The Djinni's Tale

by Snake Staff

Chapter 5

Many hours later the stranger awoke from his slumber to the soft sound of sobbing. Still thoroughly worn down by the previous day, he barely cracked an eye as he raised his ears. The only thing he saw was more darkness – without lighting it himself he had seen by the brightness of Djinni’s mane, and now that she was gone it was as dark as one would expect an underground tomb to be. For half a second his sleep-addled mind wondered if the extraordinary events here had all been little more than a dream. The next second he felt the continuing presence of the soft carpet underneath him and immediately dismissed that idea for utter stupidity.

His ears rotated to focus on the source of the sound. Sobbing meant someone was near, and in distress. It wasn’t exactly an epic feat of intelligence to figure out who. Djinni wasn’t in the room with him, and she had repeatedly expressed a desire not to go back into the lamp. And the voice he heard certainly seemed soft and feminine enough to be hers.

The spirit had, despite her threats, proven as good as her word yesterday. And now she seemed upset, and perhaps there was something he could do. She had helped him, and so he could not in good conscience turn down the chance to help her. Despite the protests of his still-exhausted body, he forced himself to his hooves. Sleep had left them stiff and weak, so he stumbled slightly before achieving balance and conjuring a dim light on his horn. Then, with as much stealth as could be had with hooves on hard rock, he set out to find where the noise was coming from.

It wasn’t exactly difficult. He had been in and out of the tomb several times by this point, enough to have a general idea of the layout. And the soft sobs echoed easily in the confined space, giving him an even easier time of it.

The stranger found Djinni by the tomb’s entrance, with her back to him. Her head hung limply and her fires were low and dim, barely lighting the scene any more than his own horn. Her back bent double, putting her head almost to the floor. In contrast to the mare, the white light of the moon brightly illuminated the cave’s mouth and gave the scene a slightly eerie, otherworldly touch. Tears fell gently from the spirit’s cheeks, glinting briefly in the moon’s pale light.

The stranger wasn’t entirely certain what to do. He had come with the idea of helping, but now that he saw her, he was unsure of how. Certainly the mare had plenty to cry about, but his previous efforts to nudge in that direction had gotten him only death threats. How was he to proceed without knowing what exactly was wrong? And how was he to learn that without drawing her ire? She could have killed him a dozen different ways during his first wish and he knew it. If he made her angry now…

He hesitated, caught between two conflicting impulses. For a few minutes all he did was watch as she continued to cry softly, feeling more and more that he did not belong with each passing second. Eventually he slowly began to back off, resolving to perhaps ask her in the morning or whenever she felt up to venturing back. Unfortunately for that plan, ill luck decided the matter for him when he took an inadvertent step backwards onto a crumbling clay tile. The old thing buckled and let out a sharp crack.

The mare’s head whipped around in an instant, her latest sob chocked halfway up her throat. Her eyes widened and her flames roared back to life in the blink of an eye. Her back straightened. The stranger swore that he spotted thin trails of steam from her cheeks and even eyes as her tears simply vaporized. In the blink of an eye her sad demeanor disappeared as if it had never been.

“M-Master,” she stuttered, eyes closed and head bowed. “W-what are you d-doing here? I’m s-sorry, did I w-wake you? A th-thousand apologies, my – nrgh!”

Djinni had attempted to take a step backwards. At once her bracelets flashed bright, and her body was yanked towards him roughly. She toppled over onto her face with a dull thud. The stranger winced. As she had said, she could not travel far from the lamp he’d left back in the burial chamber. He couldn't imagine living his life on a leash like that.

“Are you alright?” he asked, offering a hoof to the groaning spirit.

She looked up at it, and then immediately was upright again. Though she was still taller than he, she bent her neck such that she looked up at him. It made her look cute and vaguely pitiful.

“Perfectly alright, Master!” she said hastily. “Absolutely fine! Yes, perfectly and totally in tiptop shape and ready to serve at your command!”

“Why… why were you crying?” he asked, prodding her chin up a little.

“N-no reason,” she said. “I was just… just…” Her eyes darted everywhere. “Just mourning my old Master! Yes, that’s it! Being in this place reminds me of him and all of that, so I thought I’d come out here for a good c-cry to get it out of my system!” She grinned feebly up at him.

The stranger looked skeptically down at her.

Djinni’s grin faded.

“Uh… Master should get some rest!” she declared, and without ceremony the two were back right where they had been hours earlier. “Did I not p-provide adequate sleep facilities? A th-thousand apologies, Master! A thousand and one!”

“That’s not–” he began, only to be promptly cut off by finding himself atop an old-style, plush feather bed that had appeared from nowhere.

“It was v-very rude of me to ask my master to sleep on an old carpet! No wonder you woke up! I am deeply sorry!” she continued speaking in rapid-fire mode. “Master should also never be disturbed by trivial noises at night! I should have th-thought of it earlier!”

“I–” He didn’t even manage two words before being interrupted, this time by the sudden appearance of very comfortable earmuffs over his head.

“And p-perhaps something to help Master sleep would be in order!”

A tray of various goblets was all but shoving itself in the stranger’s face.

“A-any one of those drinks contains a laced potion that will help Master have a comfortable night’s sleep and wake well-rested in th-the morning! I ch-chose the most popular… does Master have a favorite? I can do that! Wines, beers, ales, ciders, honeyed mead, milk… Anything y-you like!”

The stranger was fed up with this already. He gripped the tray in his own magic and tossed it away, roughly. Djinni winced as it crashed loudly into one of the walls.

“Uh… does M-Master prefer potions in solid food? I can do that too!” she said, promptly shoving a second tray in his face, this one covered with exotic and expensive foodstuffs.

“No!” he said, shoving it back towards her, where it promptly vanished.

“…straight from the b-bottle?” she asked very quickly.

“No potions!” he insisted, tossing the earmuffs off of his head.

“Singing th-then?” she managed.

“No!”

“M-massage?” she squeaked, managing to muster another feeble grin.

Said grin faded almost immediately as the stranger tore off the bed covers and rolled back onto his hooves. Though she was much larger and the one with flames for hair, she still shrank before him like a scolded filly.

“Heh heh...” She forced a chuckle. “Perhaps Master would c-care for–”

“I just,” he interrupted with a stern expression. “Want you to tell me why you were crying.”

“N-nothing important, Master,” she said, very quickly. “Nothing you need concern yourself with! I s-swear it will not affect your wishes in any way! Is there anything I can–”

“I want you to talk to me. I want to hear it,” he said, looking her firmly in the eye. After a second, his expression softened. “I want to help you.”

“I-it is nothing, Master! I… I… I…”

The stranger tapped a hoof in the manner of a stern father.

Her ears folded back. “This isn’t going to work, is it?”

He shook his head.

“Are you certain you wouldn’t prefer–”

“Djinni…”

She winced. “Y-yes Master. Of course.” She bowed her head. “Whatever you wish.”

“I only want you to talk to me,” he repeated. “Please… just tell me what’s gotten to you.”

The spirit hesitated, and then took a very deep breath.

“Youmadeyourfirstwish,” she squeaked, head bowed low.

“What?” He had had no idea speaking that fast or softly was even possible.

“Youmadeyourfirstwish.”

“Slow down, please,” he said.

“You…” She swallowed. “You made your first wish, Master. That… that is what has gotten to me.”

He blinked. “I… what?”

The stranger had no idea what she meant. Had he wished for something she thought to be bad? Was the Wellspring of Eternity a place that distressed her?

“What do you mean?”

“I…” She sniffed a little. “I am only here until your third wish is granted, Master. Only until that moment can I walk the earth and breathe free air. Afterwards I must return to the darkness inside the lamp.”

Oh.

“It is small in there. Small and dark and lonely.” She shuddered visibly. “So lonely…”

The stranger nodded his head in sympathy. He couldn’t imagine a worse fate than being cooped up by himself in the same endless dark, for all eternity. He didn't even think he had the ability to properly comprehend how horrible that would be. He almost breached the subject of freedom again, though this time his self-preservation instincts won out.

“You have only two wishes left, Master. Then I must return, and I shall be alone again.” Another tear trickled down her cheek as her flames dimmed once more.

“I’m… sorry. I never–”

“It is perfectly alright!” She jumped, mane roaring back to life and tears vaporizing. “Do not let this affect you, Master! Please, do not feel sad on my account! It is not your fault! I beg of you to forget this night and wish as you will! Receive what you desire and be happy! Please!”

“But, wouldn’t that-”

“It does not matter! Do not allow yourself to be troubled by these things!” She managed a smile. “My sadness should not be yours. Please, allow me to give you something for sleep and rest easily until the morning light.”

Her selflessness – or insanity – was astonishing.

“Why?” he asked, simply.

“Because your happiness is mine,” she said, slowly. “The warmth of happy memories is all that I dream of in the endless sleep between masters. So please, if you would help me, do not deny me that.”

“A-alright,” he managed, mind still reeling under the sheer apparent insanity of it all. She hated her prison, yet she threatened death if freedom was mentioned. She wept for the time soon to end but she insisted that he should not care. Still struggling to process it properly, he climbed back into the bed she had made. The covers spontaneously pulled themselves over him.

“Does Master have a favorite drink?” Djinni asked from the bedside.

“Just… just give me a beer,” he mumbled, still very confused. “I need a drink.”

“Of course.”

She gave him a mug, which he promptly put to his lips and swallowed as much as he possibly could. The alcohol was warm and rich, yet he found that he didn’t mind. Barely seconds later had a powerful drowsy sensation swept over his brain. He was out before he hit the pillow.

---

“Good morning, Master,” came a soft voice from just beside the stranger.

“Gah!” he jumped – right out of the bed.

At least the carpet was soft.

“My goodness!” He found Djinni standing above him, though he had not heard her hoofsteps. “Master, here, let me help you up.”

He found himself pulled gently to his hooves by an invisible band. He shook his head to clear off the effects of sleep. Strangely, he was waking much more easily than he usually did.

“Good morning!” the spirit said in a cheerful tone.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed that she was crying her heart out a mere few hours before. The way she could shift disposition on a moment’s notice was still unnerving. He could never be entirely certain what to expect.

“It is time for breakfast. Do you have any preferences?”

“Uh, I did pack food, you know,” he said, reaching for one of the saddle bags on the ground.

“Nonsense.” She pushed it away casually. “Allow me. What’s your pleasure?”

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” he asked, feeling a little awkward.

“But I want to!” she answered with a smile. “My master’s happiness is my happiness!”

The stranger doubted that that was all there was to it. He didn’t disbelieve her words so much as feel she was leaving something out. Namely, that her subservience and gift-giving represented a less than subtle kind of bribe to a master. To wit: let me stay out of my lamp all the time, and I’ll wait on you horn and hoof. It had the double benefit of making them less likely to use a wish, thus further prolonging her own stay in the world.

Still, he wasn’t entirely above taking advantage of it.

“I like flapjacks,” he said.

“How many?”

---

A very large and quite delicious breakfast later, the stranger was sitting thinking. He wanted… what he had always wanted. But Djinni wanted things too. Even if she could be creepy and threatening, it wouldn’t be right to just make two more quick wishes and then ditch her somewhere. She was very considerate to him, even if it was motivated wholly or in part by her self-interest. Surely he could do something for her in return? Besides, it was... nice to have her around. She was attractive and, when not pressed, sweet.

After around an hour of internal deliberation, he settled on an idea. The only thing that remained was to put the question to her. He found the sun spirit wandering the tomb on her own, easily standing out for the bright orange-gold flames she emitted at all times. At first glance she looked a little melancholy, but by the time he got close she was all smiles again.

“Djinni?” he asked, cautiously.

“Hmm?”

“I think I’ve thought of a second wish.”

Her face fell.

“I… wanted to run it by you first.”

And just like that, she pulled herself back together again. No trace of sadness remained on her beautiful face as she bowed once more.

“Of course, Master. How may I serve?”

“I was just thinking…” He scratched the back of his neck a little bit. “I wanted you to show me every single wonder that you know of.”

“Every wonder?” She gawked. “But Master, I have lived for eons and beheld more than any mortal mind! To grant you that wish would require…” Her eyes widened as realization set in. “Years and years and years… walking the world…”

He nodded.

“I…” Her eyes were beginning to moisten. “I… don’t know what to say…”

The stranger simply tipped his hat.

And then found himself in a crushing grip the likes of which he hadn’t seen since almost being eaten by a supersized python.

“Thank you!”

Comments

[Chadbane]

Wow. This story is getting really deep. I love the way your characters interact with each other. It feels real, you know? I can't wait to see what comes next! Is there a place I can find the whole story or must I be patient?

[Mix-up]

6437841
Yeah you're right, the story is getting deep the more it processes.

I am really out of my league here, and I don't know if my comment are even worth a damn here, other than it gets better and better as it moves along.

[FoalanshewolfGold]

I'm no good at giving reviews but I am enjoying how this story is progressing. As the others that have commented said it does feel real. The characters click well together even if one is as old as the sun. I am enjoying it thus far.

[Cerulean Voice]

Tears fell gently from the spirit’s cheeks, glinting briefly in the moon’s pale light.

So when shall we see our dancing devil?

I am actually crying right now. For total realzies. That was an absolutely beautiful and selfless thing to wish for.