Chapter 17: Chapter 17: It’s a long way home, but it’s nice to have someone with you. So it isn’t lonely, really

“So, where are we?” asks Hineni, as the two of them exit the odd building. Whoever those people were, they had decided to leave them as they were. Sure, it’s perhaps somewhat unwise, considering that they actually kidnapped him. But, on the other hand, he feels like they’ve learned their lesson and honestly speaking, what’s the alternative?

 

To kill them?

 

Even if they did attack him, Hineni isn’t about to go and kill a mass of people, especially people who are laying there asleep. He doesn’t want to kill anyone. Not again. Though, Obscura did suggest eating them. He had rejected that plan, telling her that it isn’t okay to eat humans or elves or anything of the sort. More importantly, he wants to be gone from this place before the fourth day arrives.

 

The two of them walk down a road. “Far,” says Obscura. “They must walk far. The frogs tried to take Hineni. Hineni!” hoots the owl. “Wicked. Bad. Bad frogs, tried to steal my HINENI!” she squawks, the feathers on her neck and arms ruffling up in agitation.

 

“Who were they?” asks Hineni, looking back over his shoulder at the cloister that they’re leaving behind themselves, as they walk out into the country-side.

 

Obscura flaps her arms, shifting into the form of a small owl as she rises up into the air, flapping alongside him as he walks, following some random road. “Little frogs,” says Obscura. “They’re after Obscura, so they’re after you!” she hoots, flying up into the air. “Straight-walk!” she calls down to him and flies off. “They want to stop my power!” Hineni blinks, adjusting his hat and scarf as he looks at the road ahead of him. He hopes this is the right way. He’s really hungry and he just wants to go home at this point.

 

Anyway, frogs? He isn’t sure what Obscura is talking about. Those were clearly people and not frogs. There might be some communication barriers at play here again. Oh well, that’s a problem for tomorrow. For now, Hineni just wants to focus on quietly walking back to his quiet home, to resume his quiet life.

 

---

 

Hineni sits by a small fire he had made with his ash magic. The sun has risen and now warms his skin as its bright rays pierce through the small grove that he has nested himself inside of. Sitting there, his head nodding, he stares at the hypnotizing flames for a while, unaware of his surroundings. Suddenly, a rustle startles him awake and he turns his head, looking at Obscura who comes flying back in with a very unfortunate rabbit in her talons.

 

“Eat! Eat!” commands the owl, dropping the dead rabbit next to him on the log.

 

He looks at it, staring for a moment at the bloody carcass. “Thank you,” he says, feeling very grateful for her efforts. “Can you gut it, please?” he requests.

 

The owl looks at the rabbit and then back up towards him. “Spoiled! Obscura spoils him!” says the owl, ripping into the rabbit’s belly with her talon. “Nurturing! Warm! Doting Obscura!”

 

“Thank you,” says the man, watching her as she undergoes her grim work. It’s odd, but he feels a strange feeling right now that he can’t quite describe. Sure, he would never have gotten kidnapped if he hadn’t gotten involved with the entity to begin with. But at the same time, Obscura has gone out of her way to be kind to him. For three days, she looked for him and waited on him. It’s been a long time since anyone has worried about him and honestly, he doesn’t know what to do with the realization that there is someone there who is interested in him, in his existence, in his well-being. It’s… a lot. It feels weird. “Thank you,” he says again, looking back towards the fire and playing with his hands. He doesn’t know what else to do with them.

 

He wants to return this feeling back to her too. But he isn’t quite sure how, just yet.

 

---

 

“Frog-magic!” hoots Obscura, sitting on his shoulder.

 

It is several hours later. The two of them had eaten the fire-roasted rabbit together and then rested together in the forest for a while. She has apparently not slept much either these last few days and so she is pretty exhausted too, which Hineni now only seems to notice as he sees the out of placeness of her ruffled feathers, some of which she seems to have plucked out of herself in stress, as well as the unusual redness of her yellow eyes. “Frog-magic?” asks Hineni. The two of them had been talking about the odd monastery they had been inside of and the strangely confusing layout of the place that seemed intent on keeping him trapped inside of it and preventing her from finding him, despite being in the area too.

 

“Frogs lie and deceive,” says Obscura. “Bad frogs! Frogs are only good to eat!” she hoots, bobbing in a circle with her head. “Hineni must never trust frogs!” she explains, jumping off of his shoulder and shifting into her human form next to him.

 

“Uh… sure,” says the man, looking back ahead of them as they walk. “What did they want with me?”

 

“I gain power through Hineni. The bad frogs want Obscura to be weak,” she explains. “They want my HINENI!” she hoots, squawking his name very loudly. She seems a little weird today. But he assumes that she’s just tired.

 

“Huh…” says the man. He looks down out of the corner of his eyes as they walk down the forest path. Seeing him looking, Obscura turns her head and Hineni looks back forward, adjusting his hat.

 

No. Do better, he reminds himself and turns back to look at her again. Hineni reaches down and grabs her hand, so that the two of them can walk together.

 

“WHO~!” Obscura vanishes into an explosion of feathers and Hineni stands there, somewhat confused, looking at the empty air that his fingers are grasping.

 

Maybe he was too direct? Is it weird for them to hold hands? The man sighs and keeps walking. Well. He tried and he’s proud of himself for having done so.

 

---

 

“Are we even going the right way?” asks Hineni, looking up at the small owl sitting on a branch ahead of himself.

 

“Where does Hineni want to go?” she asks, turning her head around in a complete turn.

 

“Home,” replies the man, continuing on walking. He looks up at the next branch ahead of him where she is now sitting.

 

She lifts a wing. “Many roads lead to home. Hineni and Obscura make a nest here, yes? Nice forest! Big forest!”

 

Hineni shakes his head. “No, thanks. I like having a roof,” he explains, walking further.

 

“Big nest can have big roof! Big!” hoots the owl-goddess, suddenly sitting on the next branch around the bend.

 

“We need people to use the things I make,” he says, shrugging. “Otherwise how are you going to get stronger?” he asks, looking at the next branch ahead of him. There is nothing there.

 

“Who~” comes softly from next to his ear. Hineni, somewhat startled, jumps as he feels the talons hold onto his shoulder. “My Hineni is wise! He has read many books! Many!”

 

The man blinks, not sure if reading a lot of books and being wise are really connected, but he’ll take the compliment. “Let’s read something together sometime,” he suggests as he keeps walking.

 

Judging by the feathers rubbing against the side of his face, he assumes that she agrees to his offer of a reading-in-the-library-date.

 

---

 

“I’ve never been so glad to see it,” says the man, standing on a small hill that the road has crested towards. Out, far in the distance, he sees a familiar city. Home.

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Looking around, he realizes that he’s not talking to anyone. Obscura is gone.

 

The sun is rising and it seems to be the dawn of a new day. Hineni realizes that he’ll have to walk through the city in broad daylight. But honestly, he feels like he’s ready to do that.

 

---

 

He stops in at the adventurer’s guild, standing in front of the receptionist’s counter. The elf is laying there, her arms crossed, her head down on the desk as she snores away, her face is the most peaceful he has ever seen it be. Hineni looks around the room. Is she the only employee here? Now that he thinks about it, he’s never seen anyone else working the counter. He almost feels bad about waking her up. “Excuse me,” says Hineni.

 

“WHAGH- PLEASE SIGN HERE!” she yells, flailing her arms as she jolts upright, her red eyes accentuating the thick purple bags beneath them. She blinks, looking up at him. “Oh. Hi!” she says. “We were wondering if you didn’t move away to the tower-quarter,” she says, rubbing her face.

 

“I was out of town,” says Hineni, looking around the area. “Who knows where I live?” he asks, getting right to the point.

 

“Huh?” she tilts her head, her long ears drooping a little. “Uh, I mean, just about everybody, honestly,” she says. “You’re really conspicuous, you know?” she says. Hineni looks down at himself. He feels like he has been really inconspicuous this whole time. But maybe his shiftiness had just drawn even more attention than if he had just been ‘normally quiet’ in his past life. “What’s up? Did something happen?” she asks.

 

He considers what to do for a moment, before shaking his head. “Just some trouble-makers, don’t worry about it,” he says, not wanting to make a fuss out of it. Now, sure, that might be underplaying the kidnapping and possibly attempted murder, but on the other hand, he really doesn’t want to make a scene, even if it is mostly empty in here during this time of the day. “Sorry about the scythe,” he says. “I’m late. I’ll deliver it tomorrow. Somehow,” he says.

 

The tired elf seems to think for a moment. “Oh, yeah,” she says, realizing what he’s talking about. “The guy isn’t coming back until the day after tomorrow anyways, so it’s fine.”

 

Hineni nods and heads back home. He stops, turning back. “Has Rhine been here?”

 

She looks at him. “Who?”

 

“The boy.”

 

She blinks. “…who?”

 

“With the blue hair,” explains Hineni, poking his head. “The river-wizard.”

 

“Oooh!” she says, realizing, hitting her hand into her open palm. “Wait.” The elf looks very confused. “He’s a boy?”

 

“Right?” asks Hineni.

 

She shakes her head. “No. I haven’t seen him since you abducted him.”

 

Hineni clears his throat, feeling the people behind them at the tables watching them. “I didn’t abduct him,” he says, leaning in and lowering his hat. “I hired him.”

 

“Did the owl god eat him?” asks the elf, leaning in towards him too. Somewhat surprised by this, Hineni leans back again. He still doesn’t like people being close to him. Plus he’s been outside for days now. He probably smells like frogs.

 

“She didn’t,” says the man, turning to go home. He isn’t sure if that’s entirely true though.

 

Feeling himself being watched as he leaves, Hineni turns around and looks through the window of the counter at the manager of the adventurer’s guild, Beni. He nods to him. But the man just quickly retreats into his office and closes the door.

 

“Who~” mutters Hineni under his breath, allowing the word to have been said a total of three times.

 

---

 

Hineni jiggles the front door of his house.

 

It’s unlocked.

 

He narrows his eyes. This is bad. Not only was he abducted, but his captors didn’t even have the decency to close his door. What a world. The man steps inside of his home for the first time in several days and sighs a breath of relief as he smells the familiar air. As he feels the familiar give of the wooden boards beneath his boots. As he hears the terrified scream coming from up above him.

 

Hineni blinks, looking up at Rhine, who is hanging from the rafters with his bare hands as a furious owl flies around him in a circle, trying to knock him down.

 

“I’m soooorry!” cries Rhine, flailing with his legs as Obscura screeches angrily, flying around him in a circle.

 

“BAD! BAD! WHO~!” she hoots. “BAD!”

 

Hineni has no idea what the boy did to anger Obscura, or how he got up there. But he’s glad to see that he’s still hanging around.

 

The man chuckles, happy with this joke. He finally got one right. But more importantly, he was concerned that the boy really did feel abandoned for a while there.

 

Rhine loses his grip and falls a not-insubstantial distance towards the ground. Letting out a surprised yelp, Hineni moves forward to try and catch him. Flailing in mid-air as he tumbles in that last second towards the floor. Rhine lowers his hands and a surge of water blasts out beneath him, towards the floorboards below.

 

Hineni watches from the door-frame in that time-frozen second, as water fills the room and rushes towards him.

 

“I’m home,” is the last thing that the man has the chance to say.

 

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