Ironically, as Himora entered the village, one of the first things he happened to see was a sundial. Its long, sharp silhouette informed him that just about an hour had passed.
"Man, that took longer than I wanted it to."
He said to himself as he smoothed out his robes and made his way into the busy village. Men and women of all ages, shapes, and sizes swarmed about, going on as if nothing was even close to wrong as the giant plate of ice slipped past above their heads.
"Good, he hasn't gone too far."
Himora commented to himself as he strode along.
"He must be getting tired. Let's hope that thing stops soon."
The plate didn't seem to be losing or gaining speed or height, and as Himora looked on down the road that divided one side of the village from the other, he realized that there were thousands of places it could possibly land.
"I'd better keep an eye on that thing. If I lose it here, I'll be searching for days."
Himora continued to traverse the village, keeping an eye to the sky as he went along. There were countless times when he'd bump into someone or something, and more than once, he had received a rude response.
At one time, a tall woman with peculiar silver hair had slammed into him particularly hard, sending both him and herself to the ground. The woman appeared to be no more than 25, and in her youthful maturity, she was stunningly beautiful.
"Oh, bothah!"
She said as she began to wipe away the dirt that had situated on her fallen books.
"Quite the day for me to purchase a variety of new novels, only for a child to tarnish their value in little to no time! Why do I bothah at time!?"
Himora said nothing.
At that moment, he was worried about far more than just the woman and her books. His best friend was dangling helplessly from a chunk of floating ice, and if he didn't keep up, he would risk losing him. For the moment, or for eternity.
He quickly got to his feet, bending to assist in the recuperation of the fallen merchandise.
"Sorry about that, Ms. I was...am just in a hurry right now. Here you go. If you'll excuse me, I have to be off."
The woman thankfully took her belongings and gave Himora a deep, fascinated smile.
"Such manners in a young man... they're really hard to find now-eh-days...go head now, off with you."
With a laugh and a wink, the woman was gone.
In her spot was nothing more than a slip of paper that the wind threatened to blow away. Glancing up at the ice plate, Himora quickly grabbed the paper and made his way in the direction in which it traveled. For the moment, he just put the paper in his pocket, not caring to let the ice slip out of his sight.
Then suddenly, as he took a closer look at the bottom, he realized that I was making a move.
"Ah, crap. Something must be wrong...I know he wouldn't blow his own cover like this for no reason."
As he watched on from the ground, he realized that I was climbing atop of the plate.
"Maybe he's just checking on Smith."
Himora thought to himself.
"He's too smart to mess up a good plan for nothing."
But to Himora's discomfort, the more he thought about it, the less of a plan we had. He just wanted to follow me until I touched down, but suddenly "the plan" was thrown out the window. Upon glancing down briefly to catch his balance and dodge around a tiny child that he had bumped into, Himora heard a scream coming from the crowd in front of him.
"What the hellz?"
He said as he raced forward.
A young girl approached him and pointed upward.
"There's a boy fallin' from the sky!"
She shouted to no one in particular.
"Wha?...Oh, crap!"
Himora was off at full speed, running toward the spot of which he had calculated I would land. His depth perception was almost unmatched in his village. It was rumored that by the age of five, he could be seen standing in the rain, manipulating the individual drops. His targets were always the tiny water wasps that gathered over ponds during the downpours. He never missed, even from 10 yards away.
"What the hell happened!?"
He thought to himself.
"I just looked down for a moment, and now this! C'MON BASTION!"
I was falling fast, and there was nothing I could do to stop myself before the earth beneath me could do the job. I couldn't raise a pillar of stone to catch me; it would only bring a solid object racing toward me, which, might I add, wouldn't help. There were also no trees around to manipulate, and in truth, I don't think I could have at that time. My elemental affinity wasn't mature enough.
"Well, here it is...I'm about to die."
At that point, I had given up all hope.
Himora raced along the narrow huts and between them in a desperate attempt to catch up to me before I hit the ground, ultimately ending our journey.
"I have to catch him!... There's no other way!"
As I grew closer to the ground, my mind began to wander.
My life seemed to stream into my head like an old stage play.
My dad dancing in the grass with his glinting crystal spear.
My mom cooking in our hut, preparing the traditional evening meal.
My friends sparing in the fields and forest, perfecting their deadly spear arts.
It all flashed in and out so fast that for an instant, I felt that this all had happened just moments before.
"Father...Mother...Himora. I've failed you. I'm sorry."
After those words left my mouth, I blacked out.
The free fall and constant increase in gravity must have shortened my breath and quickly forced me into an unconscious state.
Himora was now within yards of the "impact zone". Once in it, he realized that he would have only seconds to do what had to be done.
I continued to fall, spiraling toward the trodden path, gaining speed as the ground grew closer and closer, yet still, I was impervious to the danger due to my forced sleep.
In Himora's eyes, everything seemed to move in slow motion as he grew closer to his falling comrade. With only a second left before impact, Himora leaped high into the air and half collided/ half caught me.
"This is gonna hurt!"
He thought as he tumbled toward the ground with me in his highly burdened arms. With a loud crash, we slammed into and through a hut, and luckily landed on a cotton-padded bed. The impact caused us both to bounce and fly off it, slamming into he ground.
I began to come around shortly after we hit the ground, the pain shot through me with a sudden flash that for a moment took my breath away.
To my left lay Himora, looking rather tired and broken, but being who he was, he quickly climbed to his feet and rushed over to me. The fact that he could easily heal himself contributed to his ability to shake off pain so easily.
"Bastion!...Bastion, are you alright!?"
I couldn't speak at first. It wasn't that the pain was too much, or that I was immobilized, but that for some reason I felt cold, and my mind seemed to be moving a lot slower than usual.
Images of the girl's face flew through my head, causing me to forget the migraine that had set in.
She was astounding.
The moment I had looked into her eyes, my heart seemed to shudder and stop for a moment, then kick back to life, sending me tumbling to the ground.
Her eyes seemed to be saying:
"Come on...you're better than that."
Himora restated his question, and this time he shook my shoulders in the process, a hint of worry alive in his voice.
"I'm...I'm fine...just a little battered, that's all."
In a matter of seconds, Himora's eyes went from deeply concerned to really pissed off.
"What in the hellz were you thinking up there!? You could've gotten killed, man!"
I did feel kind of stupid, but I felt that my actions were justified given the situation. but I know Himora didn't see it from my point of view, so I just let it go.
I went on.
"Hey, I had to do something. There was a girl there with Smith, taking him somewhere. She said something about medications."
Himora's anger quickly subsided, and his face took on a more thoughtful expression.
"Medications?...Hmmm."
Before I could say any more, Himora pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and climbed to his feet.
"I ran into an Herbalist on my way into the village...she gave me this."
On a folded piece of paper was a stamp and a long sign that neither I nor Himora could read, but fortunately, below it was a sentence in common tongue that read:
"Ivy's Herbal and Medical Hut of Life and Rejuvenation."
He tucked the paper back into his pocket.
"I think I know where that chick was taking Smith."