How does a band of 5 adventurers become 6 where more questions are created and not a lot of answers given? Our whole party had been thrown into disarray when we decided (I decided) to gain a companion to join us with our continual quest to bring good to the world and I decided to find someone belonging to a particular race that I had learned about during my elven education many years ago. A human.
When we met her she was quiet and not at all what I expected based on my lessons as a young elf but maybe we were a party she wasn’t expecting to come upon? 4 elves and a talking hare. We weren’t the regular band of adventurers but she agreed to come with us and accompanied us to our boat.
‘So, I know that humans are known to be a dangerous species but we need to try and keep a low profile, at least until we have the gemstone. If the alarm is raised without us getting the gem then we will be outnumbered immediately. The gem is our task. Is that going to be hard for you?’ I asked. I knew exactly how to approach the humans, we were told to always get straight to the point when it came to their volatility and hostile nature but she responded in a way I was not prepared for.
‘Sure, I’d prefer to not draw attention to myself anyway.’
The books and lectures hadn’t taught me this. Humans loved to showboat. They loved to show off and be the centre of attention. We were even planning on using that if everything went wrong. Humans could be very good bait and still find a way out of their predicament due to their extreme social adaptations. We had learned about humans who had preached obvious lies and then claimed it wasn’t what they had said and people still believed them. Humans were very good at talking their way out of situations, maybe that was what she was doing?
‘You don’t want to be the centre of attention?’ I scoffed.
‘No, being the centre of attention is exhausting. I’d much rather keep a low profile.’
‘Ok,’ I stumbled. I had no idea what else to say so wandered back to my quarters with confusion.
The journey to the island was uneventful and the human caused no trouble but didn’t engage with any of us during dinner even when trying to engage with her. She looked rather uncomfortable around us and we had asked if she struggled with seasickness but she informed us that she was in perfect health. It was all too peculiar for any of our liking, especially as she seemed to prefer being alone when dinner was over.
It was dark when we landed and we decided to wait until daylight for our mission so as to not raise suspicion, at this time of day there were bound to be people on watch and it would be much better if we appeared to be tourists than thieves. The night also meant that sleep was in order and as I went to my quarters, I saw the human above deck and quickly advanced on her to see what she was tampering with.
To my surprise, the human was sitting cross-legged and looking up at the stars above.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked. My voice was a bit louder than I anticipated and I could see that I had startled the human.
‘Jeez, you scared me!’ Her head flung in my direction.
‘I do apologise but I don’t know whether I should trust you or not. Here you are, alone on our boat when everyone else is sleeping. It is rather odd,’ I replied.
‘You don’t have any experience with humans of my type do you?’
‘I’m sorry? Type? There are types of humans?’
‘Well, not exactly. You think I’m an outgoing individual who wants to be violent and the centre of attention. I’m not. I can’t stand those people. I’m what we call an ‘introvert’ so I’m the complete opposite of the type of human you know,’ she explained.
‘Introvert? I have never heard of such a thing,’ I spoke allowing myself to get closer to her.
‘It seems like no one has. The few of us who decided to venture off the edge of the human world are all extroverts. Unlike them, I need to recharge by being alone which is why I am finding comfort in the stars. They remind me of how small I am in comparison to the world and those I don’t know exist, it helps me focus on the task at hand so please, leave me alone until the day awakens tomorrow,’ she answered before turning her head back towards the stars.
As morning arrived, I still had my suspicions. I hadn’t slept as my research had failed me to find anything about human introverts. They weren’t a sub-species or a race of any kind. They were completely non-existent in my studies. But as we left our boat, I could see that she seemed comfortable at the back of the pack by herself. Risechaff, the hare, hopped alongside her without a sound and she seemed peaceful if a human could ever know the meaning of the word.
As we walked through the village, nobody spoke, hoping that the silence would make the human return to the talkative individual we knew they were. But she remained silent. It left us perplexed but our party had no experience with humans and we had no idea what to do to bring out their true colours.
We took the long road to the temple, the aim being that we would have the human reveal herself before entering the temple. An hour of walking was exhausting but if it ended up with our quest being fulfilled without any loss of life then the exhaustion was worth it.
The human still hadn’t said anything as we approached the steps to the temple and Risechaff and I had been sharing glances every now and then at the human who seemed to be ‘daydreaming’. I had read about the phenomenon before and could only describe it as being similar to sleeping at night when the gods send you a message in visual form, however daydreaming was imagining these forms but without intervention from the deities but from a part of the human brain that allowed them to create the images from within their own minds. If only we had the ability to read the mind of the human then all our fears would have been put to rest, but alas, neither of us were wizards or sorcerers of any kind.
We split into 2 groups, the other 3 elves entered from a side entrance whilst Risechaff, the human and I were to go through the main entrance and hopefully not get caught.
‘Ok, so, we are here. The plan is to be careful and NOT draw attention to ourselves,’ I reminded them.
‘Kind of hard when we have a 3-foot rabbit,’ the human smiled. It was the first time a smile crossed her lips and I remember noting that it rather suited her.
‘I’m a hare actually,’ Risechaff announced to the human and her smile ceased. But not only did her smile disappear, but so did the strange energy that she momentarily had. She was now back to the quiet and timid human, a facade she had let slip momentarily that I was determined to make her do again and reveal the true type of human she was.
‘Anyway, remember, we are to NOT bring attention to ourselves,’ I reminded them before entering the temple entrance.
Risechaff followed me but I noticed a distinct lack of a pair of footsteps to accompany mine and the hopping of Risechaff. I spun around to see the human staring at the entrance.
‘What?’ I asked harshly, annoyed that she was moving away from the plan.
‘Have you seen the markings on the top of the door?’ The human asked.
‘No, why?’ I replied.
‘They seem to show a series of warnings like the location of traps in the temple,’ she answered.
‘Well, hopefully, they’ve all been disarmed,’ I said, turning back around and beginning to progress.
‘Wait!’ An outburst came from the door, ‘Don’t move!’
She ran towards me and started scanning the wall to my right.
‘We don’t have time,’ I said, taking another step forward.
The clinking sound was one I was all too familiar with, the sound of an arrow leaving a mechanical trap, I realised that movement was too late from my end when I felt a tugging on my arm, pulling me back from the arrow that was heading in my direction.
I turned around to thank Risechaff only to realise that it was a humanoid hand on my arm.
‘I think the words you are looking for are ‘Thank’ and ‘You’ because you know I just saved you even though you weren’t listening to me,’ the human raised her eyebrows in a way that made me realise the error of my ways in a weird way that I can only communicate as being a human quality.
‘Thank you,’ I stuttered, ‘I didn’t think you would save me from harm.’
‘Well, why wouldn’t I? We’re travelling together, aren’t we? Or am I not a part of the team?’ The human asked.
‘I didn’t think you would want to be part of the team. You’re not the type of happy human that I was expecting which makes me think you are not happy being here,’ I tried to explain.
‘Are you kidding me? You gave me an hour of peace and quiet walking here. I thought that was because you understood my need for solitude. I told you, I’m not like the humans you think you know. If I didn’t want to come with you, do you think I would?’ The human asked. The emotion she shared made me question if she was capable of lying and my elven senses made me believe she was telling the truth. ‘I just really like being alone within myself but you guys are a small enough group that I don’t feel as drained in your presence as I do with bigger groups I have accompanied. And I thought you’d be willing to accept me, no offence Risechaff, but you don’t see many hares going around with 4 elves on adventures now do you?’
‘You’re right. We are a band of outcasts from our elven society for different reasons, we don’t judge based on what our outcast is as long as we can provide for our team. You saved me from a lot of pain. What is your name human?’
‘Kat,’ she replied.
‘Hopefully, that is the only non-human thing about you,’ I smiled, holding out my hand for her to shake.
‘Hopefully,’ she smiled back, taking my hand in hers.
‘Welcome to the party,’ I smiled.
A brief shake began before being interrupted by a familiar voice.
‘Lynette, we have the gem, is everything ok here?’
I looked at Kat and looked her in the eye as I replied to my fellow comrade.
‘Everything is fine here.’