Into the Forest

Val

     "You hear Becca got a new arm?" Rolygh asked me at breakfast. I nodded, not wanting to talk through my mouthful of food. "I dunno how they did it, but it works. She can even use magic with it, though not too well for now."
     "Hopefully shit works out for her," I said, swallowing a sausage whole. "Have you seen the new kulsentii? Everyone says xe is really nice."
     "Let's hope so," he replied. "We need all the niceness we can get with how funky it seems things are gonna get..."
     The rest of the crew began to join us. Fern, Juniper, and Chrysanthemum all sat next to one another and across from Rolygh and I, and Thylo was off a bit but within earshot. Becca was still confined to the infirmary to best monitor her condition, so she alone was absent.
     Chrysanthemum was an interesting character. Her home life as a human had been tragic. It made me feel bad for bitching about my past. As a human she'd been made to believe she was male, but had always known she was a girl; the parents she'd had, foster or otherwise, had forced her to be a boy despite this majorly fucking with her head. Though she still didn't feel as if she had a real home, she said that so long as Becca and her arydium sisters were with her she'd feel she had a place.
     I glanced over at the arydium, giggling happily among each other. Rolygh noticed me doing this and elbowed my arm, giving me a look as if to say 'What's up?'
     "I dunno," I said quietly to him. "Something about how they act makes me feel weird. Like, it's not that they're doing something wrong or anything. I just don't like it."
     "Jealousy," he said through a mouthful of some otherworldly meat. "You're jealous of their friendship. It makes sense. Those four are inseparable, and their bond is so strong I can definitely see them willingly dying for one another."
     Perhaps that was it. Jealousy.
     When everyone gathered was done, or nearly done, eating, the new kulsentii stood up and addressed us. "Good morning," xe spoke. "I hope you all enjoyed that meal. I know I did!" A hush fell over the room; everyone stared at the kulsentii. Xe shuffled in discomfort, cleared xyr throat, and continued. "I have met many of you, but for those who don't know me, my name is Mikotto. I'm your new kulsentii here. I hope to get to know you all, and I'm sure we'll all be good friends." Mikotto sat back down quickly, looking quite embarrassed.
     "I've never seen such a timid kulsentii," Thylo remarked. "This one seems too inexperienced to deal with a hold this large, and in times like these. I say we send xem back to the kulsentii and demand someone with more experience."
     "You're too cynical, friend," Rolygh laughed. "Xe's just new to this. I say we give xem a chance."
     The oako snorted and stomped, but put forth no verbal disagreement.
     Talk through the hall was of similar topics. Who xe was, where xe came from, what pronouns xe used. That was the most discussed, as many older fae hadn't grown up with more than the three basic fae genders - male, female, and a neutral 'they' for those not fitting into the other two.
     "Rest assured," Mikotto said over the chattering, "my identity has little to no impact on how I act or think. It's simply how I feel comfortable, who I am. I'm just a fae like the rest of you, some of which have similar identities. I ask that you respect me and I will respect you, even if you do not agree with my views on such things."
     Most agreed that this was reasonable, and disagreement fell to next to none.
     "Also" Mikotto chimed, "before I forget: If any of you ever need anything, I'll be here for you. I know I'm no Cythene, but I do hope that I can do even half as good a job as your kulsentii as he did." Xe got up and left the room, presumably to tour the cave some more, meet more fae.
     "I like xem," Chrysanthemum said. The other arydium agreed. The three stood, nearly in unison.
     "Where ya goin'?" I asked.
     They smiled at each other. "We're going to see Becca," Chrysanthemum replied. "I bet that's where Mikotto's going, too. Care to join us?"
     I looked to Rolygh. He didn't seem too enthused, but I agreed that we'd go. "What about you, Thylo?" I asked the old oako.
     He looked uncomfortable. "It's hard for me to see Becca while she's feeling so down," he explained flatly. "She gets upset sometimes, but never like this. I'll go, but don't think less of me if I leave before the rest of you. It's weird seeing such a good friend in as much distress as Becca's in."
     We made our way to the infirmary. The thylasee running the place were in a frenzy, running to and fro in no coherent manner. Becca's bed lay empty, and the arydium looked to each other in confusion.
     "Excuse me," Juniper said,  stopping a thylasee midflight, "does anyone know where Becca is? She is not in the bed where she has been staying."
     The thylasee she'd stopped looked horrified. "Oh, you startled me! She and Mikotto are out at the moment. Xe said they wouldn't be too long. Would you like to wait?"
     "She is in no shape to leave this place!" Juniper objected.
     The thylasee shrugged. "Mikotto had plans with Becca. They will be back by noon." They flew off without another word.
     The arydium had decided what to do without a word. "We'll stay here," Fern told the rest of us. "You can leave if you want. We'll come and get you when Becca's back."
     Thylo was the first to leave, as he'd warned us of. He wasn't a particularly emotional fae, but something had changed in him. He seemed extremely upset over Becca's condition, though I doubted he'd ever admit to such.
     "We should leave, too," Rolygh told me. "There's nothing going on here and I can tell you're bored. We could go train a little? You may be new to fae life, but you'll eventually have a job to do just like the rest of us." We had been training on and off for weeks now to prepare me for what seemed like a coming battle; the others, besides Fern and Becca, had been doing the same.
     I rolled my eyes. "Gross! I'm not even considered an adult, yet I have to have a job like one?" I placed a hand on his thigh. "We could go practice... something else? If you get what I'm saying."
     "Similar rules stand here as in the human world. No. Though we're destined for each other, I'm not risking anything because it's wrong. For now, think of me as nothing more than a good friend."
     I pouted and grabbed him by the hand. "Fine, let's go train. But you better teach me some cool shit or I'll be pissed!"
     "I have no doubt of that," he laughed, standing.
     There were two entrances to Walo: the waterfall, and the hole barely big enough for a single bölog to fit through that emerged into a field. This was nestled between two mountains, providing natural protection from humans with little need for magical interference of their perceptions. As this was the case, the field served as the hold's training grounds.
     "Alright," Rolygh cheered, clapping at me, "shall we begin?"
     I crouched down as he'd taught me to before, ready for him to bowl into me. He launched from where he stood, coming at me faster than one could have believed a creature of his size could. I dodged just in time, but as I was recovering he turned and was coming back toward me. I jumped out of his way this time, but couldn't recover as he whizzed back in my direction. He slammed into me, knocking me to the ground and the air from my lungs.
     "Speed is important," he told me. "Bölog must be fast. But we must also use our bulk to push things. I take it I hurt you a little? Sorry for that, by the way. But think how bad that would hurt to smaller fae or a human, if it came to that. You need to train to be both a wall and a runner, because those are both essential."
     "Why can't I just use magic for running?" I coughed.
     Rolygh held a hand out for me, pulling me from the grass. "On average, it's best to not use your magic unless absolutely necessary in a battle. You never know when you're going to have to heal or use a defensive spell. You're huge compared to most other fae; use that to your advantage and save your magic for more dire situations." He began talking steps backward. "You ready to try that again?"
     I sighed. "I guess! Why can't you teach me magic, Rolygh? We've been running for, like, a week now! Isn't magic more important for fighting fae? Like, I get that I'm big and all, but does that matter compared to magic?"
     "It does," he said. "It's important you get the physical part of fighting down before the magical part. You'll be useless just using magic. We're tanks, if you wanna use video game terminology. We are great with physical attacks. Let's do this for now, and learn to augment it with magic later."
     I nodded, my excitement renewed. "Gotcha. I think I can do this!"
     "Watch my movements more closely this time," he advised. "If you pay enough attention, you'll be able to see which way I'll move." He crouched down, ready to charge at me full force. I knew he wouldn't warn me of when he'd take off.
     Seconds passed and he made no movement. I waited, but nothing happened. I grew impatient after around a minute had passed and shouted across the field at him. "Dude! Hurry up!" I started to sit and he came at me, knocking me down before I fully registered that he was moving my way.
     "I win," he said with pride, standing over me. "Don't lose your focus. A foe may try to wait out your patience like I did and get you to do something that will make you an easier target. We're big and physically powerful, and a lot of fae assume we're stupid because we don't really need a strategy at our size. Prove them wrong. Be cool-headed and logical and observational. Shall we try again?"
     The day passed this way, as many before it had. The sun was dipping behind the rolling mountains by the time Fern was sent to retrieve us.
     "They're back," she panted. "Hurry! I don't want to miss anything!" The girl kept running ahead of us, but would look back every few seconds to make sure we were still following.
     We got back to the infirmary in a few minutes. Thylo was not present, but everyone else was. Becca and Mikotto stood near a cluster of beds, waiting for our arrival.
     Mikotto turned xyr head at our approach, smiling. "Oh, good, the whole gang is here. Thylo couldn't make it, so we'll be proceeding without him. The first order of business is the success of Becca's new arm. Despite it being an experimental procedure, it has been working wonderfully. She has full movement of it, and can even cast small, simple spells."
     Becca nodded beside xem. "It almost feels like nothing happened, like this is my real arm. It gets a little painful at times where it connects to flesh, but everything seems to be going well. And I can do almost everything already!"
     Mikotto beamed. "The dohl and thylasee who designed this arm made the plastic from pine sap, using heat and pressure to refine it into resin. This they wove into the stone which makes up the arm in the hopes that it would make things more pleasant for a dohl. I don't understand that part myself, but the dohl say that being near stone makes them feel more powerful; it's wonderfully poetic! Whatever they did, it worked. Congratulations on your success, my friend!" The arydium all clapped, and Fern cried.
     "The next order of business is less happy," xe said somberly. "Becca and I visited Hlorr, home of the faalä. Two were murdered by the barre in their own hold. The last faalä in existence has fled to safety in the human world, where they cannot be tracked so easily. The Cave spoke with us, told us the details. They also forced us out before the barre sensed our presence there, transporting us to the faalä's location. We approached them with caution, and they told us all they know. Their comrades were murder. The barre did it. The barre is hiding as the kulsentii named Koultho. It is ready to strike. It will try to kill Chrysanthemum before continuing to the humans. It if kills the girl, it cannot be stopped." Xe stopped, gauging our reaction. "This thing killed two of the most powerful fae alive. This is no joke. As your kulsentii, I order all of you to begin intensive training immediately. The barre has assumed control over the troops on Pytho, and has already displayed its dominance over them according to the faalä. They will be joining us as soon as they come up with a plan, and fully regain their memories. For now, training is our best move. I'll pair you all with a mentor; this fae will take inventory of your talents, and send you to another mentor if your strong suits and theirs do not match. The arydium will train with arydium, the bölog with bölog, and so on. Keeping within your tribes will help you focus on what you are most likely best at. The only difference, for now, if that Becca will be training with me." Xe paused, putting a hand on Becca's shoulder. "We should get to it, then. Go to the training grounds, all of you. The Cave told me each of you plays an essential role in saving life as we know it, so you'll get personalized attention as well as having to train in general. Is this understood?"
     Everyone else nodded and concurred, and I did so so that I was not left out. I'd pretend to be ok with this, but really I wanted to scream. I followed Rolygh back to the field to train, despite it now being well past dark. Everyone paired up with the fae who would be training them. Rolygh and I had to part, each going to different sides of the field.
     As Mikotto had said, my trainer was bölog. She was very rough looking, with countless scars and only one ear. She surpassed Rolygh in size and bulk, and I couldn't help but admire how fierce she looked. "Am I distracting you?" she barked, dragging me from my reverie.
     "No, ma'am," I replied in the voice soldiers in movies use when talking with superior officers, saluting her. It was the only way that seemed appropriate to respond.
     "This isn't time for fucking around," she retorted. "Are you serious about this? If not, you're on your own." I nodded my affirmation. "Prepare yourself, then. I'll not go easy on you."
     I spread my feet so I could do a better job of stopping her if she ran at me. I watched how she moved, tracking her direction in the way Rolygh had instructed me to. But she was far quicker than he, and was impossible to keep an eye on. "Focus," she barked, knocking me down. "Had I been the enemy, you'd be dead!"
     Exhaustion hit me quickly. Having already done similar exercises for hours this same day, I had no capacity for more work. I soon gave up, explaining to her.
     "For having already trained today, you are not doing all too poorly," she said. "I've commanded the bölog here for a long time," she explained, "and the training we've done today is not easy. Here, have a snack." She walked to a rucksack she'd brought with her and pulled out a box of various salted meats. "I hear you're a changeling, so I take it this will be your first fight?"
     I nodded. "I fought as a human often enough, but they didn't have magic to work around. Truthfully, I'm scared. Probably kinda dumb for a bölog to be scared, huh?"
     She smirked. "Child, we're all scared every single time we go into battle. There's too much uncertainty to it. The most trust you get is in yourself. I've had faithful friends turn against me in battle, so long as it meant they had a better chance of living. I've fought too many times, yet in each one the fear is there. It lets me know I'm still alive, and I've learned how to use it to my advantage. You, too, will learn to do this - in time." She chewed for a moment before responding with, "Hopefully not, though. There's nothing fun about war, and I don't wish the experience on anyone. With luck, fae your age will be able to figure things out peacefully."
     We talked for some time as we waited for the others to tire and quit. She told me her name was Focaythe, and she'd come from a hold in South America hundreds upon hundreds of years ago. She'd been abducted from her home and brought to North America at a young age, and jumped from hold to hold until she happily settled here. Her mate had died at the age of two hundred, in the same battle which had claimed her ear. She'd mourned her mate deeply, and had ruthlessly cut through the enemy to avenge her, killing the opposing army's general without even realizing it. She was branded a hero, and raised from soldier to general to leader of all bölog in this hold.
     "What happens if your mate is killed?" I butted in, my curiosity getting the best of me. "Is there some social rule against finding a new mate?"
     Focaythe smirked at that. "There absolutely is. But find me a fae daft enough to tell me to stay single the rest of my life."
     Our mentors joined us for dinner that night. Mikotto announced to everyone else that training would begin soon. "We must all fight for our peace," xe told everyone. "I know most of you don't know me too well yet, but I believe in you all. Every single one of you I've met here is wonderful and important. If you are not a fighter, please don't hesitate to approach me to say such. There are many jobs to be done that won't require violence on your part, though I still ask that you will train for a while, just in case the violence comes to you."
     The chatter ranged from excitement to terror, uncertainty to fulfillment of one's life's goal. Before long there was a crowd around Mikotto, all fighting for xyr attention.
     "Form a line," xe commanded as the bölog around xem began to enforce this.
     Rolygh and I sat next to each other, observing the fae who didn't want to fight. Of those assembled, only a few were bölog. "I don't understand why they wouldn't want to fight," he stated dryly, as if disappointed. "It's our purpose to fight and protect!"
     "Maybe they're too young, or old, or simply have a distaste for death," Focaythe mused. "To assume all are as yourself shows your naivety and ignorance."
     He seethed in his seat, but made no action. As much as I could tell he disliked Focaythe, he still recognized the bölog as his superior, not to mention a potential threat to his safety if he did act out of line.
     Rolygh and I left before the line was even halfway through, retiring for some well deserved rest.
     "What if I'm no good at fighting?" I asked him a while later. "Or if I can't bring myself to hurt another fae? Would you hate me as much as you hated the other bölog earlier?"
     He scoffed. "You're being too insecure, Val. You didn't grow up in this world; I can't expect you to follow all our social rules without messing up. No, if you can't bring yourself to harm another fae, I won't hate you. If anything, it'll prove your empathy to me. It's not the choice I would make, but I understand if you can't." After a few minutes of silence he added. "I hate when Focaythe is right. I have no place to judge any fae for not wanting to fight."
     We went to sleep in silence. We weren't fighting, but words seemed a waste in the current mood. Besides, we had to get as much sleep as possible; after breakfast tomorrow we'd be doing training with the rest of our tribe.