The Girl With Silvered Water

Chapter 5

Welcome back for chapter 5! Hope you enjoy!

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When Kalara entered the forest, the ground squished with each step and the moss dribbled water as she slowly made her way to her little clearing. It had poured all night and the ground was more saturated than a soaked sponge and it gurgled its excess with every stride.

When she reached her sanctuary tucked right on the edge of Elswich she stopped. Quietly, she scanned for a dry place to sit. A gnarled root of the oak arched half a foot above the muddy ground and Kalara grinned. Tentatively, she sat down and placed the basket on a relatively dry patch of moss before looking down at her shoes. They were plastered with mud and soft with moisture. One by one, she peeled off her muddy, damp socks and shoes and laid them on the oak's roots to dry.

Kalara looked at the soggy earth and wondered if Raia would bother coming with all this mud. She glanced behind her into the forest and saw no one. Water tickled her toes, tempting her, calling to her. With one last glance behind her, Kalara arched her fingers and pulled up tiny droplets of water that sparkled in the dappled sunlight. It felt good to use her powers. Kalara grinned as the muddy water turned silver becoming liquid metal.

Using one hand to keep her skirts from dragging in the mud, Kalara used the other to play with the jeweled water. Her fingers danced as she orchestrated the droplets. Shimmering metallic, the droplets zipped around her hand in figure eights and curly-ques. Kalara's smile broadened and she made the droplets change shapes. First, they were simple shapes like hearts, stars, and diamonds but soon she made nymphs that swam with dolphins and fairies that fluttered from flower to flower.

Kalara watched her imagination unfold in a dream-like trance until she heard the sqilsh of soft footsteps. Instantly, the tiny figures turned back into dull drops of water and fell to the muddy floor, disappearing without a trace. Flapping her hand at an imaginary gnat, Kalara looked over her shoulder and spotted Raia.

"H-hello." She said, her smile merely a wisp. Secretly, she'd hoped he wouldn't come. Little beads of sweat formed on the back of her neck as she searched his face for any sign he'd seen her controlling the water.

The black-haired elf's mouth was fixed in a straight line and his brows were drawn together. He looked very unpleasant but there was not a hint he'd seen her. "So, you came despite the mud, Little Trespasser. Figures, you're a mud-eating worm after all." His eye lowered to the basket sitting on the ground next to her. "I see you kept your word at least."

Kalara let out an internal sigh of relief despite Raia's cold greeting. She clenched and released her skirts in an effort to not let the elf's coldness scare her. "Y-yes, but... I don't know how we're supposed to eat it... The ground is too muddy to eat on." Silence swamped the two and Kalara hoped her grumpy companion would give up and go home so she could be in peace.

Raia, however, was determined to not leave a little skunk of a human alone in his forest. He crossed his arms and looked up. As an elf of the forest, he knew there was more than one level to the forest.

The whole country of Effleheim was a massive forest teeming with wildlife. Elven villages and towns were designed around the natural growth of a forest so to the non-elf walking through Effleheim, they might be surprised to suddenly stumble across an elven village growing along side moss covered trees. Utilizing the entirety of the forest from the leaf-top canopy to the gnarled undergrowth was as natural to elves as walking to humans.

From childhood, elves learn how to run swiftly through the forest without rustling a leaf. They watch the squirrels and run from branch to branch through the trees more nimbly than the forest critters by the time they're ten. For an elf, the whole forest from the velvety leaf-top canopy to the mossy logs below is their playground. Naturally, it took Raia only seconds to find what he was after, a nice sturdy low-hanging branch.