Diving Deep - Solo

[FennWenn]

Hoofbeats and the squeaking of wheels drew up behind them.

“Mmm? What’s this?”

Suddenly, Fenn found himself lifted off his feet and swung around to face the voice. Panic squeezed his chest, but only for the brief moment until he realized it was just Loreley’s arm curled around his chest, holding him as one might a friendly cat. She was tall for only twelve. Her touch prickled his skin with strong waves of golden-warm magic-brightness. “Hi Papa!” Loreley greeted cheerfully.

Loreley’s “papa” was a broad-shouldered man, brawny and brown-bearded. His donkey-drawn cart was piled high with mouth-watering honey. “Morning, buttercup,” he replied with a grin, tipping his hat at the two. “And who’s this here?”

She beamed back and hugged Fenn tighter, spreading frost along the long sleeves of her dress. “My new friend! Told you about him, ‘member? Isn’t he just the bittiest lil’ flower you’ve ever seen? Say hello Fenn!” Where on Althanas did that sugar in her voice come from? The puck almost went cross-eyed from confusion. Were it not for the tangles in her hair and the dirt on her clothes, it would've been hard to believe that Loreley had spent the last two hours winning the roughest game of tag Fenn had ever played.

The little fae squinted up at Loreley’s father and gave him a small, uneasy wave. Hi.

A grunt and a gentle nod was returned. “Hello. Buttercup’s said a word or two about you. Seen you hanging out this town a couple days too, boy. It’s a nice place. I take it that you aren't from anywhere ‘round these parts, are you?” He didn’t even wait for Fenn to shake his head before continuing on. “With those ears, I’d think you come from Raiaera. What brings you to these parts? Or your folks, I suppose.”

Fenn managed an awkward shrug. What reason was required for being anywhere? The world itself was his fucking playground, as far as he was concerned. No need for parents.

Loreley seemed to think differently. A sudden gasp squeezed out of the girl. Gently, she set Fenn down and spun him around to face her. At first, he was grateful to be on his own two feet again — his arms were going numb from being held up like a helpless kitty — but the worry scrunching up her face dampened that relief. “Fenn, didn't you tell me that you didn't know where your parents were?”

Did he? Fenn tapped his chin and thought. He might have. It was a technical truth — he never had the foggiest idea what had happened to his birth parents. Or if he had birth parents in the first place, come to think of it.

Loreley shook him by the shoulders, the distress in her warm brown eyes only becoming more pronounced in the face of his apathy. “No, c’mon Fenn, how long has it been since you last saw ‘em? Something must have happened for them to vanish on you. Right? Papa, you don’t think they…”

Papa cast Fenn a solemn look. “It’s possible. Boy, your folks weren’t last seen by the loch, were they?”

Loch? That lake-y place he had opted to go around on the way over here? Fenn shrugged and scuffed at the dirt, starting to feel a little grey-cheek’d fluster at the sudden attention on him. A nervous twist of frost laced its way up his sleeves. Was it better to keep playing along with the “lost parents” thing? It was far less complicated, he knew, than trying to explain that he was a parentless thirty-year old adventurer who just happened to resemble a dirty, wayward child.

“I won't lie to you, if that’s where they were last seen, I doubt they’re coming back,” Loreley’s father said quietly. He clutched his reigns in a tighter, white-knuckled grip and took a deep breath. “Buttercup and I used to fish there a lot, but I don’t dare step foot in them woods now. Past few months, folks’ve been straight-up vanishing by that loch in droves. Sheriff hasn’t been able to figure out why just yet. We’re considering calling someone in from Radasanth to handle it. Lots of tough, knowledgeable folk live ‘round the citadel. Can't imagine working in a place that crowded myself.”

Loreley kissed Fenn atop the head. Reflexively, he stuck out his tongue and squirmed in indignation — she had no sense of personal space! Which was probably rich of him to get in a huff about. “Maybe you can wait for them here with me,” his new friend said cheerfully. “I’ve always heard that it’s better to stay in place when you’re lost, and I can keep you company.”

“That’s mighty sweet of you, buttercup. ” He gave Fenn a concerned look from beneath the brim of his hat. “I don’t know where you’ve been sleeping the past few days, but you’re welcome to stay with us if you need. Well, I’d better get this to the market. I’ll see you two in a few hours.”

“Bye-bye Papa!” Loreley called. Fenn gave the man another reserved wave.

The donkey’s hoofsteps thumped against the dirt and the wheels squeaked, fading as the cart rounded the corner.

Soon as her father was out of earshot, Loreley went from flithering about like a flimsy little flower to her usual self. Fenn gasped as he was abruptly dropped back onto the dirt road. When he brush the dust off himself — again — and stood back up, Loreley was shooting him a wicked grin. Her arms crossed together confidently. “Alrighty, you and I both know that we ain't staying put, don't we? You thinking what I’m thinking? You should, really, because it’s a really great idea, and if you aren't, we should go with it anyway.”

The boy gave her a blank look, raising an eyebrow. A baffled shrug was given to the boasting blonde. Maybe Fenn was magic, but he wasn’t exactly a mind reader.

“Aww, come on! Thought it’d be easy for you to guess. I’m thinking we should go check out the loch,” she said, her eyes lit up with excitement.

Fenn stared at her. It was indeed an interesting suggestion, one that made his sense of adventure perk up and wag its tail. But… WHY FOR? he asked, sloppily writing in the dirt with his toe.

“Don’t you want to find your parents?” she asked, frowning at him. “We can figure out whatever's going on over there. Everyone’s getting pretty worried over it. If we could fix it, or find all the people that’ve vanished, that’d make us heroes. It’ll be an adventure! Between the two of us, we’d be strong enough to face off against any danger. I mean, you can do your frosty thing, and I have my plants. Are you with me?”

The boy paused. Fenn fancied himself a lot of things, and an adventurer was definitely one of them. A rushed moment of thought was all that went through his mind before he nodded. He could use some relaxing, good ol’ fashioned investigation. It’d be a better adventure than his recent… mishaps… he figured. And if something went wrong, there was always the good ol’ time-tested technique of running-the-fuck-away. Both of them were good at that. No-one expects the FENNQUISITION! Or, at least, whatever danger lurked in the loch wouldn’t expect it.

Loch ho!