Ryn of Avonside

“Well... shit,” Troy sighed, running his hands through his close cropped hair. The object of his consternation—a large cliff face in front of us.

It was a jagged, broken wall of rock and debris, rising about thirty meters high. Clearly marking the end of the plains, it stretched for about a mile in both directions. The mountain range proper loomed ominously just beyond. It was a chaotic mess of heavy boulders, ravines, and monolithic towers of forest-wrapped stone—it was as if a god had thrown a tantrum and hacked at the earth with a vast pickaxe.

“Which way do we go?” Grace asked, glancing either way along the blocking cliff. “Left is inland I think, and right is towards the sea? If I remember correctly?”

Grace wasn’t wearing her armour, just some hardy travelling clothes. We’d realised that if for some reason I needed to drain her quickly, I’d need easy access to her skin, and her armour took far too long to take off. So normal clothing it was.

“It is,” I nodded, squeezing her hand. “The rivers were travelling in that direction anyway.”

“Towards the sea then,” Troy replied, already beginning to walk that way. “More likely to be settlements and roads near the sea than inland.”

We trekked through the foothills and along the edge of the mountains for a day before the scenery changed in any way. In fact, we almost stumbled into the new addition—a wide, shallow and sedate river that was meandering out from the mountains. We took the opportunity to stop for a break.

When Grace and I approached the water and dipped our free hands into it, we found it cool and clear. It was probably ice melt from the higher mountains, where snow might be more common. From where we stood, though, there was no snow in sight—just an abundance of vegetation covering the slopes.

Running in either direction along the bank of the river was what we'd hoped to find—a path, although it was little more than a goat track with signs of human passage. Since the river seemed to be coming from the mountains, the decision was made to follow the track upstream.

Unlike the Plains of Mosteghunoksia, the mountains and forest were teeming with life. As evening approached, the noise became almost deafening—birds were going absolutely wild in the trees. Thousands of sparrows all shouting over each other like excited vendors in a bustling market.

At one point we saw a herd of what appeared to be deer grazing on the opposite bank of the river, a few of which glanced up to watch us curiously. It was rather amazing to see a place so teeming with life after that damned grassland.

Although, our crossing of the plains had been made a little more interesting by Grace and me. Our little magic factory would send every plant we walked past into excited bloom. If someone wanted to follow us, it would not be hard, which was a little worrying.

When we stopped for the night, we hid ourselves as best we could in the forest and swapped over into my grove. The next morning, we continued down the path until it connected with a larger cart track.

The cart track led us for another half a day, until we sighted a settlement in the distance. It was larger than most villages we’d come across so far, but far smaller than the cities. A solid wooden wall surrounded the place where it was nestled in a bend of the river, and woodfire smoke drifted up from chimneys that peeked over the wall. I figured it must be some sort of trading post town—a place that had sprung up organically as traders stopped to rest before beginning their trek into the mountains.

“We need to go in there, get information,” Troy stated, then turned to look at Grace and me. “Except there’s no way we’ll be able to hide you two.”

“We could sell some of the resources from my grove too, try and trade it for some tools and stuff,” I said thoughtfully. “But yeah, I think Grace and I will have to sit this one out.”

“Agreed, will you two be fine on your own, possibly hide in your grove until a predetermined time of day?” he asked with his usual calm expression.

I glanced over at Grace to see what she thought and found her looking back at me. We shared a silent conversation for a split second before I turned back and nodded to Troy. “Yeah, that works. How about sunset?”

“Sunset is easy, sounds good. If for whatever reason we don’t make it back, try again in the morning,” he said with a slight smile. “Let’s go find a spot, then we can take some of your stuff into town to sell.”

“What if you don’t come back at all?” Grace asked quietly. She was acting a lot less confident than usual, and her expressions had been veering into the melancholic at times. I hoped that her condition wasn’t causing her to get depressed or anything. I should talk to her, once the boys were gone.

“Meet in Millowhall, or failing that, back at Avonside, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he smiled reassuringly.

Grace didn’t look convinced by his words, but she kept any further reservations to herself. Something was definitely wrong with her.

Regardless, we trekked into the forest for a good ten minutes before we decided that we were safe enough, then swapped over. Going straight to the stores, we had a look around at what we might be able to sell. The alien stuff was difficult, because it was almost sure to fetch a good price, but it was also the type of thing that we’d want to take back to Avonside or even just use ourselves.

The plants I’d grown were much easier. The guys loaded up on spices and anything else that might be easy to carry, and then I transferred them all out for their little trip into town, which left Grace and I alone in the grove together.

“What do you want to do?” she asked awkwardly. Right, I was going to ask her what was wrong, then comfort her.

“Come with me,” I told her, taking her hand again and pulling her along behind me.

I led her across the large meadow below the mighty fir, towards where the lake was still being dug. Thankfully it hadn’t rained yet and the buns were able to add depth to it without scuba training. It did have a few trees that I’d already placed strategically around it though, including a small stand of willows.

Brushing aside the drooping branches of one willow, I pulled her inside the enclosed space of the tree and then indicated that she sit down against the trunk of the tree. Doing so, she watched me with melancholic curiosity as she carefully got herself comfortable.

“What’s up?” she asked, searching my face for answers.

“You seemed down and a little odd about that planning discussion we had earlier,” I said, sitting down next to her.

“It’s nothing…” she murmured, avoiding my eyes now.

“Grace?” I asked, matching her quiet tone.

She didn’t answer immediately, so I laid my head down on her shoulder and waited. She seemed to like that, leaning into the contact with a sigh. Then she was shifting, putting both arms around me and cuddling close. It felt so lovely to be casually intimate with her like this. For a brief, selfish moment, I thanked fate for causing the magical accident. Reality quickly reasserted itself in my thoughts however, and worry knotted in my stomach.

Perhaps… if we could stabilise it or teach her to control it?

“I just kinda feel useless, you know?” she whispered, her breath warm as it ran through my hair. “Like, I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about that town back there, but I can’t really help or fight if I’m glued to you. Uh, no offence. You’re so lovely to be around though, so it's not like, too terrible…”

“It’s okay, I understand,” I said, taking the hand she'd laid on my stomach and squeezing it. “We’ll figure something out.”

“How can you be sure though? What if I’m stuck like this forever?”

She already sounded defeated—resigned, even.

“No,” I frowned, shifting in her arms to face her. “No thinking like that,” I said, almost glaring at her as I got closer and booped her nose. “If worst comes to worst, I’ll make a mage fruit and throw you in that. Maybe that will help.”

She blinked at me in bewilderment, then smiled, glancing down for a moment. “Alright,” she chuckled, then looked back up, hitting me with a look so full of emotion that I wondered for a dumb moment if it was being powered by her magic. “You’re so wonderful Ryn. You’re so kind, so thoughtful… so damn smart.”

Well, crud. Now I was blushing!

“Thanks,” I said, eyes downcast.

She continued, laughing softly to herself. “You’re beautiful, too— You know my mind completely blanked out, that first time I saw you? It’s like you were tailor made to be attractive to me. I mean, your hair is one of my favourite colours, for crying out loud.”

Her hand reached hesitantly, watching my face for signs of displeasure, then slowly, she ran her hand through my metallic magenta hair. Her expression was soft wonder when she pulled her hand away.

“You’re like a… sad bunny that was stuck in a small cage, but now you’ve been let out to binky in the open grass. Gah, that sounded more coherent in my head. I guess what I mean is that I still see the old you in there from that first week when we became friends, except now you're so much happier—more free.”

I took her words in with increasing reverence as she spoke, and I found myself looking inwards. I'd been different from the moment I came out of that fruit—that was obvious—but the rapidfire cascade of realisations about my body had been like… the petals of a flower peeling back one by one. When it was done, the hints of colour seen before the bloom were now open and proud.

Smiling, I looked up into her gorgeous green eyes. “It feels like I could throw a million metaphors at the changes I went through. But… as for you, I’ve been impressed and kinda attracted to you since before we arrived on this world,” I confessed, embarrassment heating my cheeks.

“Wait, really?” she asked, a frown creasing her brows.

I snorted. “Yup. You had me, poor confused, closeted Ryn all flustered with how you were being all strong and sexy and stuff. Then you were so much fun to talk to and I was like, crap, she’s too good, but she’s a lesbian and I look like a dude.”

“Well, that part isn’t a problem anymore,” she laughed, giving my body a pointed sweep with her eyes.

“Yeah, but instead there’s… this magic thing,” I sighed, settling in against her so I wouldn’t have to meet her gaze.

“Yeah… now there’s that,” she said neutrally.

The conversation died after that, but we sat under the tree and cuddled, dozing in and out of consciousness as the day wore on. Despite the fact that we were meant to be—well, not together, it still felt like we were a couple in that moment. Both of us just enjoying the feel of the other, the silent companionship that slowly settled in after the awkwardness died down.

Being held was still a wild experience for me, and something that I deeply cherished. I felt safe in her arms, safe and warm and insulated from the world—needs that I had been sorely lacking for most of my life. I desperately hoped that something more would be allowed to blossom between Grace and me. I couldn’t lose this, I couldn’t lose her.