The High Terrain - My Flower

I woke up and got dressed in my outfit, while getting ready, I noticed my leather shoes had a little bit of the bottom cloth showing I'd have to ask my mom to fix it later. Today was a special gathering day. Every summer, my tribe would go hunting or gathering. This year, I was a gatherer. I picked up my basket and walked out towards where my parents were.

"Zdravo(Hello), Zemlija." My mom peaked at me as she continued to pour soup into bowls for the children of our tribe. Unfortunately, my mom didn't know any English I learned by studying books and practicing with my father.

"Dobro Jutro (Good Morning), Mama!" I answered. The two languages I knew were Croatian and English.

"My Flower, how are you today." My Papa asked handing me a piece of bread.

"I'm good papa I have to get ready to gather for today."

"My flower is all grown up. Go, go have fun, Zemlija." My papa smiled warmly at me as I left my basket in my hand at our house. I saw my best friend, Prioda (Nature). The gathering, or hunting event, was a way to prove to the tribe that you were old enough to be an adult.

"Jutro(Morning), Zem!" Prioda rushed towards me. "A-are you... gathering?" Prioda was learning English too and was trying to respond to me instead of speaking Croatian.

"Yes!" I smiled at Prioda. "Are you hunting?"

"Yes, my mama said I should."

"I wish you luck then."

"I'll see you, Zem!"

"You to Pri!" I walked away from Prioda and then walked around my tribe. Seeing everyone smile made me feel warm. There was Branko; he was working with his son; no one was sure what his last name was; he couldn't talk; he came here with his best friend after being forced out of Helios; it was said he carried his best friend all the way here. Ana, Prioda's mother, was walking over to the bakery. Ana was the daughter of a soldier; she trained with her tata (papa) until he fell. I always enjoyed hearing Ana's stories when we invited her over for dinner. My papa made the best roast. There were so many interesting kids, but the person who stood out was this eighteen-year-old boy. I'd heard from Prioda that his name was Josip; he got here a month ago and keeps wearing this mask. He doesn't talk to anyone I always just thought he was quiet maybe there was nothing to it but I was interested in talking to him.

I walked off towards the woods, the path that I would be taking to start gathering. It was clear, but I couldn't help but wonder what fruit lay beyond the dirt path. I thought about it for a second. My curiosity was peaking. What if there was a really good fruit I had never heard of before? I decided I would change directions just this once to see what was beyond the path. I kept walking as I came across a tree with some sort of fruit on it. I picked the fruit and put it in the basket. I was planning on asking Papa or my Tetka (Aunt) what it was. My aunt loved reading about nature and thought that Prioda's ability was simply amazing. Prioda had the ability called nature, which made me wonder what she was doing in an outcast city, but I found out soon enough that her brother could control earth and ice, so I figured they had left with him. I stopped walking when I noticed there was someone else staring right back at me. They had no basket and were pointing a staff at me but it was low. I looked down noticing that the other was trying to make sure I didn't fall.

"Pazi! (Watch out!)" He yelled.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You speak English?"

"Yeah... are you from the Čarobni alat (magical tool) side?

"Yeah, you're an Elementalist, aren't you?"

"Yes, What's that." I pointed at the staff the boy lifted it and focused as he focused a swirl from the top of it started to appear it looked to be making a ball of air.

"A Zračna posada(Air staff). Do you have magical powers?" I looked over at a patch of land by a bush and focused hard. The bush started to shake, and I lifted it, my hand moving like it was hovering with it as I huffed and put it back down.

"Do you have any water with you?" I asked the boy.

"Yeah." The boy rummaged through a sack pulled out a canteen and opened it. I focused my hands and brought a line of the water out of the canteen then put it back in.

"Woah, you have more than one, isn't that... outcast?"

"Yeah, whatever, they don't kill us or anything... Now I gotta get back to gathering for my people."

"Wait! Can I come with you?"

"No, if they see you with that they'll freak out." I pointed at the boy's staff.

"Then stay and talk to me for a little bit; I have many questions. Or I can leave the staff?" The boy begged. I sighed and sat on one of the sides of the cliff, my feet dangling. I had some time to spare, and it didn't seem like this kid was a spy or anything.

"Fine, give me a question."

"What's your name?"

"Zemlija. what about you?"

"Filip, How old are you?"

"Sedamnaest(Seventeen)"

"Cool, I'm Osamnaest (Eighteen). Aren't there ways you guys can make more ability through mixing elements?"

"Yeah, but it's considered wrong."

"I don't get it. What's the point of that? It seems so cool."

"It's kind of like how a tiger will want a tiger to mate with and a lion will want a lion; no lion goes for a tiger, and no tiger thinks it is okay for a tiger to go after a lion."

"But if it's love what's so wrong with it."

"See that's where the outcasted come in, My mom is Water and my dad is Earth."

"I think you're pretty cool; your hair is like a cool, long, pretty red."

"Yeah, and you have white hair It kinda funky? why's that."

"Ah, my air stone. Every stone sort of acts funny mine changed my hair some are so bad they can't be used anymore."

"Would you change your elements if you changed stones?"

"No, I have to "master the ability of this weapon" before I can move on, or so my tata (Papa) says," Filip explained. We talked like this for a while before Filip pointed out something that alerted me.

"Do you smell smoke?" Filip questioned. I did smell smoke. I stood up and started running without looking back at Filip, who was yelling, Wait. I ran back to the path and found my way back to our village. It was on fire. Why was our tribe on fire?

"Mama! Papa!" I yelled, running to my house. I looked around my tribe; there used to be so many people that it was burning and abandoned. What happened? Where were my parents? Did the Fire Kingdom do this? I screamed out, bursting into tears, and fell to the ground. I felt someone hug me and hold me. I looked over, seeing that Filip was trying to comfort me.

"Did you find anyone?" Filip asked. I kept sobbing, giving him a messy no for an answer.

"Good, then you don't know if anyone is dead; I don't see any bodies." Filip let out. I realized Filip was right; there was mud and flowers all over the place, but there were no bodies. They could all still be alive, but where?

"Come back to the Hephaestus; we can help you."

"I can't; they'll kill me."

"Not if they don't know," Filip responded. I turned over and looked at Filip, wiping my tears.

"It won't work."

"It's worth a shot."

"Fine..."

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