The Ridgerunner in the Durgan Guild 4

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea..." Hahner remarked as he walked close to Keya.

"It should be fine as long as I stay out of sight." Keya patted Hahner on the back. "... I know I was upset before but... Thank you for caring enough to check where it went."

Hahner softly smiled at her. "I know how much it means to you..."

Keya smiled back in response and paused in walking. "Well..." She looked around. "I believe this is half way." She looked back at Hahner. "Are you heading back?"

Hahner shook his head. "No. I can wait for you in a nearby tree. I don't want to leave you out here alone."

She nodded in understanding. "Alright, well... I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

He nodded to her and watched her scamper off. Afterward, he climbed the nearest tree and sat there quietly to wait for her return.

Meanwhile, Keya ran all the way to the edge of the forest. As she got closer, she heard music being played; music she knew for sure was from her flute. Keya couldn't help but feel a bit angry that someone else was enjoying something that was personally given to her but what could she do? She wasn't supposed to talk to humans let alone interact with them.

Upon arrival, she climbed a tree that leaned over the field so she could get a good look at whoever was playing her flute.

There, on the stump like the day before, sat Jireh playing the flute. This time he was mindlessly blowing notes and flipping through a book on his lap.

Keya narrowed her eyes upon seeing the boy playing her flute. She watched him awhile without a word, wondering if he would possibly leave at any moment and forget the flute on the stump. However, this moment never came. The boy kept playing seemingly empty notes in what seemed like a random order.

Just when she was about the leave, Jireh played a small ditty that sounded familiar to Keya. Since it reminded Keya of her mother, she ended up staying longer. She leaned more carelessly on the branch she was crouching on to be more comfortable.

Jireh practiced this ditty a few times and while there were a few off notes, Keya started to enjoy it. It had been so long since she heard the flute being played by someone other than herself and she missed it. Both her mother and father would play flute duets together on cool summer nights back when she was younger... Keya wondered whatever happened to the sparkle in her father's eyes.

After listening to the music a while, Keya forgot where she was. She had been leaning on the branch so serenely that she made a similar mistake that her friend Hahner had made earlier... She fell out of the tree; and so marked the third time she had fallen from a great height.

The loud thunk noise made Jireh jump and look toward the forest.

Keya groaned and held her head with her back to the ground. Despite having been given fast healing herbs, she still had a minor concussion. This fall didn't help her case, she cut her head when she fell on a rogue branch.

Jireh squinted his eyes and started slowly stepping closer to where he heard the noise come from. "... Hello? Is someone there?"

Keya heard him and tried desperately to get up. "Come on! Move you stupid legs!" Her mind screamed but her body refused listen. It became clear to her she should have rested more.

The human's footsteps got closer until Jireh was about five feet away from her. Once he saw Keya lying there unable to get up, his jaw dropped. He had never seen a ridgerunner this close before and he was fasinated.

She looked at him with a terrified expression on her face. In her panic, she tried to drag herself away.

"Wait!" Jireh exclaimed and extended his hand. "Please don't leave!"

Despite being a bit dazed, Keya slowly looked back at Jireh and slowly narrowed her eyes at him.

"Alright- I know you have no reason to trust me but-." Jireh shuffled the flute into his pocket and showed Keya the book he was reading.

Keya lowered her eyebrows and looked at the book. What she saw made her eyebrows go back up and her eyes open wide.

On the page open to her, she saw a sketch of a ridgerunner and a flute similar to hers. Beside those sketches, she saw a musical staff with a small song written. Keya could tell what it was but since she never learned the human's native language, she couldn't tell what it said. Keya glanced back at Jireh inquisitively.

"I've been wanting to meet one of you guys for a long time." Jireh explained. "It's kinda lonely this far out of town and... I do a lot of reading about the forest's wildlife."

She heard Jireh but chose not to reply to him. Keya sighed and tried to stand up again but once again found she couldn't.

Jireh quickly came over to offer his hand without hesitation.

Keya was startled by this and flinched when his hand came down to her.

"You look like you hit your head pretty hard... Are you okay?" Jireh asked, sincerely worried for Keya despite her being a ridgerunner.

Keya stared at him and her eyes began to narrow again. "You shouldn't be talking to me."

Jireh nearly dropped his book when he heard Keya speak. "So you do talk!" He exclaimed, keeping his hand reaching down for her to take. "What's your name? My name's Jireh."

She glanced back at his hand and thought a moment. "Perhaps if he gets close enough... I can swipe my flute back."

With that thought in mind, Keya hesitantly took Jireh's hand and stood to her feet. Once up, she realized her balance was off and she nearly fell down again; but Jireh was quick to keep her from falling.

"Easy!" Jireh helped support Keya by letting her lean on him. "Easy. How hard did you hit your head on that tree root?? It looks like you're bleeding-"

Keya used this opportunity to try and pickpocket the human but was immediately caught since her reflexes weren't the best after her concussion.

Jireh noticed she was trying to steal his flute. "Hey! I'm trying to help you and you're trying to steal from me?"

"It's my flute." Keya replied in defense, sounding rather bitter.

That was when Jireh realized that she was the ridgerunner that broke into his father's storehouse.

"Wait... You're the one who stole food from us?" Jireh asked.

Keya became quiet and she glanced away. She would have just looked away but she didn't know she could trust Jireh.

Jireh frowned. "Why'd you steal?"

"... Because we're hungry." Keya replied before trying to pull away from the human boy. "I need to go." She tried to firmly reply but didn't move her feet. Keya still wanted her flute back and to be honest, she didn't know if she could make it back.

"I know there's a drought... and if we have a drought, you do too, right?" Jireh asked before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the flute. "Here, you can have your flute back. I'm sorry it um... I may have drooled on it a bit."

She quickly snatched the flute and looked it over. She cringed to see Jireh was right about the drool but she still put it in her pocket. Once Keya had her flute, she tried to run off but she nearly fell once more. Keya huffed when Jireh caught her again.

"Wait wait! Your head is clearly hurt and this woods has a lot of predators-"

"Let go!" Keya hissed and continued to try to pull away. It was only when Jireh pulled out a couple grapes from his pocket did she stop resisting.

"Listen-" Jireh said, showing Keya the grapes. "I'll give you these if you let me help your head. After that, you can go home."

Keya paused and stared at the grapes a moment and looked at Jireh. She wondered how he could have her favorite on hand... and started to become curious as to how much he knew about her people.

Jireh looked her in the eyes sincerely, waiting for an answer.

"Isn't your... The farmer is he your... Is he home?" She stammered in response, being still a bit dazed but focused on the grapes.

"He's my dad but he's not home right now. He and mom went into town a little while ago. He doesn't like ridgerunners but... I don't think he'd be mad if I helped one that was hurt." Jireh replied, assuming his parents would be okay with him helping Keya because to him, helping a ridgerunner was like helping any other creature in the forest.

Keya couldn't help but look at the grapes in the boy's hand and nod in response.

"Let's get you bandaged up, alright?" Jireh smiled at her and helped support her on one side to walk.

She couldn't believe it but she found herself letting this human help her. "I'm crazy to trust him..." Keya thought, "But... What choice do I have? I'm hurt and he has me..."

With that in mind, Jireh helped Keya into his house.