The Light of My Hearts

Kendrick paused, staring intently at the tiny torch lights just ahead in silence. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, the exact thing he did whenever humans dared to invade his forest.

However, this time he was having a moral dilemma.

Though he wanted to enact on his instincts the two tiny forms sleeping in his pocket were halting that reaction. Leon wasn’t afraid of him and Fina was beginning to warm to him. If he did something to these humans it would surely destroy any trust they currently had in him. He knew he couldn’t subject Sig’s children to such violence. They’d never see him the same again and would genuinely fear him just like Twillow did when they first met. Long before they existed, he doubted he would’ve cared, but having these little children not see him as a notorious, blood-thirsty monster was...refreshing. He didn’t want to wreck that.

Kendrick grit his teeth with frustration. Still...he wasn’t going to allow some humans to go marching around his forest uncontested. That would set a dangerous precedent for other humans to do the same...humans who could bring great harm.

Kendrick arched his feet slightly as he stepped quietly forward. With agility belied by his great size, he maneuvered through the trees quietly. The torchlights kept moving undaunted as he drew closer. Finally he was able to see the dimly lit forms marching in the dark. There were five covered wagons that appeared somewhat elaborate being drawn by equally exotic horses and oxen. Some humans walked while others rode. They too were dressed strangely...brightly even. Poachers and slayers didn’t dress in such ways; too much color and fabric would give away their presence to their quarry. To Kendrick they appeared to be gypsies or some other sort of traveling merchants given the smells of unusual herbs and spices emanating from the wagons. It almost smelled like Sig’s home on wheels.

Kendrick held very still, blending with the dark trees. The sounds of the wagons muffled his approach. However, the horses began making noises of nervousness and a couple of loose dogs stopped near the trees and began growling when they smelled him. A couple of the men riding horses around the caravan stopped near the animals and began cautiously looking in th same direction as the dogs. However, though he was towering before them behind a few trees, they couldn’t see Kendrick in the dark. The dogs continued their ruckus; their keen noses and instincts unable to be fooled.

Then the men on horses began calling in a language Kendrick wasn’t familiar with. Their calls stopped the caravan. The humans stayed deathly silent, only the growls of the dogs and the clink of the horses reigns could be heard.

It was then that Kendrick decided to make his presence known.

He spoke in a low, dangerous voice, “You are trespassing.”

Expectedly, the group of humans startled at the sound of his rumbling voice. He could see their gazes direct more upward but knew they couldn’t see him yet. Several voices called out in a foreign language but no one moved.

“This is my forest humans. You will leave and go back the way you came...now.” Kendrick commanded.

However, the humans didn’t seem to understand him...or they were just too afraid to move. Whatever the reason they held still, the men speaking in rapid voices as they waved their torches around.

“Who are you talking to, Mr. Kendrick?” Leon’s little voice piped up.

Kendrick’s amber eyes slanted down to see the child poking up out of his shirt pocket.

The boy looked over at the torches in the dark, “Who are those people?”

Very gently Kendrick ruffled Leon’s hair with a finger and pushed him back down into the pocket as he whispered, “Shh. I need to talk to these humans, kid. Just keep quiet and stay hidden, ok?”

“Ok...” was the quiet reply.

Kendrick sighed slightly, knowing he’d have to be quick about this yet restrained. First he needed to become a bit more “real” for them. With a curt step and push of the trees he revealed himself. The dogs yelped sharply, tucked their tails, and ran to a safer distance to bark. The horses made frightened noises, threw their heads and tried to bolt as well. For their part the humans seemed terrified and amazed as well, shouting more fervently.

Kendrick narrowed his eyes slightly, “Need I repeat myself?”

By this time Kendrick had expected the humans before him to flee in all directions or at the very least away from him, but they hadn’t moved yet. Instead a couple men in hats were guiding an older looking woman from one of the middle wagons toward him. She was dressed in a long purple cloak with waterfalls of curly white hair cascading from beneath the hood. Beads of every color clinked musically from the garment as she walked. Her skin was wrinkled and nearly as dark as Leida’s but with several tattoos embellishing her forehead and beside her eyes. She approached Kendrick slowly with a carved cane embellished with clinking beads to aid her. When she stood between Kendrick and the caravan, she rapped her cane against the ground three times and bent down in a bowing stance. The other humans copied her.

Kendrick raised a bemused brow.

The woman lifted her head and spoke in an accented voice, “You are guardian of forest?”

Kendrick made a funny expression but said, “Yes.”

She bowed again, “I am leader, Ashra. My people seek passage through forest.”

“Uh huh. And why are you trespassing through my forest?” he inquired with suspicion.

The elder woman pointed beyond him, “Home is beyond forest. Many sick there. Must get there quickly with medicine.”

“Then I suggest you go around like the other humans and not test the limits of my patience and mercy.” Kendrick stated tersely.

Ashra turned slightly and barked something in a different language, gesturing with her cane. Several members of her company went to one of the wagons and began to unload several rolls of fancy, brocaded, cloth, several baskets, and several bags. Kendrick blinked when the items were hurriedly placed near Ashra. The little bags were dumped out to reveal gold and silver jewelry as well as some coins and the baskets opened contained spices and cured meats.

The elder stood behind the items with a gesture, “We pay for passage?”

Kendrick tipped his head and slowly lowered down on one knee. The humans tensed sending out potent knives of fear scent.

Now this was something he hadn’t seen in a long time: offerings.

Typically, humans didn’t have the forethought to offer him anything but empty promises. Ironically, Sig was the last person to hold up a pleasing offering. He chuckled gently, giving the expression of debating. The nostalgia of it was amusing to him.

“And you think such bribery works on me?” he grinned.

Ashra tensed, her fear scent wafting up in a short, sharp beat. The older woman’s eyes fell as did her expression. She sighed and called out again in her language, her tone bearing a weight to it. Immediately, a young woman strode forward from the group, cloaked in red with golden flowers decorating the silky cloth. Kendrick couldn’t see her face but the scent was distinctly perfumed and feminine. Dark black hair decorated with beaded embellishments spilled out from under a similar hood to Ashra’s. Ashra spoke to her in a tone that was serious yet sad sounding.

The fear scent grew stronger smelling.

Then the young woman nodded and pulled back her hood to reveal her features. She was dark complected as well, the color of burnt caramel. Her eyelids were painted with shiny pink and gold powder to accent the chocolate of her eyes and the pout of her garnet lips. Indeed an exotic beauty. Her hands were shaking as she unclasped the cloak from around her shoulders and dropped it to the ground revealing a toned, hourglass shape. And then she removed her simple dress, baring all.

Kendrick’s eyebrows went up as she knelt beside the other offerings, bowing her head.

Oh...and a maiden sacrifice to sweeten the deal?

“Mm...well! That’s very nice...” he admitted with a smirk.

Kendrick’s hand reached over to her and the maiden ducked lower, trembling visibly. But instead of seizing her he delicately plucked up her discarded cloak and draped it over her. Confused, the maiden tentatively looked up at him.

“Nice...but unnecessary.”

He gestured in a shooing manner with his fingers. The young woman seemed flustered by his refusal but backed away with her cloak.

“I suppose I’m feeling a bit...magnanimous tonight.” He gestured to the items, “I will accept your offerings in exchange for one day. You humans get until sundown tomorrow to be out of my forest.” He narrowed his eyes, “I will not be as generous if I find you again.”

Ashra bowed several times, her people copying her actions, “Thank you. Thank you.”

It took a bit of time but eventually the caravan departed again, more briskly than before. When they were gone, Kendrick unhurriedly collected the offerings.

“Who were you talking to, Mr. Kendrick?” Leon’s voice returned from his pocket.

“Oh...just some travelers.” He replied.

“You sounded mad.” Leon observed.

“Did I?” Kendrick inquired as he stood.

“Yeah. Why?”

The giant resumed his walk, holding the items, “Well...I don’t like it when humans trespass through my forest.”

“Why?”

Kendrick glanced down at him, “Well, would you like it if people just came wandering through your home without asking and took your things?”

“No.”

“Exactly.” He looked down again, asking quietly, “Did Fina sleep through all that?”

Leon ducked down in his pocket and then reappeared, “Yeah. She’s tired.”

Kendrick nodded, continuing his walk.

The boy was quiet in the dark for a moment until he dropped another question on Kendrick’s head, “Why was that lady naked?”

Kendrick stopped, eyes wide. He was quiet.

Oh, shit...

He had hoped the boy hadn’t seen anything during the exchange, but natural child curiosity had bashed that wishful notion over the head. The little stinker peeked.

Now how in the Hell was he going to explain that away without lying?! Despite his efforts to not damage these kids it happened in a completely different way than he was ready for! Great job, idiot!

“She’s silly. She took off her clothes and was looking for water to swim in.” Leon concluded, “There wasn’t any water to go swimming in.”

A pulsing tremor shook through the giant’s chest. He bit his lip.

“Don’t laugh...for the love of God don’t laugh!”

Kendrick shook his head, desperately trying to restrain his chuckles at the boy’s innocent perception of the event, but failed miserably. It hurt to reign in his laughter that much but he finally did until his eyes watered.

“Yeah...hehe...silly. No water to swim in.” he agreed in a strained voice.

Leon laughed too but not for the same reason Kendrick was.

“Are we almost to your house?” the boy asked after a moment.

Kendrick chuckled once more, “Yeah. Getting close.”

“I’ve gotta potty.”

Kendrick stopped again and glanced down at the boy. At that same moment, Fina popped up.

“I gotta potty too.” She agreed.

Great...

....

Later after a “short break” behind a tree...

“Here it is.” Kendrick announced gently when the opening to his mountain home was just ahead.

He felt the two children wiggle around in his pocket but knew it was too dark for them to see anything.

“Where?” Leon asked.

“Just ahead.”

Kendrick entered the tunnel entrance of his home and the bioluminescent flowers that lined it began to glow.

“Ooo! Pretty!” the children marveled.

Kendrick veered closer to the tunnel wall so the children could see the flowers better. Both Fina and Leon were excited and reached out, seizing a handful of the glowing flowers each. But their faces fell when the flowers started to dim in their hands.

Kendrick smiled knowingly, “They only glow if you don’t pick them.”

As children do, they plucked the petals off of their handful and began throwing them from the heights. In a few steps Kendrick entered his home which was dark, only lit by a few crystals embedded in the walls. But then they brightened considerably, giving the room illumination. The children gazed around at the seemingly mundane accoutrements with wonder. Though Twillow had added her own feminine touches to the home it still was a simple layout: fireplace, kitchen, bed, a chair, and a stone slab table. Had it not been tremendous in size the children wouldn’t have been too amazed. But they were boggled by the size of everything.

“Well...this is it.” Kendrick gestured to the room as he set the offerings on his stone table.

“It’s huge!” Leon exclaimed.

Kendrick nodded at the obvious statement. He recalled how he’d seen his home from human-size and remembered feeling that same overwhelming shock. For such tiny children it must be even more so.

“Look at the bed!” Leon pointed across the room, “It’s bigger than our whole house!”

Kendrick chuckled gently, “Speaking of “bed”, it’s time for you two pipsqueaks to go to bed.”

“Aww!” both kids whined.

“But we just go here!” Leon protested.

“Yeah. And I let you stay up and play earlier. That means our deal is done and you have to go to bed.” Kendrick stated firmly.

All at once Fina spoke, “I’m thirsty.”

Kendrick glanced down, surprised to hear the little girl actually speak again, “Oh. You’re thirsty?”

She nodded.

“Me too.” Leon agreed.

“Alright. A drink, then bed.” Kendrick stated as he moved toward his natural kitchen stream.

“You’ve got a river in your house?” the boy sounded amazed.

Kendrick very gently plucked the kids from his pocket. He set them down on his rock countertop near the stream.

“There you go.”

At first the pair put their hands in the water, as if not actually believing a stream was running through someone’s house.

“Are there fish in here?” Leon asked, slapping at the water.

Kendrick smirked and shook his head, “No. I don’t think so.”

The two children took a drink from the running stream.

“Daddy takes us fishing in the stream near our house sometimes. I catch frogs.” Leon stated proudly, water dripping from his chin.

“Yucky.” Fina made a face.

Leon laughed and pointed at his sister, “Fina’s scared of frogs. This one time, I caught ten frogs!”

“Ten, huh? That’s... quite a few.” Kendrick complimented even though he wasn’t exactly sure what a frog looked like.

He’d heard frogs before by his lake (at least that’s why his dad told him when he was a child), but he’d honestly never seen the tiny creatures save for their little splashes when they retreated to the water. They were just too quick and too small.

The blonde boy glanced to his right and spotted one of Kendrick’s polished wood cups that was essentially a hollowed, carved tree trunk. He darted over to it and touched it, walking around it. Experimentally he tried to push it with no success.

“Why do you have a tree in your house?” he asked.

Kendrick chuckled as he reached over and lifted the vessel effortlessly, “That’s my drinking cup, kid.”

“Really?” the boy’s eyes got big.

To illustrate, Kendrick tipped the cup and set it in the stream to collect some water for himself. The long walk had made him thirsty. Both children watched in amazement as the tree-sized cup filled with the current of the stream.

However, Fina leaned out too far and toppled into the stream with a startled cry and the current swept her into the cup.

“ACK!” Kendrick shouted, picking up the cup and dumping it out into his other hand.

Fina was deposited into his cupped palm, but she was already crying.

“Oh! Oh no no no...don’t cry. Don’t cry.” Kendrick pleaded, bringing her close to dab her off with his shirt.

Drenched and cold, the little girl didn’t obey his requests.

“Great...great! I KNEW something like this would happen! Now what am I supposed to do?!” Kendrick lamented in his head.

He glanced around his shelves a moment and found a dry blanket folded neatly. With a quick, careful motion he placed Fina in the blanket and wrapped her up in the pit of his palm.

“Shh. Shh. Let’s get you dried off. You’re ok...” he said to Fina and himself.

Though the cries had lessened in intensity he could smell the fear scent. The problem was he couldn’t be sure if it was because of falling in the stream or him suddenly grabbing her. He could make humans cry effortlessly...making them stop was not something he had attempted. What if he couldn’t get her to stop? A helpless expression wrinkled his brows when Fina’s crying continued.

“Here!” Leon called out.

Kendrick looked to see the boy holding her doll up. He took the toy from Leon and then held it between his fingertips for Fina.

“Here you go...please stop crying.”

The green eyes opened, tearfully wet. But then her little hands shot out of the blanket and seized her doll, pulling it into her chest. Much to Kendrick’s relief her crying tapered off into quiet sniffles. He sighed. Both of his hearts were beating quickly and he didn’t understand why. She was just crying...why did he get so worked up?

“There...there you go. You’re all right?”

She looked up at him, sniffed, and nodded.

With great delicacy he set the bundle onto his countertop, near the fireplace. Briskly, he used one of Twillow’s fire crystals to get a small fire going. Then he took both children in his hands and set them in front of the warm fire. Kendrick sat behind them with a heavy sigh. Gradually, Fina unwrapped herself from the damp blanket and began to dry off. Leon had found a stick left from the firewood and was pretending it was a sword but his actions were dull and slow; he was getting tired.

Kendrick stood up and retrieved a bowl from his pantry which he proceeded to fill with anything he had that was soft. Finally he had a “bed” prepared.

“Ok you two, bedtime.” He announced, placing the bowl near the fireplace.

The pair looked tired, thankfully. Very gently he plucked them up again and set them down in the bed he’d made for them. At first they were curious and then they had a small resurge of excitement as they hopped around the blanket-filled bowl and flopped over.

“All right, pipsqueaks. Bed. Now.” Kendrick commanded, raising the top blanket up so they could crawl underneath.

The two children did so and he settled the blanket over them so just their heads were poking out. Kendrick moved the bowl slightly so it was close but not too close to the fireplace.

“Tell us a story!” Leon requested.

“Story!” Fina agreed.

Kendrick huffed then shook his head, “Afraid I don’t know any stories.”

“None that wouldn’t scare they living hell out of you...” he mused.

“We can’t sleep without a story.” Leon insisted.

Kendrick eyed the pair, “If I tell you a story you will go to sleep?”

They both nodded.

He sighed through his nose and then smirked, “Ok. Here you go. Once there were two noisy human children who wouldn’t let a giant sleep. So he baked them in a pie and he finally got to go to sleep. The end.”

Leon and Fina looked at each other and then Leon shouted, ”That’s not a story!”

“Yes it is. Now go to sleep.” Kendrick chuckled as he stood up.

Though a bit miffed at being tricked the two children snuggled down into the pile of blankets as the crystals in the room grew dark. Only the fireplace put off a comforting orange glow. Kendrick removed his boots and quietly set them near his bed. He pulled his shirt off and set it at the foot of his bed along with his belt. He wasn’t physically tired per se but he definitely was craving some sleep.

“Good night, Mr. Kendrick!” Leon called out.

“Nite!” Fina chimed in.

Kendrick turned slightly, “Um...good night.”