Etudie Perpetuity

“Yes,” I said quickly. “She imprinted the fundamentals of magic on us, and taught us how to use it to fight. We’ve been practicing with her for the past few days.”

I ended up using the explanation we had prepared if anyone ever saw us using magic by accident. We had been planning to tell the other elves about our magic anyway, since it would be a good way to gather support for when we opposed the Oracle, so I wasn’t too flustered when Sharun brought it up.

But I was confused. If he barely managed to rescue us in time, how did he see us cast magic? We were completely spent when the Farro Bird lumbered over, and didn’t do anything that would’ve given away our magical abilities. Was he assuming we had learned magic since there was no other way we could have survived against a monster that literally shot fire from its mouth? That had to be it. Sharun was an experienced hunter, he could probably tell when two tiny elves were outmatched by a cantankerous, fire-breathing bird monster.

“I see,” said Sharun. “The Oracle is wise.”

I managed to sit up a little, and Sharun laid me against a tree. Noel sat besides me as Sharun cut a large, fleshy leaf. He pinched the leaf and a pale yellow liquid oozed out, which he rubbed on our cuts and burns. The liquid stung at first but my body felt a lot better after a while. Sharun helped us drink some more water and even cut off the burnt ends of our hair with the sharp edge of the Dragon’s Tooth.

“We’ll rest here until noon. The rest of my party should be able to find us. I left very noticeable tracks on the way here,” said Sharun.

We were sitting in the middle of a thick patch of forest. It would be quite difficult for anyone to find us if it weren’t for the tracks Sharun said he’d left. I assumed they weren’t the types of tracks monsters could follow, since he had probably hidden us away in here to hide from more monsters. Two weakened young elves were perfect targets. Now that the starred monster was gone, the other monsters would start trickling back into the area.

“What kind of magic did the Oracle teach you?” asked Sharun as he made me sip some water.

“Fire and motion magic,” answered Noel.

“Fire magic? Against a monster made of fire?” said Sharun.

“Yes,” stammered Noel. “It helped protect us from the monster’s attack. We wouldn’t have survived its breath or the forest fire around it if we hadn’t learned fire magic!” Of course, we hadn’t been able to control the monster’s magic at all, but Sharun didn’t need to know that.

“I see,” said Sharun. “And what is motion magic?”

“It lets us push and pull things,” said Noel. “It’s how I managed to take out its eye.”

Sharun nodded. “Good work. With this you’ll make an even better hunter than me or my brother.”

Noel smiled. Hearing that apparently meant a lot to her. She tried to lift herself off the tree, but couldn’t. Sharun put his hands on her shoulder and made her sit back down. She grabbed his hand and hugged it.

“Thank you, uncle Sharun,” said Noel.

She didn’t let go. Sharun leaned forward and hugged her, gently. Noel didn’t cry, but she held on tightly. Eventually, she fell asleep, still grasping Sharun’s arm. He let her go and looked at me. My eyelids felt heavy and I was drooping off to sleep. I don’t know why I was trying to stay awake, perhaps it was the adrenaline that still hadn’t made its way through my system. Sharun reached over and put his hand on my head. He ruffled my hair and smiled. His smile was warm. The scars on his ear and chest felt surprisingly reassuring. I drifted off to sleep.

---

I woke up under the night sky. The pain in my head was gone but my body still ached in various places. I felt a bed of leaves and grass underneath me. There was a gourd full of water and a few doubleberries on a leaf beside me. Noel was lying on a bed, fast asleep.

“Oh, you’re awake,” came a voice.

“Elder Starry!” I said.

The elder walked over to me and asked about my health. I told him I was feeling better. He said the elves had treated most of our injuries and all we needed now was some rest. They’d been worried when the hunting party brought us back, but quickly realized we weren’t in too much danger. He’d heard about our magic from Sharun, but he wanted to know more about our battle with the starred monster before the hunter’s arrival.

I told him about the types of magic we had learned, making sure to mention the Oracle from time to time. I remembered how interested he’d been in my translation magic when I first arrived, so I figured he wouldn’t look too closely at the details of my story if I focused on the cool magic bits more than on how we happened to learn them.

“So when the Oracle said she wanted to guide you to your destiny, she meant she wanted to teach you magic. But there’s still something I don’t understand,” said Starry. “Why didn’t the Oracle let you have an escort party?”

“The Oracle is wise,” I said, “she must have realized this was the best way to deal with the monster. After all, nobody died, right?”

“The two of you almost joined the ancestors,” said Starry.

“But we didn’t! And you can ask Sharun, that monster was incredibly powerful. It would have shred most hunting parties to pieces,” I said.

“All the more reason to question the Oracle’s actions,” said Starry. “Her foresight is not perfect. She has been known to make mistakes. This mission was far too dangerous for two young elves who haven’t even been on their first hunt. If she had been wrong in the slightest, the two of you would not have made it back.”

I was taken aback by Starry’s words. He’d been pretty respectful of the Oracle when we first said she’d asked to meet with us daily. I guess seeing your granddaughter cut, bruised, and burnt in places, might make you less respectful to the person who sent her there. Thankfully, he didn’t know that the two of us had made that stupid decision on our own.

I ended up receiving a lecture from Starry anyway. He said we should have run away instead of trying to fight the monster. He also said we should have taken an escort anyway, regardless of what the Oracle wanted. Don’t trust powerful people, even if they are respected in the community. Decisions that are best for the community may not be the best for you, he said. He left me to rest once he was finished teaching me about trust and suspicion. As someone who’d grown up without a grandpa, I felt oddly happy to be scolded by an elderly elf teaching me a thing or two about life. After he left, I closed my eyes once more and fell asleep.

---

In the morning the Jora tribe held a muted celebration. We were glad to be rid of the starred monster, but worried about the wildfire that our scouts had discovered raging across the plains. There had been wildfires before, but this one was bigger than most. It had already engulfed one of the tribe’s favorite forests and was threatening to keep going.

“Do you think it will reach our camp?” asked elder Vell.

Sharun nodded. “It will take a few days, but it has already begun crossing the plains. It is a strange fire, one not easily doused by water. Even the smallest patch of grass catches fire and the wind carries it across rivers and barren fields.”

The elves whispered among themselves. Starry and Vell shared an anxious look. Noel and I were still recovering, but this meeting was being done around our beds. In a family structure this closely knit, even the sick had to be a part of the decision making process. Young elves like us wouldn’t usually have much to say, but I was thinking about ways to control the fire with modern techniques.

We didn’t have enough time to create canals, waterways or similar obstructions. We could try some controlled fires to burn off all the vegetation along a patch of land, so the forest fire couldn’t keep spreading. But after what Sharun said about the way the fire seemed to ride the wind across empty land, I had a feeling this magical fire would be hard to control. I eventually ruled out most modern methods of fire control I’d learned from camping instructors and documentaries, and decided magical problems required magical solutions. The elders and Sharun were keeping our magical abilities a secret from the rest of the tribe, but Noel and I had always planned to spread the knowledge as far as we could.

After almost getting killed trying to take on a massive problem on our own, we’d learned our lesson. The tribe was our family, and we had to trust them. I smiled. I didn’t think I’d ever feel this way again. Not after my mom died five years ago. The warm, fuzzy, safe feeling of being with people you could rely on. It was a nice feeling.

“Elders,” I began. “Noel and I.” I looked at Noel. She looked at me. “We have an idea.”