The Sun and the Clover

by BG9

The Knife that Cuts Deep

Tempest's sleep was interrupted by the sound of Pear strumming her guitar. It was a slow, sad melody, each and every note dripping with melancholy. It reminded Tempest of everything that happened last night, in brutal stunning detail. She balled her hand into a fist.

"Would you stop that god damn racket!?"

Pear looked shocked and promptly stopped strumming

"I'm... sorry. I didn't know you could hear me."

"I'm sleeping can't you see that!?" she yelled

Suddenly, her nerves were wracked with pain. She knew what it was, the pain of having not having taken new mana into her system for too long. She clutched the stump of her missing arm. The second her fingers touched it she felt it's absence: the pain of that which she did not know, but could feel all too well.

"What's wrong?" Pear asked

"What does it look like!?"

Tempest shot up from her sleeping bag and began to march off into the wilderness once again, in search for a new tree to kick without mercy. Pear chased after, grabbing her wrist.

"You can't just-"

Something inside Tempest broke suddenly. She ripped her wrist from Pear's grasp and with one might swipe, kicked her straight in the stomach. Pear doubled over in pain, wheezing and coughing from the blow.

"I can do whatever I want to do."

She marched out into the shifting sands. All she wanted to do was commit violence. Hurt something beyond repair, make something beg for it's life only to take it without so much as blink in her eyes. She didn't care anymore. Not about the tribe, not about trials, not about Anon even. They could all die in a fire for all she cared. She travelled only a short while before the opportunity came: a rodent the size of a dog. She clenched her fist and leaped forward, punching the rat-like creature straight in the spine. It yelled in pain, a pain she relished. She began beating the poor creature senseless until, without warning, it was pulled under the sand, as if connected by a rope. It wasn't as though it borrowed or dug for cover, it was literally dragged by it's stomach. The earth beneath her began to shake and out of the sand rose a grotesque creature covered in long shiny scales, large pitch black eyes and massive sharp teeth. The teeth were so long that the beast couldn't shut it's mouth closed without puncturing it's own lips. It's head was massive, twice her hight and wider than a a few bookshelves. Above it's head was a long appendage akin to a fishing line that ended with the shape of the very same rat she was beating to a pulp. She clenched her fist again.

"Bring it you ugly piece of shit. " she said

She lunged at beast with a mighty kick. It's scales were razor sharp, cutting straight through her feet. She barely felt the pain, it was nothing to her. She kept kicking, turning her legs into a shredded mess. The beast whipped her with one of its large clawed arms, sending her flying a couple dozen yards. She tried to stand again to no avail. Her legs were so badly torn up that they simply refused to function. The beast jumped the gap between them, landing atop her at the waist. Tempest put her arm forward and tried to absorb the beast the same way she absorbed the two that attacked that pregnant woman. Just as her ability was about to start, she felt a massive throbbing pain. She screamed bloody murder. The beast moved closer up her body, it's heavy frame breaking each of her ribs on by one as it climbed. Tempest let out another ear piercing shriek of agony and the beast pulled out it's tongue, ready to have it's lunch. The last sound she heard before she blacking out was the sweat melody of a guitar playing a sad tune.

The next thing Tempest knew she was back in her sleeping bag. Her whole body ached. She blinked open her eyes to see Pear Butter sitting in a makeshift chair with her guitar on her lap. Her head rested on it's frame as she slept soundly. Tempest tapped her ribs. They were as good as new. She lifted her legs. Not as much luck. They were covered in bandages and the slightest movement sent small shockwaves of pain up and down her body. The sun was high in the sky, a little past noon by the look of it. Pear suddenly woke up.

"Oh," she muttered, still half asleep "You're awake."

"You saved me..."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I'm not about to leave a member of the tribe behind to be monster food."

Tempest put her arm over her eyes

"I'm not a member of your tribe," Tempest corrected "Perhaps I shouldn't be."

"Nonsense. Sure, you're not a member officially but we're in this together. So you may as well be."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because that's what my dad taught. I should always be kind even if it's hard."

"Your dad sounds like a fool."

"I can be mean if you wish me to be, miss single arm."

In a fit of blind rage, Tempest leaped to her feat, only to fall right back down and cry in pain.

"You little..." she said

"Like I said. My dad taught me to be kind whenever possible. Now please let me make it be possible. Because the lesson he taught me after that was to not let anyone walk all over me."

Tempest scoffed and began to try to get back to her original position on her sleeping bag. It proved near impossible. Any movement or weight on either leg was met with mind bending pain coupled with the fact that she had a single arm to work with.

"Let me help you." Pear said

"No!" she snapped "I don't need yours or anyone's help. I can do this myself."

"Suit yourself. But we'll need to get going soon for the trial of wit. And those legs of yours won't carry you very far."

"You healed my ribs didn't you?"

"I did. Took so much energy that I had to nap. But, like you said, you didn't need anyone's help."

"Screw you!"

Pear sat back with her guitar in hand

"Just call for me when you want help."

Tempest tried over and over for hours. Each time she tried to roll even slightly too her back, the pain overwhelmed all of her senses and she fell down again and again. Her hair and face were covered in sand, her mouth dry and her belly empty. But she didn't care. She'd die trying if she had too. Night eventually fell and she still had yet to yield.

"You sure are stubborn, Tempest."

"Shut. Up."

"We don't have time for this."

"I said shut up!"

"You asked for it."

Pear placed her guitar in a special bag that attached at her hips then picked Tempest up, placing her on her back in a piggyback position.

"Put me down!" Tempest yelled, pulling her hair

"I'm not doing this to help you," she said "This is purely for selfish reasons. This is so I can finish the initiation. Does that satisfy you?"

She wanted to struggle but spending the day fighting a giant monster, then tossing and turning with wounded legs all without any food or water in the scorching hot desert was starting to take its toll. She just couldn't fight anymore.

"Fine." she mumbled, like a child being forced by their mother to apologize

"Good."

The two of them began their journey across the desert to their next goal, a long walk to heaven knows were. The stars shone bright in the sky, giving them perfect visibility across the endless expanse of sand.

"You know the legends say this used to be a great sea?"

Tempest looked to the side, doing nothing but muttering something under her breath.

"According to legend, a man lost his son to the sea. So angry at the loss, he attempted to control it. He raged and raged against the waves, trying to bend it too his will. When the Mother of the Earth saw this, she removed the sea and all it's gifts as punishment."

"Cute story."

Pear went silent for a moment

"Why are you so full of anger?"

"How much time you got? I've got a nice long list."

"You are certainly more pent up now than when we met. Why? What's stirred up such a violent rage all of a sudden?"

Tempest clenched her fist tightly, so tight her nails dug into her skin and began to draw blood.

"Why do you care?"

"You have to trust me." she explained "We're partners in this. You can trust me."

"No, I can't and I won't."

"Suit yourself."

They arrived at their destination by sunrise. A small cave entrance. It looked so unremarkable that one would be forgiven for just passing over it entirely.

"Lets set up camp." Pear said

"We're not going to do the trial now?"

"I've been carrying you all night, remember?"

"Fine."

Pear gently set Tempest down, letting her back lean on the cave exterior and began to set up the campsite. She tapped her guitar.

"Just let me know if you want me to return your legs as they were. Or just sing you a nice tune to pass the time."

"We're not friends." she said snidely "We will never be friends. Ever."

"Fine. Keep playing the tough girl, miss one arm."

In another fit of rage she jumped forward, trying to attack her in any way she could. All she did was fall flat on her face and yelp in pain as the sand made it's way through the bandages and into her cuts.

"Just think of all the pain you could enact on me if only your legs were healed." she said "Or if you had more than a single arm."

Tempest let out a grunt of pure frustration

"If you bring that up one more time I swear I will kill you!" she yelled

"I'm sure, I'm sure. In the mean time, I'm going to get some sleep. Though feel free to wake me up when you want your legs back."

Pear let out another sly smile

"Though I can't do much about your arm."

Tempest yelled and slammed her fist into the dirt

"SHUT UP!"

"Night night."

Pear fell into a deep and restful sleep, waking up to the sound of whimpering. She subtly shifted around in her sleeping bag and peaked out to see Tempest. She'd crawled just a few feet and managed to rip off most of the bandages in the process. Sand had poured into cuts, causing unimaginable pain. She sat there, pounding her fist into the sand over and over. Pear sat up and walked towards her.

"D-don't come any closer." she said through her tears "I'll kill you, I mean it."

Pear pulled her back up to a sitting position and pulled a first aid kit from her side bag.

"Lets disinfect these cuts."

She began to dab her legs with a cotton ball covered in disinfectant. All Tempest could do was watch with tears running down her face. Her legs were wrapped up again with a new set of bandages.

"Are you ready? This is the hardest trial, the of wit."

Tempest wiped her tears with her arm.

"I'm sorry." she blurted out

"I'm sorry too." Pear replied "What I said was unduly harsh."

Pear gently rubbed her hand down Tempest's scar where her arm should've been.

"It hurts doesn't it?"

"Every day. Every single day." she muttered "Every day I look at you with nothing but envy for that arm you have. Every time I see you doing things with both your arms I'm reminded of it's absence. It makes me so angry all I want to do is scream at the top of my lungs."

"You want me to tell you a secret?"

"Like what?"

"Like that I know exactly how you feel. Take a look."

Pear unbuttoned her robe and exposed her back. A tiny scary was visible just above the base of her back, almost like a precision slice by a surgery blade.

"See that little scar? When I was a young girl I was playing up in a tree and fell. As I did, a sharp rock hit me square in the back. It left me crippled from the waist down. The tribe doctor had a solution, to cut open my back and magically jump start my nerves to get them going again. As you can imagine, however, this came at a severe cost to me."

"What did it cost?"

"My eye sight."

"What!? How is that possible? You function as if you can see perfectly."

Pear lifted up her guitar and gave it a loving tap.

"It's all thanks to this baby." she said "This guitar and I are magically fused. As the air passes through it I can see, sort of. It's all a blurry, hard to understand picture. However, whenever I play my music that picture becomes clearer than ever. Of course I can only make out shapes, nothing insanely detailed. But it's still better than the vague awareness I have that helps me get around."

She turned her head back to Tempest and gave a smile, a smile clearly masking a lot of built up pain.

"So believe me when I said I understand, at least a bit. Obviously what you went through seems quite a bit more traumatic. But I know what you mean when you say all you can feel is an angry sort of envy when you see those with the gift that was stolen from you without your consent. The feeling of wanting to rip it out of their body just out of spite."

"Pear... I'm... I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

She put her forehead against Tempest's

"All is forgiven, if you can forgive me in turn. Lets take on this monster together. Not just that of the trials, but of our disadvantages. You and I are better than our weaknesses."

Tempest smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever

"Yeah." she said "Let's do just that. Can you heal my legs first?"

Pear picked up her guitar with a grin and gave a light strum

"I'd love nothing more. This song is the song of healing."

Comments

[BG9]

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Not trolling just lazy. But I'm working on it chapter to chapter. I'm going back starting at chapter one and correcting my grammar mistakes. I apologize I'm honestly not trying to pull anyone's chain I just keep procrastinating. I'll see too it I speed the process up. But it'll take a little while to go back and edit all the chapters so please be patient. I promise they'll be corrected in due time.