Chapter 10 - Lizbeth
They call me the Devil's Behemoth, increasingly. Also, they use my name less and less. I don't know what else to write about today. It is frustrating, day after day find myself being pushed out of events, and we are even left to wander the halls of our area without curfew. Aven and I are becoming best of friends, now guys are normally not like he is, he doesn't flirt he is so soft-hearted, and plus he is quite innocent. I don't have much room to talk, but I would go to town with my mother and sneak off, well I would like to think I did, she knew where I was always because of my footsteps. When I would sneak off, I would try to make friends and the boys all chased me around the town, none of them could ever catch me, but we were known as the monsters on the cliff. No one in the small town near us was bound, and it terrified them to no end that we lived so close to them. So, I guess my training today is more focused-based training, feeling out footsteps and vibrations in the earth, not so much combat which is a relief. Well, I'd best get to work.
Breeze 36
Walking into the cafeteria the noise of laughter and cheers before I stepped through the doors made the place seem lively and cheery. My presence entering though, a mouse could be heard scurrying across the floor when being carried by the wind. Am I really that scary? I am small in comparison to most of the people here, and I am not as strong as some of the people moving the earth, oh well. This I guess is my fate in the world, now where is that tall idiot, I bet he is with his really cute friend Elaxan. Now that one fits his nickname better than most people ever, the Serpent, he is quick with his tongue and slippery in a fight.
Looking around the cafeteria, I am bombarded with smells and stares, so I do what I do best, smile. The gesture I guess was enough to set off an explosion of laughter for everyone. I hear a few people off to my right, two boys of water and a couple of dwarf women of Earth say, "She looks so cute when she does that, but I never want to be on her bad side." Elaxan who was flirting with a trio of elf girls, all of them blushing smiled at me back, my god he is cute, but something is off with his smile. It seems a little more directed than it normally does. I find Sheila in the back corner talking to a couple of other dwarves, she is smiling from ear to ear, and I could see why people fawn over the beautiful woman.
I lean over toward them, Aven isn't here yet I guess, he isn't hard to spot in a crowd, especially while he is standing. The man is a monster of physical being, but so very gentle. His connections with water are better suited for the small and controlled aspects of life, and I have never seen a better healer in my life. As I roll up to Sheila and her friends, I find myself making the same disarming smile I have come to perfect in this place. The words just left my mouth without my even thinking, "Hey, what's with the cold shoulder today?" I felt the weight of Artemis on my shoulder vanish, as Sheila's bound, a small fox, named Kita, and the bunny ran circles around each other. I found myself relaxing into a softer pose and an earnest smile gracing my lips in place of the forced-on smile. Why are the animals so cute?
Sheila's voice came out quiet, almost timid, in comparison to her normally cheerful and kind of loud tones, "Well, you see, your kind of . . . Well at the last few practices . . . you well, you hurt people, and the scariest part the sword of stone you called up is intimidating because the pain you caused people has mostly been with your hand and not so much the elements work and it always seems like you are holding back with the actual elements." I had to take a step back and see it from their perspective with her statement. I am holding back in training, Artemis likes to show off, I mean like a lot, if he had it his way we would try and throw the world at everyone. I was trained in the sword as soon as I could walk. But, if you combine those two things, it could be scary. I can see where they are coming from, so the reply that first came to mind I blurted out without thinking, "I am sorry, and I am holding back sometimes, but I will not make it easy for people to hurt me, and I don't want to hurt any of you it has been accidental when it does happen." As I finish my sentence and the group in front of me looked like I had just shaken them to their cores an arm the size of a tree, not the branch the whole tree landed itself on my shoulders, followed by Aven's voice coming from behind me, "Look at the stone princess here, put on her scary face."
I felt my smile come back after I had let the earth through me a bit too much, Artemis's chittering and scurrying increased tenfold as Aven's bound joined the fray of the two others, "Why do they have to be so cute?" Aven's hand left my shoulder, and a trickle of water ran down the back of my neck cooling me to my core, he spoke to the group of us, "Sheila you know Liz may be a little intimidating from time to time, but it isn't like she did those things on purpose."
Sheila put on a quite forced smile I noted, and simply turned and walked away saying over her shoulder, "I know Aven, but I have seen a few other people get hurt because someone loses their cool and slips up a bit it is just scary to think about what could happen." Aven's weight shifted to his back leg, and he stepped in front of me, "Like I would let her do that." A laugh from the two eased the tension out of my bones and made me catch my breath, "Thanks."
"For what, people know you are scary and probably the only person in the room who is nice enough to just smile away the stares," he said grabbing my arm and moving us to a table about three feet back. Looking around the room, I never noticed all the subtle scratch marks, until now, the furry pain in my butt hopped onto the seat next to mine, and warm images filled my mind. They were of rolling fields and a tree sitting on the coastline, home. "Thank you, my fuzzy little buddy," I reach over to him and pat his head softly, his coat smooth and like clouds, or cotton. Aven takes the seat across from me, and he looks around the room like I was, "Are you ready for training today?"
"That isn't like you, you normally jump right to conversation about anything but training," I say in reply a little surprised at his words. His face is so dark, and his gaze is too pure sometimes, especially when he blushes, so I smile a teasing smile. "What's bothering you?" He freezes at the words, and looks to his hands," I am not quite sure," He pulls his hands through the long and very well-kept strands of his hair. The black braidsfold back revealing his face a little more clearly, the ends of the braids rest down on his shoulders with small metal clasps holding them together.
"Look, Liz, you are my best friend, and know how to put things into words much more clearly than I can," His posture shifted to something a little more on the uncomfortable side of things. "I am here to listen whenever you need it, Aven," I say without thinking twice about the statement. He froze again, not like a normal person, like a lake without a breeze, only people of water can become so still, and serene at the same time in thought, I'm more like a statue.
His shoulders sagged to his sides, and I thought he was going to die after his breath gathered him to say his next words. "I am so confused, Elaxan quite always flirts with me, and I am not so much uncomfortable, but I kind of enjoy the attention," He finishes his sentence and the weight of a million worlds must have lifted off his shoulders. "That's okay Aven, I quite frankly do think you could have a worse crush, but you might want to be a bit more careful he is behind you," I say holding back the chuckle building in my chest.
He turned faster than I had ever seen the man move, and the relief on his face and the blush that filled his cheeks made me lose control of the laughter. "That just isn't right Lizbeth," he says placing a monster hand over his face, and I didn't see it more so than feel it, a jet of water as cold as ice shot down my back. The shock of it made me start to jump from my skin, but taking a breath after my startled yelp, helped me keep my cool, 'it's only fair'. "Well, Laxa Is quite cute, you could do worse," I didn't think before I spoke and a second jet of water colder than the first splashed against the back of my neck, "Now that is uncalled for, my robes are all wet now." As my sentence finished the moisture trailing down my back lifted off me, and out of my robes into an orb that trickled away into nothing.
"I am serious Liz, what do I do? I find myself questioning everything I know, I also can't stop thinking about what's going on," His voice is a timbre I had not heard him speak in before. "And so, am I," I wait for another splash of water that doesn't come, his face serious eyes locked with mine, so I continue, "So what if you like him, or if you think he is cute, is there anyone else you have had thoughts about like this?"
He shifted his weight back and went back into the still thought, Aven isn't what I would call bad looking either, his dark olive skin almost absorbs the light around him, and his eyes a gentle gray with blue flakes floating around in them, those eyes came to him after the choosing I figure. His response came to me in a rush, "Well there was one other person that I can't stop thinking about." There was only one way to respond, "Oh yeah, tell me all about it."