Ruth and Sheba followed the river out of the city. Thoughts were racing through Ruth’s head. There was much to ruminate on. There were plenty of differences between her two peoples. That was abundantly clear. Ruth needed to find common ground. She’d already seen the good and bad in both races. Ruth and Sheba passed a group of Benelim, who gave them disdainful looks as they passed. Ruth saw the familiar undercurrents of sadness and grief in them. Yet some had no excuse, no hidden depths, they were truly black at heart.

  It would seem like common ground might not be enough to sway hearts and minds. Life wasn’t so simple, black and white. There’s a multitude of greys, tragedies and wrongdoings by all parties.

  Ruth rubbed her temples, she needed to shelve the thought for now. She still had one last errand today, and at least this one was going to be more fun.

  The two of them found a spot to rest, just off the golden stoned path on a patch of soft yellow grass. Ruth wanted to take the opportunity to test out some new spells. She pulled out some parchments from her belongings. Sheba took a seat against a nearby tree, smiling softly as always. Ruth knew she liked to watch her work.

  Ruth examined the first spell. A simple fireball spell. She had to be careful, she didn’t want to set such a pristine world ablaze. It would take three signs, perfect. Nice and quick, good for dealing with enemies. She took a deep breath and lifted her arms. With precision and firmness, Ruth did the signs and a fireball leapt out of her hands, like a red hot meteor.

  Sheba clapped at the display. Ruth gave her a curt smile. There was room for improvement, she had a hard time aiming the spell while signing at the same time. She needed to direct it properly. Ruth gave it another go, focusing on an old rotting stump far from any grass. One, two, three! She shot a fireball, hitting the stump, causing it to explode into a mist of charred bark.

  Ruth and Sheba glanced at each other, and their eyes twinkled. That was more powerful than Ruth thought, good to know.

  Next one was an animation spell, thrusting her will on a nearby object to do her bidding. Four signs, Ruth wondered if she could bring it down to three. What to test it on? Ruth scanned her surroundings, in the distance stood a willow tree. It was draped in vines, adjacent to a nearby pond. Perfect. With a swift motion, she did the signs, and on cue, one of the vines came to life. It snapped off the tree and slithering to her like a snake, leaving a trail of dirt in its wake.

  It circled her, almost affectionately. Ruth turned to Sheba, who had fallen asleep against the tree. Ruth’s eyes turned mischievous. The vine was bound to do her bidding, as long as Ruth maintained the concentration. Acting on Ruth’s will, the vine crawled over to Sheba. It slowly and gently trickled up her side and circled her shoulder, before tickling her neck. Sheba stirred and leapt up in fright, tossing the vine away, eyes aghast.

  Ruth fell to the ground laughing. Sheba winced at the sound before pouting, “Why did you do that?” she signed.

  “I had to test the spell somehow,” signed Ruth, uncaring at the sloppiness.

  “You bitch!” signed Sheba, yet she returned the grin.

  Ruth spent another half hour testing out spells. She conjured a protective barrier, a shimmering wall of blue light. She couldn’t maintain it, which caused her to pout in frustration. She cast a spell that drew water from the nearby pond, coalescing into a ball in front of her. A stick thrown by Sheba threw off her concentration, causing the water to splash all over Ruth.

  Now it was Sheba’s turn to laugh, as she proudly signed that they were even now.

  Many of the spells Ruth tried were more mundane but still useful. One spell conjured the nearby dirt into crude seats, for example. Yet many more were spectacular. Some of these were merely translations of existing spells, such as the levitation spell, an exact copy of the one Mikel used. Others were brand new, and would need to be translated back into the Old Tongue.

  Ruth grinned, how ironic that the tables had turned. One of these was a whip of fire, a long lashing tendril of yellow flame. Ruth twirled it around. It was very unwieldy to use, and she had to dissipate it before she caused a fire or worse, hit herself or Sheba.

  There was one last spell Ruth wanted to try. It was the most dangerous one by far. She signed to Sheba, telling her to back away, lest things get dangerous. This spell would take five signs and lead to an explosion, a sizzle in the air would be the only warning. The issue was Ruth didn’t know how big the blast would be nor how easy it would be to aim it.

  With a deep exhale, she got to work. Ruth made sure each sign was exactly right, no mistakes. The air sizzling was way more brief than Ruth expected, and she had to jump out of the way, lest she get hit by her own blast. Ruth saw a torrent of fire and smoke, and even she could hear the boom of the explosion.

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  Even as it was, she hit the ground, rolling away and landing on her back. She wasn’t hurt but she would need a new Adamite cape. All that was left was some grey tattered cloth. Sheba caught up to her, her face aghast in horror. She sighed in relief upon seeing Ruth okay. Sheba’s eyes glowed as with a move of her lips, Ruth’s cloak repaired itself.

  Sheba helped Ruth to her feet. “I think that’s enough for today,” signed Sheba.

  Ruth nodded. She didn’t want to get up yet and she flopped back onto the ground. Sheba shrugged and joined her. The day nearly felt like summer, and not the middle of autumn. The blue sky was still vibrant, like the last flecks of warmth before the cold winter came. The sky was clear, and Ruth made a nod in gratitude to Caelus, God of the Heavens, for the view.

  Ruth turned to Sheba. It felt nice having her company, it made her feel less alone, that no matter how torn she felt sometimes about where she belonged, at least she had Sheba. Even Mother didn’t want to leave the Golden Wood these days. Sheba always had this allure about her. Ruth had never seen someone as dark skinned as her, and it always intrigued her.

  Sheba turned when she saw Ruth staring, causing Ruth to turn away, blushing. “Is something wrong?” Sheba signed.

  Ruth shook her head, merely signing, “You never told me where you were from.”

  Sheba shrugged. “You never asked. I truly don’t remember much. Elias found me early on. He said I came from the Southern Realms.” Sheba made a grandiose sign, “Much further away from here. I never knew my parents, I only remember two things, the Shard entering me and being cradled in Elias’ arms.”

  Ruth tilted her head. “What was Elias doing so far south?”

  “He said he was looking for Godshards, his foresight drew him to where I was. He said he found me in a basket in an alley of a small town.”

  Ruth blinked and her hands came up slowly, “That sounds like how Mother found me.”

  Sheba grinned. “I know! We have a connection, you and I. That’s part of it.”

  “Did you ever want to go back home?”

  Sheba’s glowing eyes flickered. “The island is my home. I wouldn’t feel like I’d belong down there anyways. That ship has sailed.”

  Ruth frowned. “But isn’t that your people, your culture?”

  “My culture is what I choose it to be. As far as I am concerned,” Sheba gestured to the world around them. Ruth was in awe of her passion and drive. Every micro expression and movement of her body echoed her signs. It was a clarity of purpose pure and true, “This is my world. I love going on these journey’s with you. I feel like I’m exploring the world just like Adam did. Adam said life is an ever expanding process to be embraced. When I’m with you, I feel like I’m proving his teachings true.”

  Ruth blushed at the complements, she didn’t know how to even respond to that. All she could do was grin and hold Sheba’s hand. They laid for a little while longer, taking in the pristine view. Eventually they had to get up again, and with some reluctance, they packed up their things and got on the road again. The sun was waning in the sky as they approached Mother’s. Another familiar face came down the opposite way to meet them. It was Mikel.

  Ruth couldn’t believe it. Aside from Sheba, no one else had ever stopped by from the Cradlelands.

  “Hey, Mikel!” signed Ruth. “What brings you here?”

  Mikel was grim. “It’s Elias,” he signed. “He’s not doing well. He’s sick.”

  Ruth sighed. It made sense, Elias was getting quite old, even by Godshard standards. They were all expecting this. “I see.”

  Mikel could hardly look Ruth in the eye. Ruth’s heart sank, she knew from his body language what he was going to ask before he signed it.

  …………………………..

  Ruth entered her old home, she told Sheba and Mikel to wait outside. It felt so strange to be here after being away for so long. Yet it felt comforting too, her body relaxed in subtle ways that it didn’t anywhere else. The dim candle light was comforting. She knew every inch of the earthy wall and every groove of the wooden table. Mother draped one of her old leather coats over the table, a dusty brown wrinkled jacket that had seen better days. Mother had a needle and thread in her hands, slowly repairing an old tear from a previous hunt.

  Mother turned to Ruth as she approached, and her face grew tense. “Hey, Ruth, what’s wrong?” she signed.

  “Elias is sick,” signed Ruth. “We don’t know how much longer he has.”

  Mother grew sad. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “I need to leave early. You and Aunt Kathy should come too.”

  Mother paused. “What? You were supposed to stay for another month. We were going to go hunting. I was going to teach you how to use my bow finally.”

  Ruth pouted. “Mother, this is important. Elias is an old friend and he’s helped us out a lot.”

  Mother nodded. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” Ruth and Mother embraced. “It’s just lonelier without you here.”

  Ruth’s brow furrowed, “You’re not coming?”

  Mother’s signs were slow, as if struggling to find the right ones. “I would love to, but I don’t like going to those human towns. The people there are mean and rude, prejudiced towards Benelim. I don’t want to put up with their nonsense.”

  Ruth shook her head, she could see the awkwardness in Mother’s body language. Maybe she could get through to her, “Not even for saying goodbye to an old friend?”

  Mother folded her arms,“Ruth, the way humans treat us is wrong, and it’s dangerous for me.”

  Ruth frowned. “No worse than when I’m here, the Benelim still treat me like an outsider. It’s a toss-up on whether or not the Benelim I see on the street are civil to me.” Ruth could see Mother gesturing a counterpoint but Ruth ignored it and continued to sign. “Earlier today, one of the Benelim librarians was horribly disrespectful to me. But I let it go, for the bigger picture, the greater good.”

  “Not all Benelim are like that, Ruth!” signed Mother, the gestures firm and frustrated.

  “Can’t the same be said for humans? I know an innkeeper, remember Lea? You could stay at their inn. We can work it out.”

  Mother put her hooves down and shook her head, signing, “My choice is final, Ruth. I’m sorry. Give everyone our regards.”

  Ruth stormed out of the room, her head shaking in frustration.