Quinque - Observare

Quinque - Observare

(Chapter 5 - Observe)

“I LOVE GREEN APPLES TOO!” Vee excitedly screamed as she held hands with Peri.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT YOU’RE LIKE MY LONG LOST TWIN!” Peri squealed as her and Vee found another thing they had in common.

“Yeah, you might as well tell people that you’re identical twins!” I sarcastically muttered while rolling my eyes.

“You know Vee, you’re pretty cool for a fifteen year old.” Blaze said. “You’re not as annoying as other people on this journey.”

Just how immature can one person be?

“Yeah Vee, you are pretty cool and not as much as an a*****e as other people on this journey!” I glared at Blaze.

“You better watch your mouth you stray or else I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” I bravely challenged while quirking an eyebrow. “Burn me again? Well sorry to disappoint flame-brain, but your sister can instantly heal me.”

“Why are you two constantly at each others throats?” Vee asked sitting between the two of us. Blaze’s entire body was practically lit aflame as he glared at me in anger.

“WHY DOESN’T THIS STRAY LEARN HER PLACE?” He seethed.

“WHY DOESN’T THIS A*****E JUMP OFF A CLIFF?”

“ENOUGH!” Peri shouted startling all of us. “Both of you are acting like little kids. Blaze just stop with your insults alright? We’ve all been together for nearly a week now so it’s time to start acting civil because we’ll probably be together for much longer. And Tai, just ignore him, he obviously just wants your attention.”

“AS IF I WOULD WANT-” Blaze began to shout again but Peri interrupted him.

“I SAID ENOUGH BLAZE!” She sprinkled a few bits off pollen onto his nose, making him sneeze fire.

“Hey watch it Blaze!” Vee said while blasting him with a fierce wind which made him fly to the rear of the carriage.

“Ouch-ACHOO!” He sneezed. “You nearly pushed me off the-ACHOO-carriage!”

“Well then stop sneezing flaming snot!”

“This is all your-ACHOO-fault!” He glared at me.

“BLAZE!” Peri scolded.

It was then that I came to the conclusion that these people were absolutely nuts!

While they were all causing a ruckus at the back of the carriage, I silently crept to the front and just observed their interactions with each other. Blaze was still sneezing, albeit fire was no longer coming out while Vee and Peri laughed at his misfortune.

I know it shouldn’t bother me but I can’t help that it does. Why does Blaze get along so well with Vee but he seemingly hates me when I have done him no wrong? I don’t want it too but it’s upsetting me. It’s not like I want him to become my best friend or anything, but would it kill him to just not insult me all the time? I would even prefer it if he didn’t speak to me at all rather than put down my self-confidence every chance he gets.

...

“This doesn’t look like IronVale Canyon,” Peri said as we slowly rode through a small rural town. 

It seemed a bit less “modern” and more “integrated”  than any of the other places we’ve visited. Usually you could identify what kind of gift is inhibited by a particular place by the color scheme or by the citizens, but their was a mixture of everything around here that it was hard to identify which kind of gift lives here.

“It’s not,” Vee answered while studying the map. “We’re in Ranwick town. We running low on resources and funds so hopefully we can kind some work here to buy more.”

“What gift lives here?” I asked feeling the fuzzing texture of a tree the carriage passed by.

“Actually, no gifted people live here. It’s a town for those who felt like outcasts in their former homes for not being gifted.”

“How can a town run without gifted people?” Blaze asked bringing the carriage to a slow stop in front of a worn down two story building.

“That’s why it’s so easy to find work here, there are many tasks in demand that only gifted people can accomplish” Vee said floating off the carriage. “This is the town hall, requests for jobs can be found in here.”

I slowly scrambled out of the contraption and walked with the rest of the team inside the building. I couldn’t help but notice that people were looking at us and pointing. At least they weren’t laughing.

“Are you gifted?” The man at the front desk asked while staring at all of yes warily.

“Yes.” Peri answered.

“All of you?” His eyes narrowed suspiciously on me.

“Uhh-well-uhh,” I stumbled over my words, but for the first time, I was happy that Blaze intervened.

“She’s not gifted but she’s our maid, so she travels where ever we go.” He lied through he teeth.

At least he didn’t call me a stray.

“Well I guess that’s fine then,” He dropped his smoldering gaze. “From your crystals I assume you three are Plant, Fire and Air Gifted.”

“That’s right,” Vee said.

“These requests would be suitable for you then.” He handed a paper to each of them. “When you’ve completed it, get the signature from the person who hired you then come back here to receive your compensation.”

“Noted,” Blaze said turning back towards the door. “Let’s go guys.”

“I’ll do my request first,” Peri chirped.

“What do you have to do?” Vee asked.

She scanned over the paper for a few seconds before her face brightened with glee. “This will be a piece of cake!”

...

“I’m so happy someone finally responded to our request.” A frazzled middle-aged woman said as she let us into her home. “He’s in here.”

She opened a door to reveal a young boy who’s complexion was sickly pale and he was sweating bullets. His eyes were closed and his breathing was ragged. It was obvious that this child was very ill. Peri’s request was to heal this sick child in exchange for two thousand coins, which was about the same as two hundred dollars. 

“How long has he been like this?” She asked kneeling beside the child.

“About three weeks,” His mother said kneeling on the opposite side of him. “The local doctor said that he would not make it to the end of the month. You are my last hope, can you heal my baby?”

“Yes mam I can, it won’t take long at all,” Peri said as she rested one hand on his forehead and another on his abdomen before her eyes, hands and crystal began glowing light green.

It was fascinating to watch. His complexion returned to a light tan, his hair regained it’s vibrant light brown color and his breathing returned to normal. Soon enough, his deep brown eyes slowly opened to lock with the identical ones of his mother.

“Momma?” He softly croaked and her eyes weld with tears as she gently hugged her soon.

“Sparrow!” She exclaimed as tears of joy streamed down her face. “Thank goodness you’re alright!”

She looked up at Peri with so much gratefulness that it made my heart clench. “Thank you so much! You are an angel sent from above!”

“I don’t know about being an angel mam, but I will always help people who need me and never turn my back on them,” Peri answered as she knelt beside Sparrow. “You’ve been fighting that illness so long, you were so brave and strong. But you’re ok now, I promise.”

Sparrow looked at her and sniffled before he locked his harms around her neck. “Thank you!”

“Your welcome sweetheart!” She hugged him back before she extended her hand and made a beautiful yellow plant appear. “If this ever happens again, this plant is an instant cure.”

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Sparrow’s mother cried. “I will increase the amount of your compensation and-”

“No please,” Peri interrupted her. “It must’ve cost you a lot to look for ways to cure him all on your own. Please don’t worry about paying me.”

“Huh? Peri are you-OUCH!” Blaze said before Vee blasted him with wind.

“But you’ve completed your request, it’s only fair that I-”

“You need those two thousand coins much more than I do,” Peri said to her. “Besides, knowing that I saved a life is much more rewarding than one million coins.”

Sparrow’s mother let out tears of relief before she engulfed Peri in a huge bear hug.

Peri might think she isn’t an angel, but she is. I knew that she had saved countless of other lives before I met her and she will continue to do the same in the future.

...

“You sure you can fix my windmills little lady? You look a bit small for a job this big.” Farmer Chase said as raised an eyebrow at Vee.

“This is no problem!” She exclaimed before she shot upwards into the sky.

With Vee’s request, she had to restore some old windmills that hadn’t spun in years. You can see the rust from down here!

Vee flew directly in front of the first windmill and rotated her arms backwards for a few moments before she let out a fierce gust of wind from her arms that nearly blew Peri away if it wasn’t for Blaze holding her! The windmills all began spinning so furiously that I thought they were going to break!

“How was that?” She asked flying back down to us.

“You blew away my hat!” Farmer Chase exclaimed before he began to frantically search for his beloved hat.

“Does this mean you can sign the request sheet?”

“Find my hat, then I’ll sign it!”

...

“Blaze the water is getting cold!”

“THIS IS A JOB FOR A SLAVE!” He seethed as he begrudgingly placed a hand in the water, heating it to the appropriate temperature for the three elderly ladies soaking in the man-made hot spring.

“You know Blaze you are welcomed to join?” The hairiest one said suggestively while wiggling her eyebrows. Dear God I think I’m going to be sick.

Blaze’s face twisted in disgust before he scrambled as far away from the pond as he possible could. “That’s it, I quit!”

“You can’t quit Blaze we need this money!” Peri said as she ran after him.

“Well if you had actually collected your money then maybe I wouldn’t have to perform this trivial and degrading task!”

“You know why I did that,” Peri narrowed her eyes. “That lady needed that money more than us!”

“Well I don’t want to be raped by three elderly perverts!”

“Just suck it up you big baby,” Vee said. “We all completed our jobs, so should you.”

“You all had easy jobs!”

“This is easy all you have to do is heat their water for thirty more minutes, you’re not obliged to talk to them.” Peri said.

Blaze looked back and forth between the pond and his sister a few times before he let loud groan and went back over to the pond where the ladies further harassed him. It was quite comical to watch him trying to escape the clutches of the elderly women.

“Are you alright Tai?” Peri asked standing beside me. “You haven’t spoken one word since we left the town hall.”

Huh, guess I hadn’t even noticed. But I figured that since they’ve all been so busy completing their requests that they wouldn’t have time acknowledge me. Not like it mattered anyway. I was quite content with just observing the world around me rather than speaking aloud.

“Yeah I’m fine.” I said tugging on my hair.

Peri’s sharp eyes analyzed me as if she didn’t believe me; which made me very uncomfortable.

“You sure?”

“Yeah I’m just feeling a bit tired.” I softly muttered.

“Well ok then,” She said but I knew she wanted to question me more. “After this we’ll collect our compensation and then stay in an inn for the night.”

“Sounds great,” I gave her a small tight lipped smile.

Honestly, I was pretty tired from moving around all day and also because I met so many new people today. I just feel drained from it all. A few hours to myself would do me good.

“COME ON BLAZE MAKE THE WATER HOTTER!”

“DAMN IT WOMAN LEAVE ME ALONE!”

...

“Finally we can rest!” Vee exclaimed as she flopped down onto her bed. “I’m beat.”

“Tell me about it, but it feels good to finally relax.” Peri said as she gently got under the covers.

After Blaze had finished his request, they had collected their compensation and rented a room in an inn for the night. It was a very small room with four tiny beds and one dresser inside. Everyone else was lounging on their beds but I was very apprehensive to get in mine. One because it was smaller than a twin size bed and two, it looked like it would collapse with the slightest touch.

“Didn’t you say you were tired Tai?” Peri said looking at me. “You should get some rest.”

“Yeah, you should get some rest!” Blaze smirked at me. He knew exactly what would happen if I get onto that bed, he just wants to embarrass me.

“N-No I think I’ll-OUCH!” I screamed as I tripped and fell backwards onto the bed completely shattering the wooden support underneath.

“Damn I didn’t think you would’ve broken the entire thing!” Blaze laughed as he clutched his stomach. He’d shot a blast of fire at me which made me stagger backwards.

“BLAZE WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?” Peri shouted as she ran over to me.

I had bruised my elbow really bad and it was beginning to throb but the pain of my sheer embarrassment was more hurtful than that. I felt a lump form in my throat as tears flooded my eyes. Why did he always have to make me feel like dirt?

“I was just kidding, she’s the one who can’t take a joke!” He said. But I knew that he did that on purpose.

I quickly collected myself off of the ground and ran out the room, slamming the door behind me. I had ran all the way outside to the carriage where I crawled inside and curled up in a bowl to let my tears out.

Why did he hate me so much? What did I ever do? You would think that in my own imagination that I would get treated fairly and equally, and not judged because of my physical appearance. But if I’m still being treated like nothing in my imagination then I must actually be nothing in reality.

“You shouldn’t even be crying right now, you should be ever grateful to me that I even let you accompany my sister and I.” Blaze sneered as he walked over to my sobbing form. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

“You’re useless you know that,” He yanked my hands away from my ears so that I could fully hear him. “YOU’RE COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY USELESS!”

I chocked on a sob as tears streamed down my face. Who says things like that to people?

“N-No, I-I-I’m not, I-” I stammered as I tried to control my breathing.

“All day you’ve been trailing behind us like a worthless mutt,” He slowly seethed. “You’re nothing but a burden and an oversized one too.”

“STOP IT BLAZE, PLEASE STOP IT!” I screamed as I tried to block out his words.

It’s not true Tai, he’s lying.

IT.IS.NOT.TRUE!

“You should just get away from us!” He said as I begun to have a panic attack. “You are disgusting!”

You are disgusting.

You are disgusting.

You are disgusting.

Those three words replayed over and over in my head as tears obscured my vision. I had heard those words before and it still leaves a heaviness in my heart to this day.

...

“Taigh-Lyn, what is this?” My father calmly asked as he rolled around a pen on his desk. His deep brown eyes staring impassively into my hazel ones. Though they appeared calm, I knew that a raging sea was about to be unleashed.

“I-It’s my r-report card,” I softly said as I twiddled my fingers.

“And what does it say?” He pointed to a particular subject.

“I-It’s says that I g-got an F in mathematics.”

“Why did you fail mathematics Taigh-Lyn?” He flung the paper to the floor as he crossed his arms; his voice becoming harder.

“I-I guess because I didn’t really understand the material,” I nervously muttered.

“Then why didn’t you ask for help? Isn’t that the purpose of the teacher?”

“It is b-but...” I softly trailed off. It was the purpose of the teacher to help me with anything I didn’t understand, but Mr. Carson hated my soul! He would thoroughly embarrass me in front of my peers before he even thought about helping me. My self-esteem was already low, I couldn’t afford for it to become any lower than it already was.

“BUT WHAT TAIGH-LYN!” He boomed, making it seem as if the entire office was rattling under his temper.

“I-I’m really sorry dad please-” I begun to cry which only made him angrier.

“Sorry?” He repeated with a raised eyebrow. “YOU’RE SORRY? THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THAT YOU’VE FAILED THIS SUBJECT TAIGH-LYN! HECK, EVEN TEVIN PROBABLY WOULD’NT HAVE DONE AS BAD AS YOU!”

My heart begun to bleed.

“Dad please I-” I sobbed.

He glared intensely at me as if I was the vilest scum on Earth. “Get out.”

Blood is gushing out of my heart.

“W-What Da-”

“I SAID GET THE HELL OUT!” He screamed as flung the nearest thing to him at me, which so happened to be a stapler. I barely managed to avoid it, but I’m sure the pain of being hit by that is miniscule compared to the pain of the next words that come out of my father’s mouth.

“Call your mother to retrieve you and get out of my sight,” He said walking towards the giant glass windows in his office. “You disgust me!

You disgust me.

You disgust me.

You disgust me.

My heart was completely shattered...

...

After re-living my flashback, I was now full blown sobbing. My broken and strangled cries filled the air. I begun tugging violently at my hair, wanting to rip it out of my scalp. My fingers, clawing at my tan flesh, leaving scarlet red marks from my wrist all the way to my elbows. I had finally reached my limit. I couldn’t take anymore. I was drowning.

“Hey what’s wrong with you? You’re peeling your skin off!” Blaze exclaimed as he tried to obscure my hands from damaging myself any further.

I spun around and looked at him with pure disdain before I tightly balled my right fist and punched him as hard as I could square in his jaw. 

Both he and I were surprised at the force of the punch, which had managed to knock him to the ground. I had expected him to immediately castrate me with his flames, but instead, he started it me in shock and awe for a few moments before he said something I never thought I would hear come from him.

“I’m sorry,”

Huh? Is this the same Blaze? Was I transported into the twilight zone?

“E-Excuse me?” I said as I raised an eyebrow.

“I said I’m sorry,” He said again, but this time much rougher. “I was out of line speaking to you like that. No one deserves to be spoken to like that. It’s just, you remind me so much of someone and it just...” He trailed off as he clenched his fists tightly.

“Someone bad I assume?” I queried as I offer him a hand, which he shockingly accepted.

“She was more than bad,” His voice became darker. “She was a monster.”

I frowned as he said that. I felt a bang in my heart when he said she was a monster. Did that mean I appeared to be a monster to him?

As if reading my thoughts he quickly clarified. “Her personality was monstrous, and you remind me of her because of your physical appearance.”

I guess that’s comforting.

“You’re not useless or worthless,” He sighed. “You created Aralia all own your own and you’ve done an amazing job at maintaining it.”

DID MY PUNCH HAVE SOME OF PERI’S HEALING GIFT ON IT? I cannot believe that he’s actually complimenting me! And he finally admitted that I created Aralia. Does that mean he truly believes that I am Queen Taigh-Lyn?

“T-Thank you Blaze!” I said astonished.

A silence followed after that, though I thought that it was comforting, Blaze obviously felt uncomfortable. He kept on twiddling with his thumbs and brushing his hands through his long burnt orange hair. 

“HEY GUYS ARE YOU COMING BACK INSIDE?” Vee shouted as she floated at the entrance of the Inn.

“BE RIGHT THERE!”Blaze shouted back to her before he turned to me. “After you.”

I softly smiled at him as I walked towards the door. Maybe it was me freaking out or me punching him, but whatever I did to get Blaze to be a civil person was working. I just hope it’ll last longer than tonight.