Yazen (Ponith)

by Nicole Sloan

  “Yes, of course, Calina,” I say while looking at Alex and Jenn. Alex nods his head in agreement, while Jenn stands behind Alex with pursed lips. She doesn’t look happy.

  “You are free to do whatever you like for the rest of the day. Thank you for coming out here with me,” Calina says.

  “You’re welcome, Calina. Hey, Zac, will you go practice shooting bows with me?” Alex turns and asks me. He seems addicted to his new bow.

  “Yeah, I would like to get better at it myself. Jenn would you like to go with us?” I ask her so we don’t leave her out.

  “No, I’m going to go back to the room to relax. You go on without me,” she replies.

  We all walk back to our room, as Alex and I have to get our bows. Jenn sits on her bed, looking at photos on her phone. I feel bad for her, and I can tell she misses home.

  Alex and I go back to the archery range. There are a couple other elves out there practicing as well. We sit back and watch them for a few minutes, as they’re very good. They can make a perfect shot almost every time. Once they see us sitting there watching them, one of the Wood Elves goes and stands near the targets with an apple on his head. He has to be crazy; what if they miss? Another elf aims his bow and arrow at the apple and lets it fly. It flies true and smoothly right through the apple, taking it off of the elf’s head. They laugh and give each other high fives, grinning toward us.

  That gave us something to strive toward, so Alex and I stand at the end of the range and set up our bows. We’re trying to remember the steps clearly so we can hit the targets. Alex shoots first and gets closer to the bull’s eye. I aim and release my arrow and it flies and lands right in the middle of the target. Some of the other Wood Elves watching congratulate me. Maybe I just got lucky or maybe I’m starting to feel more comfortable with this bow. I shoot a few more arrows and most of them hit near the middle as well. I stop and watch Alex for a while. He’s definitely getting better as well, as he is getting closer to the bull’s eye and his form is getting better. We are both still shooting very slowly, taking our time to set up our shots, but I believe we can get better if we keep practicing. After shooting a few more arrows, we decide to go exploring.

  We see Drakoe, Laderic, Narissa, and Calina all running through the woods. We decide to follow them. I wonder where they’re going. We come to a huge cliff, when we see them start to jump off the cliff.

  “Wait!” I scream while running to the edge. Then I come to realize they are jumping into a large lake. I thought they were going to injure themselves. I really feel like an idiot now and Alex laughs at me.

  “Jump, don’t be scared,” Drakoe yells at us. It would be nice to swim, but we have our bows on us. I wave my bow at him.

  “Just jump, your bow will be fine,” Laderic says.

  Alex and I look at each other, and then we shrug our shoulders and jump at the same time. It is a high jump, it feels like we are free falling for minutes, but I really know it is only seconds. When we splash into the water it feels cold at first but afterwards it’s nice and warm. It feels good to cool off some after shooting our bows. Alex and I wade to the shore and set our bows to the side, taking off our vests. After heading back into the water, we both take notice that some foliage has shifted and is supporting both of the bows upright. I know that normally I’d be more surprised but after what I’ve seen so far on Yazen, I just nod and accept it.

  We play a game of tag in the water for a while and afterwards just relax. It’s a lot of fun. Too bad Jenn didn’t come with us; I think it would be good if she had some fun as well. We swim for an hour or so and then lay out to dry on the grass. We chat about the crops and hunting. We decide to head back before it gets too late. Although I don’t think about it, I do notice myself keeping my distance from Narissa a bit. I have to think about what Calina has said to me and I guess I’m not sure exactly what I want to do.

  When we get back the sun is starting to go down already, and Jenn is already asleep. We sneak in quietly and head to bed ourselves. We have to get up early tomorrow morning, as it will be busy picking food and I want to make sure we get enough rest.

  Narissa comes and wakes us up bright and early for work. Her smile makes me warm up inside but she is hesitant, likely from me being distant with her yesterday. We all get up and get ready and we meet everyone out at the crops, away from the housing. Alex, Jenn, and I grab a basket each and head out to the vegetables lines. We pick all the fruits and vegetables that look ripe. When our two hours are up, Calina calls us in and we all decide to go bathe. To our surprise, it’s much more crowded and the lake is full of elves. I’m a little embarrassed to get undressed and join them, but I do because I feel disgusting.

  When I finish, I dry off and put my clothes on, I decide to go sit on the big rock and wait for Alex and Jenn to finish. I’m surprised Jenn went in with all of the other elves in there. I think she’s finally starting to open up some. Picking food this morning was really hard for her, but she did do it. Alex is making quite a lot of friends and talking with everyone.

  I lay down on the rock and just enjoy the weather. I close my eyes and relax. I can see out outline of a shadow like someone is standing over me. I peek to see who it is but I already have an idea. I am right; Narissa is standing above me, looking down at me.

  “Hi, how are you?” I ask her. She doesn’t have a smile on her face, she looks hurt. I instantly bite back as I consider how distant I’ve been to her and her facial reaction gives it away.

  “I‘m confused. Why have you stopped hanging out with me? Do you not like me anymore? Did I do something wrong?” she sounds worried, and her questions are coming a mile a minute.

  I sit up so I can face her. She sits down next to me. I try to find the best way to explain it to her, “You did not do anything wrong. I like you a lot, Narissa. I think you are a terrific person. I think you are very beautiful, and I’m attracted to you. I’ve been distancing myself because I don’t know how long I’ll be here, and when the times comes that I have to go home I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I’m not trying to lead you on, but I do enjoy your company. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

  “Did Calina come speak to you?” she asks me while crossing her arms. I don’t want to lie to her and my facial expression probably gave it away already …

  “Yeah,” I tell her with a grim tone to my voice.

  “Wait until I talk to her, she’s dead. Please don’t listen to her. She’s just being overprotective. She can get that way. Will you please still talk with me and hang out with me?” she begs me.

  “Please don’t tell her that I told you, Narissa. I don’t want her to get mad at me. I’ll still talk to you and hang out with you. I promise,” I tell her while grabbing her hand. I really don’t want Calina to be upset with me. I can’t help it though; my feelings are really strong for Narissa. Yazen has not been as much fun while trying to stay away from Narissa.

  Narissa smiles at me, and we both lay down on the rock in silence. It’s still such a nice day and it feels great to do nothing.

  “Let’s go,” Jenn shouts while throwing her wet towel up at us. I can’t tell she is disgusted that I’m with Narissa or something else is up. She starts to walk back to Alex. “I found them,” she says sarcastically with her back turned toward us.

  I throw Jenn’s towel on the rock to dry, and Narissa and I follow behind them. We head back to our room, trying to figure out what we’re going to do for the rest of the day.

  Narissa, Alex, Jenn, and I all sit at our table. I really want to know more about Yazen. We have not left the Deeproot Forest at all, and I’m curious what else is out there.

  “Narissa, can you explain the Dwarven traders to us?” I overheard Ariki talking about it back at her shop.

  “Yes, I would really like to know about that as well,” Jenn chips in. I know it is because she wants to wear something else and probably some jewelry as well.

  “The Dwarven traders are some Dwarves from the Mistpeak Mountai
ns. Once every week, we meet with them at the edge of the forest and trade with them. We bring items that they request plus extra items to try and sell, and they do the same for us,” Narissa explains.

  “What kinds of items do the Dwarves have for trade? Do they sell stuff for money as well?” Alex asks.

  “They do sell stuff as well as trade. Money?” Narissa asks.

  “Money is a type of currency to pay for stuff. I guess you can consider it like gold and silver minting,” Alex says while pulling a dollar out of his bag. He hands it to Narissa and she examines it. It looks like she’s never seen a dollar bill before.

  “This is odd and very detailed. I have never seen anything like this type of paper. I bet the Dwarves would love to trade for it. Yes, they normally will sell stuff for gold or silver, but I’m not sure about mint; we grow some in our herb gardens,” Narissa says while Alex gives her a bit of a blank look.

  “We don’t have much in terms of gold and silver though, they get most of it from mining the mountains and we don’t really have much practical use for it,” she continues on, “The Dwarves have many things for trade. They have types of armor, weapons, clothes, furniture, jewels, jewelry, umm … medical kits, animal traps, soaps, and different types of food, furniture, and other stuff. Those are the main things that I can think of off the top of my head,”

  “When do you see the Dwarven traders again? Is it soon?” Jenn asks excitedly. I have a feeling Jenn brought money with her and that she wants to buy some things.

  “We meet them in two days,” Narissa says. I’m glad that Narissa and Jenn are finally getting along. I hope it stays that way.

  “So can you show us around outside of the Deeproot Forest?” I ask Narissa. I really want to go and explore.

  “I can tomorrow. I have to get Laderic or Drakoe to go with us for safety reasons. It’s too late to venture out today. I can show you the West side of the Deeproot Forest since you have already seen the East side.

  “That sounds good, thank you. I can’t wait to see the West side,” I say to her.

  “What should we do for the rest of the night?” Alex asks. I have no clue what we are going to do.

  “How about I teach you how to hunt with your new bow and arrow?” asks Narissa. “Let’s try to catch some food for our cookout tonight?”

  “That sounds great!” says Alex. I know he’s been waiting to go hunting ever since we got our new bows. I don’t know how Jenn will do hunting. I hope she doesn’t freak out.

  “Will you go hunting with us, Jenn?” I ask her anyway. I see her looking at her bow as if she is deciding if she really wants to go.

  “I have never been hunting before, so I’m not sure what to expect. I don’t know if I can do it. I will try, though,” she says.

  “You don’t have to kill anything if you do not want to Jenn. It is just good to practice in case you ever get in a situation need your bow to survive,” Narissa says.

  We all grab our bows and head downstairs. We wait for Narissa to go get her bow so she can show us where to go hunt. We stop by the archery range to grab some arrows. We each grab a handful so we have enough.

  We walk about a mile away from the archery range and then we come to a stop. We try to be as quiet as we can so we do not scare away the animals.

  “It is very important that we stay very quiet and move very slowly. If we make too much noise, we’ll scare away all the animals,” says Narissa.

  We decide to stay in one area for a while, keeping an eye out for any kind of animals. We hear a rustling noise in front of us, and Alex decides to get his bow and arrow ready first. He’s aiming at the bushes in front of us, waiting until he sees his prey. After a few moments, a rabbit comes hopping out of the bushes. Alex takes a deep breath and aims his bow at the rabbit. He lets go of the arrow and watches it fly. He ends up missing the rabbit as the arrow flies over but he got very close. The rabbit takes off as fast as it can, away from us.

  “It’s okay, you’ll get it next time; you came very close. Everyone keep your eyes out for any other movements,” Narissa says.

  We decide to walk a little further from where we were standing to see if we can find any other animals. Normally we see animals everywhere, but now that we’re looking for them they seem difficult to find.

  I look over to my left and I see a squirrel on a tree. I decide I want to try to hit it, so I get my bow and arrow ready. I pull my arrow back and aim it at the squirrel. I let go of my arrow and watch it soar through the air. It hits the squirrel dead on and the squirrel falls to the ground.

  “Good job, Zac, you got it. I will go grab it and bring it back,” Alex says while running to the squirrel. I look over at Jenn, and she looks like she’s going to get sick. I don’t think she’s going to be trying to kill any animals today.

  “You have a very good aim, Zac. I’m surprised that you were able to hit that squirrel from so far away,” Narissa says while patting me on the back.

  We decide to head back after another hour of fruitless searching and I bring the squirrel back with us. They already have the bonfire lit. I give the squirrel to Laderic and he skins it to cook it.

  We have a small dinner tonight. Squirrel, potatoes, and corn. It is very tasty and after we finish eating dinner, we sit around the bonfire and listen to stories.

  “Drakoe, will you go with us to explore the West Plains tomorrow? I told Zac that I would show him around, and I want you to go with us for safety,” asks Narissa.

  “Sure, it will be fun. I haven’t been out there in a while. We’ll introduce you to some new people,” says Drakoe. I’m curious who we’ll be meeting tomorrow. I hope they’re as nice as the Wood Elves. We head up to our room for the night. We’re all excited about exploring tomorrow but I’m quite tired, and I fall asleep quickly.

  Chapter Ten

  I actually wake up early this morning before anybody comes to wake us up. I decide to wake up Alex and Jenn to get them ready for our morning chores.

  We walk out to the crops, and we each grab a banana to eat for breakfast. Then we grab our baskets and begin to fill them with food. After we fill our baskets and our two hours are up, we go to our routine wash at the lake.

  Narissa and Drakoe pack up some bags of food to take with us so we can eat when we get hungry. We take our bows with us for protection. Then we head out to the West of the Peaceful Forest.

  When we get to the edge of the forest we see open land for miles. It looks like it’s deserted.

  “What’s out here?” asks Jenn. I’m just as curious as Jenn is because it looks like nothing is out there.

  “It’s miles away, about a six-hour walk, but the Halflings live out there. They’re very nice once you get to know them,” says Drakoe.

  “Are you guys ready for your journey?” asks Narissa. We begin to head straight, which seems desolate.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say. It’s a very hot day today and it feels like we’re walking for hours. We finally stop and take a break to eat some lunch. They packed us some fruit to eat.

  After we finish eating, we start to walk again. Time passes rather quickly and, as I look around, all I see are open fields of grass. There are very few trees scattered around with a few rocks. We start to come up to a small village.

  It’s exciting to see some sort of living activity again. From a distance it looks like children walking around. The closer we get, I begin to realize that these are not children – they’re small-set people.

  “This is the home of the Halflings. They have a small town here which they call Turnip Town. They’re very good friends of ours. Luriss and Deree are in charge here. They’ll trade with us once in a while. I brought you here to meet them, but we won’t stay long,” Narissa tells us.

  As we walk through the town, all of the Halflings wave at us. They resemble humans but they only come up to our stomachs in height.

  We walk to the middle of the town, and come to a fancier-looking house. It reminds me of an over-sized doll house
. We stop in front of the house and two Halflings exit the front door.

  “Hello, Narissa, it has been a while since we last saw your family. How is everyone doing? We didn’t recognize you at first. I didn’t know that you were coming.” Luriss says. He has a really big nose and wavy, light brown hair.

  “Everyone’s doing great. We wanted to stop by and introduce you to our new friends. This is Zac, Alex, and Jenn, and they’re from the planet Earth. They wanted to meet you and your people,” Narissa replies to them.

  Luriss puts his hand on his chin, slowly walking closer to us, as he’s examining us. Deree follows closely behind him, peering around her husband. She has a large nose as well, but she has dark brown hair, up in a bun.

  “Why did you want us to meet them? There doesn’t seem to be anything special about them to me,” Luriss asks.

  “They are very special indeed. Zac here has brought with him the Unicorn,” Drakoe replies.

  “Are you trying to tell us this boy is bound to the Unicorn?” Deree asks softly, still peering around her husband.

  “Yes indeed, Deree, he’s Unicorn bound. He’s here to help us fight the Dark Lords and the Dark Elves. We may be getting Yazen back to ourselves, free to roam wherever we please,” Narissa says excitedly.