Hot, heavy air. Fog that was so thick in certain areas that one could almost cut it with a knife. Foliage dense enough to make an effective wall. Oddly enough, a boy emerging from the brush didn't seem to mind. He picked up a flower to examine it. To him, this place wasn't bad, difficult, or irritating to be in. It was just another place to be; a nice, interesting place in his oppinion.
He looked curiously at animals walking by. He slowly made his way up to a jaguar-like animal, which watched him cautiously. He softly whispered something to it and stroked it on the back with his hand. It didn't seem afraid of him, oddly. It didn't mind the petting, either. He smiled a little. His white wings were folded behind him, as usual. He was exploring the canopy before when he was using them. He had simply forgot they were still there. He glanced around, thinking he heard someone else in the forest.
A little old lady stomped through the mud, with a round, loaded-up animal waddling along behind her. Moisture from the air collected on her hat and dripped from the wide brim. The jungle was tough going, but she had a big stick. It wasn't so bad. She was muttering what seemed like an unending stream of Hyoite to herself, identifying every plant she saw and deciding if she should harvest some. However, they weren't what she was here for. The increasing humidity would guide her.
She stopped when she reached some particularly thick vegetation and looked around. Her pack animal butted gently into her back before also coming to a rest. She regarded the fog. After a moment's consideration, she started moving forward again, beating the greenery down with surprising vigour. It was only a patch of thorny tigersbalm, after all. The violence would do it good.
It caught on her clothes as she passed through, although the creature behind her didn't seem to mind. It never really did. She reached a clearer patch and again surveyed her surroundings.
Huh. That was odd. There stood a winged boy and a large cat-like animal. It didn't seem like either of them posed much of a threat right now. From the look of him the boy wasn't local, which was too bad. Probably Serenian, she decided. But what was some winged kid doing in the jungle? Maybe he was lost.
She cleared her throat and called out. "Um, hello?"
The boy turned around quickly, then relaxed. He smiled at the new person he met. "Hello! Are you looking for something here? I know this place well. " He had only been here for a week or so, and already knew the place better than most. It was something of a gift. He could be in a place for a matter of days and already know it backwards and forewards.
The cat tried to slink away, displeased with the presence of another human. He comforted the annoyed animal, who sat on a low branch, tail twitching, cautious yellow eyes staring ahead. The boy's wings made him look like an angel, coupled with his white hair.
It turned out he wasn't lost after all. Anyone else would find it strange to see someone like him out here, but this old lady had come across weirder sights before. Anyway, this was good! She could ask him about the plants she was looking for.
She mulled the words over in her head for a short while. She had never quite got the hang of Serenian grammar. "Oh, that is good! Do you know Kishahn blisterweed? Is like a vine, it travel around for energy to find and put out lots of damp. Big yellow flowers, and smell like mould."
As she talked, she made her way closer to the boy. From the cat's behaviour, it was merely nervous of her, not aggressive, so she made a show of completely ignoring it. When she was merely a few feet from him, she stuck her walking stick into the soft ground and leant on it, peering up at him expectantly.
He watched her with curious eyes that made him seem younger than he was. He thought carefully for an answer. He hadn't heard the name of the plant before, but was sure he had seen it around before. He nodded to her. "I know what plant that is. I could show you where it is, if you'd like." A spark of curiosity, the kind of curiosity that drives beings to study and understand, lit his eyes,making them sparkle. "But, in exchange, can you help me in return? There's some things I'd like to know, about the beings I study..." He paused for a moment, continuing, "People. As a scientist to a scientist, you must understand my curiosity. Is it a deal?" The cat slipped away Into the darkness.
Well, that was good. If the plants weren't too far away, she could be fully restocked by nightfall. Usually it took her a week or two to track down a new blisterweed vine. This would save her a lot of time.
He said he studied people, so he was a... what was it? She'd met a man last time she was in Arca, a fancy new type of doctor, said he treated people by talking to them, he called himself a... psychologist, she remembered. And she'd humoured him and laughed about it later. This boy seemed awfully young to be a doctor, and she didn't know what he was doing out here by himself, but it couldn't do any harm to indulge him.
"Ah, people," she smiled. "They funny, funny things. Never do what you expect to. I been around a long time, a lot of people, I learn a few things." She winked, causing the wrinkles on her face to move in odd ways. "I always been better with plants, but what you wanna know, Ulma will tell you!"
He smiled. "Ah, so a deal it is! Before we get going to find that plant, there is one question.." He looked confused. "I've always wondered, since I started studying people...why do people want others to do their work for them, even if it costs the worker their happiness? Its....confusing." He looked a little sad.
Ulma was a little bit stumped by this question. She'd never really given any thought to the social order, because she didn't much care about things that didn't include her or plants in some way. She scratched her chin. "Now that is a thinking question! There are many reasons, I think. Some people better at some things, some people get other people do the boring things, because they got no time for it. I always do all my things, and only my things! I am... Lucky, I think."
She had no idea if that was what he wanted, but it was all she had. So it had to do.
He nodded slowly. "Okay..thats why, then. Interesting! Now to go to that plant..." He started walking off towards it, saying to her, "By the way, my name is Oliver. As I said earlier, I study people. I guess I study them because Ive already studied animals...perhaps I'll study plants if i ever get to understand the human race." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Why do you study plants?"
The boy spoke as if he already knew everything about all animals. Of course, Ulma herself acted a bit like that at his age, but she'd never admit it now. Just thinking about it embarrassed her. Ah, the arrogance of youth. (There was the arrogance of old age, too, but in her mind that was entirely justified, just like the various arrogances of youth, young love and motherhood before them. Her opinion was that if she was doing it, it was OK.)
She laughed. "Oliver, if you gonna wait that long, then you never know plants!"
She pulled her walking stick out of the mud and started after him. She turned slightly and clucked her tongue at her pack animal, which stopped chewing on a leaf and glared at her. "My trade is medicine, and that all about plants. You know plants, you know medicine. Some say it about people, but it about plants really."
She shrugged. It was just common sense, wasn't it?
The boy named Oliver shrugged. "That does make sense. Hey, I saw a really odd plant earlier! It was very nice looking, but it shot poison thorns at anything that went by! They live around here, I think." He turned, brushing some plants aside. "The plant is past this clearing." He walked into the clearing, picking his way accross the marshy ground carefully, stepping on only dry spots. "Careful. It's really wet right here."
Ulma sucked in some air, making an impressed whistling noise. "Assassin's Beauty? It around here? Well, well, I just got to get some o' that too! Hah, all those fancy merchants be so jealous o' me... Oliver, I like you. You a good boy."
She grinned.
"But what about you? What a lad like you doin' here? You wanna study people, you wanna go to the city, unless you be studyin' the locals."
Oliver smiled. "Well, I am studying the locals a little. Plus, I like going to new places. Traveling is fun, plus I don't have much to go home to, so no worries." He stopped for a moment, spying a yellow flower peeping out from some branches. He pointed to it, saying, "is that part of the vine?"
"I can't argue with that," reasoned Ulma. He sounded a bit like her, well, minus the 'no home' part. She still went back to Hyoite every year, even though there was nothing there for her now.
She squinted at the branch. "It might well be."
She stood on tiptoe and sniffed around the area, searching for a faintly musty scent. Yes, that was what she was looking for. She went to her creature, which was now leaning against a tree, and rummaged through a saddlebag for a pair of thick leather gloves. "You got to be careful to handle this," she cautioned. "It suck the energy and the water outta your skin, and it burn you. That why it called blisterweed. But it very, very good for to break a curse, if you know what to do."
She pulled out a glass jar and a small pair of shears. She stood for a second, looking thoughtful. Normally she'd clamber up herself, but here was a tall, strong young man, and there were some perks to old age. "Would you give an old lady a hand?"
Oliver nodded. "Sure! What should I do..?" He looked up at the tree. "Let me guess..I should get a sample? If that's the case, sure." The cat from earlier came up to Oliver, rubbing against him affectionatly. He stroked it absentmindedly.
Ulma nodded. "Yes, it can be like, I teach you. You are a boy who likes to learn, are you not?"
She handed over the equipment. "You put on the gloves, and take about... a foot, two feet... o' the vine in the jar. Make sure you get the little hooky bits that stick to the tree. They are what we want. Then you fill up the jar, with the water and put the lid on real tight. That keep it fresh, for the making of the medicine. You think you can do it for me?"
Oliver nodded. "Doesn't sound too hard. I can do it." He took the equipment and climbed up to grab a sample. He did it all pretty quickly and ended up falling partway down, not too hard thanks to his wings. He protected the jar and got up. He handed over the jar. "Here. Is this good?" He smiled.
Ulma held the jar up and inspected it in the dim light. She turned it this way and that, squinting through the glass and mumbling. Eventually she said, "Yes, this good. Not as good as me..." - she shot Oliver a sly grin - "... but good. You make a good apprentice if you wanted. Is a shame you not."
She carefully tucked the now full jar back into her luggage. She would wait until she reached a city to prepare it properly. It was a tricky process, and however much she liked the jungle, she had to admit that it was not the right place for it.
Oliver smiled. He was glad he did what he was told right! He liked the feeling of doing something right; he didn't get that feeling often. It wasn't that he was a clutz, no; it was the lack of people that needed helping. Or, at least, people who wanted the help.
He said, "Hey, I could help you with other things if you'd like. I don't have much better to do. If you teach me about plants, I could help you and teach you a little of what I know. Is that fair?" He looked young for his age; and his eyes sparkled with a childlike curiousity.
Ulma was a proud lady, and fiercely independent, but she was also getting old. As such, while she had always sworn to anyone that would listen that she was fine on her own, she was a little bit glad for help.
His offer of teaching her things didn't interest her all that much; she cared very little about things that weren't plants or plant-based medicines and there wasn't much she wanted to know that she didn't already. However, if there was one thing she loved, it was showing off her own knowledge. She had never taken an actual apprentice before, but a chance to massage her ego was always welcome.
She pursed her lips while she considered this. She nodded. "All right. You got a deal." She wiped her hand on her clothes and held it out. "We shake?"
Oliver looked slightly confused for a moment. Shake? Then he realized that she meant handshake and did so. He nodded and smiled, looking off afterwards. "Hey, so have you always studied plants all your life?" He looked curious again. He glanced upward, making a short, birdlike sound and a hawk came and landed on his shoulder. He stroked it softly. "I've studied animals and people. People are so confusing...animals make more sence."
"Oh, yes, all my life. It take that long to know this much!"
So, he hadn't been bragging about his knowledge of animals. That was odd. It was possible that someone so young could have that level of skill, but unlikely (as she had just pointed out). Still, even if he wasn't all he seemed, he was a nice enough lad. She wasn't going to press the issue.
She laughed heartily. "You right there. People are weird. Even my own children, weird." She looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "Maybe I am the weird one. It not really important."
Oliver smiled. "That's quite interesting! I bet you know everything there is to know about plants. Well, nearly everything, or else you wouldn't still be researching!" He chuckled a little. Then, he also shrugged with her on her comment. "I'm weird. I have a weird past, my personality is weird, people are wierd, whatever. In my oppinion, there is no normal, so how can someone be weird?" He shook his head. "Darn logic. It'll hurt my brain."
As far as she knew (or ever paid much attention), she did know more than just about everybody else. She grinned. She did so love other people confirming her high opinion of herself. She stood straight and patted her chest with pride. "Oho, you right there! I am the best herbalist in all Le'raana!"
She reached up with some difficulty and put her hand on his shoulder. "I try to think no things like those, boy. No good come from it. If plant make you to be feeling bad, other plant can be cure. If people make you to be feeling bad, much harder to be cure. So you know what I do?"
She gave him a quizzical look and pointed at him. "I ignore!"
Oliver nodded. "You are a very smart woman! Ignoring may be a good idea for me to try." He smiled. Then, he peered off into the jungle, saying, "Well, now. Should we try to get the leaf of Assassin's beauty? It'll be dangerous, but I think I might be able to get it." He shrugged. "Perhaps worth it."
It may have been a good idea for him to have taken that advice to then ignore it. It only worked for Ulma because she'd built her career on being stubborn and contrary for the hell of it. Applied to other people, well, it might work or it might not. In her opinion, it worked fantastically and she was glad he thought so too. She didn't know that he didn't know any better.
On the mention of the plant, her face lit up. Her cheeks creased into a beaming grin. How she would love to get some of those wonderful leaves! How everyone would envy her! "That exactly what I to be thinking! Let us go!"
Oliver began walking over to the last place he saw one, saying, "It's quite dangerous to get the leaves, though. Why do you want them? I'm curious." He released the hawk on his arm. The cat from earlier slinked in the bushes nearby, eying Oliver's new friend cautiously. He found it, standing a ways away to ensure saftey. "Here it is."
Once she had managed to get her pack animal moving, Ulma followed Oliver through the jungle. "It a medicine, a good one, and it hard to get. So I get it, and sell it. And then everyone say, 'Ah, that's Ulma got the plants, she is the best! She is the only one who is to be getting it!'"
When he stopped, she stood and contemplated the plant. Yep, it was an Assassin's Beauty all right. She'd know that flower anywhere. She noticed the cat in the bushes, and very deliberately ignored it.
"Now, I do this hard but safe way or easy but dangerous way? Hmmm..."
Oliver thought about himself being a shapeshifter. He glanced at Ulma, wondering if he should tell her. It would be quite useful if he would just turn into a sort of animal, then go and get the plant. He said, "Well, I have an idea. But first, I must tell you I am a shapeshifter. I could transform into an animal and then try to get it, something small enough to not trigger the shooting of poison, but strong enough to steal the leaves?" He shrugged. "I'm not sure, what do you think?"
Ulma was mildly surprised by this revelation. She'd not met a shapeshifter before, at least not knowingly, so this was new to her. However, she'd never been one to make a fuss. "Aah, I think you was a little strange, boy like you, alone in the jungle." She nudged Oliver conspiratorially. "I bet it useful, eh?"
She nodded as she thought over his idea. If it worked, it would be both easy and safe, and if it didn't, she was here to make sure he was all right. It was worth a go. "Yeees, it could to be working. We do your idea! What for me to should be doing?"
Oliver looked thoughtful again. "As I am going to the flower, tell me if it's going to shoot me with a poison, okay? Also, can you tell me how I should approach the flower to get the leaf easiest?"
"The leaf, it is sharp sometimes. You be careful and you get, what you can get." He had wings right now, didn't he? Ulma looked at them, and added, "If you not on the ground, that help also. The plant, it feel the ground and what is on the ground. It feel not the air so much."
She held up a finger to tell him to wait for second and moved further away. "I stand here, and I am more safe, and I watch the plant for you. Yes?"
Oliver nodded. "Alright then. Sounds like a plan." His wings changed shape a little. He jumped up easily, and went towards the plant from the side. He reached for it, saying, "am I doing good so far?"
Ulma watched the plant carefully for any tiny sign of danger. It looked to be quite still as Oliver approached, save for one or two tiny movements that may have just been her eyes tricking her in the dim light of the jungle. They must have been; they were different from the warning signs she usually looked out for. Surely it was nothing?
"It all fine, I think, maybe," she called. "But you be careful still, you are very near. If it shoot, you have no time for to be moving! So much much care!"
Oliver nodded and stared at the plant for a moment, then cautiously reached his hand foreward. Something in his mind told him that it was a bad idea, but he steadily kept approaching it. His hand grasped the leaf and he whispered loudly, "got it!"
Ulma kept watching the plant, carefully, very carefully, and this time she definitely saw it move. When Oliver touched the leaf, the flower twitched, and she'd seen one twitch that way before...
"Go!" she yelled.
His hand was about to grab the leaf when he saw the flower twitch. He knew that couldn't be good. He heard her yell, 'Go!' just as he had grabbed the leaf. A poison thorn launched at him, and he avoided it with breakneck speed, going so fast that you almost couldn't see him. He avoided the thorn by a millimeter. He got away from the tree, standing next to Ulma, eyes wide. "The leaf..." He held it up, smiling. "I got it."
Ulma watched in trepidation as Oliver grabbed the leaf and then was nowhere to be seen. Had he been hit or had he made it out? She had seen him pull the leaf off the plant, so if he was poisoned she could help him, but it would still have been her fault. She should never have let him do it. It was a job for an expert, not a boy...
Barely a second later, he reappeared beside her. She realised she had been holding her breath, and let it out in a relieved sigh. "You did very good," she grinned, gently taking the leaf from him. "You are fast, that is talent. Very good."
Oliver smiled, backing up a step and not realizing what he just did. The flower shot a thorn at him, and he turned around just in time for it to hit his arm. He winced, stepping out of range. "Oh....That's.." He couldn't find anything to say. He held up his arm and said, "I'm sorry..." That was about the moment he fainted.
Ulma didn't have time to react to this shot. She hadn't seen it coming, either. As Oliver fell, she groaned quietly and tucked the leaf into her sleeve. It seemed that she wouldn't get to sell it later after all. All that gloating she'd get to do, gone in a second.
Well, first things first. She had to move him. It was no good making up an antidote if he was going to stumble around disoriented and get shot again as soon as he woke up. Looking at him, she had no idea how much he would weigh. He was tall, but he was also a shapeshifter, so he could be as light as a snowflake or as heavy as an entire mountain. The easiest thing to do was just to try to pick him up herself.
She carefully positioned herself so that she wouldn't get shot too – that would be the stupidest thing she'd ever done – and dug her hands into the dirt underneath Oliver. She braced herself... And almost threw him over her head, he was so light. Well, that answered that question.
She set him down carefully a good three feet away, then went over to Ugly, who was chewing the moss off a tree trunk as if nothing much interesting was going on, and rummaged around in her bags. She pulled out a pestle and mortar, a pair of tweezers and a couple of glass bottles, all of which she carried over to his still body. She slowly pulled the thorn out of his arm, careful to get all of it so that no more of the poison could seep in. Then she took the leaf out of her sleeve and started grinding it into a fine paste. It would work better dried, but she really didn't have time to waste. The longer the poison was in his body, the harder it would be to treat and the more painful the recovery would be.
She made quick work of the leaf, and mixed half of it into a spoonful of the purified clay that was in one of the bottles. She smoothed the poultice over the wound. It wouldn't cure him completely, but it would buy her some time to make a proper medicine, and might even wake him up so he could take it more easily.
She poured a small amount of liquid out of the other bottle into the mortar and started crushing the remainder of the leaf into it. The liquid was mostly water, with a small amount of alcohol to make sure everything dissolved as it should. Even so, it would take a couple of hours for the oils from the leaf to diffuse well enough out to make an effective medicine. Until then, Oliver would just have to hold on...
After having some sort of odd dream about plants and medicine, Oliver opened his eyes slowly and felt a dull pain in his arm. He glanced around, seeing Ulma. He smiled brightly, an odd expression to see on the face of a poisoned person. "Well, hello!" He looked at his arm. "Thank you very much for helping to heal me." He still had this little innocent smile on his face.
"Oh, we are not yet finished," muttered Ulma without looking up from her work. She was still grinding away at the mixture in the bowl, and would be for some time. "You get sick again soon. You need this, but it take time for to be making."
She scowled slightly as she worked. How could he be smiling right now, when he was still so ill? She wanted to shout at him, to ask him how he could be so careless, but it wouldn't help. He was still poisoned, and the last thing she wanted was to make him feel worse. For now, she channelled the feelings into her work, crushing the leaf residue with vigour. The lecture could wait until he was cured.
Oliver still was smiling. "Okay." He tilted his head to the side. Even though he didn't feel good, he was still happy. Why? Well, he was alive, wasn't he? And he had someone helping him get better. That was good enough for him, really. He glanced at her face, looking a bit confused for a second. "You look annoyed at something. What is it?"
"Just wish it not so long to be taking," replied Ulma, still working hard. It wasn't entirely a lie. She did want to cure him faster, because this poison was nasty. She also didn't want to lie to him, so the sooner he was well enough to be yelled at, the better.
"If you are not well to be feeling," she added, "tell me what is wrong. I have many medicine, they help until I can for good the poison to be curing."
Oliver nodded. "Um, well...I feel okay, so I don't think you need to be worried about that. As long as I'm not dead, I'm well." He smiled again. He said, quietly, "I've been in worse situations than this...it's fine."
Worse than death poison? That had to be pretty bad. Well, Oliver probably wouldn't want to talk about it, so Ulma wouldn't ask. She was nothing if not discreet. Besides, this wasn't really the time for tales of tragedy. At times like this, talk should be either cheerful or practical. She wasn't a doctor, and as such her bedside manner was rather lacking, but she knew that patients should be kept upbeat.
She nodded and gave him a thin smile. "Well, I have medicine for pain, or sick, or tired, so if you are to be wanting them, you ask. They are no good for to be having if I never use them, yes?"
Oliver shook his head. "Ah....I'm just a bit sleepy, that's all. Probabaly supposed to be because of this poison, huh? Well...And aren't sick people supposed to get sleep?" He looked up into the branches, his smile fading for a moment, then he closed his eyes, half between sleep and being awake. He mumbled something about his brother.
"If that is what you are wanting," said Ulma quietly. She worked on in silence, letting Oliver sleep. He spoke a few times, something about his brother. She wondered vaguely where this brother was if he was important enough to dream about, but it was none of her business, was it?
She kept on crushing the leaves into the liquid for a while longer, then poured the mixture into a thick clay jug with a lid. She needed a fire, but the jungle was far too damp to find kindling. Luckily, she'd found and bought a little metal contraption in Arca, which she dripped some lamp oil into and lit, setting the jug on top to boil for a while. When it was done, she strained it into a bowl, added a little honey to make it easier to drink and left it to cool.
She nudged Oliver gently, to wake him. "It is ready."
Oliver's eyes opened slowly. He looked over at her, smiling. He said, looking thoughtful, "I had an odd dream..." Then, he glanced at the bowl, curious. "Is that it?" He tilted his head to the side. "Does it taste bad?"
Ulma sighed with relief as Oliver's eyes opened. That meant the poison hadn't worked its way back into him too quickly. She sat back and lifted the bowl. It wasn't too hot in her hands, so hopefully it would be cool enough to drink comfortably. As for the taste, well...
"I do not know. I hope not." She gave the tea a cautious sniff and her wrinkled face creased in disgust. "But I guess yes."
She passed the bowl over. "But no matter. You must to be drinking it anyway. All of it, now."
Oliver said, "Well, here it goes.." He held the bowl, drinking the medicine quickly and looking like he was having a hard time making himself drink it. It was hot, but not too hot.When he was finished with it, he put the bowl down and sighed. "That tasted kinda bad, but I guess I'll get better now, huh?" He smiled cheerfully.
Ulma watched Oliver drink the horrible stuff, expecting complaining even with the honey. But... Nothing. He just drank it all, with a smile on his face. He was every doctor's dream patient. "That should be the cure, yes," she told him confidently. "You are fine."
"Now..." Her expression changed from gentle smile to scowl. It was time for The Talk. "We speak about how you to be behaving, young man. You have to be having more attention! You watch what you do, yes? If I not here, you die from that! Are you understanding me?"
Oliver's smile faded a bit, and he said, "Oh...that's what was wrong? But.." He smiled good-naturedly. "I could have avoided it...but I didn't! Why? Because, if I hadn't of taken the hit, you would have gotten the thorn in your arm instead!" He looked happy. Well, not like there was much time when he didn't look happy.
"Well..." Ulma faltered a little in her outpouring of concern-slash-rage. He had definitely triggered the shot, but she didn't know if it was while he was escaping or because of his step back. She didn't have any proof either way. She was, at heart, a scientist, and she couldn't make judgements with no evidence.
But she was also a grandmother, and there were Grandmotherly Things to be said at times like these, evidence or no. "You still not to be scaring me! I am old lady, scares not good for health. You remember that, yes?"
Oliver nodded, looking guilty. "I'm sorry for scaring you." He sighed. "That wasn't a good thing to do." He lowered his head, looking up at her. "Is there something I can do to make up for me being stupid?"
Ulma sighed and smiled warmly, shaking her head. "No... No... You not need to be doing anything." She placed her hands on Oliver's shoulders. "You just not scare me again, yes?"
She started gathering her things together to pack them away. After this, she didn't want to take another chance with the plant. She just wanted to get away from here, to get Oliver away from here. She had what she'd come here for, after all. Trying to get some of the assassin's beauty-plant, that was just her being greedy. She didn't need it. Really, it had always been her fault that he got hurt.
Oliver smiled again. "Alright." He looked around as she packed up, making sure to be careful. He wished he could stretch out his wings and fly, but it was too dense with trees. He spotted a brightly colored bird. It was red and blue, feathers shimmering. He made a bird call and it flew towards him, onto his outstreached arm. It chirped softly, and he said, "Isn't he an interesting looking bird?" He stroked its back with two fingers.
Ulma finished stuffing the dirtied utensils back into the already overfilled packs and pouches on the animal's back. She wiped her hands on her clothes, turning to look when Oliver said something. He was holding a little bird. She wasn't all that interested in birds, because they weren't plants, and she had no idea what sort it was.
Still, if it was a flower, it would be a very nice one. If she looked at it that way, she could appreciate it. "Yes," she smiled. "It is very pretty. It is to be coming with us?"
Oliver observed the bird for a moment, then said, "He wants to stay here. He can't get his food elsewhere." He let the bird go. As he watched the little bird fly away, an unusual look crossed his face; a tired look that made him seem older. "Everything that is recieved cannot be held onto forever; it must be taken away at some point." He sighed.
Ulma nodded when Oliver let the bird go. She'd thought as much. With plants, it was hard for them to survive where the soil, and the amounts of water and light, were different. Of course animals would have the same kinds of problems.
But his look... That was a strange expression to see on such a young face. Generally that kind of observation, and that wistfulness, came with age. "That is true... But it is only natural if you do not want to be letting it go," she added gently.
She had a brief, longing thought of her late husband... No. He was long gone. It wouldn't do to get maudlin when there were things to be done. "So," she said brusquely, untethering Ugly from the tree, "Is there anything you want to be doing here? Or shall we to be leaving?"
Oliver nodded slowly. "Let's go. There isn't anything I need to do here." As they began to walk off, he sighed again. There was only two thoughts that could really ever crush his cheerfulness and take the smile off his face; the thought of his brother and the thought of his immortality. He said, "You know, everyone wants to be immortal. Everyone seems to want to live forever. But, do they understand that there is a reason that people aren't supposed to live for hundreds of years? When you're immortal, your friends grow old and die, leaving you behind in the dust. When you're immortal, you can't even get anything and keep it, because nothing lasts forever....except for you." He looked down at the ground. He wished now that he could just spread his wings and fly far into the wilderness, where he wouldn't find anyone that he would lose anyway.
"I... Have not had a think about that. But there are bad things about everything, so it is not to be surprising me," commented Ulma. Oliver had obviously given this a lot of thought, so she wasn't going to argue.
However, it troubled her to see him so morose. She hadn't known him very long at all, but in that time he'd not stopped smiling for anything. She had to try to cheer him up, no matter how clumsy the attempt. "Say..." she started slowly, "You might to be losing people... But to know them, is it not also a joy?"
Oliver smiled again after she said that. "Yeah..you have a point. Even if they are gone, isn't it a good thing that I knew them at all?" He seemed better now. He tossed the bad thoughts aside, and said, "Hey, when we get out of this dense forest, do you want to see me fly?"
Ah, that was good. Ulma wasn't sure that her half-baked attempt at philosophy would work, but it seemed to have given him something to think about. Oliver was smiling again, and everything was back to normal. That brief interlude had been quite... Unsettling.
She smiled at the thought of him flying. It seemed fitting. He was so cheerful, and other emotions passed easily with a flicker. It was quite birdlike, really, in her admittedly shallow knowledge of birds. "Yes, yes I would," she replied. "It is to be interesting, I think."
She looked up at the canopy, thick and green. "But we have a long way still. I was four days walking for to be getting here. Maybe we find a clearing, yes?"
Oliver nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." He looked around, and said, "let's go this way." He pointed in the said direction, then began plowing through the vegetation that was in the way. He said, figuring it would take a while to move through this, "are animals at all interesting to you?"
Ulma shrugged and followed Oliver, giving Ugly a tug to get it to move. A direction was a direction, much the same as any other. She beat at the shrubbery with her stick, flattening it down a little more after him. Even without the creature shambling along behind her, she needed a little more space width-ways than he did.
She wasn't expecting the question. "Not really..." Then she remembered she was with a boy who talked to panthers and tried to dig out some tact from the unswept corners of her brain. "Well, yes, when they are useful. But I not to be knowing much about them. Example, Ugly." She gestured over her shoulder at the maybe-a-reptile-maybe-a-donkey hideous warty thing. "What is he? I not to be knowing, but he good for to carry things."
Oliver nodded. "That makes sense." His hand got cut by a thorny plant, but it wasn't deep or poisonous, so he ignored it. "I am technically not human, so it's natural for me to be interested in studying animals, huh?"
"Oh, so I am a plant, am I?" Ulma laughed heartily. "No, it is normal. People who are not to be interest, they I am to worry about. Everybody need interest in something, or what is it to be living, hm?"
She swung her stick at a large bug sat on a leaf, but it flew away before she could hit it. She grunted in dissatisfaction and looked back up at Oliver. "What I am to be saying is this. We are both scholars, yes? That is more important, than what it is that we are to be learning about."
Oliver nodded. "Makes sense." He saw a clearing through the dense trees, and hurried into it. He squinted a bit at the sudden burst of sunlight. Then, he stretched out his wings. They were white as snow, with no markings. He took a little running start and leaped in the air, flying. He did tricks, some looking quite dangerous. Then, he landed softly on the ground, signing . He was smiling. "was that Interesting, because, after all, there aren't that many flying people around?"
Ulma followed along more slowly, letting Oliver get into the air. When she was into the clearing, she tilted her hat to shield her eyes from the sun and leaned back onto Ugly, watching the boy soar and swoop.
It was just like watching a bird, one of those little ones that nearly never came to the ground, or maybe some kind of hawk. She wasn't too specific on that. A bird was a bird. It was odd seeing a human doing that, though... Oh, but he wasn't a human, was he? That didn't make it any less strange to see.
Not that she hadn't seen her share of strange things over the years.
"Yes, that was very nice to be seeing," she replied with a smile of her own. "You were to be enjoying it, yes? That is good."
Oliver smiled and nodded. "I love flying! The feeling of the wind going past, the sun on my wings, how everything looks little, like a dollhouse when you're high in the air.." He looked lost in his words for a moment, then sat down. He looked up. He said, "do you ever wish you could fly?"
"It would to be useful some of the times," replied Ulma, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "In my younger days, I think yes, it would to be nice."
She grinned. "But I am not so much to be looking the part at these times."
Oliver made his wings dissapear, then flopped down on his back. He looked up at the sky, his smile dissapearing. He stared at the clouds going by. He looked a little sad. Then, he said, "you know...it's getting late. Perhaps we should find a place to stay for the time..?" He got up, normal Oliver resurfacing.
Ulma thought about this for a moment. There were still two or three hours until sundown, so they could probably put in a few more miles before they had to set up camp. On the other hand, this was probably the best place they'd find, and she was in no rush.
She nodded. "Yes, all right. Hmm... This time of year, that tree and that tree, they will to be having the fruit." She pointed to the ones she meant, which would probably look to most people exactly the same as all the others. "I start to be making the camp, you fly up..." - she made a swooping motion with her hand - "and get us food. Is that good sounding?"
Oliver nodded. "Alright. That's good." He spread his wings and flew upward to get the fruit. It was easy. He found the little bird he had earlier, and it followed him down to the ground, perching in a nearby tree. He held out a bunch of fruit, and put it on a nice area of ground so it wouldn't get muddy. He said, "Is this good enough?"
While Oliver was off collecting fruit, Ulma had set up a simple but functional camp. A canvas sheet was stretched between the trunk of a fallen tree and some pegs driven into the soft ground, with another sheet laying underneath it to keep them dry while they slept. When he returned, she was sat within it, pondering the problem of a campfire.
"Yes, that is very good. It will to be going nice with the salt beef." She tossed a small paper-wrapped bundle to join the pile of fruit. "And that is dinner."
She pushed herself to her feet and left the makeshift tent. "Now... Will we to be wanting a fire? What are you about this to be thinking?"
Oliver, who had already stuffed his face with fruit while in the tree, yawned. "I don't care either way....I haven't slept in days..." He yawned again. His wings folded behind him neatly and he sat down. "I'm probabaly going to sleep soon." He looked slightly concerned about something. "Hey...I have a feeling something is going to happen. I don't think it's bad, but something may happen this evening..."
Ulma nodded. "All right. You sleep, I watch for if this thing is to be happening."
She gestured for Oliver to go into the tent, then made her way over to where Ugly was tethered to one of the branches of the fallen tree. "No fire, I think, but to be seeing what is in the dark, that is maybe good," she explained, unhooking a lantern from the mess of bags and pouches.
Having found what she needed, she ambled back over to the food pile and sat down heavily before picking out one of the soft, sweet fruits to chew on.
Oliver yawned again, crawling into the tent and laying on his side, saying a quiet 'good night' before drifting off to sleep. He looked peaceful, rather like a sleeping angel with those white wings of his.
Minutes later, a dark figure landed softly on a branch near the tent. Due to the darkness, the figure was rather concealed, but the figure appeared human, male. Ink-black wings spread out on either side, the figure looked like an angel of death. He had hair, dark as the night sky to match his wings, and dark eyes. He looked at the tent, rather thoughtfully.
Ulma chewed noisily on the fruit, thoroughly enjoying it. It was very tasty... She spat out the stone and tucked it into one of her pockets, thinking that she might give it to her son the next time she saw him. If he could make it grow, he'd probably appreciate it.
She sighed and fiddled with the lantern. It was pretty dark already and she should probably have turned it on a while ago. She got it lit and flashed it half-heartedly around the clearing, not really seeing anything. She hadn't expected to. It seemed a bit darker near the tent than anywhere else, but that was normal in the jungle. "It is the forest," she muttered. "It is dark."
She set the lantern back down and picked up another one of those delicious fruits. It was going to be a long night.
The figure above the tent blinked when the lantern was lit, not expecting it. He narrowed his eyes at the sudden brightness in the dark, but soon adjusted. He looked down, next to the tent and dropped down from the branch, swooping downward, his wings making a very soft sound and he landed lightly near to the side of the tent. His eyes darted to the tent, and briefly to Ulma. He wondered who she was, but did not go any closer. He slowly folded his wings, and came a tiny bit closer, crawling, then accidentally stepped on a twig, the brief snapping making him freeze. His wings were slightly unfolded now, in case he was going to have to leave. His eyes, watchful and dark, glanced cautiously at Ulma, for she might have heard it. Most likely.
There was a noise near the tent. Clearly it was indeed the suspicious kind of darkness, and not the ordinary jungle kind. Ulma hastily swallowed the piece of fruit she was chewing, stone and all, in one big gulp, and pushed herself to her feet. "Oliver?" she called. "Are you to be waking?"
Swinging the lantern round to look again, she finally saw the dark figure crouching on the ground. She gripped her stick more tightly. "And who may you to being?" she croaked, her voice shaking. That sentence was bad even by her usual standards, but she was too frightened to care. She really hoped Oliver had been right about this not being bad...
The figure looked at Ulma. He said, in a quiet voice that had a bit of sadness in it, "Oh....I'm sorry if I've frightened you. I mean no harm." He stood up, and entered the open tent. He put a hand on Oliver's head, who was sound asleep, and looked down at him. A little smile crossed his serious face. He said, quietly to make sure Oliver didn't wake up, but seemingly talking to him, "I'm sorry, Oliver....I had to leave, and I won't be able to come back.." This boy beside Oliver looked quite similar to him, except darker, less innocence and happiness. His smile faded, and he looked at Oliver as if he knew him very well.
The strange new boy turned and went into the tent, where Oliver was sleeping. Ulma was not very happy about this. Did he have permission? What was he intending to do in there? No no no, this would not do. She strode over to the tent, still clutching her stick tightly but emboldened by protective anger.
"To be excusing," she said quietly and switching the lantern to a lower light, also trying not to wake Oliver. He had been very tired and needed his sleep. She glared at the newcomer, noticing that he and Oliver looked a lot alike, but that wasn't important right now. "What are you to be doing in here? You tell me, now, or you get out!"
The boy looked up at Ulma, the bit of sadness still in his eyes. He honestly wondered who she was and why Oliver was with her. After all, he had rather missed his little brother from the years they had been apart. He said, quietly, "I'm not going to bring him any harm..." He looked tired suddenly, but a different sort of tired. The sort of tired when someone has been burdened with something for too long a time. "I...just wanted to see him again. I just wanted...to see my little brother again." He sighed.
Ulma considered this. The boy and Oliver did look almost identical, and he hadn't been doing anything untoward. It wasn't entirely clear why the boy hadn't woken his brother up for this reunion, but she wasn't going to ask. She grunted. "Well, if that is what is... You can to be continuing."
She turned and returned to her pile of tasty fruit, keeping the lantern positioned so that the tent was just within the edge of the light. Nothing suspicious seemed to be going on, and there wouldn't really be much she could do if there was, but she still felt like she had some sort of duty to keep an eye on them.
Oliver's brother looked down at Oliver's sleeping figure, and thought, 'He's so peaceful...so innocent. The things I have done to keep him like this...' He thought about how they had always been together. Oliver would do anything, anything to help him. Oliver thought he was dead. His 'death' had only happened months ago....almost a year now. He couldn't tell Oliver he was alive. He would only be hurt by it....and he would just have to leave his brother again. It was best. People become like those they talk with. After all, he couldn't let his little brother turn into a monster. A monster like him.
He got out of the tent, not looking back. He said to Ulma, "Please do not tell him I was here." He, without waiting for an answer, flew off into the night. He didn't realize that he left a black feather that lay next to Oliver...
Ulma shrugged, her mouth full of fruit, and watched the boy fly away. Why would he come all this way to not even have a conversation with his brother? It was baffling, not to mention a little rude. Still, if he didn't want her to say anything, she probably wouldn't. She had no idea what was going on and it wasn't her place to get involved. But then, lying to Oliver also counted as getting involved, didn't it?
It was a sticky dilemma, to be sure, which would need some thinking about. She sat there with the lantern flickering into the night until, some time later, she too fell asleep.
Oliver woke up in the tent, opening his eyes slowly and yawning. He glanced around, and, not seeing the feather, and sat up. He exited the tent, leaving the feather that he didn't see, and looked around. It was sunny and hot, as usual. The trees glistened with moisture from the humidity. He flew up to the fruit tree, getting some more, and swooped down, nudging Ulma gently and setting the fruit in front of her. "Good morning. I got some food."
Ulma blinked in the harsh light and muttered something unintelligible. Then she saw Oliver and sat up. "I was not the sleeping to be doing the sleeping, no, I was on the watch for all of the night, yes, I am to be being quite very sure."
She patted herself down frantically to check that she was still all there, heavy dew dripping from her hat and clothes as she moved. Realising that everything was fine, she calmed down noticeably. The lantern had burnt itself out, though, and she grunted and kicked it over.
She straightened her hat out and was back to normal, picking out a fruit for breakfast. "Yes, it is to be a good morning, Oliver. Thank you for food." She hadn't come to much of a conclusion last night, but if he didn't ask about what happened then she didn't have to say anything and it wouldn't technically be lying, would it? That was good enough.
Oliver nodded and sat on the damp grass, looking sleepily around and yawning once again. He squinted up at the bright sky, seeing no clouds. He went back into the tent and saw the feather. He took it in his hands and looked at it, examining it. He walked over to Ulma and said, "Do you know where this feather came from?"
Well, now he asked, and Ulma made a decision. She would tell Oliver what happened; not everything, but she would tell him. There might be good reasons not to, but she thought he should have the chance to decide what to do for himself. He was a bright boy, and even if he made the wrong decision, it should be his mistake to make, not anyone else's. It wasn't fair to keep things from him. This was something she had learned long ago, when her own children were growing up.
"Last night, a thing was to happen. There was a boy, I did not to see him clear, he to be looking a bit like you, but with the black wings. He saw me, and he left. It was not to be waking you up for, I was to thinking." She shrugged. "Maybe the feather is belonging to him."
Oliver's eyes widened, and he stared at the feather. "That's impossible..." He frowned a little. He said, "That's impossible, because the only person that I know who looks like that is my brother." He started walking off after putting the feather in the tent. "It can't be my brother, you must have saw something else. Because, my brother is dead." He didn't look like the normal, happy Oliver. He looked somewhat frustrated and sad.
Ulma hurriedly put the remaining food in her pockets and went to start packing the tent away. If Oliver was going to start walking in his obviously distressed state, she should try to keep up with him. She didn't want him wandering about by himself like this.
As she rushed to untie the top tent sheet, she called after him, "Maybe you are right. Maybe it was to be another thing. Or maybe he is not dead. The world, it can to be very strange, yes?"
Oliver stopped in his tracks at the mention of his brother not being dead. It didn't make sense....he had seen him die!..
...or had he?
He turned around and said quietly, "He died a year ago. He couldn't have suddenly come back to life." Then, he thought some more about that. It would mean that he might have never died. If he never died, then that would mean....he was alive the entire time and pretended he had died. Oliver's expression looked deeply troubled. He wondered, 'Why had his brother never have came back'? Did he...hate him? He sighed. Tristan, his lost brother, hating him was unimaginable. He remembered the life he used to have before he was saved from a terrible situation. He sighed, and hung his head. He would try to forget this ever happened. "Let's be going..."
Ulma hesitated for a second before replying. She didn't want to let on how much she knew, as that would mean she had lied and that would be wrong. She was never wrong! But still, she should say something to encourage Oliver to look for the truth, if that was what he desired. She shrugged, and said, "That is what I am to be meaning. Things can to be strange."
She finished folded the tent sheets so that the damp side faced outwards, and strapped them haphazardly to Ugly before untethering the animal. It wasn't happy to leave its breakfast of moss and dead bark, but followed its owner anyway as she squelched through the clearing. "We go this way." She gestured in the direction they'd need to head, which happened to be the same way she'd seen the boy fly off last night... She doubted they'd run into him, but...
It was worth a look, at least.
Oliver started going in the direction he was pointed, not saying a word. He smacked branches aside, not caring that some were scraping his arms and legs, trying to pull him back and push him aside. He kept looking from side to side, not seeing who he was looking for. But, he was determined, and it showed on his face. He would find his brother, whether it was hard or easy. Suddenly, a few raindrops began to fall. Oliver knew this meant a downpour was coming, but he ignored it.
Ulma hurried after Oliver as fast as she could manage, but was having to half-jog just to keep up. She'd always had short legs and she wasn't as fit as she used to be, so it wasn't easy, and the coming rain would make it even harder. She ducked and swerved around the branches that were hitting Oliver, which slowed her down still more.
"Are you to be wanting a hat?" she asked in an attempt to get him to slow down, a little out of breath already from the pace. "I have one that is spare."
Oliver shook his head, beating away a plant, then saying, "Oh...I'm sorry, I'm probabaly going kind of fast." He slowed down, still shoving away the things in his path. He knew his brother must be around here somewhere. He just knew that he would come to see him. He knew that his brother didn't hate him. He heard the rumble of thunder, and rain began pouring down on them. He looked up at the stormy sky and sighed. He asumed that they should stop for now, given that there was a crazy storm coming. "Should we take a break and find somewhere to rest while the storm is going?"
Ulma slowed down now as well and got her breath back. She shrugged, the movement flicking droplets of water off her shoulders as rain cascaded from the canopy high above. "It is the jungle, there is always to be a storm. If always to make cover from it, never to be moving!" She laughed. "But if you are wanting to be stop, then we can to stop."
Oliver nodded, saying, "I'd like to rest...I have some things I need to think about." He found a little cave in a rock face and went inside. He brushed away vines and leaves, and any animals that may cause harm in there were shooed out. He sat on the edge of the cave. The whole time, he had seemed rather down about something, and he looked up to the sky, as if searching for something. Raindrops falling ran down his face, making it almost look like he was crying. He sighed.
Ulma followed Oliver to the cave and went a little further inside, away from the rain. The boy looked like he had something on his mind. When kids got like that, in her experience it was better to let them work it out for themselves, as talking about it tended to end in accusations of not understanding. A lot of the time they were right, but it still didn't help any, so she would leave him alone for now.
Well, at least this was a chance to make some notes. She liked to keep a log of her travels, new things she'd found, harvests she'd made and medicines she'd prepared. Pulling out a thick, tattered book from one of the bags strapped to Ugly, who was testing out the edibility of one of the rocks littering the cave floor, she sat down. She flicked through page after page of illegible chickenscratch, looking for some blank space.
He sat, thinking about his brother. Hm, he was overreacting. It really could have been something else, someone else. Assuming this person was his brother was like assuming any random person was. He calmed down, thinking about it logically. He couldn't help but try to look for him earlier. He wanted to see his brother so much. After all, it was Tristan who saved him from being a slave, a long time ago. He simply wished that he had someone who understood him, who could fly along with him in the sky....but the past was gone, and the present was where he was living, whether he liked it or not.
Oliver sighed, coming into the cave. He looked a bit more cheerful than before. He shook some raindrops off of himself, his eyes having more spark in them. He walked over to Ulma, looking over her shoulder at the writings in her book. He couldn't read them. He wondered about why she liked plants. He guessed they weren't hard to understand because they didn't think or talk. Well, perhaps that made them harder to understand. Oh well. He pointed to the book's page and said, "What are you writing about?"
Ulma looked up from the page, setting her pencil down on the uneven, ragged paper. It seemed like Oliver felt a bit better, which was good. Of course he couldn't read what was in the book – it was written in Hyoite, using Serenian characters, in her awful handwriting, and it didn't help that she'd taught herself to read and write and did both equally poorly. She dropped finished journals off with her son when she'd finished them, because nobody but him could read the damn things.
"I write what we have to been doing. I could to see new things, maybe to look closer at. I write it, I may to be joining some things, that I could not to be seeing. Not often... But it sometimes is to happen, often enough that I do this." She shrugged. "Maybe you could to find, that it helps you?"