Journal Entry #19

I’m finally able to sit upright again for more than a couple minutes, and Mrs. Rine was nice enough to buy some new parchment, and even an actual quill with ink. I got maybe a little excited and overeager in saying ‘Thank you’ but she just passed it off as no big deal.

So, I guess, to start this new journal off, Rine is nice, is what I’m saying.

The parchment I had with me did, unfortunately, get really soaked, but luckily my other entries survived. I’m really happy about that, actually. I put so much work into gathering all the materials for them, and…also, some of those are things I don’t wanna revisit. Not right now, anyway.

Deylind is nice. I guess it’s the first ‘town’ I’ve seen, at least in terms of what I remember ‘towns’ being in, like, fantasy stories. Like, it’s got houses, a well, lots of farmland. There’s not a ton of people here, but everyone seems to know everyone else. Apparently it was built, like, less than fifty years ago? That’s sort of crazy. But it is, apparently, a bit off the road from any of the big ‘cities’.

But enough about geography.

It took a day or two for me to be able to stand, and it’s been a week since I was brought here. By a merchant, apparently? She drops by every now and then to bring weird magical potions, devices and toys from Grandmont…the, uh, closest big city.

Apparently she was foraging because magical plants tend to pop up in the forest after that big ‘Moon Flash’ storm I got hit by, and found me under, like, half a tree. Apparently I was lucky I didn’t get crushed? Yay. Lucky me.

I…miss the other Felyn. Nia. Parah. Myts. I hope they’re doing alright. They weren’t found after the Moon Flash so, they probably aren’t hurt or…worse? I hope they’re at least safe. I want to go find them, but Rine insists on me staying for a little longer. And I guess things are nice enough here…

Kind of. Hallen hates me. Or, I guess more accurately he doesn’t trust me. He…thinks I’m a ‘spy’ for the Felyn? I’m pretty sure I heard him mumble that under his breath, three or four pints in the other night. He glares at me whenever Rine’s not around, apparently thinks these journal entries are coded messages, and…I don’t know. I don’t especially like him, and don’t trust him, but Rine tends to back me up when she’s around.

I don’t know. It’s strange how there just seems to be humans in Deylind. I know there’s more than that in this world. Elves. Trolls. Cowpeople. I thought it was just the Felyn, my family, that stayed together out of habit. Is it like this everywhere?

Either way…I want to go home. I know our hovel got flooded, but I want to see all the other Felyn again. I…can’t tell if this is new me or old me writing this, but I want to see my parents again.

…Okay. I decided. Next journal entry’ll have to be from our new hovel, then. I’m gonna sneak out, and find the other Felyn. For sure, they’ll be searching for me too, right? I just need to go back to the forest, even if it takes a day or two.

Wish me luck. 

—---------------------------------------------

Journal Entry #20

Short journal entry this time because I really don’t want to dwell on it.

…Okay, I messed up. I thought it was two days out to the forest, but it’s actually, like, a week of walking.

I made it a couple hours out in the dead of night before I realized I couldn’t see any familiar treeline, and the grass was way too tall. Also, I tripped on a stupid root on the way back to Deylind and my little bag broke and all my food rations fell out, and a bunch of prickly plants tore up my tunic.

I…guess I’ll have to try better next time.

When I got back, and I guess it was morning, Rine was worried, and Hallen just laughed. He laughed WAY too hard I might add. Thought it was hilarious to see a ‘beast with no survival skills’ come limping back. Whatever. He sucks. I hate Hallen.

Anyway…I guess he has a very, very slight point. I’m short. Especially among the Felyn. I’d probably call myself a ‘runt of the litter’, but the Felyn don’t exactly know that phrase. It’s hard to see over tall-enough grass, and I’m, like, barely half of either Rine or Hallen, height-wise. Even my bag full of food, a single knife, and some writing supplies was just…really exhausting to carry.

I kind of…didn’t factor my size for my trip, but…I can account for it next time. I can pack lighter. Wear clothes that don’t catch as easily and that…actually fit.

I’ll try again. Okay, I’ll wait a week. NEXT journal entry is gonna be from the new Felyn hovel. I promise!

—---------------------------------------------

Journal Entry #23

This time, it’s not my fault. I got attacked by a Wiltarn-

…Oh, uh, Wiltarn. Think of a buffalo, but with big ugly fangs, but it’s half the size and twice as mean. Anyway, I didn’t realize it was stalking me, and the next thing I knew, there were these big thumps coming right at me, and…

—---------------------------------------------

It was barely sundown when Mei’s ears twitched, all as she half-heard, half-felt, something whistling through the air. She just barely managed to duck her head just in time for a small rock to sail between her ears and ping off the tree she was sitting against, tumbling a good dozen feet before clattering to the ground.

Snapping her quill flat against her parchment, Mei glared at the small group of the other kids in the village who’d surrounded her relaxation tree, her tree for relaxation. “Don’t do that!” she growled.

A tall leering boy in the front simply laughed, another rock already prepped in one hand, and a few more in the other.

“Looks like the little kitty got lost again. Came cryin’ back to town!” he laughed. “Though if I were you, I probably woulda stayed LOST!”

Another rock sailed well under Mei’s branch, but the cacophony of about a half-dozen kids laughing made her frustrations bubble up. Quickly rolling up her parchment and capping her ink, Mei stuffed her things back in her little cloth bag, their outlines bulging through countless sewn-up stitches. And with her things stashed away, Mei stood, perched and glaring from a branch that…would’ve probably been a little too narrow or light for anyone but her to stand upright on.

“I’ve told you, like, thousands of times. This is where I go to get away from you! It’s…it’s barely even in the town! Go away! Stop bothering me!” she shouted, her tail flickering angrily behind her.

“Monsters aren’t allowed in the village!”

“Yeah, my dad said you’re prolly some sorta secret weapon of the Felyn! They’re gonna follow you in!”

“Betcha she’s writing secret messages to ‘em now.”

“Yeah! She’s always writin’ stuff.”

Mei was fuming, but also…felt a twinge of anxiety about confronting. The other kids were usually nasty, but…they’d never thrown rocks before. And they were a little more keyed up than usual. And taller. And there were, like, six to her one.

“I’m not a monster. I’m a Felyn. And I’m a person, just like you. A person you’re being really mean to. Just go away! Leave me alone!” she shouted again, though her eyes were already darting for another way out of the tree.

If she was lucky, maybe an adult would hear the commotion and come to her rescue. If she wasn’t, maybe that one boy’s dad, or goddesses-forbid, Hallen, would join in.

Her eyes flickered across her escape route once more. Okay, one of the branches leaned pretty close to a rooftop. She’d have to jump just right, but she’s pretty sure she could make it.

The tallest boy with the rocks caught her looking away for a moment, and perked up. “Ooooooh! Looks like the lil’ kitty’s gonna go home and hide!” He grinned, and reared back with another rock. “Can’t get away from us like that, can she?”

Mei felt her insides roiling, and could feel the unfairness and frustration well nearly up to tears…but she stopped herself. She wasn’t going to let them get her like this.

They were just a bunch of kids repeating their parents’ bigotry. And she was a Felyn who had, like, almost 40 years of combined lived experiences to deal with this crap.

She took a deep breath, and twisted just out of the way of fist-sized rock launched at her, and leapt to the neighboring branch. As she picked up speed, her toeclaws occasionally grazed wood as the branch narrowed and wobbled, even beneath her light frame. The rooftop was right before her…she just had to take another couple steps.

“Whoa. See? Only monsters can move like that!”

“Ooooh, she’s gonna jump! She’s gonna do it!”

Mei grit her sharp little teeth together, and luckily, the rock throwing had paused as the crowd below seemingly watching this little feat of acrobatics intently.

She scrunched down, building up the power in her little legs. Just like she’d done hundreds, thousands of times back in the forest, she perched as far forward on that branch as she could as it bent down…and on the upswing, she leapt.

The sensation of flying through the air, for even this briefest of moments, momentarily brought a wave of relief through Mei’s whole body. The hours a day she’d spent practicing simply bouncing across treetops, leaping through the air, the rush of wind through her new fur. That second or so in midair stretched on and on in the Felyn’s mind. Maybe it was just the adrenaline talking but…this sort of thing was what she adored about her brand new life.

…And maybe the way her whole body thumped against the edge of that rooftop, and her hands and feet scrambling to grip the thatching to pull herself up, was a bit closer to the rest of her experience.

“She almost fell! Ha, c’mon, let’s get her!” the tall boy yelled, throwing one more rock. This one did strike Mei in the side, who yelped and winced. She half curled her body towards the impact, but shook it off, panted, and pulled herself the rest of the way up.

“F-ff…d-damn it…” Mei groaned softly to herself on the rooftop, holding back words even if nobody could hear her and nursing her side for a moment. As the adrenaline began to pump back through her, however, she picked herself back up and glanced across the rooftop, and its nearly connecting neighbors. Shutting her eyes for a moment, she breathed out words she was sure nobody here but her understood. “A-at least I know parkour now.”

And despite going a little slower to prevent worsening her injury, Mei bound from rooftop to tree to rooftop to simply head home, where at least she knew she probably wouldn’t be bothered.

—---------------

All but one of the children had scampered off to chase the roof-running Felyn, and then likely eventually got bored and threw more rocks at trees when they couldn’t keep up.

But Byron remained.

Frowning, the unassuming boy with wild, curly black hair, reached down and picked up the last rock that had been thrown. Across the jagged surface, there was just a little bit of discoloring, a tiny splotch of blood.

His expression fell a little more, and he glanced up towards the rooftops. Though surely, she wasn’t still up there.

Holding the rock in his palm for a moment, he gripped it for a second, before walking back into town. It weighed heavy in his pocket as it slid in.

—----------------

There was barely any light when Mei dropped from her neighbor’s roof to the ground, breathing sharply through her teeth at the impact. Turning her palm up, she could see her pads were lightly covered with little shimmers of red. She sighed.

Of course, one randomly thrown rock would just so happen to hit where a Wiltarn tooth had grazed her side and reopen the stupid wound. She’d just have to ask Rine for some fresh bandages…

Mei quietly approached the front door to Rine and Hallen’s home. It always looked so tall and imposing when she approached it. It was definitely built for the normal-sized humans that lived there and not her pint-sized, hip-high self. Another little reminder that this still…didn’t feel like hers.

She lifted a hand to the door and started forward…but stopped, when she heard voices on the inside. One of them…Hallen? She could recognize his gruff voice from clear across town by now. And the other must’ve been someone else from the village, though she wasn’t sure she’d ever met him. Mei hadn’t exactly felt welcomed to greet all the others in Deylind, so to speak.

Quickly scanning the streets and making sure nobody else was watching her eavesdrop, Mei reduced her breathing to a little whisper, and pressed one perked, feline ear to the wood.

“-tellin’ ya, they’re getting more brazen by the day. Maybe we should reach out to Grandmont and hire some’a those adventuring types to drive ‘em off,” said the other man’s voice.

Hallen grunted. “We don’t have the money. And besides, the Headman is right, much as I disagree with him. There’s still no proof it’s the Felyn, and we can’t both fight a war and tend our fields. It’s better that we simply make sure where each other’s boundaries lie. As long as we don’t stretch into the forest, we’re fine.”

“...What about the girl? She’s proof ‘nuff, isn’t she? Isn’t it an awful coincidence she showed up roughly the same time some’a our crops up and died? I’m telling ya, we should just forget what that greedy witch said ‘n chase her out of town while we still have the chance-”

Hallen quickly interrupted. “Rine’s taken a liking to her. And I can’t say I see why, but she’s already taken many opportunities to get out of here, and can’t seem to muster it. Maybe it’s…all a big mind game, but I can’t imagine a spy who can’t even fend for itself in the wild’s gonna be useful to anyone.”

“But that’s the thing, y’see? She’s still tryin’ to get out! To hand those secret notes to her kind! Who ever heard of Felyn writin’ so much anyway? ‘Specially that gobbledigook that’s on there…”

Mei felt a lot of things, listening to all of this. It was weird that she keyed on to just this one fact, but the idea that the owner of the other voice had read her journal filled her with a weird, returning sense of rage. But she bit her tongue, quietly breathed out, and kept listening.

“...Listen, Gourd. Much as I’d rather she be anywhere but here, as I said, Rine’s watching her. If things get worse, I’ll take care of it personally. You have my word.”

Mei’s fur bristled at that promise, and she swallowed. If ever there was a more threatening thing that had been said about her, she must not’ve heard it.

“Fine. Fine. …But, just to be sure, y’know. If you need any help or anything-”

Hallen cleared his throat. “Rine’ll be back soon, and I’m sure the girl isn’t far behind, either. We’ll talk later.”

“Yeah. …Right. Well, you know where I am. See you t’morrow, Hal.”

“Evenin’, Gourd.”

With wide eyes, and a sharp sense of panic as she rapidly heard heavy footsteps approach the door, Mei lunged behind the tall pile of firewood gathered up in front of the home. The wood had been stacked tall enough, and Mei was small enough, that she was pretty sure, or at least hoped, the shadows would hide her from whoever exited the house.

The door creaked open, and a big shadow, a large, round wall of a man stomped out into the town’s shadows. And another pair of footsteps stopped just outside of the door, pausing there for a moment.

“Come out, Mei,” said Hallen, gruff, but quiet.

Even if she could feel her heart in her stomach, and the lingering sense of dread tingling at the tips of her fur, Mei slowly rose from her hiding spot, swallowing softly.

“I-I didn’t hear anythi-” she began.

“Inside,” Hallen said, simply.

Her eyes darted out to the town’s dirt path for the moment. The Deylind’s borders weren’t that far away, and she was certainly fast enough to outrun Hallen. Well, hopefully, even with an injury.

“Inside,” Hallen repeated. …And, to Mei’s sharp surprise, he added, “please.”

Mei’s gaze rose…up, a good ways up, to meet Hallen’s own. He had a furrowed brow she’d never seen before.

Okay, might as well give this a…go?

Cautiously hunched, Mei slid through the door past Hallen, who shut it firmly behind him.

Slipping her bag beneath her bed, Mei gave a sharp little yelp as her wound throbbed again. And with raised eyebrows, Hallen took a step forward, albeit just one.

“Damnit all. Did you try to get to the forest again? Look at that, and you’re bleeding, too! Just…great,” Hallen grumbled, stomping into the only other room in the home…only to return with a handful of bundled bandages, and a jar of something pungent and sour enough that Mei’s nose wrinkled while it was still capped.

Hallen roughly tugged a chair next to the bed and sat down. Noting Mei’s confused expression, he sighed.

“First of all, Rine’d let me have it if she knew I let you walk around with a big festering wound, yet alone make it worse. She’d raise even more hell if I let you bleed on her sheets, so stop fussin’.”

Mei frowned. The words from the doorway were still bouncing around her head. This was still the man who’d been disparaging her since the day she’d been brought in. The man who said he’d ‘take care of her’ if things got any worse. And yet…he had a point.

Still.

“Maybe I did hear what you said, actually. You don’t like me and you’re gonna get rid of me. That was all pretty clear,” she said. She’d push this envelope as far as she could. If worse came to worse…she was all ready to dash. Her legs clenched, and her body ever so subtly swiveled. She was pretty sure she could sweep out from under Hallen’s arms if he lunged..

Instead, Hallen simply rubbed his face with his hand.

“You sure did hear all that, didn’t you?” he sighed. “...Which means you also heard that my wife is fond of you, which means I have no choice in the matter. Now stop squirming and let me dress the wound.”

Mei…wasn’t sure how to react to that. But her body untensed despite that, and without saying a word, sighed, winced, and lifted the side of her tunic.

Hallen snorted, took a small wadded ball of cloth, and applied the liquid. It was…weirdly blue, and even more pungent, and definitely stung the second it touched Mei. In the back of her mind, she wondered, an antiseptic? They’ve invented those already? Or is it something else…?

“Looks like a pretty bad scratch, but not too deep. …But not something you’ve come home with before. What got you?”

The Felyn winced, her ears folded back, sucking air sharply through her teeth. “N-nnnhyahhhnnn….” she whimpered, before composing herself. “First, a Wiltarn. I-it came out of the grass, and I didn’t see it, and it got me with a tooth. …Then I was getting better, and one of the boys hit me with a rock, ‘n made it worse…”

Hallen paused for a moment, leaning back. “A…rock? They were throwing rocks at you? Did you bite ‘em or something?”

“No!” Mei said, sharply. “I was just…writing. In the tree, right after I got back. They just…threw rocks. Said I was a spy.” Her eyes narrowed up at Hallen. “The kind of stuff you say.”

Hallen didn’t return her gaze this time, instead, unwrapping more bandages. With a surprising amount of care, he began wrapping them around Mei’s stomach.

There was a full minute of silence before he spoke up again.

“Rine thinks I’m the one who’s making you want to leave, you know. Every time she notices you’re gone, I get an earful about it. And maybe she’s right,” Hallen sighed. “Truth is, I do wish you’d never been brought here. It brings back a lot of bad memories, and the townfolk are paranoid already about you Felyn.”

He paused again. “Not sure if you’re too young to have been taught this, but Deylind was founded on Felyn land. So, of course, they’re gonna do whatever they can to get it back, and most of the people in town know we’re gonna have a reckoning one of these days, so whenever something happens to our borders, our crops, we’re pretty sure it’s you.”

Feeling her aching wound seem to sting less and less, Mei was free to put her whole being into a quick retort. “We do not! I’d never even seen this place until I woke up here! I don’t care about your dumb town, I just want to go home-”

Mei realized her eyes were wet, and she recoiled from Hallen, pushing herself fully back onto the bed. She tugged her legs quickly up to her face, and…for a second, just stared at them.

What…what was that about? That’s what she was doing, right? Trying to get back to her family? Her clutter? Why did the word ‘home’ leaving her lips jolt something so free like that?

…Did she…did she want to go back to the world she’d left? Really?

Hallen simply stared at her, quietly, before standing up and pushing the chair away. But he stood there, for one more moment.

“You’re free to stay here until you can get home. Forget what you heard at the door. Gourd’s just blowing steam. Everyone in this is. Rine wants you here, and so I’ll make sure you’re safe here. You won’t replace him, just so you know, in my heart. But I’ll make sure you have what you need.”

And with that, Hallen turned, and strolled off towards the other corner of the room, and a short time later, light hammering and the tearing of leather could be heard from his workbench.

Mei fell silent, and fell asleep soon after, though she was pretty sure she heard Rine’s sigh of relief once she returned home.