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First Legend

Child Of Wind

“Eldrick, come here!” an old woman yelled. An equally old man, dressed in the rags that were his only clothes, hurried to the door of their home. Lying on the steps was an unconscious turquoise-haired girl, and naked at that. At a rough guess, the old man gauged her to be about fifteen.

“Hurry, Ella, let’s get her inside!” the man named Eldrick snapped, helping his wife to bring the girl in. After a quick check, he brought in a small bag that had been left there as well. The girl was gently placed under the covers of the bed a moment later, and quickly covered with all the blankets the two possessed. It was raining outside, after all, and it wouldn’t do for her to catch a cold.

Ella smiled and began cooking some stew, believing that the smell would wake the girl up rather quickly. She made a darn fine stew, if she said so herself, and most people who’d been lucky enough to taste agreed. The rest said that it was the best thing they’d ever eaten.

Meanwhile, old man Eldrick began searching through their few clothes to see if anything could be made to garb the girl in. After a few minutes, he finally found a shirt and skirt that looked like with a little adjusting would fit her. Smiling, he folded them up and set them on a chair next to the bed, then began setting the table for three.

The smell of food soon permeated the air, making the entire house, small as it was, smell like a king’s kitchen. The scent soon became good enough to make the girl open her eyes and look around the room.

“Ah, awake, are you?” Ella asked, bustling over to her. “Don’t you worry about a thing, dear. I don’t know why you were out here all alone on a night like this, but you’re safe now. Can you tell us what happened?” the girl blinked and opened her mouth. She started to speak, haltingly, as if she knew how but had never done it before.

“A fl-ash… Wind… Circling around.” She managed to get out. “Storm…”

“Indeed…” the old woman said, listening to the rain hit the walls for a moment. It seemed to have grown in strength since she’d last checked. “I’ve never seen a storm this bad, before. But our little home will stay up, don’t you worry. Most of the wind’s force is taken by the buildings around our humble home, and these walls are made of nice, sturdy stone. They’ll hold.” The girl slowly nodded.

“Thank you…” she said. After a moment, she pulled the clothes offered to her under the sheets, and put them on.

“Well, dearie, would you like to share your story while you eat, or just eat?” Ella asked. The girl blinked in confusion and shook her head. “You don’t want to eat?” she sniffed the bowl, wondering if it smelled bad or something. She shook her head a moment later; the stew was as good as usual.

“No, no…” the girl said. “Story… What story? I don’t… have a story…” Ella blinked and peered closer at her, perplexed. Her exact feelings were put into words a second later.

“Of course you have a story, everybody does. Where are you from, for example, and where are you going? What’s your goal in life? Who are you?” she explained. The girl shook her head again.

“I don’t have a story.” She repeated. Eldrick sighed and gave her a bowl of the stew. Nodding to him in thanks, she began eating, clumsily. Ella and Eldrick exchanged glances.

“If you don’t have one, you’ll have to make one. Okay, first, what’s your name?” Eldrick asked. The girl shook her head again. “You can’t mean you don’t have a name!” the girl shook her head again. “You don’t? But… Everybody has a name. What do people call you?”

“…Nobody’s ever called me anything. You’re the first people I’ve ever met.” The girl whispered.

“You have amnesia?” Ella asked, feeling her head for bumps. Once more, the girl shook her head. “Now what are you saying no about?” the old woman asked, starting to feel exasperated.

“I haven’t forgotten anything… I’d know if I had. I just don’t have a name. All I know is that there were dreams, then a flash, and then I woke up here.” She explained. Ella sighed.

“Then we need to start from the beginning, dear. You’re in Siral, the Kingdom of Wind. We get a lot of it around here, hence the name. We have a lot of freedom, too, and we’re all very grateful for that.” The girl nodded, attempting to memorize the information she was receiving. “But you’ll learn more just by living here, dear. What’s important is finding you a name that works. It can’t be something common, because you seem nice and polite, and that seems to be rare these days.” She sighed and sat down, thinking hard. “C or A? Or maybe R…” she mumbled. ‘Ah! I have it! How does the name Lila sound?” the girl nodded. “Now, for a last name.”

“Tempest.”

“What was that, dear?”

“Tempest.” Lila repeated. “It feels right.” Ella smiled and nodded, hoping that the name may have been a clue to her past. She had to have one, after all, nobody was born fifteen years old. It simply wasn’t possible, even when magic was involved. The closest you could get was age-acceleration, but that only matured the body and Lila definitely had the mind of a fifteen-year old, so it couldn’t have been that.

“Indeed it does.” She said, gently patting Lila on the head. “We’ve got a good start. Soon we can go for a walk around, and see if you recognize anything.” Eldrick nodded, smiling. He was the sort who went outdoors a lot, and showing somebody around sounded like a bit of fun. “And for the meantime, we’ll be happy to let you stay here. I always wanted a daughter. We’ll have to go before the Mayor to officially adopt you, of course, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” Lila nodded and slowly sunk back into the peaceful oblivion of sleep. Outside, the raging storm quieted and vanished; the only proof it had ever even been there the last drops of falling rain.

The following morning, Lila yawned and stretched. Sometime during the night, she had been shifted to a comfortable pallet next to the fireplace. Ella and Eldrick were already up and working, making sure that the house was clean for the day’s work.

“Um… What should I call you?” Lila asked hesitantly. Ella looked over the beaten-up table at her, and smiled.

“Just call me Ella, dear. And you can call my dolt of a husband Eldrick. After all, you’re family now, so it wouldn’t do to have you calling me ‘Miss’ and him ‘Mister’ all the time.” Lila nodded and got up, awkwardly brushing a few pieces of hay off of her clothes. “Eldrick! The fire’s dying!” she called out the door.

“Be right there!” Eldrick replied. Lila tilted her head and looked at the fireplace for a moment. Ella turned around a second later, and almost dropped the plates she was holding. The fire had blazed to life.

“What did you do?” the old woman asked, moving over. “I would have sworn that it was almost out, but now it’s like it’s brand-new!” Lila smiled and looked at the fire.

“I don’t understand fire, but I asked the wind, and it told me that the fire wanted it to blow over it, so it could get big and strong.” The girl explained, smiling. “All the flames needed was a puff of air and they’d grow big again.” Ella stared at Lila for several long moments. Eldrick came in a moment later and saw the roaring fire.

“I thought you said it was dying.” He finally said, blinking. Ella shrugged and jerked her head at it; discreetly pointing out the obvious fact that it wasn’t dying anymore.

“Lila already took care of it. The girl’s already making herself useful.” Ella said, standing up. “Come on and eat, dear.” She added, looking at Lila. “And after we’re all satisfied with a nice meal in our stomachs, Eldrick and I will give you a tour of the town and get you adopted. Does that sound good?” Lila nodded and hurried to the table, where she closed her eyes as if in prayer before eating. She smiled and began a few seconds after the elderly couple did, not particularly caring that the meal was reheated stew.

About twenty minutes later, the girl was walking directly between the two, looking around the town.

“And over here is Noran’s… He’s the town baker, and most of us get our bread from him. He’s a very good man; always willing to help others out. Useful chap, too, especially since he has such strong hands.” Eldrick was saying. They rounded a corner, and found themselves facing a white stone building, in front of which was a large area that was almost completely empty. Eldrick and Ella smiled. “And this, Lila, is Judgement Square, where day-to-day business deals are handled, people are tried and sometimes sentenced for crimes they may have committed, like stealing and those sorts of things.” Lila blinked, then tilted her head to the side again.

“Why would somebody steal something, anyway? If it doesn’t belong to them, they shouldn’t take it.” The girl said. Ella laughed.

“You’re absolutely right, child. Theft is something done by bad people, the sort who don’t have morals like we do.” The elderly woman said. She lead Lila towards the massive stone building. With interest, the girl observed that the building had been designed so that it could withstand even the heaviest of storms, and the curving surface helped deflect said storms. She smiled, liking the design, and ran a hand over its polished surface before hurrying inside.

The main room was absolutely enormous. Carpeting, a rare and expensive luxury, covered most of the floor, and there were all sorts of places to sit, make deals, and other things. The girl quickly removed her shoes and set them by the entrance, gazing around in awe.

“Dear! Come on!” Ella called. Lila hurried over and tried to relax as a rather large man, and not in the tall way, waddled over to a large couch and flopped down. Lila could figure out no better way to describe the way he moved, but she knew it wasn’t very gracefully. The clashing bright green and neon orange outfit didn’t help, either.

“So, what can I do for you?” the man asked, smiling benignly. Lila looked at her feet as Ella explained how they had found her and wished to adopt her. The man listened carefully, then laughed and looked at the girl. “Raise your head, child. I know that my face is scary, but I’m not going to eat you.” Lila looked nervously at him. He studied her face for a moment before nodding. “Well, she doesn’t look like a liar or a thief to me, so there are no problems at all. Scribe! Note it down that… Come to think of it, what’s your name?”

“Lila Tempest.” Lila replied obediently.

“That Lila Tempest has officially been adopted by the Arani’s, with my blessings.” A scribe nodded and wrote something down. “There we are.” Lila looked at the table, and noticed that a dust-covered book was lying down on it, closed. The girl picked it up and looked at it for several long moments. “Hm? What’s that you’ve got there?” the Mayor asked. He looked at the spine, then laughed. “Well, if you can read it, than feel free to borrow it!”

“Thank you.” Lila said, getting up and bowing to him. Ella and Eldrick smiled, glad to see that the girl had found something to do. They began speaking with the Mayor about some other matter, and Lila quietly curled up and opened the book. At first, the writing looked like a mass of meaningless symbols. Then she realized that she could indeed read them. “The Four Great Spirits…” she read aloud quietly, noticing that the book went straight to the first chapter. “In each of the four Kingdoms, there is an elemental spirit that lies sleeping, hidden in a place few mortal men, or women, could ever reach. Since these spirits correspond to the kingdom, that kingdom experiences a greater abundance of the correct element than would be considered normal. For example, in Washi, the Republic of Water, rain falls continuously and eventually the cities had to be made to float. Conversely, in Infri, the Empire of Flames, most of the land is made up of hot desert and volcanic mountains, so the citizens have to live underground. Of course, these effects are not all bad, for in Washi the water that seeps down from a certain spring is said to have healing powers, and in Infri the blazing heat creates enormous gemstones that mages have used for their spells, in order to create wondrous creations—“

“You can read that book?” the Mayor asked, interrupting her. Lila looked up sharply and slowly nodded. There was a long silence. “…Wow. You must have had quite an education, if you can read a language that’s been dead for over three thousand years.” Lila blinked.

“…At first I couldn’t understand it at all, but then I realized that I was just thinking about it wrong, and I could suddenly read it.” The girl said. “Um… Did I do something… Wrong?” there was another silence, then suddenly everybody besides Lila began laughing.

“No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong at all!” Eldrick said. “You just surprised us, that’s all!” Lila hesitantly nodded.

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