This is the seventh part of the story about Cem and the nameless girl. Catch up with their history here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
Word count: 1227
“Ori is not my birth mother. I´m an orphan.”
When Ida finally spoke up, all the air in the cave came to a hold, lingering heavy around us. Cem shifted beside me, likely biting his tongue not to hiss at her.
“She raised me.” Her next words were almost oily in our throats. “My parents drowned.”
I wanted to reach out to her, to be someone to show compassion while Cem still pretended not to care, but Ida spoke up again; this time more secure.
“Ori didn´t do it, she rescued me. I know it sounds likely, but I´m sure of it. It wasn´t her fault.”
“How can you be so sure?” Cem spoke up. I wish he hadn´t for his tone was dismissive.
“I told you I drank from her often, it has interesting side effects. I saw it happen through her eyes, because I became a part of her. These kind of memories one can´t alter, and water is anything but forgetful.”
“Did you had any clue of what she was back then?” He looked at her now with trembling lips.
Her hands clawed into the dirt beneath her. “I was a child, too young to walk, of course I didn´t know. And even if I knew, she meant no threat to me. She took me in. I won´t be ungrateful and deny her affection for me just because you happen to hate wildwaters!”
“I´m not the only one!” The vines behind us started rustling again. By now, their fights must have had a theme song.
Ida studied her dirty nails. The fire grew smaller and while no one would have any more soup, warmth was what we needed most. Her hands reached for the heat as I put another log on.
“Do you know anything about wildwaters apart from them being oh so dangerous? Do you know who we are or how we came to be? Because I know so little about our history that I had to run away to make my own. Most of what I know I had to learn myself. Ori hardly talked about it. She didn´t keep me from it, it was more like she tried to protect me from it.” Ida raised her head and stared at Cem. “Shame once was ingrained so deep into me that I never thought I should be with mankind ever again. And all the pride I have now, I earned. I fought for it. We don´t deserve fear, we deserve respect, and compassion. And if it wasn´t for the violence in this world, we wouldn´t hurt anyone. You can´t blame us for saving our own lives.” Her hands started shaking over the flames. “We´re as worthy as anyone, human or not.”
Cem nestled a thin twig between his fingers, biting his lip. “I don´t blame wildwaters, I blame you. You vanished. That´s all I care about now.” Tiny leaves steadily brushed his skin. “I thought I knew you, turns out I don´t. And it seems to affect everything around us. It wasn´t save before you came around and it is even worse now. All I need to know is if you plan on changing it for the better, because if you don´t, you can leave.”
Ida´s breathing changed, as did the atmosphere of the cave. The lingering was replaced by rising pressure and it became harder to breathe. “I don´t want to leave you.”
“Then better keep talking. The war out there won´t wait for your tale to tell itself.”
“There is something I need to know”, I chimed in. Catching a breath took a lot from me and it seemed better not to talk about their relationship any longer. “What are wildwaters? I heard they had a lot in common with humans, so why aren´t they? What happened?”
“Love, for the most part.” A smile shied over Ida’s face. “Ori never meant to keep me. She found out what she was recently and people were repelled by her, especially because she couldn´t control it at first. No one would let her come near them, so none of them would take me in. She wasn´t capable of murder fortunately, and ran out of options. So she kept me. It was a wild ride.”
The air relaxed around us. I pretended to cough just to suck in as much as I could without raising suspicion. Cem beside me sniffled and attempted to blow his nose.
“I still don´t know about our origin, but there have been many humans in our midst. And because we´re so alike, we match. Humans can become wildwaters if they come in contact often. Drinking from a certain well changes them over time, most do it without realizing it. And most of the time, the changes aren´t severe enough to ever be noticed.” A chuckle left her throat. “Fully transforming seeks attention, like in Ori´s case. Imagine a little kid next to a woman that occasionally drips into a puddle. I loved everything about it. You should see her face melt off, it´s hilarious.”
We shrugged. “Pass.”
“It was all fun and games until I grew old enough to understand her power over me. She trained me to become wildwaters, she was always there. Imagine having someone never leaving you out of plain sight. You´re never alone.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“It´s alright. You had a different motive, you weren´t alone. I was all she had and she planned to keep it that way. I can´t even blame her, it must have been so lonely.” She searched for Cems eyes. “If it wasn´t for the fights, most of us would die of loneliness. That´s why I was so happy to find you.”
“We found you”, I interjected.
“We saved you”, Cem grunted.
“I am grateful. And I want to help, but you have to have a little more patience. Wildwaters might not be a completely different thing, but their instincts differ a lot from what you two are capable of feeling. We don´t have core emotions, we have urges. Your people might think that keeping wildwaters away from your civilization was a good idea, but it changed them for the worse. I only met three other wildwaters besides Ori, and all of them were beyond dangerous, for humans anyway. By excluding them their nature grew more violent and less caring. That is why this war is so dangerous for everyone involved. Wildwaters will come for the chaos, not for the fight. There will be no sides for them, they will rage until everything is gone.” Ida closed her eyes. “It´s what Ori will stay for. It´s why you found me in the Melting Pot, and it´s why I stayed and fell for you.” Cem looked up, remaining unimpressed. “You helped me be a better me and showed me how we could be if only anyone knew about it. And you need to know more about the prophecy. It´s why I left you.”
No vines rustled in the cave as Cem bit his lips. “You made me fear to never see you again because of a tale?”
Humidity flooded our hiding as tears flooded Ida’s eyes. The rockling´s call crept cold through my bones. “The prophecy concerning me?” I asked into the dancing fire.
“This and many others. I learned them all.” Ida smiled with painstakingly split lips. “They’re all wrong.”
Chances are that this will be a nine or ten part series. The next part is on it´s way and I can´t wait to resolve it all, so many things want to be told. Also I can´t wait to share more of my stories with you and hear what you think.
The sixth part of the story about Cem and the nameless girl is finally here. If you don´t want to miss out on all the fun, read the five previous parts first. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
Word Count: 1196
The decision not to go with the rocks wasn´t one that had to be made. All of us knew, with everything that happened, today was a day for rest and reconsideration. Cem, despite all efforts Ida put into healing him, could barely stand up. The woodlings wanted to help him every step of the way, but he shushed them. He didn´t mind not moving, for it was the first time in month we decided not to fight. For the first time in month we didn´t had to go anywhere.
My effort to stay out of their way for some time failed miserably. Whenever I decided to leave the cave, I was back shortly after, pretending to search for something I intended to bring. Ida must have been angry with me and when it turned out she wasn´t, I gave in and stayed around.
Cem was in good hands all morning. Despite not being able to walk or take care of himself, he feasted on Ida’s presence. Resting against her he smiled so effortlessly that one could have thought there never had been any war; that bad times never were in this world. I assumed that Ida influenced him in some way to calm him. Moreover, I knew. Because I would have done the same. Because he´d be too hurt to stay near her. He suffered through a lot since she vanished. For Cem´s sake I decided to trust her once and for all and frankly, I was done worrying.
When the time came to eat, Cem took a few wobbly steps and claimed himself well enough to help us pick some food. Collecting the usual root vegetables and herbs took way longer than anticipated. At least he was able to regain some strength and humour while we were at it. He made the carrots dance before we could pick them and let some pull each other from the ground. We even found some potatoes and eggs, accompanied by Ida´s roaring laughter. It kept me from thinking of the war still raging in plain sight, a war I was determined and bidden to end. I even ignored the ground that tried to tell me about whatever happened down there. The rocks were humming beneath me, constantly rough and tiring in my bones. Yet again seeing Cem well and beaming gave me new strength.
Ida decided to get water and grew nervous when Cem wanted to join her. With her carrying some of his weight, they kneeled down by a creek to fill our container. It was battered and held enough water to serve us for a day. Now that we added one to the group, it wouldn´t last so long. I thought of Ori and had to remind myself not to confuse Ida with her mother. There was hope in me that she was good, yet some wariness remained. Trust doesn´t mean forgetting, it merely is a choice.
Cem cupped water into his hands and drank, soaking his clothes and beard. Ida wiped him dry without touching his skin, pooling drops in her hands and deflecting it back into the stream.
“I love you, water or not”, he whispered, looking down. Ida then leaned into a kiss that never came to be, because they jumped into the shallow water at the same time. With the warm tone of laughter resonating within me, I decided to head back to the cave. Water splashed around them, thrown from both real and wavy hands.
“Do it again!” Cem came running and grabbed my shoulders. “You need to see this, look!”
I put the knife down to meet Ida´s face melting in what I took for unease.
“I don´t think she´ll like it very much. You know, old wounds and else.”
We smiled at each other bitterly, just to witness both of our expressions change into something forgiving.
“Please”, I replied, “I´d die to see it.”
Without a word she raised one hand in front of her face while Cem stepped next to her. Her fingers vibrated slightly and became translucent, floating into each other. Drops formed on her fingertips, growing bigger and running down her arm. Her skin melted into beaming waves, pulling a ball of liquid from it. She threw it into Cem´s open mouth. He swallowed it. “Isn´t that great? Now we don´t have to get water ever again, we can just tap her.”
He was too happy with that pun to ever scold him, so we didn´t.
“At least you filled the container so I don´t have to suck Ida dry.” I kneeled back down to the pot of soup over the fire and added water to the mix. The notion of meeting Ori again felt more inviting than to ever drink from Ida. Times were tough, still I had boundaries.
“Don´t worry. It´s not cannibalism if I´m a body of water.” Her waves ruffled Cem’s beard, soaking him in the process. He was still a little too carefree to fully be himself.
I pretended to take a closer look at her still rippling hand and murmured. “I know you have him under your spell and I think he´ll do just fine on his own now.”
“You´re right”, she replied and crossed me to get to him. “Too bad it won´t last.” They sat beside each other just starring into the pot, warming their now all human hands on the fire.
Laughter erupted in the cave. Ida had made the soup stir itself.
The food had sand in it and neither of them noticed. They munched their way through some crunchy potatoes, occasionally stealing from each other’s bowl.
Soon Cem´s mood changed when Ida tried to rip him of his carrots and he finally told her to eat from her own soup. She did and continued throwing glimpses at him. His mouth was an almost thin line now, only loosened by the spoon that fed him. His eyes watched the fire. He rarely blinked. When a breeze came rushing through the cage, he flinched and moved his arm as if to push someone away.
When I scooped myself another portion, he demanded more sandy potatoes; but instead of filling his bowl, I pointed the ladle at Ida. “What is with you? I need to know.”
She lowered her spoon. “What do you mean?”
“I want to hear your story, all of it up until we met you.” As Cem rolled his eyes I added, “The time you abandoned us especially.”
“So now comes the serious part, right?” She surrendered with a sad smile.
Cem got up and sat beside me. “I need to hear it too.” A shadow casted on his face, misery had him back. “I don´t understand why you had to leave in the first place.”
Ida shifted on the spot. “You know I´m wildwaters and…”
“Do we really?” he said and stared at her, ignoring the rustling ivy resonating in the cave. Ida straightened herself and held his gaze.
“I´m wildwaters”, she repeated. “My live was a wild ride. The last weeks were no exception. I was looking for some answers and I´m not sure if I´m happy with the things I found out.”
I hope to narrow the rest of the plot down to two more sequels, I guess I´ll find out if it works as planned when I get there.
How did you like the characters? Do they feel real to you, or constructed? I changed the way they interact so often that I could use some input on that.
Read part 7 here.
I hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for reading! @spicychickencows @fontess
oldsoulfran replied to your post: choosing names for characters is seriously one of...
I wasted many days scrolling through fancy names and long names and none of them fit. For my current story I figured out that names with only three letters are fine. Except from Dave. Dave is a camel. Dave does what he wants.
Dave is an excellent name for a camel. And names with only three letters can be great. I usually choose something longer and then do 3-4 letter nicknames because they seem like they flow better for me.
