The Little Water Elf

14- One Step Closer

「 She laughed and danced with
the thought of death in her heart. 」

A few days later, Ezran burst into Rayla's room with the news that their aunt — a woman with the name Amaya — was stopping by and going to take them to a nearby city for a summer festival.

"She's deaf, too," he continued, "so you don't have to worry about not being able to speak, even if you don't know the sign for a word you can mouth it and she'll understand."

Rayla listened intently to Ezran's excited rambling, standing and moving to slip on a pair of shoes.

"She should be here any minute now, we have to go downstairs to meet her."

With that, Ezran grabbed Rayla's hand, and the two began running down the hall.

She was so used to the pain at this point. Rayla hardly noticed how they ached at each step.

When they reached the foyer at the front of the castle, a man with red hair and a tall, intimidating woman who wore full armor were standing, conversing with the king and Callum.

"Aunt Amaya!" Ezran shouted, and the man standing next to the woman gently nudged her, causing her to turn and notice the small boy.

I'm an instant she was down on her knees, embracing Ezran, any and all trace of her intimidating aura gone.

"Why didn't you say you were going to be visiting today?" he asked.

The woman — whom Rayla now realized was Amaya — began moving her hands in what Rayla recognized to be sign language. The redhead next to her began speaking, "It was meant to be a surprise."

Rayla hardly noticed when Callum moved to stand by her side, and startled when he spoke.

"You haven't met Rayla yet," he said, placing a hand on the elf's shoulder.

Hesitating slightly, Rayla quickly signed a greeting.

Amaya's face seemed to light up, and she began signing something she didn't recognize.

"Rayla isn't very good at sign language yet," Callum explained, "she can't speak, so we've been trying to teach her."

The woman nodded, signing something else. This time, the man by her side translated.

"Then I can help teach you."

• • •

The carriage left an hour later, the man — whom Rayla learned to be called Gren — driving the horses down a sheltered path in the forest. Sunlight streamed down through the treetops, raining down on the path in a million bright beams.

Ezran sat by Amaya, while Callum was with Rayla. A gentle breeze filtered throughout the carriage, where Ezran was excitedly speaking of all the amazing things they'd done since arriving at the Atlantis Lodge. He told Amaya about the storm which wrecked their boat the first night, and how they'd found Callum on the beach the next morning.

Callum's gaze became distant as Ezran talked, drifting off into his own far-off world.

Rayla placed a hand on his knee, bringing him back down to earth. She looked at him, a small smile gracing her lips, and he smiled back.

It wasn't long before the dirt path they were on gave way to cobblestone, the trees thinned out, and buildings started appearing alongside the road. More and more people Rayla saw crossing the streets, and the carriage slowed to a stop at the side of a large circle, lined with shops and booths that sold various things.

Callum exited, holding out his hand and helping Rayla down from the horse-drawn carriage. Amaya handed Callum a pouch of coins, sending him and Rayla off to do their own things.

At every step Rayla took, her feet exploded in pain, but at every step she found herself paying less and less attention to it, becoming preoccupied with the wonders around her.

The was a stand with wreaths of flowers hung up in rows, and Rayla found herself staring as they passed. Callum seemed to catch her staring, opting to stop and look at the arrangements of fresh flowers.

Suddenly Rayla felt a weight drop onto her head, and she looked up from the arrangements to see Callum arranging one of the flower wreaths as a crown.

"The blues and greens bring out your eyes," he explained, "would you like it?"

Rayla nodded, and Callum handed a coin to the person managing the booth, who thanked them before the duo walked away.

The two of them made their way down a side street, and music filled the air around them.

It soon became apparent that Rayla wouldn't be able contain her excitement. Her eyes lit up silently at each new discovery at every turn. Rayla unconsciously took Callum's hand, dragging him along as she marveled at every who's-it and what's-it and seemed to ask a silent question every second. They eventually turned a corner to the next street, finding themselves face to face with a small, shaded path decorated with flowers of every kind.

The flower stand from earlier was nothing compared to this.

She tightened her grip on Callum's hand, feeling him squeeze her in response. Rayla began running through the tunnel of flowers, a silent laugh filling the air around her with a deafening emptiness.

The path emptied out into a flower-filled garden, a pavilion with musicians preforming placed in the center. Various humans, young and old, danced throughout it.

Callum must've seen the longing in her eyes, because he moved to the area in front of her, lowering himself into a bow, not once letting go of her hand.

"M'lady," he said, a laugh playing at the edge of his voice, "may I have this dance."

Rayla curtsied, letting herself be dragged off to the circle of dancing pairs.

They twirled in an endless loop, and in that moment Rayla found herself lost to the world around her. Even though each step was more painful than the last, and even though the thought of death was heavy in her heart, she couldn't help but loose herself in the bright green eyes in front of her.

The music faded to emptiness, Callum twirling her and her skirt fluttering out around her.

By the time the music slowed to a stop the exhaustion began to take hold of her, and she found it hard to remain standing on her own two feet. Without Callum there she probably would've collapsed instantly.

But he was there, and as she peered into his eyes she knew that in that moment, he had no intention of ever letting her fall.

The world was a million miles away from them, nothing else seemed to exist. Another song started up, and though Rayla was certain she'd collapse if given a second to rest, she began dancing once more.

This feeling was addicting, she never wanted it to end. She never wanted to leave his warm embrace.

Even after the music stopped, even after they met up with the others and returned to the castle, and even after she returned to her post on the steps by the sea that night, the feeling of enchantment never left her being.

____________________

I'm soooooo sorry it took so long to update this, I was going to try to do daily updates but the holidays and writer's block had other plans.

Also, someone made fanart?!?!?!?!?!?!

I've never had anyone do that before, so when I saw it I freaked out, texted all of my friends, etc. It's in the media, and in @Snowpetal113's Rayllum book.