Calytrix's Journey

Part XIX: Little Witch

The fire spirit and I found ourselves at crossroads. Both paths looked the same, earthy and leading to uncultivated, green grass fields.

"I would like to chose the right path, but which one would you take?" I asked the fire spirit.

The fire spirit floated towards the left path.

"Is there a reason why you want the left path?" I asked.

The fire spirit still couldn't talk, but it did try to communicate using its movements. It's already been ten days since we started traveling together and I was able to identify the meanings of various movements.

It moved in a spiral and I immediately recognized the movement.

"There is no special reason, you simply feel like going that way?" I asked to confirm my thoughts.

The spirit mimicked a nod.

"Well, I think we should go right," I stayed firm in my decision.

The fire spirit insisted on going left and floated a few times from my position to the left and back. I also didn't feel like changing my opinion, but if someone doesn't give in, we'll never reach an agreement.

"We should go right. I've been traveling for a while and my travel instinct tells me right," I explained.

The fire spirit moved from left to right in refusal.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" I asked.

The spirit made floated towards me a few times like it was pointing at me.

"You're saying that I'm the one who's stubborn?" I said.

Despite the spirits protest I didn't want to change my decision. When I first started traveling, I was supposed to go wherever I wanted, but I met Akios at the beginning of my journey and it ended up that I had to go everywhere where he wanted. This time around I wanted to be the one who decided on my destination, but since I had a traveling buddy, compromises were necessary.

"How about we toss a coin?" I shared my sudden idea.

The fire spirit nodded and we came to an agreement. A character named, Falerii, form one of the myths I read, made his decisions by throwing coins in the air whenever he was unsure. It may sound strange, but that's how he made several fateful encounters. His path could have been completely different if he didn't make the choices he did.

"I'll take the head and you can take the tail?"I said.

The fire spirit nodded and it was decided. I took a single silver coin out of the bag and prepared myself to throw it. The sun shined a strong reflection on the coin which almost blinded me for a moment until I changed the angle, I was holding it. I blinked a few times to get my eyesight back to normal. The spirit carefully examined my movements and suddenly I felt pressured to show a magnificent coin toss.

It was expecting a good show and I didn't want to disappoint it. I always managed to make kids smile with my spells so I should also be able to entertain the fire spirit or anyone else I need to, but the truth is that I tossed a coin only a few times before and most of the times it were bad tries if I didn't use magic. In stories, coin tossing was described as something special and unique, but in reality, I'd usually make a bad throw and embarrass myself.

I needed a few moments to mentally prepare myself to throw the coin and at the moment I finally threw it in the air something bumped into me and I took a few steps back. The coin flopped on the ground somewhere in the grass.

"Oh," I said disappointed. It'll take a while just to find it and a bad throw doesn't count like anybody's victory.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed a small kid with overgrown brown hair running away frantically. I didn't understand what was going on with the kid, but I didn't feel any dangers ahead.