Three Days After

"Kestreel..." Aurelia whispered when Martha had left. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Kneeling by his side the whole time, hot tears fell from her cheeks onto his face. She didn't notice when it began raining, keeping her focus upon him the whole time. Glancing up when she heard the girl jumping around in the puddle, she was amazed to find her placing her hands in the water and having it come away covering it. She really is a magician, she thought, watching as she healed the wounds on his arm, making her almost cry with relief.
 
The little girl kept muttering the song as she healed him. After a few minutes Kestreel slowly opened his eyes, finding that half his body was still broken, he yelled in pain when he realized it.
The little girl lost her concentration and quickly hid behind Aurelia. Kestreel had to took a few deep breaths and stay really quiet in order to talk. “I forgot to tell you... You had to stop before use the stone...” He chucked, which only made him feel more pain.


He had to fix himself, but he was unable to. “I need your help, girls...” Said Kestreel smiling at Aurelia and the little girl. “See this...” He made a great effort to grab one of the pouches with the arm that the girl had been healing. “I need you both to take a little bit of this dust, and apply it to the worst injuries you see on my body. But don't use too much, just a pinch.” He closed his eyes, enduring great pain and trying not to faint again.
 
Aurelia was beyond joy when he opened his eyes, starting as he shouted in pain. When he chuckled after his quip about forgetting to tell her to stop before using the stone, she couldn't help but smile, glad that he was well enough to laugh. Listening to his directions about the powder, she nodded, taking the pouch from him. Taking a small amount into the palm of her hand, she placed her first finger in the pile, examining his body for what appeared to be the worst wounds. When she found one that looked like it was causing him the most pain, she gently ran her finger along it, placing a small amount of the dust on the wound.
 
Tears of pain came out of his eyes, as Aurelia and the little girl put some of that magic powder on his skin. Loud noises of bones and muscles readjusting themselves scared the girl, who refused to keep applying more of that dust on Kestreel. After a few minutes he spoke again. “Okay... Enough.” But it still took almost half an hour for him to be able to get up. “That's.... Better. Thank you.” All his bones were, more or less, healed and the pain slowly faded away, turning into an annoying muscular nuisance. He took a deep breath. “You both are okay?”
 
Aurelia was terrified that she might have put too much powder onto him, but when he seemed to be okay, she had to resist the urge to embrace him, the threat of accidentally hurting him again tugging at the back of her mind. When he was able to sit up, she lightly put her arms around him, saying, "I'm so, so sorry, Kestreel." She didn't hold him for long, not wanting to hurt him, and when she pulled away from him, she kept his gaze for a time, wondering when Martha would get back.
 
He checked his clothes, and looked at the girls “Not a single day have passed and I almost en up death. Can't wait for tomorrow!” He chuckled. His clothes were in bad shape, and they already knew he was a mage, so no use hiding it from them. Muttering a long train of words his clothes magically started to re assemble together, the few broken vials fixed themselves, unfortunately, the liquids inside them didn't. Once finished he looked at his clothes again, clean and looking pretty good. “Oooohhhhh.... How did you do that?” Asked the little girl, amazed by such a amateur trick. Kestreel blushed a little bit for the sudden admiration of the girl. “Well, you are a mage too, I don't know what school of magic, but I'm pretty sure I can teach you how to do it.”


A horse could be heard approaching and suddenly, Martha appeared, getting down of the animal. “I went to the town, but is no longer there, it just disappeared...” Then Martha looked at them and quickly realized the truth. Slowly putting his hand over her sword she gave a step backwards. “You... You are mages...” Stammered her. Instinctively, Kestreel hid one of his hands on his back, a dark glow surrounded it, eating all the light around it. That was one of the few tricks he knew how to cast without speaking. Very useful in situations like this. Still, he didn't attacked immediately, maybe she would ran away, or maybe Aurelia could convince her he wasn't a 'bad' mage.
 
Standing up immediately, Aurelia attempted to remediate the situation. "M-Martha, please. Kestreel was only doing what he thought was best. I was helping him by lying to you. I...I had to do it. I can't tell you why, but it's one of the most important things to me." She shook her head, not sure how much to say. "Please, Martha..."
 
Martha was still on guard, looking at them. “The town. You made it disappear. All those people...” Said Martha. Making a whole town disappear, condemning all those people to the infinite nothingness of the Edge of Forever, wasn't something he was proud of. But people willing to burn alive a little girl... He didn't felt bad for sending them to the void.


“You had no right to do it...” Said Martha, making notable the anger in her voice. Noticing her imminent attack, Kestreel no longer hid his hand, letting the dark magic spread across her shoulders, surrounding his arms in light sucking shadows. “Don't make me do it, Martha.” Said Kestreel. Amazed and fearfully she stepped back. Time / space magic was really weird, and those who where able to bend it to their will, where know as the most powerful mages in all the realms. Of course, was also the most hard to master and dangerous magic of all.


“You mages are all the same... There is no good in magic...” Said Martha. Quickly mounting her horse and fleeing as fast as she could. The darkness around Kestreel arms faded away with his mental command. He took a deep breath and looked at the little girl, scared, hiding behind Aurelia. “I'm sorry.” Said Kestreel looking outside. “Let's go to that barn.” He pointed to a construction that could be seen at the distance. “We will rest there. Okay?”
 
Aurelia kept her face stoic as Martha quickly became angry, her eyebrows pressed together in worry.She didn't know what to think. She'd felt sympathy for the girl, but all those people...Coming back to reality as Martha's voice darkened, she noticed her tensing, as if preparing to attack. Her eyes widened as Kestreel let his magic encompass her upper body, instinctively taking a step back. She was able to take a breath of relief when Martha left, visibly relaxing. As he suggested they go to a barn, she nodded, saying, "It would probably be best, for the night." Leaving the shed, she was able to see Martha's quickly disappearing silhouette in the distance.
 
They went as fast as they could trying to not get too wet. But the rain was quite intense, so they got wet anyway. With a strong kick he opened the barn door and let the two girls go inside, and then, once he was inside, he closed the door. He took a deep breath. Then he sat on the floor ant leaned on some bales of straw. “Let's try to rest a while...” He was still feeling sorry for all that they had been trough that day. “And Aurelia... I'm sorry. I promise tomorrow will be a better day. Okay?”
 
Aurelia was nearly soaked to the bone by the time she got inside the barn, teeth chattering and skin shivering while Kestreel sat down. When he promised her that tomorrow would be better, she nodded, trying to find a semi-comfortable place to sit down at. Hugging her knees to her chest, she tried to calm herself down, adrenaline still rushing through her from when Martha appeared like she was going to attack.
 
Several minutes passed, Kestreel shook himself several times, just like an animal would do, in order to dry himself as much as he could. Then the little girl got next to Aurelia and looked at her with her little child eyes. “You are wet.” Said her and, surprisingly, she seemed dry. “Let me dry you.” Then the little girl ran one hand across the clothes of Aurelia, picking up the water not only in her clothing, also in her skin and hair. Forming a ball of water between his little hands. Once Aurelia was dry, the girl played with the water a couple of minutes before trowing it outside.


Kestreel looked in silence as the girl did her magic. “I know what school you belong.” Said him and the little girl looked at him, kind of confused. “Is elemental magic, is common if she masters only one element.” He slowly got close, but she quickly hid behind Aurelia. Then Kestreel sat on the floor and took some soil from the ground. “I'm kind of thirsty. Would you help me find some water? Pretty please?” The little girl, still behind Aurelia, stretched one arm and slowly dried the soil, creating a little ball of water into the air. Then, Kestreel used his free hand and tiny dark pints generated around his had. The little girl quickly hid his hand, but the water didn't fell, Kestreel was holding it up, invalidating the gravity around it. Gently he drove the water to his mouth and drank it. “Delicious! Thank you.” Said him with a smile, as he made his magic fade away.
 
Aurelia blinked in surprise as the girl took the water from her clothes and hair, but remained silent as she did so, watching her preform magic. When Kestreel spoke, she turned her gaze to him, and listened as he spoke about how she would be in the elemental school and then as he asked her to give him water. Aurelia could tell that the girl was still frightened of him, but she couldn't really blame her either. After what he did, Aurelia didn't think that it would be easy for her to sleep for a few days. "We should get some sleep," Aurelia said a while later, tired from traveling and from the events of the day.
 
Kestreel nodded. “I agree.” Then he got comfortable next to the girls, not too close neither, since he didn't wanted to make anybody feel uncomfortable. The little girl, however, did get close to Aurelia, trying to find her warm hug, which probably would help her sleep. The rain was still raging outside, but that barn was well made, and not a single leak could be seen. The peaceful sound of the water crashing against the wood made Kestreel quickly fall asleep, a dreamless and restoring sleep.
 
Noticing the girl's movement, Aurelia held her, knowing that she was comforting, while simultaneously being comforted, even if the girl didn't know it. Letting her eyes fall close, she tried to relax, but the events of the day prevented her from doing so easily. It took her longer than normal to relax enough to where her body would allow her to sleep, and even then it was a troubled one.
 
The morning came, and with it, Kestreel waked up, as usual, in the same position he fell asleep. He got up from the floor and stretched his body with a big yawn. He quietly walked outside the barn, not wanting to wake up the girls, yet. The rain had stopped, and the sun was starting to rise shyly. He took a deep breath and walked several steps away from the barn.


Kestreel stopped and rose his arms. Then, he started to move like if he was dancing with the space around him. That mystic dance slowly dropped the gravity around him, little drops of water started to rise in the air, floating around him but he didn't touched any drop in his dance. As the sun rose, the first beams of light reflected on the water around him. The slow dance he was performing was an advanced technique to reinforce the magic power and magical stamina.


He then noticed that the little girl was looking at him, amazed by his movements and his magic, Sitting on the wet grass, at a prudent distance. Kestreel stopped, and let the water slowly drop to the floor again. “Hey. Good morning.” Said him, and the little girl waved his hand in response. “Want to train with me? I can teach you how to do it property.” asked Kestreel with a smile. The little girl hesitated, but then she got up and walked nest to him. “Look, you have to stay like this.” Then Kestreel proceed to explain her a couple of basic movements to start training her powers.


In no time both of them were moving, performing the same exact movements at the same exact time. “That's it, you are doing great.” Said Kestreel, and the little girl smiled, as she moved small drops of water around her, moving with her, obeying her.
 
When Aurelia woke up, she was alone. For a fleeting, terrified moment, she thought that Kestreel had formed some elaborate scheme to leave her out in the middle of nowhere, but it left almost as soon as it had come, when she heard his voice outside. Standing up, she went outside, and watched as he began teaching the girl, remaining silent and in the background. After a while of this, she stepped out of the shadow of the barn, letting her presence be known with a wave.
 
The little girl noticed Aurelia and stopped to ran to her and say 'good morning' with a wide smile on her face. Kestreel noticed her too, but he took a couple of seconds to finish his training and then, walked towards them. “Good morning.” Said him smiling at the girls. “I'm hungry.” Muttered the little kid. “Yeah! Me too, tough girl.” Said Kestreel making movements towards her, with her hands, like if he wanted to grab the little girl and eat her. She giggled and jumped behind Aurelia. Then he took a deep breath and looked around. “Any idea where do we can get some food?” Asked him to Aurelia.
 
Aurelia couldn't help but smile as Kestreel played with the girl, but had to shake her head when he asked her if she knew anywhere to get food. "That tree by the lake might have apples, but that was a long way on horse...We could go along the road, if we can find it again, and hope there's somewhere nearby..." She shrugged, not familiar with the land, having never left her hometown.
 
He looked back from where they came from. He didn't felt like going backwards. “Well, if here is a barn, the farm can't be far. Right?” He didn't liked to stole from humble farmers, in fact, they usually were kind and gave him food. But if in this farm the say 'No', he would have to stole the food. “Asking for food in a farm. Sounds good, Aurelia?” Said Kestreel. Then he looked at the little girl, and realized none of them knew her name. “By the way, what's your name, little monster?” Asked Kestreel to the girl, in a really cute way.

(( Do you want to decide her name? ))