A Mother And Her Doll

Everyone was blinded or dazed. After Acros had touched the leaf, everything had been doused in a bright emetic light. Its brilliance was so astounding that it was disorientating to the point of being nauseating.

Even when their vision began to return, they couldn't even hear. It was as though their senses had been overloaded.

Cartor himself began to recover on his hands and knees, his vision swimming in between darkness and streaking visions of the bar. His hands reached out, grasping for purchase on anything and anywhere. Eventually though, a small hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, allowing him to stumble to his feet.

Everything sounded as though it were an echo, even his own voice. He could barely tell he was speaking. He then felt himself be pushed gently into a seat.

And as he sat, everything once again faded to black.

…

"?"

"Indeed, though I am unsure as to how Animum brought you into this world."

Kerrii was a very simple little thing. She couldn't speak, even in her mindscape. Even so, she was very expressive and sought answers vigorously.

"!?"

"No, I don't believe you have a mother. If you did, this planet would likely not be suffering so much."

"?"

"What do I mean by suffering? Well it's dragon veins are becoming clogged according to what I could see from orbit when your father called me here."

"!!!"

"It's a serious problem."

"..."

"You don't need to worry about it though."

"...?"

"I myself will not be handling it. It is not my place to do so."

">:)"

"I do not know what your powers are, but if they are anything like your fathers then this world might crumble to nothingness before you save it."

"..."

"Do not fret, I am sure Firmina has much planned for the mamono lord."

"?"

"Surety has nothing to do with it. I am familiar with the wars that deities wage. They tend to indulge themselves and their mediocre tactics before truly making their moves."

"..."

"Trust me when I say that your wants are unfounded, humanity has many flaws. Trust me when I say sitting in a mindscape for as long as you want and not going insane is likely a feat most humans would envy. Humans are creatures of fervor. They must constantly be doing something, or they will find themselves doing something stupid. You on the other hand have the ability to laze as you'd like."

"?"

"Don't worry if you do not understand."

I looked at the memories of the iron shackles on my wrists, recalling my time spent in the pit.

"It is not a problem you need or would want to bear."

"..."

"?"

"I am fine. I am a soldier. The words of my pact are my conviction. You don't need to worry about me."

"...?"

"You really want to worry about something don't you. I'm going to stop providing you with tales and information if you continue with this path to pure folly."

"!"

"Well then pick another topic?"

"!..."

"Hmmm, I guess you haven't really had the chance to see much of the world around you. Would you like me to tell you of my world then? It's inconsequential for the likes of you, but the tales that come from it are fairly amusing."

"..."

*Crik*

"Tell my story? Its not a pretty tale."

"?"

"Rarely does one start with everything. And me? I was born with three privileges. My life, sustenance, and a roof occasionally over my head. The story of how I became who I am is not one I will share with a child"

"..."

":("

"Trust me when I say it is for the best."

"..."

"!"

"Ah yes, the others might be in a bit of a commotion at the moment."

"..."

"?"

"I… yes. There will come a time when this conversation must end. Your protection was not in my pact with your father. And given how well hidden and protected you are, even if the monster lord herself found you, she would never be able to hurt, corrupt, or even threaten you. He never planned for me to protect you."

"..."

"?'

"Of course"

…

*Crik*-*Crak*-*Crik*

The wooden body of Kerrii slowly snapped and cracked as her ball joints unlodged themselves. The empty, mask-like, almost featureless face filled with light as her eyes glowed a brilliant yellow. Her dried blonde hair slowly recovered its vibrant green colour as her autumn palette leaf dress flourished and fluffed itself, the sheer volume of leaves making her seem as though she had a chest full of blooming verdant plumage. 

Finally, she stood fully. She was about the height of a little girl, and even though her face had no eyebrows, mouth, or nose she still retained a familiar human air.

Looking about, she saw four people. Utbrot, who was simply watching her in shock, Kwart who was on guard, and finally Cartor and Norn who were both unconscious. She then set her eyes on Acros. 

He felt giant to her. Clad in intricate silver armour and carrying only a single short weapon on his hip, he felt distant. His helm, whose only window to the outside world was a few tiny holes, seemed to isolate him from everyone else that she had seen over the years. To her, if impersonal had a visual definition, he would be it.

It was a striking difference to his mental image of a child. Though he lacked wonder and innocence, it was his childlike appearance that had helped her to open up to him. She had never met anyone young like her.

So giant was he before her, she wondered if he was different outside of her mindscape as well.

"Ugh…"

*Crik*-*Crik*

Suddenly she was startled out of her thoughts by the groans of a re-awakening Cartor who immediately rubbed his eyes and stretched, seemingly looking for Utbrot.

"What happened… Dear?"

"Honey look."

"At wha- my gosh! She's actually awake."

Neither Ubrot nor Kwart or Cartor had ever seen Kerrii awake, and simply assumed she was never going to recover from her damaged upbringing. Norn had been the one to find her after a forest fire as a baby forty years ago, and though she had tried to raise her from her catatonic state several times, her efforts had been futile. Even so, when Norn brought her back to the bar, Kerrii eventually began to grow the tree from the floor. 

So during those early years, when it was just Norn and a young Nimmy, Norn spent quite a long time guiding the vine-like branches into different rooms and places, learning about the ability for sound to travel through them and to specific parts of the plant, and generally taking care to prevent Kerrii's roots from destroying the building foundation, or the foundations of surrounding properties.

During that time, she suffered several setbacks, such as the bar being burnt down, losing her sight, and even suffering several assassination attempts, but even so she took care of her little family.

So to see Kerrii finally awaken, was nothing less than a miracle.

"Norn, wake up!"

Cartor began shaking the unconscious Norn who lay off to his right, hoping she would awaken.

"Hrm…"

Norn slowly sat up her ears twitched and swivelled, taking in as much information as they could.

*Crik*

Instantly Norn sat up and opened her muddled grey eyes as her ears turnt towards the sudden sound.

"Who was that?"

"Norn, it's Kerrii. She's actually awake."

Hearing what Utbrot said, Norn got to her feet, forgetting her cane as reached out with her hands, grasping onto tables and chairs as she guided herself towards the noise. 

Eventually, she arrived before Kerrii and reached out a hand to feel the now warm bark that was Kerrii's skin.

Kerrii nearly began to take a step back, however after a moment's thought, she relented.

Norn placed her hands on Kerrii's shoulders before slowly moving up her neck and comfortably nestling the dryad's face in her hands. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she finally felt the little girl she had spent so long raising, awake and alive.

"I may not be able to see you but I know you're beautiful now Kerrii. I can feel how lively you are, and how you've bloomed into a beautiful girl."

A small smile crossed the Ratatoskr's face as she wiped her thumb across Kerrii's cheek.

"I just wish I could see you now."

*Crik*-*Crak*-*Crok*

Kerrii slowly reached out as her joints strain themselves against her ingrown and overgrown bark, snapping and crumbling it as she wrapped her arms around the wom-, no, her mother.

For a moment Norn was shocked, but a second later she reciprocated, holding the little girl in her arms.

"I'm so glad you woke up Kerrii."

…

In the mindscape, suddenly Kerri stopped moving.

"It seems something has taken her full attention. Perhaps its time for me to return to the real world."

Acros looked at his youthful hands for a moment, silently remembering for a moment, his days of suffering and simplicity.

"Hmph."

…

*Fsssshhhh*

The two's tender moment was suddenly interrupted as Acros's hand peeled itself off her leaf, slowly beginning to shoot out spurts of steam as it boiled and bubbled.

*Chi*-*Chu*-*Shunk*

The grotesque scene of his boiling flesh was instantly put out of sight as his hand covered itself up.

At that moment, Kerrii let go of her mother turning to the reawakened Acros and jerkily moved towards him.

Her movements were still stiff, but they were improving as she took clumsy steps towards him.

Norn hesitantly reached out for a moment as she heard her daughter struggle to move, but instead decided to hold back.

"?"

Kerrii's head tilted and her eyes lit up as tried to communicate outside the mindscape.

"Of course, but you need to save your strength."

Kerrii nodded before squinting and clenching fists, willing the lights within the bar to dim.

"Not like that. You know what you need to do."

Kerrii stopped for a moment and hesitated, seemingly unwilling to follow what Acros was telling her. Even so, she chose to go along with what he said.

The lights began to power up again as she turned and waved to the others, a mouthless smile adorning her face.

She then slowly walked towards the tree that had once enshrined her, sitting upon the stump as the once parted vines began to close up around her again.

"Wait!"

Before Kerrii could finish, Norn shuffled over to the tree. Kerrii outstretched her hand, which Norn heard and grasped with both of hers.

"Will I… will I get to see you again?"

*Crik*-*Crak*

Norn smiled, her dull grey eyes watering a little as she finally let go.

"See you soon, Kerrii."

Kerrii's body slowly began to atrophy as though the life had been sucked out of her. Eventually, her hair began to dry and her dress of leaves crinkled and died once more, returning to their original brown colour.

Finally, the light in her eyes dimmed and they closed, leaving her an empty wooden doll once more.

For a moment, no one said anything.

Acros had decided to keep quiet, while the others were utterly speechless.

Norn then sighed, not daring to look back at any of them. She then put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a small key before tossing it towards Acros.

"No strings attached."

*Clink!*

Catching it in one hand, Acros deftly flipped it between his index finger and thumb till the blade of the key poked out from between his fingers.

"Thank you."

The Ratatoskr nodded before gesturing to Kwart, who immediately brought over her Cane.

Norn then walked over to the counter, grabbing a bottle of wine and walking upstairs as Kwart ran over to the door to the bar and locked it, before following Norn up the stairs.

Finally, only Acros the husband wife duo remained.

"Well then, let's get to business shall we?"

…