Call of the Water (COMPLETE)

5. WOLF EYES

"Hello! Are you even listening to me?"

I lifted my head, allowing my eyes to focus on Opal. Apparently, she was talking to me. I had no idea what the subject of the conversation was. I had no idea I was a part of the conversation.

The last light of the day was long gone. We were in our room, all three of us. Opal was sitting on her bed surrounded by open books she paid no attention to. Behind her, a collection of rocks was neatly arranged on a shelf above the headboard. That girl loved rocks. She would spend hours rearranging them, polishing their surfaces, or simply admiring them. Only once I made a mistake of asking her about them. I received a full lecture on their shapes and sizes, colors and shadings, age and origins, after which I decided to leave that subject to rest.

Sitting on a small chair in front of her dressing table, Ardea was staring at her own reflection as she was applying some kind of cream to the top of her ears. She did that every now and then but I never gathered the courage to ask her for what reason.

I lay comfortably on my bed. Only one book was opened in front of me, leaned against my bent knees – World's Greatest Fairy Tales.

The homework assignment Professor Cyan had given me turned out to be quite fascinating. The children's stories were so jam-packed with beings that were now a part of my life that I wondered if they even tried to stay hidden in the times those stories were written. Although, the hidden races from the books significantly differed from the actual representatives of those races I had met at my new school.

Then it hit me what Opal was talking about. She spoke of dwarves described in many of the children's books, how they were portrayed as lovable, happy creatures who spent their days working enthusiastically, and returned home every evening with a song on their lips.

"If they had met my Uncle Beryl, they would have written different stories. He was never happy and when he would be coming home from work, all dusty, sweaty and scratched, rather than singing, he would be swearing. So much about likability."

That was the statement that sent my mind wandering. Until I became one of the students at the school for the hidden races, I had never met a dwarf. Opal was the first one, and if her Uncle Beryl was anything like her, imagining him cursing would be no trouble at all.

"Are you listening?" Opal asked again, this time louder than before.

"Yes. I'm listening," I replied.

"Well, you're not very good at it," she said. When she spoke, her eyebrows would lift up every time she tried to make a point. I thought it was funny, but also very sweet. "I find dwarves described in the stories we are reading this year much more believable. There are still some misconceptions, but at least these ones are not wearing bright-colored pointy caps," she stated.

"Elves are also much more accurately portrayed in this year's reading," Ardea said. That was the first time she self-initiatively included herself in our conversation. It only took her two and a half weeks.

"I know, right," Opal took the bait. "Last year's elves were a joke. Pointy ears, pointy caps on their heads, pointy shoes to hide their toes," she recited in a mocking tone. "Come on! Like you would ever wear something like that. But, I am curious about something - why are you applying that cream on your ears every couple of days?"

I wasn't sure if Ardea would answer the question, but she surprised me once again.

"This cream?" She lifted the little jar made of milky-white glass. "To slow down cell division process. If I didn't do that, my ears would regenerate over time. And yes, in that case I would have pointy ears."