4 Can We Keep Her?

Taylen looked at the small girl and ventured, "I'm pretty sure it isn't a spirit, nymph, or some other creature." She didn't understand what Krystof was saying. The child was obviously a child in her eyes.

Krystof gave a smirk and replied loftily, "I wouldn't expect YOU to understand the finer details of a woman's anatomy." As he said this, he rubbed his hands up and down his upper chest. He knew she was self-conscious about her flat chest and he loved teasing Taylen about it in front of Tyr.

"Taylen doesn't need those things to be attractive," countered a woman with short blonde hair. "I think she's beautiful just the way she is." Aila always thought of Taylen as perfect. She wished that Taylen felt the same way about her, but Taylen only had eyes for Tyr.

"Aila, shut it. We all know you're just saying that to get on her good side. I speak from the point of view of a man. You know it's the truth cause why would I lie to a childhood friend?" Krystof did not understand how these women could not recognize when one of their own kind was standing in front of them. The swell of the woman's hips and her chest was a dead giveaway.

Although Aila stood up for her, Taylen couldn't help perceiving the woman's words as a backhanded compliment. Wanting to change the subject, especially since they were talking in front of Tyr, she asked, "Mathis, can you give her a physical since you're the healer in the group?" She knew Mathis was tired from work, but she figured a physical would not be too strenuous.

Mathis looked up from under his hood and motioned for the girl to come.

Upon seeing the man's hand movements, Macha shuffled over to the wavy-haired man sitting on the ground. She looked around at the rest of the party. None of them had ill-intentions on their faces. The wavy-haired man seemed lazy and tired, so she gave a small smile and a hesitant wave to the man.

When Macha was closer, she stared at the man's ears. She wanted to get a closer look at them, so see if it were stage makeup or not. The wyvern look real, and the people were tall, but it could just be a very elaborate trick.

Mathis whispered a few words in her ear and held her hands. A faint green light emitted from his hands and Macha felt as if her aches and pains were easing up.

The light scared her, but all the tension from the past few weeks released, and she had an irresistible urge to sleep. It did not seem to hurt, so she allowed him to continue, all the while staring at the light.

Eventually, the man motioned for her to sit beside him. No sooner had Macha rested against the tree, she fell asleep.

"I bet you five gold that she's not a kid," exclaimed Krystof while looking at Taylen. He had confidence in his eyes and paced around the campsite. He planned to go down to the local bar with that money and have a good time.

"Fine, but if you're wrong, you have to carry the hide on the way back. I'm tired of carrying it. It weighs too much." Taylen thought Krystof was an idiot. She did not understand how Tyr could get along with someone as stupid as Krystof.

Everyone looked at Mathis wanting to hear his medical opinion.

"She's a woman," Mathis announced flatly. He pulled his hood back over his eyes and went back to resting. He wished they would just be quiet and let him go to sleep.

Later that night, while they ate dinner, Aila sat down next to Tyr and asked, "What are you going to do with her? She looked pretty beat up and doesn't even speak a common language. Do you think she was a slave that escaped?" Aila's grey eyes radiated with concern. She used to be a slave but was given freedom when her master died.

Tyr took a sidelong glance at the mysterious woman and said, "I'll leave it up to the group. I don't care either way. Since I've never seen anyone who looks like her, I'm not sure where she's from and that could be dangerous." Tyr secretly hoped the group would deny the woman and leave her where they found her. He knew that if they were to take her, then he would be the one responsible for her.

"Fair enough, but I would hate to see such a frail and helpless person be left to fend for herself." Aila glanced back to Macha. Aila noticed how the small woman looked malnourished. She decided she would try her best to convince the party to bring the stranger along.

****

The next day, Macha woke up feeling as if she slept on a million dollar mattress. All the cuts and bruises that covered her arms and legs disappeared. Despite sleeping on the forest floor, she had no aches or pains. She looked at her arms with amazement. The man with the wavy hair must have helped her she concluded.

She looked around and noticed the group of elves talking by the water's edge. Every once in a while, one of them would look at her and shake their head. Macha was positive they talked about her. Someone had been nice enough to leave a piece of hardtack for her with the bowl of soup. Macha reached over and began eating. The soup was cold, but the complexity of blended ingredients made it taste delicious to her deprived taste buds.

Seeing the group disappointed her. Their existence meant that this was not a dream. Now she lost direction on what to do. Initially, her goal was to find the Hana Road and go home, but now that task would be impossible. She was left unsure what to do next.

Macha waited for the group to finish their conversation and wondered if she could follow them. She had been alone for so long and yearned for social interactions. Macha understood that she was not in the same world she used to be in. She needed to find help and hoped these people would give it to her.

Tyr pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired of this conversation. They had been deciding what to do with the woman for a few hours. Krystof and Aila were being stubborn and Mathis said the woman would probably die if left alone.

Tyr initially thought he would leave it up to the group, but now he tried to persuade them to leave the woman behind. He didn't think the vote to keep her would almost be unanimous. His friend Krystof sounded like a child repeating, "Can we keep her?" Aila kept on her mindset that, "She is an obvious damsel in distress." The only one who seemed to be on his side was Taylen, but she always agreed with him.

"FINE. We can keep her. Even though I know that means I'll be keeping her," Tyr just wanted to break camp and head home. He and his twin sister had their 400th birthday coming up. He said he would head home for the party and if he missed it, she would hang it over his head for a while.

"Yes!" cried Krystof, "We can make her a mascot or something. The other guilds won't have somethin' like this." Krystof chucked with an open smile.

Macha heard a commotion coming from the group and looked up. They all stared at her and most of them were smiling.