"N-no, thanks..."
From Create Your Own Story
You blush and shake your head vigorously. The redhead grins wolfishly. "Your loss, brat. I might have actually done it if you'd said yes," she says, before bursting into giggles and standing back up straight.
"My turn to ask you something. Why did you come to this cavern?" she says, her expression turning sober. A few more bodies hit the floor. Not many are left up there now.
"I was... running away from my village," you say, casting your eyes downward, the fuzzy feeling going away.
The lady puts a hand on her hip, rustling the leaves and vines of her skirt, and sighs. "Your turn. What do you wanna ask me?"
You think for a moment. "In the stories, fairies always stay in one place. Why are you here?"
"That's a fair question. When I was a little one, my glade - my home, where I had been born by the vibrancy of life itself - was burned down, to the ground, in a big fire. It's a hazard of nature. I was lucky, and I got out with my skin intact, but my friends all burned with their home. I was young enough to not have been permanently linked to that place yet, unlike them. They never had a chance. But you are right, most fairies - we usually just call ourselves the folk, fey is a name given to us by mortalkind - never leave the place they are born. Even if they do, they just wander for a bit and find a new home. I guess I'm rather unlucky in that regard. I haven't been able to find any suitable place," she says, staring into the distance wistfully.
"That's terrible," you say. You've never been particularly empathetic, yet for some reason, something about her story rings true to your heart. You can feel tears forming in your eyes, and you rub them away with your sleeve, trying to stop your lips from quivering. You look up and see Fernweh looking at you with what seems to be surprise, and pity. The last few corpses fall down, but neither of you notice.
"My turn again. Why did you run from your village?" she asks. You swallow nervously.
"The... the other kids got bored and went in here to explore it. They never came back. The village blamed me for it, and... and they attacked my family, so I had to run. I thought they were going to kill me. I wasn't trying to come here, but for some reason, I ended up at the entrance, and they were still chasing me, so I had to go inside... then I fell down that pit, and woke up by the water," you explain.
The fey one lets out a heavier sigh. "So there's other kids in here. How many?"
"Huh?"
"How many friends did you have? This counts as my next question, I guess."
"They weren't my friends!" you say, anger welling up. You grit your teeth together and clench your fists. The nymph reaches out and grabs you by the shoulder, bending her knees to get on eye level with you. You lock eyes with hers, and are lost in the dazzlingly beautiful sky blue of her irises. You are instantly disarmed.
"Iolaus, how many kids came into these caves?"
"S-six," you mutter, unable to look at her eyes anymore. She blinks, then stands back up and glances around slowly, as if deep in thought.
"Iolaus, is that one of them?" she asks, pointing behind you. Dread overwhelms you, and you are unable to turn to see what she means. "Iolaus," she says. You force yourself to slowly turn around. Your eyes scan the floor full of corpses, and then you see her. You shudder, yet cannot stop your feet from taking you closer. You kneel down beside her. You reach out, and feel her soft, long, black hair, and you know immediately who the dehydrated corpse belongs to. Her whole body is just dry, wrinkled skin on bones, and when you flip the body over, you see her face, and gag. You spray up your lunch on the rocky floor, and Fernweh grabs you and drags you out of the entire chamber to the entryway of the chamber. You heave a few more times, but there is nothing left to evacuate, so you cough and hack as your esophagus clenches painfully.
The nymph rubs you on the back sympathetically. "It's going to be alright," she says. You shake your head, and fall to your knees, spitting up leftover acid. "Just take your time." You shake your head again, wipe your mouth and your nose on your sleeve, and stagger to your feet.
"That was Celdi," you say, your body shivering from the fading pain.
"Your friend?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry," Fernweh says.
"Why? You didn't know her."
"I'm sorry that you're hurting."
"There's nothing to be sorry about! She died because she was stupid and went into this cave with the others!" you say, staring at the ground. Fernweh crouches down and lifts your chin to look at her. The cold disapproval on her face makes you want to hit her, and cry, and beg for forgiveness all at the same time. You settle for silence. She eventually stops glaring at you, and walks over to the corpses, reaching down to rummage through them.
