Chapter 13

Uneasily, I went back to the rock in the centre of the clearing. That meeting had left me in a foul and befuddled mood as I questioned as to why she considered me a "freak". That one word seemed to overlap with something I couldn't quite remember. I don't know why I responded so crassly, but it struck a chord, that feeling of being worthless in someones eyes, I dont know why, but I despised it.

'it because I'm human... or is it something else. Also, why the hell are we in the elves forest, don't the races still have tension between each other'. Over the next couple of hours, I pondered thoroughly as to why I am here, and if there was a reason we were driven here, then why did Ella go to school. In the end I came to the conclusion.... That I couldn't get one without asking. Or at least I couldn't be sure. Forgetting my previous strife, I tried to imitate the feeling I had before the idiotic elf girl came into the clearing. When I finally got that feeling again, my mother came into the clearing.

"There you are! I was so worried, it's been hours!"

Furiously cursing my luck, I opened my eyes and got off the rock that I was previously perched on. Unfortunately, she seemed to pick up on my sour mood.

"What's wrong, my sweet little Eli" she questioned with a hint of worry in her cadence.

"Why are we in the Elves forest?" I responded manner of factly. Her entire being froze, the irony of that scene went unnoticed by me as I focused my energy into an inquisitive glare.

"Why do you think that, Eli?" you could see her poker face beginning to crumble under my stare, she new that if she couldn't convince me out of this idea or give me a real answer I would be angry towards her. Now I may not be threatening in a physical confrontation, yet, there are things I can do which hurt her more than being hit. An example is ignoring her for a while, or communication without speech.

"Because some spoon fed elf girl called me a freak, and left in a huff when I refused to tell her what I was doing, I didn't catch all of what she said, but it was some threat about waiting until someone heard about my refusing." I reply with a slight amount of venom in my voice as I recalled the verbal assault. That was when it happened. While I most certainly was confused and a little angry, I was most certainly not anticipating, nor hoping for this result.

Fury plastered her face as cold swear broke out on mine.

"And what did this elf look like?" she spat through clenched teeth. That eerie calmness did nothing to mask her rage.

"Mama, please calm down, its alright." I pleaded, however from the devilish smile she released, I could immediately tell she wouldn't let this one go.

"She had dark black hair, forest green eyes, and looked to be a bit older and taller than me" I replied begrudgingly.

"Those tree wielding bastards, see how well you do when I freeze your entire damn forest!" she roared.

"Eli, come with me, you're going to point this girl out to me. Understand?" from the her tone of voice I knew that I couldn't refuse without her doing punishing me, obviously she wouldn't hit me, I hope, but may take away my ability to train. I simply couldn't afford that, and also I want to understand why she did it.

"Alright mama, but can you tell me why she called me a freak?", that one question causes

d her rage to subside for a moment, as all she could do was hug me and apologise.

"Is it because of my eyes?" I ask, already almost certain that I was correct. Silently, she nodded her head in confirmation, and I couldn't tell if my heart shattered, or I was too shocked to process the implications. 'Crap, SHIT, why me? Why!?' I thought as my heart rate rose rapidly, and my breath became ragged. This meant for the rest of my life, I would be some sort of freak people would shun for no reason than that I have differently colour eyes.

Suddenly, I felt a tug at my hand, as Alice pulled me towards the fog, presumably in the direction of the nature Wielders home. The Naga house. One of the Three noble elf families. They wield and manipulate the surrounding fauna and flora to there will. While the elders of the elves have the ability to speak to the forest, only the Naga family can manipulate it. While they were powerful, their ability obviously had its disadvantages, only those extremely skilled in nature magecraft can negate those disadvantages, an example is they may make the tree rich in moisture, reducing it's how flammable it is. Those people were few in number, but incredible figures in the world.

As we were walking through the forest, I could only see a few feet in front of me, often having to rely on my reaction time to dodge an unearthed root, or low hanging branch. I ended up with a few scratches blemeshing my pale face, however they didn't draw blood. The one thing I noticed was that the buried rage mother had buried, had returned with hell fire and fury. I could see her internal struggle of resisting leaving me to get there sooner. The thick foliage, along with the fact of her having to retaliate against the wild beasts that neared us, was most likely the driving factor for her delaying her arrival.

So walk we did, each for different reasons. I wanted to know why, an my mother wanted to teach someone a lesson.