The Deal

Robin was getting better, but very slowly. His hostess indeed intended to kick him out as soon as he feels better, but this as soon as was not as easy as she expected. However, the kid tried not to annoy his savour. He still feared this strange woman and only watched her warily but with a genuine interest. He had never previously seen anybody from a Polis, but the kid's lively imagination usually drew those creatures as stunningly beautiful, great, and mighty wizards. Magdalene could hardly match such expectations. She was rather tiny, and one wouldn't probably call her very attractive. Her foxy eyes were framed by an eyelid fold, nose was a bit too small and lips a bit too thick but all in all, she was a rather pleasant young woman even though her little round face normally displayed either boredom or reproach.

Quickly enough, Robin realized that Magda was a rather taciturn and unsociable type, so the boy mostly kept silent, only answering her rare questions from time to time. Usually, she could become a little more talkative in the evening. During the dinner, Magda often showed her guest old books and explained the rules of reading and writing. This was her favourite topic to talk about. The woman had never said about herself anything more than her full name. No matter what Robin asked her, she remained silent. Only once when the kid asked Magda about her family, he saw shades of fear and pain on her face which faded instantly though. She never revealed anything. Yet, she asked Robin about himself and his family. The child firstly was anxious that Magdalene simply wanted to capture more people, but soon enough he guessed that she only wanted to know whom to return Robin to.

Unfortunately, there was absolutely nobody to whom she could hand over her unexpected burden. After some time, when Robin finally got used to Magdalene, he told her his story. His parents? Well, he didn't remember much about them. As far as he was told, his mother died giving birth to him. His father died a couple of years after from starvation and severe radiation poisoning. The poor man left his child to a small wandering colony of survivors that came to local forests. People in the colony weren't particularly happy about a new member of their community, but still accepted him. Children were an important resource in the dangerous world, where most didn't survive till their thirties. Life in the colony was hard, from a very young age Robin always had to earn his place there by doing all the hardest work. Though, it was still better than being left alone out there. He stayed with the colony for many years, up until the recent time.

Several weeks ago, they entered a previously unexplored region searching for food. Little did they know, that stepping on this land, depleted by holes in the ozone layer and a poisonous destroyed reactor, they signed themselves a death sentence. Shortly after settling there, the colony was attacked by bloodthirsty humanoid creatures who lived deep in the forest, in the old reactor. The survivors, already fatally affected by strong radiation, couldn't fight back, so the ominously chirring monsters exterminated nearly each one of them almost instantly. Robin managed to run away, but he didn't make it way too far. The child tripped in the thick fog and rolled down the rocky hill, right to the gorge where Magdalene found him later. The last thing he could remember was the evil chirring getting closer and closer to him, echoing in the dark forest. Robin was lying there on cold, wet stones, praying for a miracle and cursing himself for his cowardness. Luckily for the boy, the predators were sated with colonists and didn't continue their hunt.

The evening Robin told his new friend this story, Magdalena seemed to be more pensive and dissatisfied than normally. The boy couldn't tell if she was so touched by his sad past, or just upset that there was no one she could dump the child on. Robin didn't ask the redhead, he obediently took a sheet of yellowed paper that Magdalena silently shoved to him and started patiently and with the true skill of the artist reproducing small, indistinct letters from an old book.

Slowly, days turned into weeks. Robin didn't learn much new about his saviour, but at least now he could proudly boast of a rather modest list of children's books that he, however, read all by himself. The boy greedily consumed knowledge from old folios and then, firstly, shy but slowly more and more expressively shared his thoughts with Magdalene. The woman didn't seem really interested in whatever Robin was telling her, however sometimes he had a feeling, that, turning away from him, she hid a slight smile.

Robin's broken bones almost mended, so as soon as he could spend at least a few minutes standing on his feet, he started helping Magdalene around their tiny house. He fixed the crooked window and carefully sorted out all the books, he cooked, cleaned and took care of tiny plants that Magda kept inside the house. Magdalene watched him appraisingly. She rarely and dryly thanked him, but now more and more often he could catch barely noticeable signs of a silent approval on her face. Once she even deigned to say that the kid had some potential in him.

It was a cold, rainy evening. The two had just finished their humble dry vegetable dinner. Magdalene chose another book for Robin and was now attentively watching how he diligently copied one sentence after another. For a moment, the boy's long hand froze. Magda grunted displeasedly.

"I guess, the roof is leaking," Robin mumbled, staring at water drops steadily landing on the floor.

"I don't think so," Magdalene replied boredly.

"But…" the boy sounded confused. "But the water? Here!"

"How can something that does not exist leak?" Magda patiently stared at the child.

"What do you mean?" Robin said, completely lost.

"I mean, there is no roof. The roof isn't leaking. It's just a hole in the ceiling," shrugged the redhead.

"There is no roof?"

"No. I just put a bunch of pine branches on the top."

"Why didn't you build one?"

"Do I look like a carpenter?" Magda said with slight irritation. "All I could is a shabby platform and even more shabby box on it. Be grateful, we have at least this."

"Wow… So, you know so much about ancient sciences, but you don't know how to build a house?" the boy bravely chuckled.

Magdalene didn't answer, but reproachfully gazed at the kid.

"Seriously, you don't know how to build a roof?" Robin tried hard to hold back the laughter.

"Does it look like I come from a place where I ever had to face such tasks?" Magdalene rolled her eyes. "I never had to hold carpentry tools in my hands till like four years ago."

"Oh… I see. Right, I always forget that you come from a Polis… I was told those cities are a paradise for gifted and elementals like you…" Robin said dreamingly. "Why did you leave?"

"That's none of your business," Magda grumbled.

"Did you do something bad?"

"No! But I appreciate that you assumed so," the girl grunted sarcastically.

"Why then? Why would you leave a comfortable city for a radioactive, dangerous forest?" Robin shook his head swiftly, moving his small eyes.

"I don't like being in high society. Actually, in any society generally. So would you care to get back to your lesson, rather than testing my patience, please," the woman dryly commented as she stood up and swiftly approached a narrow bookshelf on the other side of the room.

"Okay, okay…" stammered the boy. "Hmm… How much is it here… Around seven arms wide and… Hmm…. Eight arms long… Eight and a half…" he whispered.

For several moments, the room went silent. One could hear only active pencil scraping; Robin was drawing something highly enthusiastically. When the boy put down his pencil, he pulled out the paper in front of him and thoughtfully stared at it and then at the room. Magda observed it with a little surprise and fluidly approached Robin. The redhead saw a skilfully drawn draft of her small house from inside and outside with a tall roof over it.

"What are you wasting my paper on?" she huffed.

"Look, your construction is, of course, not flawless," Robin stopped and warily followed the woman's reaction. "But I can still put a roof over it," he then quickly continued, not letting Magda make an angry comment. "We can cover it with clay and burn it, then it will be waterproof. And if I strengthen the ceiling here and here, I can build a hatch there, so you can use the space over the ceiling as storage."

"Can you?" Magdalene asked with suspension.

"Well, I had to build a lot of shelters during my time with the colony. Yes, I think I can build this one. Will just take some time," the boy rubbed his head and stared at the drafts.

"Okay... Looks good..." the redhead said, getting immediately confused by giving this unexpected compliment. "So, you can build it? How long will it take?"

"Oh… A month, I guess, if you can help me with the wood," Robin replied pensively.

"A month?"

"Maybe less. If you help me."

"Okay. Build it. I will help. But don't even hope that I will get used to you in this time and will let you stay, princess Scheherazade!" Magdalene concluded.

Robin didn't know who princess Scheherazade was, and he didn't know where to go when he would be done with the roof either, but he firmly decided to fulfil his promise as soon as he could. Four or five days later, the boy amazedly stared at a tiny piece of broken mirror, noticing that a healthy blush appeared on his pale cheeks. Robin spent several hours looking at his reflection, almost without blinking. His small, weak body, exhausted by starvation and had work suddenly became bigger and now seemed to be much more proportional for his age, bright blond hair was disobediently sticking out on the sides and even his ice-blue eyes shone as never before. The child couldn't believe that it was his own reflection looking back at him from that dirty mirror shard. In such a short time, he turned from a colourless shadow into a human. Robin suddenly tasted salt in his mouth. Big, hot tears run down his long face. The next day, the boy was ready to start his big project.

Magdalene found a bunch of old carpentry instruments in one of the countless boxes and triumphally granted them all to the small builder. She also helped with the wood as she promised. For the first time in his life, Robin saw the powers of an elemental with his own eyes. Magda could fall mighty, heavy trees with one blow and crush them into pieces with a single lightning strike. However, the woman herself didn't consider it to be something special. She only huffed, that she was in fact rather a weak one compared to elementals in Polies and Satellite cities.

Robin was indeed a good builder. He flooded the microscopical house with endless drafts of the construction and worked all days long. The redhead tried to help him sometimes, but she was much better at destroying than building things, so she mostly just observed from a safe distance. In fact, she spent most days sorting out old maps, constantly calculating something, and letting Robin work peacefully. And eventually, it took the boy even less than a month to complete the task. He proudly demonstrated Magda a secure, high roof and explained how the hatch mechanism worked. The two quickly moved all the boxes from the house to the attic, and then Magdalene moved a tall wooden container to the middle of the room and set a generous, festive table.

After the dinner, the redhead carefully looked at Robin. The boy was happy to successfully finish the building, but was also definitely upset. He knew that his safe and easy existence had come to its end. Now there was only dangerous unknown awaiting him.

"Look here," Magdalene loudly dropped an old, yellowish map in front of Robin and pointed with a long finger to the middle of a big continent. "Here, in like ten walking days southern from here. There is a big human sanctuary. I will take you there."

"A sanctuary?" quietly repeated the boy.

"Yes. It is well secured. The land and air there are relatively clean, you won't get sick again, and you will live among your kind there. You are smart, they need kids like you there."

"Clean? And people live there? How come that Polies haven't destroyed it yet?"

"Well, you see, this is a mountain region. Some valleys there weren't affected by radiation. Previously, there was a very wealthy country out there. Its rulers invested a lot into building safe bunkers, so after the Cataclysm people found there a lot of proviant, tools and weapons to protect themselves and could build there a whole city. Corvus and its Satellites are situated not that far from there, but their inhabitants don't dare to attack the place."

"Really? The almighty elementals and gifted are scared of some weapons?" Robin said with disbelief.

"Well… It's not just weapons… After the Cataclysm, somebody brought there bombs… You know, THE BOMBS," Magda threw up her hands.

"THE BOMBS? What do you mean?"

"You know, those…" the woman shook her head expressively.

Yet Robin couldn't understand what Magdalene was talking about. He only gazed at her, swiftly blinking.

"You don't know?" Magda raised her eyebrow.

"Ehh… I guess, no…" Robin said feebly.

"What do you know about the Cataclysm?" Magdalene patiently folded her fingers together.

"Bah… Not much. People in my colony said nobody knows exactly what happened, but it was a great disaster after which elementals rose with the help of gifted and enslaved most humans, who survived the Cataclysm."

"Oh, how humble!" Magda angrily grinned. "So, nobody knows? I see, humans quickly forget their own mistakes!" the woman sounded highly irritated. "My boy, it was your kind who caused the Cataclysm around two hundred years ago. Humanity was drowned in greed and duplicity. You stopped negotiating with each other, trying to find a compromise. You only pointed fingers, blaming each other for sins, you all didn't disdain. Humanity created horrible, deadly weapons, those radioactive bombs to threaten each other and in the end, threats became reality. Those bombs and humans caused the Cataclysm. Elementals didn't rise, no. We've always been there, from the beginning of times. And we were affected by the Cataclysm, just like all other creatures on this planet. We had to hide with humans in underground bunkers and fight for our survival. But you see, even after destroying your own civilization to the ground, humans didn't stop fighting with each other. So, elementals, whether it was right or wrong, decided that your kind didn't deserve another chance."

Robin remained silent for a few moments. It was clear, that he could hardly believe this story. Growing up in the radioactive forest, he had never seen a weapon capable of something more than killing a limping deer or four-eared bunny. How could humanity create something that managed to destroy the whole civilization?

"Why would they do it?" Robin finally mumbled.

"Well, hating those who are different is a very human thing. Now you hate us. I admit, not always without a reason," Magda lowered her voice. "But previously same passionately you hated each other from coming from another country or culture. Basically, it is a common reaction of human psychology. Understanding something different takes effort, time and sometimes acceptance, that you yourself are far not perfect. Hate is a quicker and easier response, so most of you preferred hate."

"No… No, it makes no sense. It can't be true!" insisted the child.

"Oh, I bet it is. You see, due to our special powers, elementals and gifted generally survived the Cataclysm much better and managed to keep a lot of creations of human civilization. There are documents and films that literally day by day tell how humans neared the fatal decision."

"No… How could… Did we do it…" Robin whispered.

"Anyway, somebody managed to sneak those bombs to that Alpine sanctuary. Polies don't want to deal with new destructive explosions, so they don't attack that place. You will be safe there. We set off tomorrow. I'll bring and leave you there." Magdalene concluded.

It seemed like the redhead didn't notice Robin's shocked and devastated gaze directed to nowhere. The boy remained sitting at the improvised table for few more minutes and then obediently walked to the bed. However, he didn't manage to fall asleep tonight. Robin could hear how Magda was peacefully breathing soundly sleeping on the tiny sofa behind a carton screen. The boy was struggling to understand, how could Magdalene fall asleep so easily after telling him such a horrible thing? Was it even true? Did it actually sound so horrible for Magda, or did it only hurt Robin that much?