Begin Chapter 8: Into the Betwixt
* * *
Fluttershy had been walking for hours through the thick brambles and twisted vines that relentlessly impeded her efforts to rescue that one injured animal. Countless cruel thorns pierced her coat and struck at the delicate skin underneath as she went past, and the distant howls of the Timberwolves made the pony tremble in anticipation of the many predatory dangers that called the Everfree home.
The pegasus herself was visibly debilitated both in stamina and in spirit, as if the forest itself was feeding off her strength. Never in her life had she felt so drained that it made her body seem to weigh lighter. Even the sensation in her wings had gone so numb that they felt almost nonexistent. She didn’t even bother to check on herself, though; with Celestia’ sun setting, the absolute darkness that now prevailed below the sky-like awning wouldn’t even allow her a hazy glance to the rear. Uncertain of what lay before her, she steadily inched herself across the unseen terrain, hoping to avoid both hazardous flora and the nocturnally active, carnivorous fauna.
However, wandering blindly through the darkness had seldom been an endeavor without risk. Eventually, she tripped over a stray root and fell down a small cliff, crashing into a thorn bush that painfully cushioned the impact with the hard, forest ground. Thoughts of pessimism and dejection clouded her weary mind as she recovered.
‘Stupid Fluttershy,’ the pegasus exhaustingly belittled herself as she achingly propped her body up against a nearby boulder. ‘You’re tired, cold, and alone. If only you were fast like Rainbow Dash, you could’ve caught that poor snake before it got into the Everfree forest. It’s probably lost and scared right now, and so are you. How can you possibly hope to find it in your pathetic state?’
“It’s simple really; keep calm and flutter on,” a familiar voice unexpectedly and suddenly echoed out of nowhere as if replying to her thoughts, taking the worn-out mare by surprise.
“Whose there!?” she frantically called out through the dark, stumbling onto her flank as she did.
“Stop fidgeting and turn around, will you? I don’t have all night,” it haughtily demanded as if the voice had eyes to witness her slip of a hoof.
Fluttershy felt the slab she had been leaning on roll over to the side, revealing a large hole underneath. It gave off a faint teal glow that illuminated the dark forest as the pony looked down the pit in confused apprehension, thinking it an invitation of misfortune to listen to strangers in the middle of the Everfree forest.
“Well then, what’s keeping you? Jump in!” the voice demanded impatiently from within. The exhausted mare in question hesitated, thinking whatever was down there had been impolite and unreasonable with its requests if it wasn’t simply some talkative monster wanting to have her for a snack. Nonetheless, she cautiously chose her words and said her reply to the stranger at a volume surprisingly near normal.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know exactly who you are, and I’m a little bit tired right no-”
“Fine, be that way,” it rudely interrupted. “I guess being devoured by the hungry beasts stalking you in yonder woods won’t bother you one bit.”
The bark on nearby trees split open with a foreboding snap into malevolent, green eyes, and one look at the collection of malicious glares was enough to send the meek mare tumbling back and down into the mysterious pit. She had expected another painfully hard landing and braced herself for the impact but was surprised as well as relieved to see that a veil of magick had broken her fall. Shortly afterwards, the boulder once again slid over the hole, blocking any further entry by unwanted company.
As the veil dissipated, Fluttershy was confronted by a strange being that stood on two legs, much like the diamond dogs or a young dragon. It wore lavish blue robes that fit tightly against its slim form, and, from what she could tell by its need for tight clothing, was practically hairless, save for the top of its head. Had it not been for the lack of a tail, the meek mare would have assumed it to be a fancy, well-trained monkey. While the lack of better knowledge had her think of it to be such, the intense amber stare with which it regarded her as well as the austere expression on its face told her otherwise. It took a step forward which prompted the intimidated mare to take one back in apprehension. It noticed this and dropped the serious demeanor, choosing to don a smile as it spoke to calm her.
“Really now, do I really look that scary to you?” it queried in the same familiar voice with its forelimbs out slightly from its side. Fluttershy opted to nod in response, afraid that her inaudible whispers might anger it.
“One moment,” it said right after, and, in a bright flash of light, the bipedal being had changed into a stallion, surprising the exhausted pegasus with the sudden yet distingue transformation. The endlessly free, cerulean sky shimmered peerlessly on his perfectly clean and neatly trimmed coat, his short-cut and informally styled mane and tail had been dyed a hue of the deepest and purest ebon black, and mystic tides mesmerizingly ebbed and twisted on his sharp irises of the most brilliant amber hue as it pierced her very being with the intense shade and intimidating shape. He had a cutie mark on only his right flank, which was made up of two arcing, black lines that twice intersected into a symbol that made no sense to the pony, but what surprised her most was the being’s hornless head, which contradicted what the meek mare knew as common knowledge. Past his familiar visage, Fluttershy presumed she had been graced by some being of extreme significance and moved to bow in respect and humility. However, the being, now in the form of an earth pony, stopped her half-way with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Oh please! Not this again. No more bows for I am past such trivialities.” The meek mare, upon hearing his complaint, tried to stand back up, but her worn out limbs had decided otherwise and gave out.
“Can’t even stand, huh? Looks like I underestimated the amount of magick this world appears to be swimming in,” the stallion said to himself out loud as he turned around and ventured down the winding tunnel ahead. “Come, little Fluttershy, walk with me.”
Despite the unreasonable request, the way of things seemed to give in to his command as warmth radiated throughout the pegasus, and the feeling of pain and weariness receded. Though the feeling of utter numbness remained in her wings, she had forgone checking them again, not wanting the stranger to wait on her further. She followed suit and asked the earth pony a question when she caught up.
“Thank you for saving me from those dreadful Timberwolves, kind sir,” Fluttershy thankfully began, avoiding a hush tone as she spoke. “But who exactly are you and how do you know my name? Now that I think about it, you look awfully similar to somepony I met recently.”
“So your name’s Fluttershy, eh little pony?” he responded to which the mare returned a nod in affirmation.
“It’s quite peculiar you creatures have actual words for names rather than unique identifiers such as Marche, Frimelda, Ramza, or Agrias, just to mention a few. I only called you that because the color of your coat and mane reminded me of a species of butterfly I’m familiar with. Anyway, as per naming customs of you ponies, I dub myself Ebon Eclipse. You may call me Ebony for short,” he haughtily rambled, almost forgetting the mare’s other query.
“And to answer your second question," he nonchalantly admitted before she could reply, “Yes, I am that same pony who pilfered your ticket earlier today, as was I the snake that led you here and the one responsible for the train’s unexpected standstill.”
Disbelief washed over the mare in waves as she followed the stallion who had apparently deceived her and lead her astray, this earth pony who could perform magick without need of a horn. “But why in Equestria would you do that? Why would such a kind stallion like you resort to lying and stopping an entire train just to get my attention?” Fluttershy meekly demanded, more perturbed and concerned that the amazing ability had been abused as a means of deception as well as disturbing the peace rather than awed by the skill itself.
“I needed help, your help, to be precise. Frankly, I wasn’t quite sure you’d help me or even listen to me at all, hence my decision to mislead you the way I did,” the earth pony, now dubbed Ebony, answered without pause as the echoes of his voice bounced off the walls of the large chamber they had just entered.
The cool, humid air greeted them as it brushed off and dampened their coats. Grey moss and strange, flowering ferns, as well as numerous purple mushrooms, dotted several patches of the cave’s surface, sprouting out of whatever nook or cranny their spores and seeds managed to find and settle in. Several stalactites and stalagmites accompanied the foliage in decorating the cavern, their length and drab discoloration a testament to the structure’s long-lived existence. The only source of light, a solitary, giant crystal formation glowing pure white, hung precariously high above a crystal clear pool that occupied the middle of the chamber. As the pair descended down to the edge of the pond, the meek mare went speechless, marveling at the natural beauty before and around her.
With a giddy smile on her face, her earlier frustrations were forgotten as she lost herself in amazement of it all, ears now alert and all too eager to pick up the sounds of whatever undiscovered animal dwelled within. Her expectations, however, were met by complete silence, cut only by the occasional drop of water impacting the mysterious pool below. Unsatisfied with the stillness, she tried her hardest to tune in to even the faintest of sounds and became too preoccupied to notice the approaching body of water. The pegasus would have fallen right in if it weren’t for her companion who caught the mare by the withers.
“Careful, Flutters… This pond has mysterious magickal properties that can either manifold or cripple beings who enter it,” Ebony warned with caution as his reflection shone on the water’s surface.
“You wouldn’t want to become doubly tired than before, now would you?” The meek mare shook her head in agreement, relieved he had been there to stop her.
“Good. I wouldn’t want the only pony who could help me with my problem getting tired right before I actually needed her,” he stated with a confident smirk as he turned to face her. Reaching to the back of his head with magick, he produced a dull, green crystal seemingly out of nowhere.
“Um…if you don’t mind me asking, what is it exactly you want me to do?” the mare politely inquired, noticing the unremarkable rock he held.
“What you see before you is a key that can unlock portals to other dimensions,” he explained as he set the nugget in between them. “It acts as a reservoir for magickal energies and also as a conduit with which one can grasp, bend and twist reality, opening a portal through spatial dimension, but….”
Seeing the simplified description of the mechanics of interdimensional travel was enough to confuse the meek mare, Ebony decided to skip the technicalities and get to the main point. He lifted and charged the crystal with magick, the symbol on his right flank glowing a royal gold as he did, then lobbed it into the middle of the pond. The rock itself came to a standstill, hovering in midair just before it began its descent, a few inches shy of the water’s surface. Then it opened into a large, black rift that lead into an inky, silent darkness. Magick was siphoned from the crystal clear pond below to the quavering aperture, and it swirled at its outer fringes, creating a golden halo that rimmed and stabilized the gateway.
“Unfortunately, my companion has gotten stuck on the other side of the portal, and for some reason…” the stallion further explained as he reached a hoof towards the rift. This small action was met by a swift bolt of lightning that thundered out from the void and impacted the outstretched forelimb, as if barring even his slightest advance in its direction. Though the burst of energy obviously contained enough power to knock a normal pony out of consciousness and possibly put them in a coma, Ebon seemed unphased and nonchalantly returned his singed hoof to the ground, planting it down firmly without the even slightest sign of difficulty or discomfort showing on his face.
“It won’t let me any nearer than this. That’s where you come in; I need you to go inside there and fetch her for me. Simple, really,” he confidently finished, looking to the mare who hid close behind him, clinging to a stalagmite and whimpering in horror at the sight of the arcane demonstration.
“I-I-I-I can’t do it! I-it’s way too scary!” Fluttershy shakily exclaimed in a peek from behind the stalagmite.
“Come now, Fluttershy. You’re the only one with remotely enough magickal power to pull this off,” he calmly argued on his approach to the frightened pegasus. She was confused at what he had said, but didn’t think to ponder further as her fears began flooding in.
“B-but I’m a pegasus. My friend, Twilight, is a unicorn,” the mare nervously excused as she made way for the exit. “She can handle magick better than any other unicorn I know! We should go g-”
“The portal is already open, and there are no do-overs once it closes; it will not last long! You must do this!” the earth pony insistently countered.
“But we cou-”
“If you leave now, she will die.”
The argument was over; for Fluttershy at least. A mortal life was on the line. It would weigh heavily on her conscience and haunt her the rest of her days if she let a living, breathing, thinking being die on account of her meager inadequacies. But the mere thought of venturing into utter bleakness of the strange and unknown world sent chills down her spine. The intense black that coated the realm past the magickal aperture came to her as a hopeless and inescapable abyss that could devour her at a moment’s notice, while the sudden discharge that leapt at the magickally-capable ‘earth pony’ earlier terrified her wits to no end. The uncertainty of things frightened her immensely.
Regardless, she had uneasily made up her mind, and, in spite of her trepidation, she approached the portal unsteadily and slowly but surely on trembling hooves.
“Ebony, I’m…I’m afraid,” the pegasus weakly expressed in acceptance of what had to be done, what only she could do.
“Remember what I told you back then; accept your flaws and inhibitions as a part of you, but do not let them hinder you in doing what needs to be done. Face every challenge in knowing that your imperfections drive you to succeed,” Ebony encouraged with a consoling grin as she passed him by, relieved in choosing one so benevolent and selfless to take up this task.
“And thank you for saving her.”
Fluttershy simply smiled upon hearing these final words before she entered, taking humble pride in the fact she would brave the unknown to bring a life back from the brink. She apprehensively held a hoof to the rift, and was quickly whisked away in a blur, all but a lone yellow feather disappearing to a world unseen.
Then the rift promptly closed itself but not before spitting out its ‘key’ which landed in front of the azure stallion, both the typical manner with which it rebounded the floor and its dull color and lackluster appearance illuding to its true purpose. He looked down to it in satisfaction of one of many hidden agendas fulfilled as he made a passing comment he was certain no one else would hear.
“Indeed, I am glad I chose her.”
* * *
When Parnella awoke, there was nothing all around; it was a great abyss of emptiness.
The awesomely vast canvas of black oblivion laid itself before her as she stood in the stillness of the reality that surrounded. She looked to the sides and the rear, then above and below, and expectantly saw nothing as the seemingly invisible floor held her upright, thankful in her uncertainty that what twisted natural law residing in this domain and dictated happenings therein enabled her to stand at all.
Then the indifferent eternity started its countdown to the unknown when the sound of her first step to the ebon frontier surged forth only to be muffled by the nothing with the subsequent staccato of her hesitant gait following its predecessor to a silent end. It seemed like the eternity ended and had started anew in the time she spent aimlessly searching a way out of the void with the fruitlessness of the endeavor completely slipping her mind. Yet Parnella trepidly pressed on, deeper towards the darkness that could have come alive and swallowed her whole into intense and utter despair, any trace of her existence snuffed out like a candlelight flickering forlornly in the wind.
Then she felt her body becoming smaller as the abyssal darkness of the ground gave way to snowswept tundra, and the ebon hue of the sky above turned grey with the smell of sulfur and smoldering debris thick in the biting frost of the wind that blew over and around her.
As the scent of burning rubble tingled her young, little nose, she waded and trudged through the bitter cold snow that surrounded her and the crumbling fortress she took leave of. The pure and pristine yet severe white landscape stretched as far as her squinting eyes could see; for all she knew, it might as well as have covered lands far beyond the horizon her petite vision barely managed to discern. She knew one thing and one thing alone; the elements would be merciless to her as it was with any other soul that chanced the privilege of ever breathing for that matter. It was the start of a long-suffering purgatory fraught with peril that would tear her mettle and virtue in half should she give it a moment of vulnerability. But she had to struggle, to survive. She had to make it somewhere safe no matter how desolate and forsaken it might have become amidst the turmoil. She just had to; it was the only thing she thought to do.
Clutching herself through her soot-laden shoal in phantom pain as she made way through the pale and packed snow, her thoughts dwelled on moments past of her father’s last words to her as he held himself in agony with a poisoned crossbow bolt painfully embedded into his chest and blood trickling from his mouth. For certain, his demise was nigh, and, with every one of his a comrades slain in battle, there was nary a thing that could be done but impart these final words of wisdom and last wills to the child who began to weep before him, his child who would face the harsh and cruel world without a father.
“Tears, eh? You were raised…to stifle such emotions that hinder the mind,” he coughed in a harsh tone as the vile liquid coursed through his veins. The little girl held said tears back in anticipation of his final message as she watched his blood which turned into a dull brick hue seep out from his skin like a fatal miasma, denying the pair a last moment’s intimate embrace.
“The world…beyond the only haven you’ve ever known under my care…is harsh, selfish and cruel; you know better to than to show it weakness.” She held back a river of tears as he uttered this reminder.
“Nonetheless, I am… truly sorry from the bottom of my heart. I have failed you as… as a father and as your warden,” he sorrowfully went on as his body felt numb and cold with every word spoken.
“In my zealous haste… and impatience to claim rightful dues that were denied from us by the… corrupt crown, to bring high held heads down from lofty perches, so have I denied you, as well, years of your rightful childhood. Cloaked in darkness and living in the shadow…. of antipathy and bigotry is no proper way for anyone to come of age, especially you…my dear.”
Sermons such as this that dealt with such serious and mature concepts weren’t ideas hard for her to comprehend despite her young age, having been taught all these ever since she first learned to speak and listen. Kidnap and ransom were the ways of the desperate; no other word could best describe the broken brigade her father chose to side with.
“Alas….there is nothing left for one hanging on their last strand to life, one scarce to either Father’s keeping…. or the fiery pits of judgement. I am beyond any hope…of salvation now, but you yet have yours. Cast the torch down the pit, and purge yourself of this sorrow. Weave your life anew, and live it free from chains of hate….and regret.” The little girl looked to her dying father as he struggled to finish his last sentence.
“Grant me…..this one solace that you….become the one proof…. I did not live a…..meaningless…..life.”
The continuing clash of steel and hot-blooded wills outside seemed to be deafened by the final breath of his mortal life that escaped him in a hush sigh.
It had been a good hour since she broke into her sobs. Outside, the clatter of blade meeting blade and buzz of arcane bolts whirring through the air began to die down just as she was about to run out of tears.
The waxing silence of it all meant there was a chance for her to escape, but there was no way of knowing for certain. But now was not the time for indecisiveness. Having lit the fuse leading to the powder room and with a spell cast on her feet, she made herself scarce in a hasty dash towards the exit, running for dear life faster than her little legs could take her by their tiny selves.
When she did reach it, however, the orphaned girl froze in trepidation of the person she saw standing in front of her: A Knight of the White Lion! Just as she was about to escape, the order blocked her, an innocent child at that! She thought the men of the order were borne of inhumane heretics at the idea that they would resort to slaughtering everyone in the resistance, even one so young such as herself. But past this ivory emblem which she had come to fear, she took notice of the man’s attire which identified him to be a mere squire and a commoner, no less, by the looks.
Cradled in the cold embrace of light snowfall between them was the woman who had recently been in her father’s custody, a bargaining chip used in a last, desperate bid to parley with the order. But she didn’t stop to think anything past that as she flew down the edge of the bridge that preceded the main gate with the man paying her no mind, eyes only to the beloved that lay dead before him. Owing a soft landing to deep snow and the spell she cast earlier, she rose up and continued to flee the inevitable explosion. The little girl thought she would die in the infernal purging of the winter wasteland when she felt the powder in the storeroom beneath her feet burst to life, its crackling symphony and fireworks eagerly searching for a way out. But thank Father in High Heaven! She had cleared the premises on time; far and safe enough to witness the crescendo of the light show unfurl and tear the fortress asunder.
After taking a moment to catch her breath, she turned to brave the cold snowscape.
The skin on her face began to numb as her thoughts turned from the recent memory to the frigid winds that blew over, trying to force her down into a wintery grave. In the corner of her eye, another lost soul wandered through the blizzard off in the distance. She paid him no heed as his noble yet weary and despondent visage drifted out of sight, both their footprints swallowed by the snow.
Then, in a blur, the smell of rubble and gunpowder faded, and the cold gave way to the warmth of summer.
The poor orphan had spent the past two years a vagrant, aimlessly following the sun as if it were a ray of hope that shone through looming storm clouds circling around her. By this point in time, she had endured many a hardship one her age should scarcely experience or even begin to imagine.
Roaming barefoot through muddy wealds, rain-sodden wind-flats, and scorching, arid deserts for shelter and meager comfort; stealing morsels from bandits and cutthroats that littered the countryside when rummaging through thorn bushes and trees proved fruitless; and running in fear from all manner of hungry beasts whose claws and teeth could easily tear the flesh from bone as well as break the bone itself into pieces, she endured all these as well as many other things that would have left countless others her age bitter and impotent.
Then fate seemed to grant her a miracle in the form of a speck of a city atop a hill amidst the bright, setting sun that made itself known with a shadow cast over her from a distance. As the orphan reached and walked past its gate, entering the city proper, she hoped its occupants would be different from all the others who had paid her no mind and that they would listen to this young and fragile soul who desperately sought a better life before she lost herself to despair.
Her hopes, however, were proven to be unfounded as they were dashed into pieces upon leaving the once prosperous trade city, now an unforgiving and derelict shell of its former glory. Victims of war begged and idled in its street corners; its alleyways were rife with the belligerent, the destitute, and the ailing; and what fortunate business that remained therein wouldn’t even grant her a sideways glance as she cried out to them, her pleas for shelter and sustenance in exchange for any sort labor, be it meager, demeaning, or downright appalling falling on deaf ears. They had turned her down just like the rest.
It was then the cruel reality that she had tried to deny with all her might finally dawned on her; there was no point in beseeching for help at all because the citizen of this war-torn country never had any to spare. Thinking back to those past two years of struggling, it all started to seem foolish and futile. Then again, it was a miracle she had even made it this far, nearly covering the entire expanse of the nation in her arduously long journey. But in spite of all the endurance, strength and fortitude she built up to protect herself from her miserable world, cracks of hopelessness and desolation began to web intricate patterns on the aegis of her mind. She was still a child, after all. Having exhausted practically everything she could muster in her bid for something better, there was nothing left for her to do but to resign to her fate.
She would die miserable, alone, and forgotten.
Outside the city, the little girl stopped in the middle of a meadow and started to cry, her spirits lain in defeat as the sun began to dip behind the horizon. The youth’s plight-filled wails soon garnered the attention of a passerby, her steps through the flora muffled by sobs on her approach.
“Why, hello there, miss. What’s a fair little lass doin’ out here all by her lonesome?” the stranger spoke, trying to sound friendly.
She said nothing as her gaze shifted in apprehension of the stranger that bent down to get a better look of her. The woman was dressed in drab brown clothing, ones as drab as the healthy, brown locks of hair on her head and enough to distinguish her as a chemist. She had a basket filled with flowers on her person, as well as several potions, antidotes, and fenix downs in a side pack like any chemist worth their salt would have. The only thing that seemed out of place on her current countenance was the graceful smile that appeared content and happy, sharp in contrast to what anyone living in a tumultuous nation would casually care to admit. Most of all, she had deep emerald eyes that seemed to regard her with neither prejudice nor indifference, eyes that didn’t seem falter in a life spent through a harsh and chaotic nation.
“What’s a matter, cat got yer tongue?” the woman asked, but, again, the orphan had remained silent. The chemist lady sighed in slight resignation and turned around.
“Well, I’ll be around awhile should trouble find you,” she stated in an airy yet foreboding tone, one adults usually employ in telling children of the Boogie man or the like.
“Were I in your place, I’d not be meandering about here in th’eve. The Darkening Cloud might come and take you, to marinate in his ewer he will! And then he’ll cook your bloated shell in some savory stew!” she ominously said as she turned back to the youth, punctuating that last statement with a menacingly goofy stance and a mouth agape feigning the likeness of said monster. She looked silly, though the little girl definitely didn’t think so. Would this complete stranger be different from all the others who had passed her off? Would she hold out a hand in mercy and hopefully offer a home to the drifting urchin? She would never know if she would not even try at all. Plucking up any and all remaining courage, she began to form sentences in her mind.
“Have you some lodgings and any food at all? I’d willingly work for it,” the little girl begged through loud sobs uneasily which took the chemist by surprise.
“Please don’t leave me here to die. I don’t want this hopeless vagabond life any longer.” Concern struck the woman’s face as she heard these words uttered by a child, a little girl for that matter. She half expected the response, among other minor possibilities but never gave a thought to how heart-breaking it would really be to hear someone so young actually say it. The woman fell from her stance and then broke into tears as she knelt down again and held out welcoming arms. The urchin gladly ran up to meet her in the first consoling embrace she’d felt in years.
“I’m so sorry, child. I didn’t know life had you done in this low,” said the chemist lady as she held the orphan who bawled a river’s worth of tears into her blouse. After crying for a while in each other’s arms, the two sat there in the meadow, idly talking of things like dreams and aspirations while barely avoiding sensitive and touchy subjects.
When the sun had completely set, they made their way out of the meadow, back to the unforgiving and derelict city, which started to seem oddly welcoming to the little girl, as streetlamps and candle lights illuminated the dimming nightscape.
“Now, have you a proper name? I can’t keep calling you ‘little girl’ if you’re going to lodge with me, now can I?” the woman inquired as they walked past the dull and rotten gates of the city.
“No, ma’am, it wouldn’t seem appropriate at all,” the little girl giggled in response before continuing in a somber voice “But I don’t remember my name; everyone I knew just called me ‘Little Lady.’ They said names were a dangerous thing for a daughter of outlaws. Is that bad? I’m not a bad or worthless girl am I, ma’am, to be of such lowborn blood that I can’t even remember my name?” the little girl wonderingly asked. She shook her head, knelt down and pulled the youth into an embrace.
“No, you are not worthless, and as far as I can tell, you’re as innocent as the white virgin snow. And it matters not if you be highborn or low, my dear,” she caringly consoled. The woman could only imagine ‘Father-knows-what’ she had seen. She had been raised in a war zone, all to the point where she hadn’t even been given a proper name. “Well then, would you like a new and proper name?” she said wiping a tear from her eye.
“Yes, I would, but I’ve not the slightest what I’d like in one,” the little girl stated indecisively.
“How about ********, will that do?” the chemist politely suggested. The sound of it tickled her with nostalgia as the call of her new name seemed to be muffled in static.
“It sounds lovely, ma’am, but… m-may I ask what it means?” she stuttering slightly in response.
“Let’s see…. In the old country, it meant unwavering. We gave that name to girls who were beautiful yet felt strong and hearty by th’looks. Not only do you look pretty, but you look so strong it’s as though you survived a cataclysm. It’s showing in your skin!” the woman said with a poke to the little one’s nose, emphasizing the flattery in her compliment.
“Thank you, ma’am. I think that’ll do swimmingly,” the little girl responded after giggling at the jovial explanation of her new name.
“Well then, my dear, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name’s Aerith Gainsborough. And, please, call me mum.”
* * *
End Chapter 8: Into the Betwixt
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________