskr came over to sit in her lap and she slowly stroked his fur. For some odd reason, this was starting to put her at ease. No matter where she went, she would end up finding others who would help her, even now in enemy territory of all places.