by Nicole Yek
Garnet already had a hunch about this so she wasn't really surprised to find that her speculation turned out to be true. "What happened?" she asked.
Hywel suddenly halted in his tracks, causing the brunette to collide face-first into his back. "Ow," she groaned, clutching her nose with her free hand. "Why did you stop-"
"I would like to inform you that prying into other people's lives is considered rather disrespectful," he turned around to glare at her. "So I suggest you refrain yourself from doing so."
He released her wrist and turned away from her, walking ahead and leaving her to follow him on her own. Garnet gripped her wrist with her other hand and bit down on her bottom lip, instantly regretting having asked the question. She proceeded to walk behind him in silence.
Button was hopping merrily beside her as though he hadn't seen the tension between her and Hywel, but it wouldn't have mattered even if he had because he couldn't have been able to understand it anyway. The girl let out a dejected sigh and decided that it would be best if she kept her uncontrollable mouth quiet for the rest of the walk.
However, after several minutes of continuous walking past trees and shrubs like she had been doing since entering the Wood, Garnet began to have doubts about whether the wolf boy truly did know where to get fresh, curse-free water or he was simply making them go around in circles in order to protect his precious pride. "Where are we going?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. "Are we almost there yet?"
"Yes, it won't take much longer, just be patient." He replied, his tone cold and devoid of emotions.
Garnet furrowed her eyebrows, still feeling doubtful and stared straight at the back of the boy's head. But when he didn't turn around, she chose to give up and avert her gaze down towards the leaf-covered ground… which was actually a bad idea as the silver-haired boy stopped a few moments later and unaware of this, she ended up crashing into his back… again.
She released a small cry of pain but Hywel ignored her and turned to face her. "We're here." He said.
Garnet removed her hand from her nose and took a good look at their surroundings. Her face scrunched up in confusion as all she saw were trees and shrubs, not much different than what she had been seeing for the past day. "And where exactly is here, Hywel? Everything looks the same and I don't see any water…"
Her voice trailed off when she saw the boy reach an arm out to a curtain of leafy vines that hung from the thick branches of the two trees on both its sides and pulled the vines aside to reveal a small stream filled with glittering clear water on the other side. The brunette gaped at the sight before her and it wasn't until the boy slipped himself through and released his hold on the vines had she finally snapped out of her trance and quickly trailed after him.
Garnet's green eyes twinkled in amazement as she scanned the scenery. Unlike the other side from where they came in, the trees that towered them were grown in a circle, allowing the sun to shine down on a small plot of grassland next to the crystal blue stream. Another difference between the trees that surrounded them and the trees that she had been passing was that there were beautiful and colorful blooms of flowers on them that lifted the girl's spirits instantly as though there was magic within each flower bud.
She ran through the grassy land and did a few twirls just for the enjoyment of it. With a wide grin, she turned to look at Hywel who was watching her with his brilliant blue eyes. Garnet had never been the kind of person to hold grudges against others, and she forgave just as easily as she forgot. Hywel on the other hand, was a tougher nut to crack, but one look at the brunette's ridiculously huge beam made him crack a smile of his own. He thought that both her personality and behavior were immature, that was true, yet there was also something else about her that he couldn't help but felt drawn to, it could be her cheerfulness or her determination… but it was difficult for him to name exactly what it was.
"Where are we, Hywel?" she asked, beaming. "What is this place?"
She plopped herself down onto the deep, verdant green grass and moved her arms and legs up and down. Hywel chuckled and made his way over to the girl lying on the grass and stopped beside her. "It's still a part of the Wood," he replied, looking down at her smiling face. "It's just prettier compared to the rest."
"I'll say!" Garnet sat up on the ground, a few bits of grass stuck in her messy brown locks. She glanced up at the trees when she heard chirping and saw two birds perched on the lowest branch of one of them. With great enthusiasm, she jumped back on her feet and rushed to the tree.
"There are even birds here!" she exclaimed as she stared up at the two brown birds on the low branch that hung just a little above her head. "I haven't seen a single bird since coming into the Wood!"
"Birds are difficult to find here," Hywel said as he reached her side in front of the tree. "Honestly speaking, any ordinary animal is difficult to find here. The only ones that outsiders would often come across are the wolves."
"Well, that's quite cruel." Garnet pouted.
"The whole world is cruel." The boy stated.
The brunette rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the two brown birds above her head. Upon closer inspection, she realized that one was significantly smaller than the other and she assumed that it was still a baby. She couldn't name its species but she was never a bird expert to begin with. As though he had read her mind, Hywel answered, "Wren."
This made her look at him with a puzzled expression. He gave her a lazy smirk in response and clarified himself. "That's the species of the bird."
Garnet's mouth formed into an ‘O' in understanding and it slowly spread into another infectious grin. "Hello!" she greeted the two birds.
"Well, hello, dearie." The bigger wren spoke, taking her aback.
"Y-you can talk!" she cried out, startled.
"Of course she can." Hywel said nonchalantly as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
She jerked her head to look at him, shocked. "What do you mean ‘of course'? In case you didn't know, ordinary birds can't talk!"
"And in case you forgot, you're not exactly in an ordinary forest." He remarked, making her fume.
She was going to fire back an insult when the wren interrupted her.
"Now, Hywel," it said in an older woman's voice. "Don't be rude to her. She seems like such a nice girl."
The boy looked at the bird. He didn't have to tilt his head back to see her because, unlike Garnet, he was tall enough to look at the Wren eye to eye. "My apologies, Anbreen." He apologized sincerely with a light nod and a hand over his heart.
Garnet's face scrunched up at him and he cocked a questioning eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Why don't you speak to me like that?" she grimaced.
"Well, that's because Anbreen is a proper lady, or rather she was one." He explained, giving the Wren another apologetic nod.
"Wait, a lady…? What?" the brunette was extremely perplexed, constantly switching glances between the boy and the bird.
"I was a woman before I was cursed." the wren, Anbreen told her, hoping to clear her confusion. "I'm Mrs. Wren, but please, call me Anbreen."
"Oh! I'm Garnet!" the brunette beamed at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"The pleasure's all mine." Anbreen said. "Your cheerfulness is quite refreshing and I must say that you are such a lovely child."
Garnet blushed at her flattery. "Thank you, Anbreen."
Anbreen held out a wing towards the baby wren and said, "This is my son, Biff."
Biff hopped a few times on the branch. "Hello, Garnet!"
"Hello!" she grinned, finding him absolutely adorable.
Biff giggled. The bird giggled.
"What's so funny?" she asked the little wren.
"You're really happy," he continued to giggle. "And you're really pretty!"
Garnet's cheeks flushed crimson and she became rather lost as to how to respond to his unexpected compliment.
"Isn't she pretty, mom?" Biff turned to Anbreen.
"Oh, yes, she's very pretty." Anbreen agreed and the brunette's face suddenly felt incredibly warm. The wren turned to look at Hywel. "Don't you think so, Hywel?"
The girl's gaze immediately darted onto the silver-haired boy standing next to her and she found comfort and delight in seeing how much redder his face was turning due to his unnaturally pale skin. "W-what- I don't have time to indulge you i-in this idle chat of yours!" he stuttered clumsily and Garnet couldn't help but laugh, making the boy shoot her a glare.
But she ignored it and she felt something land abruptly on top of her head. "If Master Hywel will not answer, then I shall take his place and tell you that I think that you are indeed very pretty, Miss Garnet." An unfamiliar male voice spoke and the brunette looked up to find a squirrel bending down to look at her from atop her head.
"I apologize for not introducing myself sooner, Miss," the squirrel said. "But you may address me as Mathis."
"Hello, Mathis, it's very nice to meet you!" Garnet greeted and Mathis smiled.
"And I to you, Miss." He said.
Garnet glanced back at Hywel who was staring at them with an impassive countenance. "Can all the animals talk here?" she asked him, a never-faltering-grin plastered on her face.
"Most of them can." He replied coolly.
The girl's eyes widened when she remembered the white rabbit that was the first animal she met upon entering the Wood. "Oh! What about Button?"
"You mean Nathaniel." Hywel corrected.
"Actually Button is fine," another voice spoke out and they both turned around to see the said white rabbit hopping towards them. "Nathaniel is rather old-fashioned, don't you think?"
Garnet bent down with her arms outstretched and the rabbit jumped into them instantly. "Well, I'm glad that you feel that way, Button." She said and stroked his head.
"You have got to be joking." The wolf boy sighed, shaking his head.
Both she and the rabbit laughed at his reaction, making the boy all the more irritated. Once her laughter had ceased, the brunette flashed another one of her heart-melting grins at him. "Hywel?"
"What is it?" he looked up and stared at her. Even though they had only met the night before, he had never seen her so absurdly happy and he couldn't help but find her current appearance comical.
With Mathias snuggled into a furry brown ball atop of her head, Biff who had flown off the branch and was then perched on one of her shoulders, and Button wrinkling his pink nose in her arms, Garnet grinned. "This place is wonderful!"
Chapter Seven
Night soon fell upon the earth, eliminating any remaining sunlight from every nook and cranny in the land, leaving the people with nothing but a dark blank canvas that was once the brilliant cerulean sky. Garnet was still in the part of the Wood where the talking animals were and she had met and learnt all of their names by then. Anbreen was the mother wren and Biff was her adorable son, Mathis was the charming squirrel, Rutherford, the old tortoise who spent the most of his days sleeping in the stream, and Atticus was the fairly intelligent frog whom Hywel seemed to interact with the most out of them all.
"Truly, Miss Garnet," Mathis said to the brunette sitting beside him on a log. "You are so undeniably lovely, I would love to court you if I were still a man, but alas, I'm trapped in the body of a furry little squirrel!" he cried out in devastation, flailing his arms around in exasperation.
Garnet chuckled at his flamboyant personality. She didn't think she had been this amused for a while.
"You wouldn't be able to court her even if you weren't a squirrel, Mathis," Hywel said as he put a few fallen branches and twigs into a pile next to them. He told Garnet that he was going to make a fire because the nights could be quite chilly in this part of the Wood. She had volunteered to help but he dismissed her with a nonchalant wave of his hand, leaving her crestfallen, and that was when Mathis decided to come to her rescue and declared that he would be her personal jester and companion for the night.
"And why is that so, Master Hywel?" Mathis eyed him curiously as the wolf boy began to rub two twigs together with vigorous force. Eventually, a faint spark started and it later turned into a small glowing fire. Hywel threw the burning twigs onto the pile and the orange glow spread out like wildfire.
Hywel looked at the squirrel with a scornful expression. "It seems like the fact that you're already in your early thirties must have slipped your mind," He said bluntly. "You're old enough to be her father!"
"I-I am not!" Mathis argued. "And do not make it sound as though I'm an old man! Men in their thirties are men at their absolute finest!"
"I find that difficult to believe." The silver-haired boy rolled his eyes and walked around the small fire to sit down next to Garnet on the log.
She felt slightly awkward at their choice of conversation topic and shifted vaguely in her seat. But the discomfort vanished when Biff suddenly flew down and landed softly on her lap. "I've been wondering about this for some time now, Garnet," the little wren started, staring up at her with sparkling dark eyes. "But how old are you? I'm seven!"
"Oh, you're the same age as my little brother!" she said, a smile spreading across his face at the memory of Knox. "And I'm fifteen."
"Fifteen?" Biff echoed.
"Fifteen?" Mathis repeated, sounding somewhat shocked and confused.
"Fifteen!" Hywel snapped at the inappropriate squirrel.
This made Mathis shrink back, appalled by his abrupt outburst. "Oh…" he mumbled, realizing his mistake. "Fifteen…"
Garnet laughed at their responses. "Yes, I'm fifteen." She confirmed in between laughs.
Biff bounced around on her lap, looking rather energetic for a little bird whose bedtime seemed to be approaching fast. "If you're fifteen, then you're almost the same age as Hywel!"
Hywel winced at the mention of his name, knowing fully well the brunette would pry and pester him to no end in order to find out his age after the little wren had put the thought in her head. As if on cue, she snapped her head towards him and looked at him with wide, curious green eyes. "How old are you?"
He hesitated for a moment. "Sixteen."
"Sixteen?" the girl asked, shock washing over her features.
"Sixteen." He nodded.
"Sixteen!" Mathis exclaimed just for the sake of repeating it like they had done for Garnet's age.
This, however, earned a harsh glare from the wolf boy which caused the squirrel to stumble back on the log in fright.
"But you can't be sixteen!" Garnet protested. "You're so tall!"
"Actually, my height is considered quite average, you’re the one who's dwarf-sized." Hywel said, bored.
The brunette opened her mouth, ready to mutter a witty retort but he suddenly got up from the log. "I should get going." He said and left through the curtain of leafy vines from where they came in earlier.
Garnet's eyebrows knitted and her lips tugged down into a deep frown. "He can be so rude sometimes!" she huffed angrily.
"That is true," Button spoke up. He was curled into a white ball on the grass next to her feet. "But he does have a soft side."
"Although it's not one that you'd get to witness often, he's quite intent on keeping up a tough persona." Mathis added.
"But he doesn't usually act like that," Biff said and turned to the girl. "He's usually really nice and he always sneaks in berries for me even though mom told him not to!"
The way the little wren spoke about the silver-haired boy was so enthusiastic and she could easily tell how much he had liked him. She smiled down at the bird and gently stroked it. "Well, I won't doubt you on that. Maybe it's because he simply doesn't like me, I mean, I am an outsider after all. He must think of me as an intruder in his home."
Mathis gave a thoughtful hum and said, "Actually, I think it's the complete opposite, Miss. I think Master Hywel has taken a fancy to you."
A suffusion of red crimsoned Garnet's cheeks at the smirking squirrel's words. "That is impossible!" she blurted out, flustered.
"I spe
ak the truth, Miss, and if you don't believe my words, take this fire for instance." Mathis gestured to the small crackling fire burning a vibrant red and orange.
"This fire…?" she raised an eyebrow at it in bafflement.
"Yes!" Mathis exclaimed. "You see, Master Hywel has never set up a fire for us before, most likely because none of us really need it because of our fur and feathers. You on the other hand…" he took in the sight of her dirty, crumpled and vaguely torn clothes. "Only have those unsightly clothes of yours. No offense."
"None taken." Garnet shook her head. She was aware of how much of a mess she had looked but she didn't bother to put too much care into what other people had thought of her disheveled appearance. She had come into the Wood on a trip, not to attend a ball.
Biff hopped around on her lap, perplexed. "I don't get it," he said. "Why would Hywel be rude to Garnet if he likes her?"
Mathis seemed as though he was about to answer the little wren's question when Anbreen abruptly flew down and tackled him onto the log. The squirrel let out a squeak of pain as the mother wren stepped down on top of his back. "Don't you dare taint my son with your unseemly mentality, Mathis!" she scolded him.
"I-I apologize, Mrs. Wren." he managed to squeak out beneath her.
Satisfied, the mother hopped off of the assaulted squirrel towards her son who was looking more puzzled as he endeavored to make sense of Mathis' claim. "Now, forget whatever nonsense the bad squirrel told you and let's go back up to the nest, it's time for bed." Anbreen told him. "It's not polite to meddle into other people's business, what goes on in their lives is between Garnet and Hywel."
"Oh, speaking of Hywel," Garnet said, looking at the animals in hope for an answer. "Does anyone of you know where he went?"
"He's most probably going to Change." Button replied calmly.
"Change?" her eyebrows furrowed as she attempted to unravel the meaning behind his words.
"He means that Hywel's going to change into a wolf!" Biff clarified with eagerness in his tone.
At that moment, the memory from the night before when Hywel appeared as a real wolf, looking as unearthly as a mythical creature from an old fairytale, flashed across the brunette's mind. She blinked, snapping out of her momentary daze and asked, "Does he always change into a wolf at night?"