The Last Light of Eden (Sky Children of the Light)

Chapter Twelve: Child of Light

     The baby mantas wove lazily between the twisted trunks of the Sky Fruit trees, ducking beneath low-hanging branches, and furiously beating their tiny wings to stay off the muddy ground. Occasionally, one of the small creatures would poke it's gold plated head up over the leafy treetops and glance around, making sure that the larger manta still floated along above them, before ducking back down into the foliage with an excited hoot. Other than the mantas' happy calls and the occasional rustle of a faint breeze drifting through the trees' reaching branches, the forest was silent and peaceful. . . Or, at least, somewhat silent.

     "Oi!" Tun complained, his voice echoing out the open window, scattering a small cluster of birds that had decided to roost on the cottage's stone-brick roof. The elder reached out, playfully shoving his sister in the shoulder. "Now, that's getting a little personal, don't you think?"

     Tor lounged back in her chair, a smug grin hidden behind her mask. "Hey!" she pointed out with mock innocence. "This is war! Everything's fair game!"

     Talia leaned forward in her stone seat, glancing eagerly between the bickering elders with wide eyes. Listening to the twin's argument was the closest thing she'd had to real entertainment in weeks! After all, strangers didn't cross through this part of the woods very often, and it was even rarer for them to stick around and tell the young spirit stories. . . "C'mon!" she cried, impatiently waving her stick in the air overhead. "Tell me another one!"

     The twins exchanged an amused glance, then Tun shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "I mean. . ." he cast a dubious look at his sister out of the corner of his eye. "There was that one time with the stink bomb--"

     "That we will not speak of!" Tor cut in, hurriedly slapping a hand over the bottom of her brother's mask. She slowly turned to glare at him. "Ever again."

     "Aww. . ." Talia pouted, sullenly dropping back into the cushions that covered the seat of her stone chair. She gave a loud huff of disappointment and crossed her arms, nearly poking herself in the eye with the stick that--despite Naomi's constant pleading--she refused to put down. "Phooey!"

     "Talia!" Naomi scolded, turning in her seat to shoot her younger sister a stern look. "Don't be rude!"

     "But, I'm not being rude!" Talia cried, sitting bolt upright in her chair. She spun around to glower at Naomi, her two messy braids--still clotted with leaves and small twigs--whipping out around her head. "I'm never rude." Talia stated, a defiant look crossing her masked face as she turned away and stuck her nose in the air.

     "Mhmm. . ." Naomi mumbled, watching the young girl dubiously. She gave a small sigh and turned away, slowly shaking her head. "And I'm a purple manta. . ." the spirit muttered under her breath.

     Tun gave a small snort of laughter and tugged his mask out from his sister's grasp. Ducking behind the others, he reached out and pulled the last empty chair back from the table, it's stone form scraping slightly as it was dragged across the floor. He dropped down into the seat and leaned his elbows on the table, doing his best to hide a grin as Talia turned to glower at her older sister. For a long moment, he sat and watched the increasingly heated argument play out, but then the elder fell still, his amused smile slowly fading into an uncertain frown.

     He had a strange feeling that they were being watched. . .

     "Who. . .?" he mumbled, turning around in his seat and shooting a hesitant glance back over his shoulder. The words faded from his mind, and the sentence went unfinished. Standing only a few paces away, watching the elder curiously through shimmering golden eyes, was the child.