The Finding

A loud rumble and polyphonic chirring swept through the endless forest of giant pine trees, sinking in poisonous stinking swamps. A miniature female figure jumped up from the grass, shook off tiny twigs from her tangled copper curls, and listened carefully. The girl could hear remotely how flocks of unknown animals rushed somewhere in fear. A terrifying inhuman cry followed shortly after and repeated once again but already quieter. Animal trampling also got quieter, and soon enough an impenetrable silence reigned over the forest again.

The girl sighed with relief and fell on the wet grass again. She raised her freckled face to the dim, spring sun and squinted. Something wasn't quite right. Yet not too bright sun rays reflected in the amber rims of the young woman's brown eyes and next second painfully burnt them. Tall grass around the redhead cracked and gradually started to smoulder, releasing a sweet, stupefying smell. The girl sat down and looked around with obvious dissatisfaction. She waved her small hand in front of her face, as if she was trying to touch the air, then she slowly got up, gazed at the sky once again, and slowly walked away.

The redhead gingerly stepped from one moss hummock to another. She clearly knew how dangerous this seemingly peaceful field could be. The small figure gracefully and easily avoided all the hidden poisonous bogs, managing to pick rare, tiny mushrooms on her way. The girl reached the edge of the swamp and ran down the hill to a wet, foggy lowland. She confidently moved forward, but immediately tripped on something and nearly fell down. The woman felt the ground around her, trying to distinguish an unexpected obstacle in the thick fog. Suddenly she froze for a moment, and then rapidly moved over to a cold, barely breathing body, lightly touched it, and then quickly stood up.

"You are not a mushroom," she quietly mumbled walking away, "so, you are totally not my concern."

And the redhead easily marched away, whistling some cheerful melody. She was already several meters away when she suddenly stopped and shook her hands in hesitation. She nervously looked back and made a few more steps forward, but soon she stopped again and turned around. The girl repeated those erratic movements couple more times before angrily stepping her small feet and finally returning to the body. She spent some seconds sunk in consideration and then loudly exhaled. A strong blast of wind broke out of her mouth, immediately dispersing the fog.

Now the young woman could clearly see the unconscious body, lying on wet and cold moss. It was a child, a boy. He was small and rather slender. His pale skin seemed to be so thin, that one could see all the blood veins running through his body. The redhead cautiously neared him and slightly pushed the boy with her leg. He didn't answer. She pushed again and after getting no response, squatted near the body. Now she saw a big wound on the stranger's head hidden in rare, thin, and nearly colourless blond hair.

The girl made a disgruntled face. She waved her head from one side to another and threw up her hands several times. Seemed like she led a silent but very emotional conversation with herself. In the end, she clicked her tongue, grabbed the weak body and, like a bag of potatoes, put it over her shoulder. The redhead walked for around half an hour like that before she finally reached a small tree house, perfectly disguised by large pine branches. There was no ladder, but the girl didn't need one. Some invisible power lightly threw her many meters up, and she elegantly landed right in front of the house's door.

"Home, sweet home," muttered the woman patting the boy's back.

The sweet home was a tiny and pretty sloppily built box. Here and there one could see holes between the wooden boards, roughly covered with clay. There was only one crookedly cut window that let inside much more cold than light. A tree trunk in the centre and uncountable plastic boxes, filled with everything that could (or rather could not) be somehow useful, took almost the whole space in the house. Yet, the miniature young woman easily handled it, moving along thin paths around this chaos. She gracefully slid to a mattress that served as a bed, threw the still unconscious body on it and powerlessly fell down on the floor.

The child was badly injured and severely depleted. An intense fever didn't recede for many days. Weak organisms had no powers to fight. The wound and scratches festered, and the broken leg was painfully swollen. The kid often cried out in delirium and called for someone, begging for forgiveness, and then his whole body convulsed so strongly, that the redhead could barely hold him from breaking his other bones. The girl didn't have any medicines at her disposal, so she spent her whole free from taking care of her guest time over old books, diligently taking notes about medicinal herbs and plants. Soon enough the microscopical kitchen of the tree house started to resemble a chemical lab, filled with various colourful bottles, lotions and rather strangely looking herbs and animal carcasses. But in the end, after almost ten long days, the fever finally started to go down. When the child's life wasn't endangered any more, the redhead gradually returned to her usual routine, leaving the house for many hours and searching for food in the woods.

Once, as the young woman returned home after a little hunt, she found her guest sitting in the bed and looking outside the window with great interest. The boy heard the door cracking and startled; his small, clouded eyes swiftly moved to the hostess of the house.

"Oh, doing better?" the girl said emotionlessly, only slightly raising her eyebrows. "Honestly, I didn't think you'll make it. I'm Magdalene. Magda. And you?"

The boy didn't answer. He was already pretty pale, but looking at the woman, he turned even more pale with fear. He sat in the bed, frozen and motionless. It seemed like he even stopped breathing for a moment.

"I see, you are not very talkative. That's good, I don't like extra noise," Magda continued indifferently.

"You are..." finally whispered the boy. "You are.... not...not a human," he squeezed out.

"Oh well, should I offer you some prize for your wit?" Magda again sounded bored.

"Is there...anybody else?"

"Don't I alone scare you enough? I don't need anybody else here."

"I've heard of strong gifted out there, but even they don't go to these lands alone... If you are alone here... So you are...one of THEM?" as the boy pronounced the last word, his voice trembled with horror.

Magda clicked her tongue with displeasure, "I should definitely give you some prize for your extraordinary wit. Oh, wait how about your life I saved will count as one?"

"W-what?" the child asked in shock. "Are you...going to sell me into slavery?"

"To whom?" the redhead loudly chuckled. "To squirrels and chipmunks? We are in the middle of an endless forest, my dear."

"To a Polis?"

"Corvus, the nearest one, is in like fifteen days of walking. Even its Satellites are too far. I must tell you, dragging you half alive there for a couple of tomato or cucumber seeds is not a very profitable business deal," Magda indifferently shrugged.

It became silent. The boy leaned his hands on the bed, trying to hold his weak body. He stared into the void, panically gathering pieces of his memories and consciousness. Magdalene shortly gazed at him and moved to the tiny kitchen table, dragging two small, already breathless bunnies.

"Why did you save me then?" finally mumbled the boy.

"To eat you, obviously," the woman calmly replied, looking at her guest's face, distorted with horror. "Oh, come on, it was just a joke," she said, slightly irritated. "Don't flatter yourself, there's much more meat in those bunnies than in your whole miserable body. And I actually would have never even tried to eat you. Do you know how strongly poisoned with radiation you are? I swear, I wonder how you don't glow in the darkness."

The boy didn't answer anything, but sighed with some certain relief. The last powers finally left him, so he slowly sank onto the little but soft bed.

"There's a glass near you. Drink it. You'll need a lot of this medicine, otherwise, radiation will ruin your body from the inside," instructed Magda.

"Why...why are you helping me?" whispered the boy.

"I'm not a good person, but I'm not a monster either to leave a child alone for death," huffed the redhead. "But don't be way too happy, as soon as you feel better, you must get out of here. I don't need any pets."

The kid didn't respond. He silently stared at the ceiling for a good half an hour, and then moved his eyes to Magdalene. He carefully followed, how the hostess of the house quickly and masterfully turned a bunch of withering vegetables and the unfortunate bunnies into a somewhat tasty smelling, boiling mixture. A couple of times he thought that Magda would triple over boxes and caskets scattered all around the house, but every time the young woman managed to stay on her feet, hardly holding back from cursing out loud. When the soup was ready, the redhead poured two small bowls, sat down on the bed, and handed one bowl to her guest. The boy hesitated for several moments, but then instantly grabbed the dish, as he felt how the woman glared at him.

"So, let's repeat now, my name is Magdalene Rebecca Kos, an elemental of air. And who are you?" the redhead sounded calmly but demandingly.

"I'm... I'm Robin," mumbled the boy greedily swallowing the soup.

"Robin? Robin Hood? You chose a very wrong forest then," Magda slightly smirked.

"W-what? No... no, just Robin. Who is Robin Hood?" the kid batted his eyes in surprise.

"It's from a book. Haven't you read it?"

"N-no... I don't know how to read..."

"Oh... How old are you?"

"Hmm..." Robin mused. "I have survived 13 winters..."

"Wow, then it's time to teach you. I guess we will have some stuff to do during rainy days."