34 Nyka Larkin

_Nyka Larkin_

He woke up in a cold sweat, his skin tingling and stinging. It felt as though he had been beaten bloody with a club all over his body, and sitting up as fast as he had was not helping. The boy brought his good hand to his face, rubbing his sore throbbing eyes and temple.

"Byrne, he is awake," Ingrid said as she rushed to the boy.

Nyka gazed at her with grey eyes, taking in her features, it took him a moment before his body would allow him to speak. He felt nauseated and slow in the head. It was annoying. "What happened?" He asked her.

Byrne approached them now, taking a seat next to Nyka. "You tried to heal yourself and then it went wrong... a bright light came from your bandages and you screamed until you passed out..." he explained a bit reluctantly.

It came back to him now, slowly, the details of what had happened. He swallowed and looked at the bloodied bandages on his left arm. Slowly Nyka reached for it, peeling back the sticky bandages with a conditioned cringe, but he felt less pain than before- it was more of a tender feeling now. He was slightly confused at what it was he saw under his bandages.

Extending farther than the burn had was what looked to be white veins, and the closer they got to the burn the bluer they became. A light blue, but the odd hue was still there. His skin was discolored, a lighter color now. The blue looked like lightning across his skin, and suddenly he wished to see his skin without the grease and honey. He wished to see all of it.

"Stream, I need a stream. I have to wash it," he decided aloud. "I want to see it."

"I don't know if it is well enough to be washed, Nyka," Ingrid warned him.

"It is fine. It does not even hurt as much as it once did," He told her, but a second thought told him that perhaps the pain he had felt last night was making this pale in comparison.

Ingrid and Byrne shared a look but before they could decide anything, Nyka was pushing himself up off the ground onto shaky legs. Byrne stood quickly and caught him when he nearly fell over. "Nyka," Ingrid complained.

"I want to see it," He repeated himself.

"Aye and ya will, but yew've got to be able to use yer legs if ya want to get down to the stream." She reasoned to the boy.

"Aye, and I can," He told her stubbornly, making his way to where he thought the stream was.

"It is that way," Byrne advised him with the directional gesture of his hand.

Nyka blushed and turned to the correct direction and stumbled along with the Byrne's aid. Ingrid mumbled something under her breath as they went on now, headed to the stream. It was a struggle but soon they made it there.

Luckily enough, the stream was calm enough to see his reflection in. They set to silent work, slowly peeling away his bandages, the tender skin was nothing compared to what it had used to be. When it all was finally off he took a rag handed to him and washed away what he could from his skin, revealing the webbed burn scar that traveled from his elbow to half of his chest and upper back.

He viewed what he could by himself before his eyes came to the water to look at his reflection. It was faintly blue and white, bits of it looking like lightning. An unsure feeling fled to his gut as he stared at himself. Ingrid touched his good shoulder trying to get his attention but Nyka's eyes were on the reflection of his scar, his feet long since going numb in the cold creek water.

Next he heard Byrne's voice but it was muffled. Nyka was no longer listening, he was in a world of his own as he focused solely on the scar, searing its shape into his mind. It was surreal, a strange thing to him. It almost didn't feel real... it was a reminder to him now, the people after him took his grandmother... his father... and his mother would have likely lived too if they were not after him. The people after him had ruined his life from the very beginning. Why was he still running? Was it not time to stand his ground?

"Nyka!" Ingrid yelled at him now, and he looked up quickly, freezing in his spot. Frantically his eyes surveyed the new situation. There in the air around them were floating bits of quartz rocks, glowing brightly. If it had not been daytime it would have looked as though the night sky had descended down upon them.

With wide eyes he turned to Ingrid and Byrne just as the rocks dimmed to nothing and fell back to the ground and water around them.

"What were ye doing?" Ingrid scolded him. "Someone could have seen!" She said now.

Nyka was at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing as he searched for the words to say. Byrne beat him to hit. "Oh leave him alone will you? He was just lost in his head, probably still in some sort of daze from last night,"

"I will not have yew encouraging any of this magic, it is the very reason we are out here," She complained.

"I think I'm tired of running away," Nyka mumbled now, eyes coming back to land on Ingrid's blue ones.

"We would all like to sleep in a bed but we cannot yet" Ingrid started

"And I'm tired of holding back my magic," He added.

"Ya were just hurt by yer magic Nyka," She pointed out.

"Because I never practice! If I practice it, I get better," He pressed.

"I will not argue about this, let's go back to camp,"

His brows furrowed, stormy grey eyes glaring her down, He took a step away from her and stumbled into the cold water. He gasped at the sharp assault of freezing water washing over him. Groaning at his aching muscles he pushed himself up, pushing away Ingrid's hand.

"Why are you even helping me?" He asked her bitterly. His eyes shot to Byrne too, not saving him from his irritation either. "And you, why are you helping me? Both of you are ruining your lives for me! Just let me go! I'll do this by myself. Im tired of running away! Most of my life has been running away and I'm sick of it!" He shouted at them.

"Nyka please stop yelling," Ingrid asked him with a conflicted look on her face.

"No! Leave me alone! I'm tired of hiding myself! Im tired of running! If they want to come kill me then let them! I'll do to them that I did to that man who started the fire! It wasn't hard- I didn't even have to think about it!"

"Which is what makes it dangerous Nyka! What if one day yew are mad at someone yew love, and they die because of yer mistake?"

    "That would never happen!" He protested.

    "Sometimes things happen whether ye want them to or not, like your glowing rocks just now, or when ye accidentally tore apart the kitchen when yew were mad at yer grandmother! What if someday ye hurt someone that isn't just yerself or a bad guy?" She pressed the idea harder, gaining a glare from Nyka.

    "Better for you to stay away then," He huffed. If he could have, he would have long since ran from her, but he would not have made it far on his shaky legs.

"Stop saying such a thing, I am not going to leave you so easily, Nyka." She said firmly.

"Leave!" He repeated now. "Stop ruining your life for the sake of mine! We'll be caught eventually, they always find me! One day they'll hurt you like they hurt grandmother! Like they hurt my father! And you're right, I could hurt anyone on accident. So if they don't hurt you first, then I might! I do not want that- so leave me!"

"Nyka-"

"No!" He was crying now, wiping away his tears angrily with the back of his hand. His throat hurt from trying to hold back his crying, and it looked like Ingrid was trying to do the same thing as her own eyes were red.

Byrne decided to speak up now. "Let's at least get back to camp so you both aren't standing in frigid waters, shall we?"

Nyka huffed and trudged his way out of the stream, pushing Byrne away when the man tried to help him keep standing. He nearly fell over and ended up needing the man's assistance anyway. They all made the tense awkward walk back to their camp. From there they started packing up to move further north. They were soon to pass Capella from the looks of it, but they would soon need to restock on their supplies. It was best for only Ingrid to go into the city as Byrne and Nyka's skin would attract too much attention. Though it was dangerous for her to go alone should she be recognized by the robed individuals.

"Nyka still needs to see a medicine practitioner," Byrne pointed out now. "Besides, it would be better to have him with you if one of them were to approach you."

    "He's the one they're after," She deadpanned.

"But he can keep you both safe, you saw what happened to the man who was going to kill us,"

"I'm not going to use him like a weapon Byrne! Besides, the less magic he does, the better." She reasoned now.

"But you don't know that. He said it himself, he has better control the more he practices,"

"We saw what happens when he tried to heal himself," She shot back.

Byrne unwrapped his bandaged hands to reveal his burn scars, less severe than the burns Nyka had received, but still healed nonetheless. "Ingrid, he healed me too, and that wasn't even what he was trying to do."

She took his hands in hers and inspected them. They didn't have the markings that Nyka had received either. He soon dropped his hands and took a step back from him. "And it didn't hurt?"

"It itched and stung a little bit," He admitted, "but it did not do to me what it did to him," he concluded.

Ingrid hummed thoughtfully before she let out a sigh and looked Byrne in the eyes. "He can't come, it is too dangerous for him." She said with finality in her tone.

"But it's dangerous for you too,"

"I'm not going to use him like a weapon Byrne,"

"He needs to see a doctor,"

"I know, but it's not safe to do that now, we can't trust anyone."

"You have to find someone,"

She scoffed at him now, "That's easier said than done,"

"Then let me come with you," He said thoughtfully.

"Your skin would attract too many eyes this far north,"

"Surely not all eyes,"

"Too many. Look, I'll go alone, and buy what we need to keep moving. No one will know that I'm there."

Byrne sighed and gave her a distressed look. "Alright fine, you can go, but if something happens to you that's not my fault."

"Tch," was all she responded with before she sought out Nyka to tell him the plan.