The Land of LD

Chapter 10-Hermits

"Ugh......" Kyle opened his eyes and he could see a gray sky, and the air misty and a bit heavy with dampness.
"..?" he looked around and he could see that he and all his friends asleep as well as that strange man in a hood had landed on some sort of a boat...no. this is not a boat.
Kyle got up and looked beneath him in realization and surprise, to see a strange huge plant, floating on the water, and shaped like some sort of a gigantic dish.
A dish big and supportable enough to support all six of them, despite its slippery and fragile plant skin.
"What....where are we? what is this place-I mean, thing?"
"It's a Pad of Lilius. a plant that lives floating on the water surface, attached to its long stem and roots."
"Oh...so it's a...Lily pad..?"
"Is that how humans call them...very well then. this is a giant lily pad used as a boat attraction as well. its stem and roots are like seaweeds, attached in a sturdy ways but makes them able to float well and far. good that the time was precise to fetch them."
"A...time? do they come at specific times?"
"This ones does. in order to save people from drowning."
"This ones...? oh...well. and..thank you for helping us."
"It was for my own good as well."
"Still. and sorry for not trusting you enough."
"Nah. that's normal. for any species..to disbelieve any strangers...after all, you can't trust everyone around you. even your friends or families might think about hurting you sometimes."
"What? but my family and friends don't.."
"I said MIGHT. some families are not so cooperative each other, and some friends are not so truthful as ours does. that's a great shame...."
"Um...sir. but where are we going right now? where does this pad leading us to?"
"We're going to my friends' house...he's a trustworthy man, he would be able to help us. oh, and..'Sir' may not be so appropriate...just call me...'Normi'."
"Oh...very well, then, Normi, my name's Kyle Riverside..the human."
"So I've heard. pleased of your introduction, Kyle."
"Um...would you mind me asking a question to you, sir-I mean, Normi."
"Fire ahead."
"Why were you put in jail?"
"...Let's just say...it's because the authorities right now were so fake, and they were good at using people."
"Is that so....do you have a family, or friends, that might worry about you?"
"As for the friends, he might have been concerned or either disappointed in me, but he would have been concerned even for once. as for the family....I'm just hoping they might not have gone through worse than I did."
"Oh...I'm...sorry."
"It's alright...it seems like hours to get to the destination, why don't you sleep again?"
"Okay..."
Then Kyle drifted off to sleep again....

- - - 🌺 - - -

Kyle was having a dream. he had a dream that he was falling through some strange place...full of lights and dazzling colors, space itself broken and irregular...
He could hear his friends' voices, but he just couldn't reach or feel anything.
He continued to fall, see colors colliding and changing, and the memories throughout this journey passing through him, until he reached the cold, dark floor, and see the light in the distance.
He couldn't stand, or walk. all he could do was crawl toward the light.
Then the light, in a color of blue, showed him a blue crystal he had gotten as the first crystal of his journey, then....he saw a dark hand darker than the darkness itself taking it away..then he realized that the blue crystal was in a bag which guards had taken...

"Kyle. wake up."
"Ughh...no..."
"Wake up, sleepyhead!!"
*Bonk*
"Ow, what-what's going on? where are we?"
"Calm down, Kyle. it's just us."
"Oh.."
He realized that he had gotten up from his dream, with Emily and September shaking him, and he now saw a brighter sky with no mist, a clear blue, but so full of clouds as well.
Kyle got himself up to see a lily pad towing itself near the other hundreds of giant lily pads, all docked near a stairs leading to a small house with a garden and vegetable patches.
"Oh.. so this is.."
"Yes. this is my friend's house."
"Normi! great. so...do we have to get up?"
"Wait a bit until the pad stops itself."
"Ur..okay?"
So when the lily pad had stopped, they stepped toward the stairs through other giant lily pads, and went up the stairs. Lisa supported Normi with her as he straggled when he walked and his chains got into his way.
"Why, thank you."
"It's fine."
When they had went up the stairs and surveyed the scene, they could see that a man and a woman working in a garden and vegetable patch each.
Then they turned around and saw them.
"Oh." said the woman.
"How can we help you?" asked the man, approaching them.
It seemed that the both of them were elves, but the woman had a brownish dark skin like black human woman, that surprised the siblings a bit.
Then Normi stepped forward, got his chained hand out from his cloak and took off his hood in front of the man.
It revealed a messy, spiky brown hair.
"Blossom...it's me..Nor-" then Normi suddenly fell to the ground.
"Wait...what was.."
"Oh my...Nancy, please help me to get him inside!"
"Got it. you folks follow us!"

- - - 🌺 - - -

When all of them had gotten into the tiny house, Normi was soon moved to the room to be treated by those elf couple, Blossom and Nancy.Others were all seated around a table with six chairs.
On a table, there was a queer flowerpot with a moving flower in it, and it squirmed at hissed like a harmless snake, and September patted its back with her finger.
Lisa was speechless and seemed shocked for a moment, and others all looked at her with bit of an anxiety.
"Hey..Lisa, are you alright?"
"Yes...yes..I just...I just can't believe this, it confuses me a bit."
"What?"
"I figured out that I actually know who is Normi. but...I'm still quiet confused."
"Why is that?"
"Because-"
*Creak*
Just then, Blossom and Nancy had returned, and Nancy immediately went to the kitchen to cook some food for the kids, and Blossom set down onto the last sixth chair with the children.
"Okay..can you kids please explain to us what had happened?"
"........."
No one knew what to say then, what to explain first, but they ended up deciding to tell exact truth that they knew.
Kyle began for first.
"First, I'm called Kyle the Human, and this is my sister, Emily, and these three are my friends, September, S.S. and Lisa. we....were captured and put to jail in Ventus CIty and then we escaped after...meeting that man."
"Who?"
"The man who you just put in a room for medication. Normi. he told us that you are his close friends."
"Huh...Normi....is that so..?" the man seemed to be in a thought for a moment.
"Well then, nice to meet you. I'm Blossom Gardener the Elf, and that was my partner, Nancy Theodora."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Gardener."
"And....Lisa, was it? you seems like an elf. didn't you come from Ventus City yourself?"
"Well...yes. all I know is that since our temporary leader, Mr. Solomon had left, his students had suddenly took entire control of the city and started to discriminate against humans and.....anyone with humans' bloods as well. and....I was arrested with them because some of they were humans and I had helped them."
".....I see."
"...Do you two know him? Normi..?"
"Well, it's just like he had said. we were old friends. but from the story you had told...are those 'students' of your leader....called Stripes siblings?"
"Ur...yes."
"Are you sure it's them who put out such rules? who planned everything...."
"Well, I couldn't believe it either, but....it was them."
"...I see."
With that, the elf man named Blossom kept quiet for a moment.
Then Nancy returned from the kitchen, and Blossom immediately turned to her.
"Ah, Nancy! did you happened to check on him? was he on any sort of magics?"
She shook her head.
"Nope. it was definitely him. and speaking of him, good news. his magics are half sucked out, and his conditions are terrible."
"I see....thank you, sweetie. while I go check on him, will you please check on the kids, and....if possible, feed them? that would be really great."
"Sure. now you kids all wait while I cook some local stuffs for you all."
Blossom said, looking both relieved and concerned.
With that, Nancy went back to the kitchen, and Blossom headed to the kitchen where there was a medication room located in.
So while Nancy cooked, each five kids considered those couple's conversation in their heads.
When Nancy came back with the roasted meat with salad covering it, each kids helped themselves, and while eating, Kyle made an excuse to ask a question to Nancy.
"Um....excuse me, Miss. would you mind to tell us what had just happened..? about, Normi and the things you were talking about Mr.Gardener."
Nancy seemed to be in a thought, then she smiled tenderly and said,
"First, call me Nancy. and, him? Blossom. none of us are used to be called fancy, after all."
"Oh! ...right. then. Nancy?"
"Well. it's hard to tell. since me and Blossom's family both were staying as hermits out of the city since we were 12."
"Stay......Hermits? but...why?" queried Lisa.
"Eh, let me explain that a lot later." she replied.
"Anyways, it seems those people ruling over your city right now-are fake."
"Wha....what?? fake? what do you mean by that?!" exclaimed Lisa.
"Now, now. calm down a bit, girl." said Nancy, patting Lisa's shoulder.
"First, that man you brought with you? he ain't no Normi. it's such a foolish fake name!"
"Normi....? his name's a....fake?"
"Yeah! listen up, you kids, his real name is, 'Norman Stripes'! you all hear me! Norman Stripes!"
"........?!"
"....What..?! but..but how..."
"What's wrong?"
"You idiot! don't you get it?! if Normi who's with us is one of that Stripes guy...."
"....Then who's that ruling over the city right now?" S.S. muttered.