The Eclipse Mark

Chapter 10

I see a little crowd at the top of a hill. We surge through before we see Dani, I presumed.

I guessed the rumors were true, he was a little cute. I did't think he was much my type though. He has oak brown hair with green streaks on the bangs. It was rumpled and not very clean, but it worked for him. His eyes are a kind of... poisonous green. Vines wrapped around his arms like they were bracelets, probably useful in a fight. He wore a plain green shirt with a brown jacket on top. A sword hung at his waist.

"Guess he is cute. Hm." Chelsy looks him over.

"Really? Him?" Thanatos raises an eyebrow.

"What? Not your type?" Chelsy purrs.

"Nah, I don't go for guys like him."

"You go for guys like you then?"

"Maybe." He winks.

"Wait, what-" They ignore me (AGAIN) and walk up to Dani.

"Chelsy Torrent. You're Dani, right?" Dani nods and smiles

"I heard that sone new guys were here. Nice to meet you! I'm Dani Ivy... but I guess you already knew that." He laughs awkwardly.

"I'm Thanatos Midnight. That there is Luna." I wave and walk up to them.

"Luna Eclipse, that is. It's nice to meet you, we've heard a lot about you... and nothing at all."

"The village has a tendency to do that. Bunch of gossipers, they are." He glares at a few of them

"Well, hopefully we can figure out what's true and what's not." We shake hands.

"It's all slightly true in one way or another. Well, hopefully at least." He sighs. "This is the reason I don't like leaving the village. Well, one of many at least." He scans all of us. "Water mage? How you holding up?" He looked slightly worried

"I would say fine, but I feel like crap." Chelsy deflates slightly

"That's the reason I don't go to the fire kingdom. Or the wind." He laughs and props Chelsy on his arm.

"Oh thank gods, I was wondering when someone was gonna do that."

"You looked fine!" I hold my hands up in defense

"I was tired! I've already carried you, for a while!" Chelsy starts giggling

"You two are insane. I'm going down this hill." We follow the two of them and continue talking.

"So what's the deal with you? Everyone was waiting for you to come back."

"Oh, you could say I'm a kind of protector around here. At least, I protect this village from any harm."

"Harm? What harm?"

"Oh, this and that." He plays it off, but I glance at Thanatos and he looks at me.

"Okay... so what's your mark?"

"Just nature. Some say that's boring, but it works for me." He grins. "And earth mages are so hard-headed anyways. Or rock... or whatever we're calling them now."

"Was that supposed to be a pun?" Chelsy narrows her eyebrows at him.

"Yes~" Chelsy immediately moves away from him.

"I'd rather pass out again."

"You passed out?" Dani nocks an eyebrow at her, to which she shrugs.

"This is gonna become an old joke. So... what were you doing out of town?"

"Getting supplies and such. The people here are either very young or very old, so farming is a hassle. The few people that aren't have other jobs, myself included. Although, I have this little garden in my backyard." He scratches his head. "Wanna see?"

"Sure." We follow him to a modest house, not very lavish. It was full of plant life, however.

"You really let this place go."

"More like my parents." He laughs and goes inside. "Speaking of which, this is my mom." A middle aged woman looks over at us. Dani shared her hair, oak brown with green streaks, but their eyes were different. Hers was a lovely brown, not green. Face shape was different too, hers was a 'v' and his was more of a 'u'.

"Hello! I'm Dove Ivy. You can just call me Mrs. Ivy." She seemed like the kind of person that baked brownies and was always there to talk to. I was almost jealous, I didn't have much time to talk to my parents. I didn't blame them though, running a kingdom wasn't easy.

"That's Chelsy, Thanatos and I'm Luna. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ivy." I bow slightly, but everyone looked surprised. "What?"

"Uh, nothing. Sorry, Mrs. Ivy, she's not from around here." Thanatos gave a little wave.

"Oh, it's fine." She smiles. "Well, you go along now. Don't make me keep you waiting." We hurry out of the house and to the garden.

"Woah." Chelsy crosses her arms. "You could probably feed your whole village with this."

"No, this village isn't that small. It could probably only feed half." Dani bristles.

"Either way, that's pretty good for one person." I pat his back.

"One person? Oh no, my parents grow this with my help. I'm gone every other month anyways."

"Oh, well it's impressive either way. Although I do have a question."

"Hm?"

"If you're a nature mage, couldn't you just grow food whenever you want?" I felt a little dumb asking, but I was curious

"Theoretically, I could. Although food that you have to cultivate is different from other plants. Nature mages can create new plants whenever they want, but food is... harder. You're essentially speeding up the growth of it, but..." He pauses, trying to think of the right words. "Okay, so water mages can create water basically whenever."

"Not right now." Chelsy grumbles. "Because you'll 'pass out again' or 'that's dangerous'." She gags.

"Uh, yeah. But after they create the water, they don't waste anymore energy in making that water. Now it's just water. But if they were to create a... lake, they would commit more energy in making more water. Basically, food is my lake." He pauses. "I am aware of how weird that sounds."

"Okay... but it makes sense, I guess. So you just don't want to waste anymore energy than needed?"

"Yeah, and growing all these plants would probably waste all of my energy." He laughs. "And that wouldn't be good for anyone."

"I mean, why would you need all of your energy though? I'm not talking about wasting all of it, but just half?"

"You never know." He left it at that and quickly went back inside.

"That's... ominous." Thanatos sighed through his nose.

"Yeah..."

~~~

AN: I do know that many people bow to say hello (I do it myself, I'm Korean) but race isn't as important as element here. So even though Luna and Chelsy are both "asian" Chelsy doesn't bow. Luna does it because that's how she's mostly greeted adults. (Like dukes, queens, kings, etc.)