A Choice

Chapter Thirteen

​I awoke quickly, all my questions answered. I stood up from my cot slowly and luckily I didn't have a headache any more. I opened the curtain and went into the village. Even at night, the village was still busy. When people saw me they started whispering, but I could sense they weren't anything rude because when I met someone's gaze they would nod their head in respect.
​I found my friends eating dinner. It looked like they were having meat from some animal that I didn't know. I got in line to get my food and hurried over to where they were sitting. My friends acted like nothing was different and they didn't just find out that I was a person in a famous legend. I looked over to the woman who had already helped me out so much today and I didn't even know her name.
​"Excuse me," I said. She looked over at me. "I am so embarrassed to say that I don't know your name."
​"My name is Mama," she said.
​"Mama?" I questioned, "That isn't a name."
​"No it isn't but it is what everyone calls me here. I am the mother of the tribe. I care for the sick and the newborn kittens. We each have a role in this village and we perform that role to the best of our abilities. For every role here is important," Mama said with a look of pride over her tribe.
​"Thank you, Mama, for everything," I said, smiling at her, "I had a dream when you left and it might explain a lot." I filled them all in on what happened and when I was finished they all had their jaws open except Mama.
​"That's what I thought," she said, looking like she was expecting me to have this exact dream, "Now child, you must go on your journey, you only have a short while to go, two days to be exact. Nia will guide you to the place where you need to go. I have put some things in your bag that may help you on your journey, now good luck!" With that I quickly finished my meal and got up. I picked up Jasper and ran to my cot where my bag lay. I put Jasper in my bag and with Fiona on my shoulder came outside. Nia was there with a knife on her belt that wasn't there before.
​"All set?" Nia asked.
​"Yep I think so. Hey, Nia how old are you?" I asked, still wondering.
​"Well about 73," she said, walking off, "In cat years."
​Not knowing how to do the math I asked Jasper.
​"She's 14," Jasper said with a roll of his eyes.
​I ignored what he did and reached in to get the map. I caught up with Nia and asked which way to go.
​"Well, it looks like you have to pass through a little bit of another town and then its farmland until you get to the sword if I'm remembering right," she said, determined to lead us in the right direction. We followed her up a little mountain, as we were coming down I saw the town Nia was talking about. It wasn't huge but from the looks of it, it looked deserted. As we walked down the mountain towards the town, Nia turned around and looked at us with a very serious expression.
​"Be quiet and if anyone comes up to you be very polite. The folks in this town aren't the nicest and they went a little crazy living out here with all this magic. If you do anything that could insult them in anyway they will go off on you," she said in a hushed voice. Even if it was quiet it was harsh and I knew I should follow what she said or I could be killed.
​"But it looks deserted," Jasper said, peaking out over the bag at the village below.
​"These folks are weird," Nia said, looking nervously at the village.
​I looked at Fiona, who had flew off of my shoulder to look at the village. She looked just as nervous as I felt inside.
​"I have a bad feeling about this," she told me in my head, and I nodded at her.
We walked down slowly. We reached the front of the town. I could see the end and could imagine us walking triumphantly past this creepy village. There was a sign in the front that read "Welcome to Windola, the most magical place ever!" A shiver ran up my spin. Now that I was closer to the building I could see lights in houses and even people peeking through their windows. Nia went into the town first. With the sun's position there were long shadows everywhere that made it easy for people to hide. In this place, at least I knew there were people watching me, unlike with the mermaids.
​We made our way through town. We passed many shops and houses, all with someone looking at us. I wondered why they weren't coming out to greet us when a man came around the corner right in front of us. He was tiny and had big pointy ears. He wore a button up shirt with nice pants and shoes. His hair was white and he had wrinkles all over his face. When he opened his mouth to speak, he had rows of little pointy teeth everywhere and suddenly I knew why Fiona and Nia were nervous about coming into this town.
​"Elves," Fiona said in my head, just as I came to realize what they are.
​"Welcome travelers to our town. My name is Fredrick and I am delighted to introduce you to the town of Windola. We would love if you could stay for dinner." Fredrick said with a big smile. As he was speaking, I recalled everything Vladmire had told me about elves. They were tricky creatures and you don't know what might anger them. They love playing tricks on wanderers that happen across their towns. As we followed Fredrick through the town we saw other elves coming out of their houses, no longer thinking they needed to hide. There seemed to be a dress code of some sort. All the woman wore white dresses and the men wore the same thing as Fredrick.