Chapter 7: Who was he?
Elliot wondered.
A samurai who seemed to have known the dancer. They must have had a deep relationship with one another if he could have told the difference between the real and the false.
"What is plaguing your false mind, dear guide of mine?" The dancer questioned them as they walked back towards their campsite quietly.
The dancer noticed Elliot's troubled expression as he tried to comprehend the disaster that had just happened.
"It's nothing, nothing to worry about," Elliot quickly replied.
"Hmm, alright then," the dancer said, deciding not to pry into him any further.
"Wait a minute, false mind?" Elliot questioned.
"Hm, what was that, my guide?" The dancer raised her eyebrows.
"You said I had a false mind. What do you know about it?" Elliot strictly inquired.
"Sounding quite petrified there, not a good trait for a guide to have," The Dancer advised.
Before she could walk ahead of Elliot, he grabbed her arm and made her face him. Elliot had his eyebrows furrowed in a very serious expression, an expression the dancer had never thought to see on this carefree twin. The dancer smirked at his expression and pulled back her arm.
"I understood your position. I shall not dwell on it further then." The dancer looked down at her feet in a solemn gaze for a moment.
"I'm sorry; I'll try to explain it later. For now, let's carry on with our journey tomorrow, ok?" Elliot said it with a smile on his face.
He was trying to reassure her so that she would forget about his problem, something that might be a hindrance to their journey. The two soon reached their camp, where they found Elliot's pet ostrich, Millard, still fast asleep. As Elliot and the dancer pleasantly watched Millard, the sun's bright rays began to beam through the canopies of the tall bamboo trees.
This was a sign that they must continue their journey to escape the horrors of the forests. They had to carry on with their journey as soon as possible. The memory of The Dancer's homeland still being trapped in that transparent and yellow barrier came back to cloud her mind. She wrapped her arms around her, feeling the guilt creeping up from behind her mind. Elliot took notice of this, so he stepped closer to her side. He then carefully wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a side embrace.
"It's going to be alright. Whatever guilt you're feeling, put it aside for now. We have to focus on our goal," Elliot tried to comfort her.
The dancer hummed in agreement.
"Let's carry on," the dancer concluded with furrowed eyebrows while shoving his arm off her shoulder.
She walks off to quickly pack her things as Elliot stands there with a small smile on his face. He stared at her retrieving figure for a few minutes before following suit and packing his own things.
"You should wake Millard up," the dancer said to Elliot.
"Yeah, she's been sleeping for way too long now," Elliot said as he knelt down beside Millard the ostrich.
Elliot used his palm to pat Millard's back. Millard lifted her head from the ground and gave out a big yawn. She slowly propped herself onto her knees as she awaited for the two humans to get on her back. Elliot placed his huge hands on The Dancer's slim waist and assisted her climb onto Millard's back by lifting her up. She heaved herself onto Millard's soft, feathery back and scooted towards the front so Elliot would have a place to sit.
Elliot then glanced down towards the dancer's bare feet and was met with the sight of mire and dry mud. Lucky for Elliot, he had leather gloves on, so he decided to scrape off the mire by himself. He gently grabbed the dancer's ankle with his glove-covered fingers and began scraping off the dirt. The dancer began to flinch as she felt a ticklish feeling beneath her feet.
"What in God's name are you doing?" The dancer exclaimed.
"Hold still," Elliot calmly said, still scraping the mud.
"I'll have you know, one can perform this trivial task by one's self. " The dancer said, shaking her leg, trying to get it out of Elliot's grip.
"Hey! I'm just trying to help you. Besides, Millard wouldn't want you to dirty her feathers, now would she? ."
Millard twisted her neck to stare back at the dancer with a blank face. But you could see the sadness in her eyes, despite looking like a birdbrained horse. Well, she is a bird after all.
"Blegh! Fine, if you must." The dancer frowned and crossed her arms across her chest.
Elliot smirked in victory. "Good girl," he complimented while grazing his fingers against the bottom of her feet, tickling her.
The dancer grimaced and shivered at the pet name he used and pulled her feet out of his hands.
"Do not get ahead of yourself, fool. You lack the looks to charm me," she boldly states. "Now get on; we are wasting time."
Elliot took a few steps back, raising his hands up in defence. He then smiled to himself and hoist himself up onto Millard's back. He adjusted his seat to a more comfortable position since it'd be a long trip for them before they could stop for a break.
After Elliot was ready, Millard got up from the ground and began treading quietly, moving deeper and deeper into the forest. Millard knows when Elliot was ready because she watched him. Ostriches' necks are flexible after all; being able to look behind their backs is very helpful for detecting predators or waiting for your master to get on your back.
Soon, the three managed to get out of the forest safe and sound. The sun rays were now shining brightly, and they could witness the vast green lands beyond the sea with no hindrance anymore.
But a question still lingers in Elliot's mind.
"Who was he?" he questioned the Dancer.
"What do you mean?" The Dancer glanced at him behind her back.
Elliot furrowed his eyebrows, squinting his eyes at her in confusion.
"The samurai guy," he articulated.
"Oh him? I do not have any knowledge about him," The Dancer courtly replied.
"Are you serious?" Elliot remarked.
"Very serious," The Dancer smirked.
"Oh, come on! You know who he was, right? Don't lie to me," Elliot said.
Elliot then proceeded to beg her because he wanted his curiosity to be filled like a jug of water being filled to the brim. He begged, begged, and begged as Millard trotted down the dirt path. The Dancer couldn't handle his grovelling any longer, so she took a deep breath. A sign where Elliot decided to keep his lips sealed for a moment.
"You insolent fool! Why do you want to know so badly? It is none of your business!" The dancer yelled.
"Just in case he's our enemy, that is," Elliot tried to reason.
The Dancer didn't pay any heed to his words at first. But she sighed exhaustedly and decided to tell him the answer that his ears might want to hear. She turned her head towards him and rolled her eyes in annoyance before speaking.
"I met him in that tavern before we began our journey. That is before you slandered right before me with that eldritch grin plastered on your sandy face," The Dancer said.
"Hey!, Mind you, this smile has made so many ladies swoon, even the ones that didn't know they could fall in love," Elliot said, shooting her a quick wink.
The Dancer raised her thin eyebrows and just blinked a few times before turning back forward to ignore him. She lifted up her shoulders while having a grim expression on her face. She shook her head, then took a deep breath before continuing on, facing forward while admiring the scenery.
"This is going to be a long, long journey," she thought to herself.
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