She sniffed at him, then dug around in his pocket. “Oh, hey, watch where you put that hand, eyaaaah!” She snorted and rolled her eyes as she pulled out a ten dollar bill. “I’ll pick it up for you, but I’ll keep the change,” she said, sauntering off.
“That’s really some girl there, isn’t she,” he said with admiration.
Jackie just frowned at him. “What are you doing, messing around with her like that,” the girl demanded with her hands on her hips.
His grin abruptly disappeared. “I`m not ‘messing’ with her at all,” he answered, “though I like hearing that, coming from a lackey working with the one person in the world determined to screw with her head the most,” he responded scathingly. “What are you doing here anyways, forest freak,” he ended sulkily.
“Forest freak,” she gasped in outrage. “I`ll have you know, my contractee is one of the oldest lakes in the entire East forest, one of the Great Lakes in this realm! And my sister is no minor nyad, she is contracted with one of the great redwoods,” she exclaimed with pride. “He`s nearly five hundred feet around, you know,” she said. “In fact, he was one of the first born trees, and he has been around much longer than a mere human like you,” she sniffed. “He wouldn`t have joined with just any nymph!”
“Yeah? I get he is really powerful, but what about you? You are just a weak little dryad. You`d be weak, powerless, if your lake didn`t agree to lend most of his strength to you. And what are you doing here anyways when you are supposed to be protecting and caring for him in return for the power boost he gives you,” he challenged.
“Pshaw,” she waved him off. “Fighting? That`s what our warriors are for, dummy. Besides that, I`d have to have quite a bit of power of my own, or such a powerful spirit would have rejected joining with me, as I wouldn`t be strong enough to defend him without some strength of my own. That`s the whole point of contracting.” She laughed then. “They aren`t teaching you guys much in that citadel of yours, are they,” she sneered. He blushed at this barbed insult.
The citadel. A domed city in the Western Wastes, where the male magical humans lived and were brought up in a world controlled by a board of elders, and each wizard`s position was determined by accomplishments within their apprenticeships and jobs. The rest of their kind, the witches, normally lived hidden away in their own domed city far north in the Arctic Wates. They lived separately year round except for during the Summer for their two month mating season overseen and supervised by the elders of both cities. All of those who broke any rules of their city were permanently cast out of their nation, though many of them joined a band of rebels called alchemists that ran loose through both worlds and often lived as common highwaymen and women.
He growled, the insult clearly hitting its mark. “Only initiates are taught much of anything, and I will not qualify for that training until I reach my nineteenth year,” he muttered. “Besides, what are you doing, messing with Alyssa yourself,” he went on in a strong voice, a clear challenge.
“I`m trying to protect her, dummy,” Jackie said. “What about you? How`d you manage to worm your way into her circle?”?
He thought for a second, remembering the past. The elders were tired of his inadequacy, his lack of skill with even the simplest of the children’s spells. They had long been whispering among themselves, plotting some great movement, and one day they started to put their mysterious plan into action. They dragged him out of the room he was cleaning, the usual scutwork, and pushed him through one of the portals to the other side, a promise of a raise in rank and future glory if he succeeded in the brief plan they had outlined for him.
He carefully set himself up in that alley. But that forelorn and hopeless expression was genuine, reflecting his lack of hope in success. Everyone knew that true humans were heartless, and why would one invite him into their lives? His own people ignored him and pushed him out of their city. It would be no good to expect any great things from them. But a girl walked up to him, concern in her guileless face. His heart thumped unexpectedly, unused to the sight of a female. Her hair hung down in loose waves, and the faintest scent of honeysuckle and vanilla wafted from her. His eyes clung to her. She held out a hand, so small and delicate, and he gladly held it, hoisting himself up.
“What about you?” Jackie demanded it, aggravated that he had taken so long to answer.
“I just happened to be in the right place, right time,” he said. “What’s so sinister in a nice girl helping me out?”
She waved her hand at him “Puh-leese. Why were you so far from your city, heck even from your world, in the first place? If you wanted to score some chicks or have an adventure or something you could have snuck into the Witch’s city or something” she said suspiciously.
He looked at her coldly. “There is nothing of interest to me in the Witch City, or the nearby Nymph kingdom. Anyways, why would you think I`m so interested in a mere human anyways?” As if reciting some lines he continued, “We may share the same race, but my people and their knowledge are infinitely superior in power and cul-culture to those Mundanes.” He faltered on the end, visibly confused on whether he ascribed to his people`s philosophy or if time had somehow softened his intent. Surrounded by Mundanes devoid of any hint of otherness, he was also being forced to consider
