The Circle in the Sand III

Niko stared at this young woman, she looked like she was at least a year older than him, but her eyes appeared to be that of a small child's. She smiled and took his bag, but as she moved around the cabin she continued to talk to him as though he had known she would be there all along.

"My name is Sympathy, but of course Gray must have told you that by now! I still can't believe we get to be partners. Gosh! A moss woman and a magician! What a pair! With my healing herbs and your hocus pocus we could take the castle by storm!" She said as she put his bag on a chair that appeared to be living. It moved and it had a tail like a cat's which wagged as it rocked back and forth. Sympathy giggled and scratched the seat and said, "This is Seiko. She used to be Gray's cat, but he liked her so much he didn't want her to die... so he turned her into a chair." Niko swallowed... Gray had never mentioned that spell before.

Sympathy opened his bag and pulled out the book, "Oh! He told me he was going to give you the guide and spellbook!" Niko snatched it away and said, "Hey!" Sympathy then jumped up onto a bed that appeared to be a normal bed with a mattress made of hay. She looked at him with a smile, and he began to really study her. Her lips were blue and so was her hair, but it seemed to change from blue to green quite suddenly. She was pale, but her skin also darkened at seemingly unplanned times. She was pretty, but her strange voice and odd movements didn't sit well with Niko. He noticed another bed, which had his name craved in the bedpost.

He walked over to it, book underarm, without a single word. He thought he was supposed to be alone... yet here was a chattering moss woman with strange hair that seemed like freshly dug earth. Why hadn't Gray said anything to him about this? Niko opened the book and thought about the spells... perhaps the book would tell him how to turn animals into furniture. Though the idea of sitting on a cat sent a shiver up his spine.

Sympathy whispered, "Niko? Don't you like me?"

Niko turned around and her lips were so blue that it frightened him. He forced a smile and said, "Yes. I like you just fine. Master Gray just didn't tell me I would have a partner..." Though it wasn't the total truth, it might do to satisfy her. The girl walked over, her feet bare, and said, "I bet he thought you needed a surprise. Gray is an old trickster! I remember when he was here for the first time!"

Niko almost fell over. He had heard that Moss women aged well, but that would mean... "How old are you sympathy?" Niko asked and she blushed a pale green and said, "Only 17."

"Oh..." A little relieved, Niko said, "Did your grandmother know Gray?" Sympathy giggled and said, "I met him when I was younger... I know being 1,700 years seems like a short time, but I thought you magicians aged fast to begin with."

This was too much. Niko sat on his bed and buried his hands into his face then touched his hair. "So, is this your cabin?" He asked, feeling more like a child than ever before. She nodded and things began to clear up for Niko. How else would a home standing in the forest unless someone looked after it? The book would explain it... maybe the books weren't so useless after all.