17

"I'm sorry," Keithia says.

Richard frowns. "You've said that already."

"We need a way back home, Keithia," says Nicholas from beside Val. Stella remains to be seated against the tree whose branch she had tripped on, refusing to say a word.

"And-" Valeria clears her throat. "An explanation." She glances at Richard, and then at Nick, searching for approval in their eyes. "We need that too," she says, facing Keithia.

Val remembers the look of loss and vulnerability in Keithia's eyes right before she had run off yesterday, and then again in this very moment as she tries to shield her eyes with her hair. And she also remembers Nick's words from last night — she's good, and she's our friend. So, Val can't help but show some sliver of kindness in return, now. She figures that it's the least she can do.

Keithia finally looks up. And it's obvious then, even to Valeria: she's purposefully trying to avoid looking directly at Richard. Val finds her heart going out to the poor guy. A goofy man with his glasses and books and dreams and impeccable charm, she feels horrible at seeing him so sad.

"Okay," Keithia says, pulling Valeria out of her own thoughts. Her voice is small, so the ethereal blonde repeats again, louder this time, and with more determination. "Okay." She comes closer to the group — five small steps. "I'll take you all back." She looks at Valeria, and the sudden intensity of her gaze causes Val to catch her breath. "And I'll explain, too."

Keithia takes another step forward, this one a little bigger. "But first I need to help her," she says, pointing at Stella.

"Oh, hell no," replies Stella instantly as she tries to scoot back, only to collide roughly against the trees bark, wincing in pain. "I'm not—"

"You can't walk on that foot," Keithia states simply, gesturing toward Stella's feet. "I can heal you. You've... seen it."

A moment passes by in silence and then Nicholas sighs. "Let her do it, Ella," he says. "You-your toe is broken too. It can get infected."

Stella looks at Nick incredulously, then at Val and then at Richard. Finally she mutters a curse and gives in.

Cautiously, as if she is scared of everyone else and not the other way around, Keithia comes to sit in front of Stella. She angles her hands, the palms facing the injured foot.

And then, slowly, the magic starts to happen.

This time around, Valeria finds herself more enthralled than afraid, and she can't help herself but step closer when Keithia starts to light up. It's like watching a hologram on a glass screen, she thinks. All at once a slight green light starts to erupt from Keithia's skin, so little at first that it's hard to ascertain whether she's casting the light or if it's just a green shade falling on her from an outside source, but then the light increases and she's positively glowing, so much so that her whole body's shrouded in a green hue.

And her eyes. They don't appear scary to Valeria anymore. In fact, she thinks that they look surreal, burning that bright, sharp orange.

And then, of course, the golden rays which begin to shoot from Keithia's hands, wrapping around Stella's leg, making a cast of gold warmth.

Beautifully magnificent. This is what comes to Valeria's mind as her eyes track Keithia seamlessly, trying to catch everything.

~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Nicholas notices after stepping into the wooden cabin, which Keithia has brought them to, is its cleanliness, its orderliness. It's evident that someone comes here regularly. And from the set up — wreaths of various flowers everywhere, favouring yellow ones in particular; actual vines growing along the walls, but in a curved and patterned manner as if someone were guiding their growth somehow; and the smells of moss and wet earth and running fresh water, all mixed together in a sweet scent — he's sure that the place belongs to Keithia.

"Please make yourselves at home," Keithia says. Nick turns around to face her, broken out of his mindful house tour, and finds her gesturing at him and his friends and then at the cabin. Only that there isn't actually any place to sit. No furniture — another thing he has noticed. He should've expected this, he thinks. After all, it is the house of a girl who always sleeps on the bare ground.

Keithia doesn't seem to take notice of everyone else's confusion, though, much to Nick's slight amusement, or if she does then she doesn't show it. She has bigger problems on her hands.

She goes to stand beside a window, looking out into the woods.

The trees and the shrubbery around the place had been quite dense, making the way to the cabin rather difficult. Nicholas imagines this is to insure that no unexpected visitors would chance upon this place.

"You all must have questions, I believe," Keithia says after a while, but more so to herself than to anyone else.

Nicholas nods even though he knows she can't see him. He decides to sit down on the floor, folding his legs in front of himself and wrapping his hands about his knees. Following his lead, Valeria and Stella, the latter of whom has been a lot nicer ever since Keithia healed her foot, sit down, too.

Only Richard remains standing, his gaze never faltering from Keithia. Even though she's still trying to avoid looking at him.

A couple of minutes later Keithia sighs audibly and then she turns around. She comes to settles on the ground too. "Sit, please," she says, her hand stretched out to Richard. It's the first thing she's said directly to him, and the effect is visible since Rich instantly sits down, the five of them now making an irregular circle.

"I'm a," Keithia says, her bows knit together. "I'm not exactly human."

Nicholas finds himself thinking, no shit, though he doesn't say it out loud.

However, when Keithia says, "I'm a mountain nymph," Nick is left at a complete loss of words.

"A what?" Stella asks.

Keithia sighs, running a hand through her hair. "A—"

"Mountain Nymph," Richard says, quietly. With his immense amount of knowledge, he knows, of course, whatever Keithia seems to be talking about. His eyes catch hers. "They're a kind of Nymph, a further category. They're a character from Greek Mythology."

Keithia smiles ruefully. "Mythologies are often derived from reality, no?"

"Yes, but-but," Stella stumbles over her words. Used to always maintaining her grip on every situation, her frustration at being utterly lost shows clearly on her face. "How? All this time, how could you have remained—"

"Hidden?" Keithia asks. "Yeah, we have a knack for blending in."

"We?" Valeria asks, her eyes wide. Nicholas thinks it's from fascination more than shock.

"Yes. We. I'm not the only one. There are a whole lot of us. Communities."

When no one says anything at that, Keithia goes on. "But I don't fit in with the rest of them. They have all these-these rules about how we should never contact humans and all of that."

She shakes her head. "But I love humans," she says, only to pause and let out a small, nervous laugh. "That sounded weird, I apologise. What I mean is that I-I'm not afraid. I don't want to be. I'm fascinated, in fact. And that's why I'd come to you guys." She gestures to the group, pausing to look everyone in the eye as she goes along talking, "I heard that you were in need of a guide. And I just had this feeling that I should help you. I had to help you. I actually wanted to get to know you. So I," her gaze stops at Richard. "I came to you. I tried to become your friend."

"You are," Stella says, suddenly. She clears her throat, speaking louder this time, "Our friend, I mean. I'm sorry for reacting the way I had earlier, I was just, uh-well shocked I guess. But yeah. You are our friend, Keithia."

"Yeah, she's right," Val says, smiling. "You're our friend."

Valeria looks at Nick and he smiles, too, shaking his head. "I never said you weren't. So, yeah. We're all cool."

Keithia smiles at them, grateful, her eyes tearing up. And then she looks at Richard.

"But you ran away," he says, and Nicholas thinks that the both of them know what Rich actually means.

"I'm sorry," Keithia says, her gaze fixed at Richard. "But I-I can't. I helped you. I tried to befriend you. And I loved each moment of it," her voice catches a little at the end. "But I still have to go back home to the others. I'm sorry."

Richard gulps. He hangs his head and looks down. He doesn't say anything.

A while later Keithia sniffles. "I will, um" she says, "I'll take you all back to the Lodge tomorrow." After this, she stands up and leaves.

Nicholas turns his head to the right, catching Val's eye. Her eyes are wet, too, he realises. He doesn't know whether to offer her a smile or not.

He doesn't know if he feels like smiling, period, just yet. After all, their time in the mountains has ended.