A fanfic, pt.2

Sara woke early that morning, without knowing why.

Her last hope was dashed. Janner was dead, and he wasn’t coming back.

She could not even bear to look at the place where Janner was laying.

She looked around solemnly, and in doing so noticed a winged figure drop from the sky into the trees near the clearing.

Artham must have gone crazy again, she thought. I'd better go help him.

She went out into the woods where he was, and there she found him sitting on a tree branch babbling to himself.

“Artham.”

“Artham!”

He turned and looked down at her. He had a blank stare, but as she looked closer, there was a twinge of regret hidden behind the empty look.

Just like old times. She thought back to his episodes in room twelve of the Flabbit’s Paw, when they were still in Skree. He was like a baby in this state, needing someone to help him do everything.

“C’mon, Artham.” She helped him down. "Let's get you back to camp. Maybe some of the Water will help you," she said.

And so she slowly led Artham by the hand, walking with him back to the camp.

Nia, Kalmar, Oskar, and Leeli all woke at around the same time.

But it was Kalmar who saw what had happened first.

"HE'S GONE!"

The shout echoed out across the mountains.

"What?!"

"Where could his body have gone?"

"Where is he?"

"Maybe… Maybe the Maker took him," Kalmar said quietly, tears slowly running down his face.

"Or maybe, this was His plan."

Everyone turned, and indeed, everyone knew, without a doubt, this was the Maker's plan.

"JANNER!"

Kalmar got to him first. Nia and Leeli followed shortly after.

But it was Kalmar who stayed, weeping into Janner's shoulder. "I-I-I thought I h-had killed y-you!"

"But you didn't!"

"Yes, I did. Take a look around, Janner. Where are we right now?"

Janner turned, and, seeing the Well, the trees, and the Killridge mountains, said incredulously, "The First Well?"

Kalmar nodded.

"Mr. Reteep? You're here too!?"

Kalmar nodded again.

"Artham is here too!" said Leeli.

"Artham? I thought he was in Skree." Janner looked slightly confused.

Kalmar smirked. "Along with Sara Cobbler?" he asked.

Janner blushed bright red and looked away. "Well… yeah…" he said quietly.

Kalmar laughed. "No, they're actually both here with us—" he said, looking around.

Janner's confusion grew, but so did the color of his face.

"—Although I'm not sure where either of them are right now."

Sara had been slowly leading Artham back to camp when she heard the yell.

"Did you hear that?" Artham asked, suddenly sane again.

"Yeah. I wonder what happened." Sara began walking faster.

They rounded a large tree near the edge of the clearing, and—

"JANNER!"

She ran toward him. He turned, and, seeing her, turned even redder than he had been before.

She ran up and threw her arms around him. She felt the familiar pleasant tingle in her stomach as she hugged Janner.

He stumbled backwards for a moment, but then stood firm. After a moment he came to his senses and hugged her back. The tingle became a warm and fuzzy feeling that spread all the way to the tips of her toes.

"I missed you a lot," she whispered into his ear.

"I missed you too," he whispered back.

They stayed that way for a moment, then Sara planted a massive kiss on his cheek. For a moment he thought he was dreaming. His eyes glazed over. He couldn't have moved an inch, even if he had wanted to.

A second later, he came back to himself. This time he was the one who kissed Sara on the cheek.

They were both brought back to reality when they heard Kalmar.

Kalmar gave a triumphant "WHOOP! Way to go, Janner!", smirking at them both. Leeli giggled.

Both Janner and Sara turned away, thoroughly embarrassed.

Great. Janner thought to himself. I'll never hear the end of this.

But to his relief, Nia turned on Kalmar and Leeli.

"Oh, stop it! Leave your brother alone! He can't help it if he's in love."

Sara turned back toward them, smirking even through her embarrassment. "Kalmar, my guess is that you would do the same thing to Galya—"

"NO I WOULDN'T!" Kalmar said, a bit too loud, himself turning slightly pink.

"—And Leeli would do the same thing to Thorn if this happened to them."

Leeli, too, turned red, and said quietly, "Yeah. I probably would."

It was at this point that Artham chose to appear. He dropped to the ground in front of Janner and wrapped him in both his wings and his arms.

"Nice job, Throne Warden."

"Really?" Janner asked.

"Yes! Look at you — you've grown, your voice is deeper, and — as is custom for a Throne Warden — you've already got yourself an admirer." He said this last part with a smile and a wink, and Janner turned red again.

“Is it true that maidens of the realm will faint at a Warden’s passing?”

Artham narrowed his eyes. “Where did you hear that?”

“...Bonifer Squoon,” Janner said, now reconsidering bringing Squoon up.

“Oh. Well… Yes. It is true. Mostly.” Artham turned to Sara. “And whoever has the Warden’s heart should consider themselves very lucky.”

Sara grinned, embarrassed and slightly red, and looked away.

"I have an idea," said Janner, as he turned to the group again. "Leeli — maybe the Water could… well, you know…"

Leeli thought for a moment, then gasped. "Heal my leg?" she whispered.

Janner nodded silently.

"Come on, Janner," Kalmar said, grinning. "We really might need that water in case we run into a gargan rockroach again."

That gave everyone a good chuckle.

And so they all went to the Well again, but this time Janner was the one who dipped the bucket in. Leeli sat carefully at the edge of the Well and gratefully accepted the bucket from Janner, then carefully tilted her head back and took a drink. 

Her eyes were bright for a moment, but then she made a face. "It feels really weird."

She scooted away from the Well a little ways, and then her face went slack. "I think it worked," she said, awestruck.

She stood up, then took a careful step forward. Then another step. Then she burst into a full sprint, laughing, and ran around the Well.

Kalmar began chasing her, and to everyone's surprise, she stayed ahead of him, although by only a short distance.

Janner joined, and surprised himself by keeping up with Kalmar. It must be the Water, he thought.

Then Artham picked up the half-full bucket. His hands shook as he raised it to his lips. His hope was to become sane again, but — Esben isn’t here — he was worried that drinking the water — Esben should be here — and being at this place — coward, you left him — would bring back too many painful memories — weakling — from when he first found it. But — Esben is dead, dead, dead — before he could think otherwise, he drank.

Instantly, his mind was clear, and he realized that he could think about — and accept — all of the things that he had done, that he was ashamed of. He felt an overwhelming sense of peace and forgiveness, and immediately prayed a silent prayer of gratitude to the Maker. Yes, he had been weak; he had been a coward; he did leave Esben — but did not the Maker know this before he was even born?

He smiled sadly for a moment. Esben would’ve loved this, he thought. 

Then ran, and, catching up with the kids, began doing cartwheels and playing with them.

Nia was confused for a moment, but then decided to join in the frolicking.

Soon everyone was running around, enjoying themselves. Even the dragons, who were now unburdened, began flying and doing loops in the air. 

Thus, everyone’s heart was full of joy, and it stayed that way until the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the forest. But by that time, especially after all of the excitement of the morning, all were fast asleep.

Janner woke just before dawn. Unsure of what had stirred him, he quietly crept out of his tent, and saw that the first signs of dawn were beginning to show — he could see just a little bit of light filtering through the trees, and the sky had turned from a black, star-peppered void to a gray oblivion, which was gradually getting lighter as the sun rose. 

Looking towards the Well, he saw a massive creature, quietly lapping up the water. He was frightened only for a moment, for he saw that the creature, although a behemoth, meant no harm to him nor to anyone that he was with. Upon hearing some faint noise that he had made, the great beast lifted its head, looked calmly at him, and then soundlessly trudged away, back into the forest.

Janner shuddered. This must be one of the behemoths that comes to drink from the Well each night. He wondered if the massive bones that he and Kalmar had seen in the valley near the Deeps were from something like the beast that he had seen.

After standing in awe of the creature for a short time, he looked around, and seeing no one else awake, sat down quietly on the grass to watch the sun come up.

After a few minutes of quiet solitude, he was joined by Kalmar, who came and sat down beside him. And so they sat, in the same way they had at the Roundish Widow on the fateful night that they had first been separated from the rest of their family.

The sky turned slowly from a dim gray to a light blue.

They were then joined by Sara. She sat right next to Janner and leaned her head against his shoulder. The light was enough now that Kalmar could see that Janner had turned a bright red. Janner made a small noise, adjusted his sitting position, then turned to Kalmar. 

Not. One. Word. He mouthed silently to his brother, who was smirking.

Leeli was the next one to rise, and she also joined the group, sitting next to Sara, who put an arm around her shoulders. Leeli also put her head on Sara’s shoulder, and to Janner’s relief, Sara leaned toward Leeli.

Kalmar raised an eyebrow at Janner, who turned pink and shot him a glare back.

After another few minutes like this, Nia and Artham awoke at nearly the same time. They, too, joined the group.

Kalmar soon noticed that almost everyone was up… except, of course, for Oskar.

Then he had an idea.

Smirking, he motioned silently to the group, put a finger to his lips, and then beckoned them over to Oskar’s tent. They all quietly crept over, then (as indicated by Kalmar) pulled the stakes out and collapsed the tent that Oskar was in.

Oskar, somehow, slept on.

Kalmar decided it was necessary to take drastic measures. Kalmar silently imitated someone yelling, then counted down with his fingers.

3… 2… 1… 

The entire group shouted as loud as they could — for only a moment — and Oskar awoke instantly.

He attempted to jump to his feet, but because he had the tent on top of him, he fell. He got up again, still with the tent on top of him, and proceeded to try and figure out what was going on. After a few seconds of turning about in confusion, he finally realized, pulled the tent off, and jumped into what he thought was a defensive position.

Only to realize that, embarrassingly, everyone was doubled over in uproarious laughter after seeing him flounder about with the tent on, for his performance had been very entertaining.

He was angry for a moment, but soon joined in the merriment.

“Oskar, you really should sleep lighter — we collapsed the tent, and you still slept!” Janner chuckled.

“It wasn’t until I told them all to yell that you woke up,” Kalmar said, then imitated Oskar in the tent, and finally collapsed into another fit of laughter.

After a cheerful few minutes, everyone had gotten a good chuckle, and things were finally calming down.

It was then that Kalmar realized his mistake. He had been about to suggest that they begin filling up the containers with Water when he noticed two things: first, that they probably would not be able to carry every container filled; and second, that it might not be a good idea to just give the Water out to anyone and everyone — they did not need another epoch-long evil to take over.

“Well,—” Kalmar began saying. There was another short fit of laughter as everyone glanced toward the Well. “We’ve got containers to hold the Water, but I don’t know how much the dragons will be able to carry.” He glanced at the dragons.

We will have to see. Hulwen’s voice went through his mind. I do not know the exact amount that I can carry, but if you slowly add weight, I can tell you when the load is too heavy for me to fly.

Kalmar nodded. “Alright. First we have to figure out how much each dragon can carry. One dragon will take Oskar, Artham, and their supplies, as well as a small supply of Water. You guys will take the Water to the Hollows — some of them are still injured, right? — and the other two will take the rest of us, our supplies, and as much Water as they can carry. We’ll be going back to Anniera.

“So, if we can’t fill up all of the containers, that’s alright, but regardless of whether or not they are full, we’ll have to carry all of the containers back.”

Everyone nodded.

“Also, we’ll have to pack up camp, and get ready as if we were leaving, so that each dragon can find the right amount of weight to carry.”

Alright. Everyone nodded again.

“Then let’s get to work!”

Soon enough, the containers had been unloaded and sorted, things were packed up enough to be put on the dragons.

They filled the larger containers with water, then put them, one at a time, onto each dragon.

I think I can take a bit more. The green dragon — the last of the dragons — was being loaded. Oskar was already atop him, as well as his and Artham’s things, along with two full barrels of Well Water.

“Are you sure? You’ll need to fly all the way to Ban Rona.”

The dragon considered this. Maybe only a small barrel, then.

They put the small barrel on, and the dragon nodded. That’s enough. I won’t be able to carry much more than this.

“Alright.” Kalmar nodded, then started to walk over to Hulwen and the gold dragon. On the way, however, he tripped over something hard that was hidden in a clump of grass. He turned, and was surprised to find that the provocateur was a seed nearly the size of his head.

He quickly and carefully unearthed the massive thing, then strapped it to the gold dragon. Feeling the need to explain, he said, “I want to see if it’ll grow in Anniera. Or maybe in the Hollows.” 

The dragon nodded. It’s light enough to not be a problem.

“Alright, then.” Kalmar climbed onto Hulwen, then nodded at the other dragons, along with their occupants. “We’re off.”

[Link to part 3 will be in the comments.]