章 20: Spring

We traveled for several more days, passing four forks in the path. We had encountered two other groups who were following the roads, going in the opposite direction and splitting to side paths.

We also passed an outpost each day. They seemed to be empty shacks used for housing travelers as they took the road. We ignored them, seeing as we encountered them each about two hours after lunch, which I kept at about what my brain said noon was each day.

We stopped in a clearing for lunch after all that.

"I hear waterflow nearby." Kendalyn noted. She had become more vocal over the past few days, and her keen ears had kept us out of trouble for the most part.

"My canteen is nearly dry." Elengail mentioned.

"Mine too," Mayliam added.

"Of course, mine is too."

"We know, Faivere. Why do you think we warned you about that?" Elengail asked.

"I dunno..." she trailed off.

"We fill water. Direction, Kendalyn?"

She pointed north-west. A bit more north. Like between north and north-west.

"We can probably take the path most of the way, then trudge just a little into the underbrush."

"I go, you make lunch?" I asked, realizing it would be more efficient to have one or two people refill our canteens.

"I'll go with you," Mayliam said immediately.

"Be safe," Elengail said as she handed me her canteen, then she whispered, "talk things out, too. It's getting awkward around you two. Really awkward."

I nodded as Kendalyn and Faivere passed their canteens to Mayliam. I grabbed the three spare canteens and led Mayliam up the road. I heard the water after a short distance, and after a bit more, we left the path.

Once we were off the path, Mayliam started the conversation, "we can't keep going like this."

"No."

"I'm just tired of being ignored or treated like a child. I'm seventeen! That's adult age if I've ever known one."

"In other place, adult is eighteen or twenty-one."

"That's crazy! What do you call the ones who are fifteen? They're mature."

"Person brain finish mature at twenty-six."

"So... not even you, yet?"

"No."

"Oh. But that's besides the point."

"Yes."

"I--" her voice caught in her throat.

"You like me. I know. Stop. I not person to like."

"You talk like it's putting out a candle. It's not that easy!"

"I know. It hard when feel love. I feel love in other place."

I noticed she started. "You did? What happened?"

"She not like me."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."

"It not problem. Not now."

We entered a clearing. A stone wall stood opposite us, and trees encircled the other sides. Water trickled from a low point of the wall into a pond. The spouting water was clear, but the pond was murky white.

I opened the canteens one at a time as I continued. "All person who I love dead or gone. Parents. Friends. Brothers. I cursed to alone. Alone forever."

She said nothing as she opened the canteens she had been carrying.

Once all of the canteens were open and standing on end, I asked the goddess of water to move clean water into the canteens. It cost less mana to simply move water that it did to create water. Plus, creating water usually left the air thinner and drier. I would not be surprised if there were people who died from creating water, and not from overexpending mana.

Crystalline tendrils of water rose from the pond, clear and glassy, before arching and falling into the individual canteens. The miracle lasted less than a minute, and I immediately began to put caps on canteens when it had finished. Mayliam joined.

"You refuse to open up to people because you're afraid they'll die if you get too close? How does that make sense?"

"It happen. Farsfield destroyed. I love Farsfield."

"That can't happen every time. It's just a bunch of coincidences."

"I think that once. No more."

I picked up five of the canteens, taking note only of which one was mine. I had learned that the others didn't care about germs. That or they didn't know about them.

I started walking back, and Mayliam rushed to catch up.

"We're not done talking. There has to be a solution. I can see you aren't happy."

"I not supposed be happy."

"That's not true and you know it!"

"Do I?" I asked, turning to her.

"Yes," she said, dropping the canteens she held and pulling me into a hug. "Yes, you deserve to be happy, at least in the end."

"I done. Done argue. We go back."

She clung tighter. "I'm not hugging you just for you," she whispered.

With a sigh, I dropped the canteens I held, keeping track of where mine went, and hugged her back.

I waited fifteen seconds like that before letting go. "They wait for us."

She finally released me, and we gathered the canteens again. I made sure to grab mine first, so it wouldn't get mixed in with the rest.

We returned to the clearing to find the others waiting with warmed jerky. Mayliam and I dropped the canteens in a pile, with the exception of mine and one that Mayliam held on to.

"What was it? Stream? Small lake?" Elengail asked.

"It was like a fountain coming from natural rock." Mayliam answered.

"A spring? I guess that makes sense. We are on a trail in a forest, after all."

"I surprise Kendalyn hear. It not big."

"I'm just good with my ears. Something I picked up from being a mother." She said.

I didn't have the words to argue with her. I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say.

We ate lunch with the usual level of commotion and casual conversation. Though I did spot Elengail pull Mayliam aside. Probably to ask how our conversation went. I wasn't worried. I didn't say anything I didn't want repeated.

Elengail looked at me with worry as we packed up to get back on the road. We drank as much as we wanted at lunch, then all went to see the spring to refill. I repeated my request to Aquaria to refill the canteens. Then we were on our way.