Seeping Poison

"P-please slow down!" Nina called out to her mentor who was far ahead of her. The elf stopped and turned around, looking at Nina, somewhat annoyed at how slow she was.

"Do you not train?" she asked the girl. Even the elf children who were half her age were at least twice as physically fit as her.

"Sorry..."

Idril scratched her head. It made no sense for Nina to be this weak. Before agreeing to become her mentor, she asked Gildor about her daily activities, her personality, her skills, and everything else that would give her a glimpse as to who Nina was as a person. From this, she learned that Nina shouldn't be this weak. She often helped out with collecting herbs and other simple things, and although this was by no means the most tasking of work, it should be more than enough that her body wouldn't tire this easily.

"By any chance, do you suffer from a disease?" Idril asked. She couldn't think of any other reason why Nina would tire from such a short work.

"No." The lake cleansed her of everything and that included illnesses. Unless she got sick sometime after that, she shouldn't be suffering from anything.

"Come here," the elf beckoned for Nina to come to her. Nina walked over to Idril and she instantly grabbed her hand when she got close enough.

"What are you doing?"

"Quiet!" Idril's sudden fierceness in her voice surprised Nina and she immediately closed her mouth. She watched in silence as the elf placed her fingers over Nina's hand and a small icicle formed on the elf's fingertip.

It took Nina a second to figure out what the elf was trying to do, but when she did, it was already too late. "Wait- Ack!" Idril pricked Nina's finger, causing her to flinch and retract her hand but Idril stopped her and pulled it back.

"I need to check your blood." the elf told Nina.

"My blood? Why?" Idril didn't answer her question and just proceeded with what she was doing. Ice gathered on her fingertips again, but it was a different type of ice this time. Unlike the previous ice which had been a tint of blue, this ice was crystal clear and reflected its surroundings like glass.

Afraid that Idril might prick her again with the ice, Nina closed her eyes and braced herself for the pain. She felt the cold icicle touch her finger and her entire body tensed up. A couple of seconds passed and Nina still didn't feel anything. Confused, she slowly opened one of her eyes and peeked to see what was going on.

"As I thought..." Nina heard the elf mutter in a solemn voice.

"What happened?" Nina opened her other eye and she looked at the icicle on the elf's fingertip which was now black. She didn't understand what it meant nor how it turned that color.

"This ice turns black if it touches poison, and I touched your blood with it..." the elf told Nina.

"Huh-" A shiver went down Nina's body as she realized what it meant. "You mean..."

"Yes."

Nina's face darkened when she heard the yes. She took a long look at her blood which was trickling from her finger, unsure of what to think. Poison... When did she get poisoned? She had kept to herself the entire time and didn't know anyone who would want to harm her. Although there were elves that didn't like her because she was human, they didn't seem like the type to do something like that.

"So you didn't even know yourself..." Idril saw from Nina's reaction. For her to be clueless about this fact even though it's her own body, it meant that the poison is a very dangerous one. It also meant that there was someone out to get her...

Idril looked at the poor girl who was now trembling in fear. The elf had no idea who would want to poison her. None of the elves in this forest were despicable enough to do something like that. Had it been another forest, specifically 'that one,' then it would've been a different story, but none of the elves here hated humans enough to do that. And from the looks of things, it looks like she has only recently been poisoned. In other words...

"Calm down," Idril told Nina. Even though she was already an adult in terms of human age, her mental age was still the same as when she arrived here, which was that of a child. "This wasn't the work of an elf," she assured her.

Hearing that, Nina did in fact calm down a little. She looked at Idril, her eyes asking her how she was so sure. She really didn't want to believe that it was one of the elves in this forest that poisoned her.

"We elves know of all the poisons in this forest. Gildor would have easily sensed if you were poisoned by one of the plants here," she explained to Nina. "Therefore, the poison does not come from this forest. If it really is an elf, then he or she must have come from another forest..." Idril's explanation relieved Nina a little and she let out a deep breath.

"Thank God..." Even though there is still the chance that an elf did this to her, it wasn't someone from this forest, which was all she needed to hear. And more likely than not, it was the work of something else... There were only two elves here that came from a different forest and they were Mytill and a little girl that lost her family and was adopted by one of the elves here. In other words, it was definitely the work of something else.

"Seems like your mind if cleared up," Idril observed from how Nina's eyes changed from concern and worry to a rather relaxed one. She didn't want to believe that one of the elves she knew for years now did this to her, and luckily, she didn't need to. This wasn't done by any of them. But still... For her to question her trust in the elves... This wasn't right considering how well they treated her. Nina was disappointed in herself for thinking such a thing.

"Sorry..." Nina apologized to Idril.

"Sorry for what?" the elf raised an eyebrow at her seemingly random apology.

"Uh- Actually- No, it's nothing. Forget it," Nina embarrassingly told Idril. This confused the elf even more but she didn't question it any further and instead went back to the important topic, in other words, their mission.

"So, you're poisoned... Did you meet anyone not from here or do anything that might have gotten you poisoned?" Idril asked Nina.

Nina took a minute to think back to all the things that she did the past few days. According to Idril, she was only recently poisoned and had been fine until then. That meant that it was probably something that she did this week since she had not been doing anything last week. Was it when she was picking herbs with Mytill? No, if it had been one of those poisonous plants then the elves would've noticed as Idril said. "I'm not sure- Wait..." Her eyes lit up as she suddenly remembered something very important.

"You figured it out?" Idril took a guess based on her reaction.

"I think I might know what happened." It must have happened when she was digging up the poisoned dirt next to her house, or it might have happened before then. She had been sleeping in that area the entire time not knowing that the place had been poisoned for who knows how long. But before that, she had something else to check as well. "We need to find Solona," she urgently told Idril.

"Solona? Who's that?" Idril was not familiar with the name. Was she one of the elders? No, she knew all of them and unless one of them got replaced without her knowing, this shouldn't be the case.

"She's an elf that helped me dig out the poisoned dirt next to my house. I think she might've gotten poisoned as well," Nina explained the problem to Idril.

"I see... Then it's best if we find her right now," Idril beckoned for Nina to lead the way.

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