Tales of the Mother Land

Chapter 1

"Hush Mija let me tell you a story," She spoke to her crying daughter in a soft melodic voice.

The mother cradled her looking towards the warm fire that crackled in front of them. It was winter and the heater did not suffice to bring back the warmth in Maine, and it most definitely could not mimic the warm breeze of Havana, her home city. So she settled for the fire instead. As she rocked her daughter back to sleep she told her a tale of magic, a wispy forest that in the direct middle was a small cottage cocooned in big oak trees.

Inside lived a little boy and his abuelito. Every morning the boy and his grandfather would go out into the heart of the woods and the boy would learn as much as he could about the wilds and how to tame it just enough to make it livable. Sweet, fresh air would fill his lungs making him feel brave and limericks of the homeland would calm him. Soon after the boy's 16th birthday, his abuelito became ill. This meant that he would have to do the one thing his grandfather had always warned him about: going into the neighboring city. There was a small town that was right outside the woods that they lived in. It took about an hour to get to there by foot.

The boy, Aurelio woke at the crack of dawn and stirred his grandfather awake, he told him he would be back soon and then slipped out of their small home. He began the walk, he marked his path through the forest from the trees, they were all engraved with little arrows and either an N, S, E, or W for all the directions that they could go in. He traces his hands across the carvings as he makes his way through the woods, it kept him calm. All though he would never admit it, it made him nervous, going this far away from the place he called home. Not to mention the fact that his only family is growing weak. Aurelio knew he would have to face this eventually but now the time had come and it was scarier than he had planned for.

 Finally, he made it out to the city, it was vastly different from his section of the woods. Everything was brown, the shops, homes, and stores all wore the same shade of brown that the dirt did. There was chatter everywhere, all overlapping and blending together in a sort of mix-matched harmony. The air was thicker and smelled less natural, all the sweetness of the trees was gone and replaced with the human overflow. Immediately he tried to stop the nearest stranger to ask where the medic was or at least where he could get some assistance. It was difficult to catch someone's attention. Everyone was so caught up in their own lives, so much in fact it seemed like they didn't even notice that he was there. After multiple failed attempts of getting his question answered, a tall woman pointed Aurelio east to the town's market. He followed and soon Aurelio stumbled upon a medicine shop. 

"How much," he asked leaning against the wooden countertop. "For healing medicine? My grandfather has come down with something." 

The medic gave him a hard look before deciding to his response, "Whatever you're looking for it's gonna be a hefty price and I know you're not from around these parts, you don't have the cash for it."

Aurelio immediately noticed that the man had a foreign accent. The Spanish words sounded almost clunky on his tongue, so opposite of the melodic nature of the language. In juxtaposition, his appearance was similar to most of the men in the town, skin tanned from the sunlight that caressed this part of the world.

Aurelio's stance faltered for a moment, but his determination did not. "Is there any other way I could pay? Please, he needs this medicine."

The shopkeeper thought for a moment, "Well there is one way, but it would require some assistance... I suppose I could cover that too."

 "I'm all ears." The boy answered slightly more enthusiastically.

"Do you see the mountain over there?" The shopkeeper pointed up towards the large mountain that was past the woods and into the other side of the forest. Aurelio raised his brows. 

"El inescalable? There's no way I can get to that." 

"Hold on, I never said you had to climb to the top, just simply get to the mountain the plant grows around the foot of it. I know that you might think that crossing over and things like that might get to be a little difficult which is why I am going to give you a handy assistant my mija." The salesman finished.

"How is your daughter going to be of any help?" Aurelio asked more confused now than before. 

"She is a skilled archer anything that could get in your way, she can handle it, as well as you, if you try anything." He warned before regaining his kind and simple composure. 

Aurelio pondered for a moment before asking "Is there any other medic in town?" 

The salesman gave out a guffaw, "None that would simply give you the medicine you have no coin, I'm your best bet." 

"Okay well, then it's a deal." Aurelio decided to hold out his hand so it could be shaken. 

"Deal." The medicine man agreed and they shook hands.