'Dear journal' I thought, trudging tiredly in the desert sand 'Today I learned that you need more than two bottles of water when crossing a desert'
It's not like I'd run out quite yet, I was just very, very, dangerously low.
It was sweltering, okay?
I stopped for a few minutes, then continued walking as the sun's relentless heat continued to beat down. I wiped my forehead with my shirt, which had been long since been removed, just leaving my sweat-soaked tank top underneath. In the distance, I saw something reflect the sunlight, glinting as I progressively got nearer.
'Wonder what that is...' I thought, crossing a dune.
As I neared the object, it actually seemed to be moving- at first it was just ahead, now it was to the right. I changed direction, and headed towards the object once more. I kept walking, and no matter how much I did, I never seemed to catch up with the object.
'Does anything in this damn place make sense?' I seethed.
It felt like hours, before I finally hit something else besides sand- grass. Actual, real, green, growing grass; I never thought I'd be so happy to see it. I discovered a dirt path before me, and followed it past a grove of trees. I swear I saw something dart around in there, but summed it up to being the shadows of the trees playing tricks, fearing that there might be something dangerous back there.
I kept walking, but soon heard the sound of someone wailing. After a bit more walking, I found the source, lying in the grass on the side of the road, was a freakin' little girl (made of glass, mind you), clutching her leg, pieces of shattered glass around the broken limb.
She's made of glass, yet somehow she's crying...this place is never going to make any sense...
I got down on one knee, appearing to make myself smaller.
"What's wrong?" I asked stupidly.
The glass-girl looked up, her eyes filled with tears.
"I-I- was pl-playing, and then *sniff* and then, I tr-tripped, and- and- and- it hurts!" she bawled, fresh tears running down her see-through face.
"Where do you live?" I asked softly.
She held up a hand to point at a nearby village.
'Why was she playing so far from town?' I wondered.
"Alright" I sighed, unfolding my shirt.
I set to work, picking up as many of the glass pieces as I could up off of the ground. I tied up the shirt, securing the pieces, and hooked it into my belt.
"Up you go" I said, placing my hands under her arms and lifting her.645Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiIQqefmW2
Her skin felt almost cold against mine, which made sense, considering she was made of flipping glass. She pointed to the village once more, tears still in her eyes. I began walking, the bag of broken pieces clinking everytime it bounced against my leg.
"What's your name, sweetie?" I asked.
"I-Ista..."
"Well Ista, we'll get you all better soon, and your leg'll be as good as new"
She nodded slowly, some of her tears subsiding. I offered a soft smile as I continued walking, readjusting her so she wouldn't fall. As I neared the village, I discovered the people here were made of glass, just like the girl in my arms. All of them were giving me looks, probably wondering just what the heck I was doing.
"Here we are," I said "which way is your house?"
She pointed further down the road, to a red-brick house, a small bed of flowers surrounding it.
I walked towards the house, careful to watch for traffic before crossing the street. (I was carrying someth- someone fragile, plus getting run over wasn't exactly on my to-do list). I walked up to the wooden door, and knocked, the girl still in my arms. The door opened, andwhat looked like an older version of Ista answered. She took one look at me, then at Ista- she snatched her from my arms, and turned to go into the house, not bothering to close the door behind her.
"Uh, hey" I said, standing in the doorway "you gonna need any help with her or-"
"Inside, now" the mother barked.
I obeyed, and closed the door behind me.
"Here" she said, thrusting a box into my hands "start that"
"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, opening the box "Matches? Kindling? This is a forest fire waiting to happen, lady"
"Start it right there" she said, tilting her head down to a small square on the floor. It'd obviously been used before, if the black mark inside the square was any indication. I set some of the kindling on the square as the mother comforted Ista, telling her everything would be okay and the like. I still didn't see how a fire was going to help...
"Alright, there- it's starting" I said, watching a tiny orange glow spring to life inside the dead grass.
"Good, now watch her"
I suddenly found Ista once more in my arms.
'I never thought someone could say that so threateningly...' I thought, watching Ista's mother head into another room of the house.
"We meet again" I said, setting the makeshift bag on the floor.
That got a small laugh out of her.
"So, how is that," I nodded down to the starting fire "going to fix your leg?"
"I dunno- I only saw momma do it a couple times..."
"Do what?"
She only shrugged.
The glass-woman returned, carrying two box-like objects in her arms.
"Which leg?" she asked, kneeling as she set one of the boxes on the floor.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Which. Leg."
I looked down at Ista, still in my lap.
"Left" I said.
She opened one of the boxes, and I saw that the box was actually a mold. I watched in fascination as the glass-girl was suddenly whisked out of my arms, and the mold was secured around Ista's leg. Ista's mother then looked to me.
"Pieces" she said.
"What?" I asked again.
"Pieces, the pieces, her pieces" she said, pointing to Ista.
"Oh- right, here" I said, fumbling with the makeshift bag.645Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLe81tmXHKk
The glass inside jingled as Ista's mother grabbed it, she quickly untied the shirt, then proceeded to dump the glass pieces into the mold. She lifted Ista onto the couch, and propped up the leg in the mold over the fire.
"It's going to be alright, honey" she said, cradling Ista "You'll be fine, it's going to be okay"
"...I don't believe I caught your name..." I said carefully.
"Elsha" she responded curtly.
"Nice to meet you, Elsha" I said "I'm Jack"
She grunted, unamused, as she continued to hold Ista.
"...guess I can trust you...you brought her back..." Elsha finally said, thought she didn't sound too happy about it.
"Uh, thanks- I guess..."
My eyes wandered around the room, catching sight of a few picture frames on top of the mantle. The home itself seemed to be very cozy, like the family spent alot of nights sitting together in front of the fireplace.
"Who are you?" Elsha asked.
"Hmm?"
Elsha rolled her eyes.
"Who are you?" she repeated.
"I told you already" I replied, cocking an eyebrow.
"No- who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Just passing through" I said "I'm actually trying to find a way home"
"How would wandering aimlessly from town to town help you get home?" she scowled.
'Well, there goes that battle plan...' I thought sarcastically.
"Well if you put it that way-"
"Do you even know where your home is?"
"Um...uh...no...I don't..."
She shot me a flat look as I blushed.
"Well then, what you might want to consider doing," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm "is going to visit the Queen, and see if she could help"
"The Queen? Like, of all the Glass people?"
"No-" she sighed angrily "the Queen of Arkia"
"Oh...where does she live?"
She rolled her eyes.
"You can talk about that with the mayor later tonight"
"What?"
"You mean we're going to Fire Night?!" Ista cried excitedly.
"As soon as your leg's better sweetie" she smiled, giving her a brief hug.
'Seems the only time she's really happy is when she's with Ista...' I mused.
"What's Fire Night?" I asked.
"An event we hold here every few months," Elsha replied "all the townspeople gather around fires and tell stories"
"Is it a big event?"
"It was traditionally village-only, recently though, we've gotten a few visitors coming in from other countries and towns"
"And I get to come?"
"If you want, I'm not stopping you"
"I think I just might, I could also get directions to the Queen's castle"
"Elsha?"
"What?"
"Can I ask how the Glass-people came to be?"
"The correct term is 'Clarite', and no, to be honest, I don't know exactly how we came to be- but there's an old legend on us"
"What is it?"
"Legend goes that a Hyrit ticked off a dragon, dragon torched it, then bam- you've got the first Clarite"
"Who are the Hyrit?" I asked.
"They're about as tall as you, you'd probably call them 'Sand-people'"
'So that's who they were...'
"Yeah, they were nice"
"What? You've met them?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah, why?"
"Most of them only live in the desert, you would've had to cross the desert to get here"
"Yeah" I said, confused "It was a hike, let me tell you"
She cocked an eyebrow at me.
"Why do you sound so surprised?" I asked.
"The heat can get to us if its too much," she explained "makes us melt a bit"
'That sort of explains a lot...'
"Do all the Clarites live in this town?"
"No, they're everywhere" she said, rolling her eyes "they're spread out across the land, just like any other race"
"Oh" I said.
"Well," Elsha said, glancing out the window "we've got some time before the festival starts"
"Do...do you mind if I take a nap?" I asked sheepishly.
She cocked an eyebrow.
"Please?"
"Fine" she snorted.
"...thank you for your hospitality, I really appreciate it- you could've just as easily thrown me out as soon as you got Ista"
She worked her jaw before walking to a bookshelf in the corner of the room, selected a book, and sat in the chair next to the couch.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
