Short Stories

What Makes Humanity (pt 2)

~Eighteen Years Later~
A young, raven-haired man heavily breathes, running through the thick underbrush of the woods with a group of human-like creatures. Laughter echos from the four of them, guards can be heard shouting after them.
"Lynx! Hurry up. You're going to get caught!" A bluenette shouts back at him.
"Not all of us can run like a wolf, Luke!" Lynx shouts back, laughing. "Besides, we're almost to the Border!"
The group laughs as they run, trouble-making was in a monster's nature; the Border was the line of humanity and these unnatural beings. Tales to human children had always prevented them from going beyond it. No human dare venture beyond it, that's how it's been for thousands of years.
The boys run through the Border, escaping from the human guards once again. They walk into the town, joking with each other and looking at their stolen goods.
"Why do you keep stealing those dumb metals, when we can just make them?" Luke looks at his friends then back to Lynx, who only shrugs.
"It's more fun to take what they call precious, make it unrecognizable, and sell it back to them," Lynx blankly states.
"Well, what do you make out of them?" Luke questions, "None of us have ever actually seen what you make."
"That's because it's not your business." Lynx closes the bag and walks to his workshop; no one dares to follow him. The monsters dumb enough to try, all met their fate, and are spending their days six feet under, rotting. So needless to say, he wasn't often bothered.
As he walks to his home, people smile and wave, he merely nods and presses forward. Being the chief's kid had its perks and its downfalls. The one he uses most would have to be the little shop he was given in a small human town nearby. These humans were polite to monsters, understanding that they were hurt, but also knowing that if they were to harbor monsters, they would be traitors to their land. The town was lovely, its green grass, flowers, small cottages, and brightly painted shops, reflected the people who owned them. The best part, royals mostly overlooked the small town on their hunt for monsters. Lynx enters his little shop, puts on his full-face mask, and switches the shop's sign from 'Closed' to 'Open' -he didn't get too many buyers, but he got people to come in and look around. They always complimented his work. He's gotten requested for many different types of jewelry: wedding bands, earrings, necklaces, etc. But his best work was a beautiful blue necklace, it's shimmer of sapphires and diamonds performed an astounding dance in the sunlight, but no one dared to buy it.
He never knew why, though he never complained, but one thought always plagued him. 'Was his work not good enough?'
People come in and out; a few people bought stuff; others just looked and complimented. Just another day, until a couple of young girls walked into the shop. One was wearing a cowl, taking off the hood when she enters. Her bright red hair falls to her shoulders, gently bouncing as she looks around. The other girl, a brunette, seems tense and continuously looks around as if she's prey in a hunt. The redhead puts a hand on her companion's shoulder, calming her down a bit. The redhead looks around, the shaking girl sticking to her like a puppy. The redhead presses on, as if she's used to this, stopping at a few different jewelry cases. The brunette catches the redhead's attention, pointing to the blue necklace. The redhead turns to Lynx, smiling, and with a soft but oddly proud voice, says, "How much for the necklace right there?"
For the first time, Lynx gets a good look at her. She has sky blue eyes, red hair bound by a ponytail holder, and holds her head high-this is pretty rare around this area; people typically kept their eyes to the ground, not wanting to insult others by looking in their eyes. So it's obvious she's not from here.
"Depends, how much do you think it is?" Lynx looks at her curiously.
"Hmmm, thirty to forty thousand gold? Seems about right for its beauty," She says wearing a smile, that could outshine most lights.
"As if you'd have that kind of money," He responds skeptically.
She looks at him, her smile turning to a smirk, "Never judge a book by its cover," She says pulling out a medium-sized bag with royal markings, tossing it to him, "Feel free to count it, I never disappoint."
"So you're a thief?" He says, counting the money. She scoffs and laughs a bit.
"Nope, I earned half of that bag, the rest....my parents insisted on giving to me," She sounds a bit ashamed of the last part, but still holds her head up.
"What kind of job could get you half of this? Much more, who are your parents?"
"Well, working multiple jobs can get me half of that," She says, avoiding the second half of his question. "I can't just sit at home doing nothing, it makes me feel bad." An almost silent and nervous laugh escapes her throat.