Rider of the Laika

RIder of the Laika; Chapter 6

Chapter 7: In Common

I was awoken by a soft nose nudging my cheek. The younger Laika was standing over me where I was asleep in the grass. The blades rubbed against my face. I ran my hand over them, feeling the patterns from the indentations.

The Laika standing over was looking at me with large, kind eyes. They were golden. I sighed and pushed myself upright. “I can’t believe I fell asleep,” I mumbled.

“It’s alright. The foaling took a long time.” The young Laika nudged my face again. I couldn’t help but smile.

“How come I can hear you talk?” I asked.

“We have a connection. Can’t you feel it? We are alike in spirit, you and I.”

“Are we? I suppose that I shouldn’t be so surprised. This place is full of surprises like this.” I hesitantly reached up and ran my fingers through her mane. “I want to go home.”

“I know. And you will, one day. Just not yet. We have things to do.”

I sighed. “Where are the others?”

“On the other side of the willow.”

I followed the young Laika around the willow tree. Jaden heard us coming and turned to wave. My heart jumped. The Laika gave me a look and a nudge. I swatted her away. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Ellinia. And you?”

“Sasha.”

“Why are you talking to yourself?”

“Huh?” I snapped out of my conversation to realize that Jaden and Asteria were giving me weird looks.

“Oh... um... I wasn’t, actually. I was talking to Ellinia.”

“Who?”

I was saved from answering by the appearance of Willow Woman.

“Your arrival was fortuitous that it collided with a Laika birthing. The naming of the foal will be at dusk.”

“Willow Woman?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yes, child?”

“Why are we here? Is there a purpose to our - no, my - presence?” I bit my lip. “It just doesn’t seem coincidental.”

“It wasn’t.” Willow Woman’s voice had grown somber. “You all have something in common, something that could cause the beginning of a new era - if you have the courage. The destruction of life is a terrible thing. You must find your common ground.” She turned to me, her face kinder. “As for you... you are the hope. You are what will hold your goal together, even in the darkest hour.

“The naming is at dusk. After that, you will leave. You have until then to discover your common ground.”

She left us staring at each other in confusion.

“Common ground?”

“We don’t have anything in common,” Asteria said. “We’re all completely different.”

“Well, we have that in common.” Jaden was sitting with his ankles crossed, staring up at the sky.

None of us could think of anything that could lead us to save the world.

After a long time of silence, I said wearily, “What would we be saving the world from, anyway?”

Jaden shrugged. “The war, probably.”

“I thought the dragons wanted a war.”

“Not me. Like Willow Woman said, it’s just destruction of life. Pointless.”

Asteria nodded. “I’ve always hated it. Even more now that it tore me from my family.” She shot a pointed look at Jaden.

“My dad died fighting in a war.”

Jaden and Asteria looked at me, surprised.

I bit my lip. “Do you think that’s it? That it’s just the fact that we all hate war?”

Asteria shrugged. “Maybe. But what can we do about it? We’re just barely more than kids.”

Jaden considered. “Well, we could go talk to different shades. Try to convince them not to fight. Doubt it’d work.”

“I don’t understand why it has to be us.” Asteria got up and walked away, trailing her hand against the trees.

Jaden looked at me thoughtfully. “I’m sorry about your dad.”

I shrugged, not in the mood for pity.

“Come on, silly! It’s your big chance!”

“Ellinia!” I yelped.

Jaden shot me an odd look.

“Sorry. Jaden, this is Ellinia. She talks to me. Ellinia, please go away.”

She left, not before nudging the back of my head with her nose.

“What did she say?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

I sat there next to him, letting the sun’s rays soak into my skin. “Well... at least we have an idea of what to do now.”

“Mm...” he was staring up at the sky. “I suppose.”

We continued to sit there in silence, waiting for dusk and for the naming of the little Laika foal. And then, for better or worse, we would leave. And that would be that.