The Search for a Better Place
 

"What do you mean the elders have decided I have to go with him to find a bigger place for our village?!," Suri yelled out at the red haired fae in front of her. "It is what they have decided and you know you must go at once," Celeste said.
Suri felt her cheeks burn as she glared at the woman. "Fine if I must."

She stalked out of the pavilion after grabbing her bag beside the opening. She rummaged in it making sure she had everything she needed, including her bow. They had to eat somehow. Pulling herself together and taking on a mask of indifference she made her way to the front of the village where the forest started and waited for her companion, fuming.

Jake was getting ready at his hut as he had been told he needed to go on a journy in search of a bigger village "this hopefuly should be fun" he said not know who he was traveling with "better not keep them waiting" he said as he put his sack on his shoulder and made his way to the front of the village in a hurry, he saw the woman who he was going with and his smiled faded, his happiness turn to fear, he approced slowly "h...hello"

Her back was to him as she heard the hesitant hello. Turning, she looked him over. Just slightly shorter than she was, she looked down at him as she looked over his clothes. "Well, if I must be stuck with you let me make one thing perfectly clear." Her grey green eyes flashed dangerously and she thrust her blue black hair out of her eyes. "I will not wait on you so you better keep up and I don't need you getting in my way. Come on, lets get this over with." She gave him a fierce glare and started walking towards the woods ahead of them.

Jake saw her and he imediatly became scared of her, if her looks wernt scary he was now petrified of her, he decided it best to stay behind her and for him to not make a sound, not even his footsteps could be heard. Jake was not going to like this journy, he had been stuck with someone who by the way she acted, hated him and he didn't like it one bit

As she stalked into the woods she became slightly regretful. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so harsh with him. After all I don't know him personally, just the stories I've heard. Not hearing anything behind her she glanced back and was surprised to see him right behind her. She had thought he hadn't followed her, he was so quiet. Well maybe he will be able to keep up

After traveling for most of the morning in silence, she decided she couldn't take it anymore. She sighed in frustration and came to a stop and faced him. "We should probably stop to eat before we lose our strength to go the rest of the day."

Jake had been thinking about all the happy times which cheered him up a little, he didn't know wether he would be useful for the jorny or not, after all his power was to just inflate, what use would he be again a monster. When she stopped so did he, he listened to what she said shaking a little and he nodded

She sat down at a nearby tree and pulled her bag around to the front of her lap. She started pulling out a few sandwiches and began to eat. Ignoring him, she pulled out a waterskin and took a pull from it.

Jake walked over to a near by pond and saw a frog "hello there little frog" he said as he smiled, the frog hopped away and he growled a bit "everyone and everything ignores me or runs away" he growled as he sat down in a huff "stupid power of mine wont save us on this journy" he mumbled to himself

One eyebrow rose as she heard him mumbling to himself. "Boy, what are you mumbling about over there? Aren't you going to eat?" She thought about it for a moment. She couldn't just call him boy, that would get old after awhile. Sighing to herself, she got up and went over to him. "Here now I can't just call you boy, whats you name?" She looked down at him, her eyes wary.

Jake glared up at her "its Jake... i dont need to know yours because you will just leave or ignore me like everyone else does" he grumbled as he stood up "i don't want to eat, mabey then i can't be called fatty" he growled as he sat near a tree

Taken aback she simply stared at him. True she hadn't been very nice but at least she was trying in her own way. She felt herself growing angry. "You know what? That's fine. Forget I even said anything. I'm going on. Stay or go I don't care." She turned angrily and snatched up her bag, slinging her bow over her shoulder.

Jake growled as he watched her walk off, he waited until she was far enough away then he just sighed "as always, another person is driven off by me" he said as he heard a growled from behind "thats funny... i never growled that time" when he turned around saw a bear and yelled "AHHHHH!!!" he moved back a bit as his body trembled with fear and his body lost control and began to inflate "not now you stupid power" he said as he continued to go backwards and continued to grow "im doomed" he said with fear to himself

She hadn't gotten very far when she heard the scream. "What has that stupid boy gotten himself into now?" Sighing to herself once again she turned around and went back towards where she had left him. She came upon the pond and saw the reason for the scream. A huge brown bear was lumbering towards....what in the hell? Jake was twice his size and growing. Shaking off her amazement she hurriedly fumbled an arrow out and nocked it in her bow. Taking aim she let the arrow fly.

It flew straight at the bear, but instead of hitting it it struck the tree with a loud band as it exploded. The bear, startled, panicked and ran back towards where it had come from. Catching her breath she looked over at jake who was still expanded. "Are you ok?" she panted.

Jake stopped growing when the bear ran off, he sighed with releife but then he looked at her "this is not good" he thought to himself, he was three times his normal soze and he sighed "i geuse i no longer can hide it" he said as he shook his head "this is why im known as fat, this is why im ignored... this is why im no good for anything" he sniffled a bit "im going to end up getting us both killed

Her eyes softened with pity as she saw how upset he was. Going against her traitorous thoughts of sneering at him, she said, "I'm sure that's not true. You are...unusual but I'm not sure if that would qualify you as being fat." She looked at him curiously. "Of all the stories I've heard this was not one of them. I had heard that you were a monster who went into a rage and couldn't be stopped among other things. If this is all it is then surly it is not so bad. How long does it take you to shrink back down?" She spoke with compassion as she slowly moved towards him.

This was new to her, she had always thought of him a a bother but now that she saw what his affliction was, she just couldn't find it in herself to be cruel.

Jake sniffled a bit "i heard about them too, and thats only what a joker said about me, then everyone thought it was true" he said sadly "as for the time... about 10 minutes or more, deepending on the scare i get" he said as he looked at the floor "you might as well go on with out me, i will only start to get in the way and slow you down" he said as he poked himself "this is not funny but still people laugh at me"

She grew close to him as she spoke. "I'm not laughing and I'm not going anywhere without you. I-i was...wrong to leave you before." She stopped just a few inches from him and looked down at the ground ashamed at her earlier behavior. This was not what she had been taught which was to have compassion with everything and not to judge people by appearances. She couldn't meet his eyes as she stood there.

Jake looked down at her and smiled a bit "its not your fault... i shouldn't have got angry at you, its mostly my fault" he said as he chuckled a bit "i want to hug you but i have to wait about 10 minutes" he chuckled as he looked around "we should set off now, we should try and get as far as he can" he said and smiled a bit

He had a beautiful smile and she was floored by it. When he smiled, he became beautiful. She smiled back at him and teased, "Sure you can walk with me and not get scared?"

Jake chuckled and then he shook his head "im sure i wont be scared for a bit" he said as he started to walk with her "i probably look stupid don't i?" he asked as he looked at himself "people said that i walk funny when like this" he said and sighed "but then again i probably do" he said chuckling a bit

She looked over at him. He wobbled just a bit but it wasn't very much. "I think you walk just fine." She grabbed up her bag she had dropped as they continued on down the path. After walking for a bit she looked over to see he had shrunk a bit. "Were...you born like that? Or did something happen?"

Jake started to shrik and he sighed "i was born like this, our kind is rare nower day... people seem to like to bully us to death" he looked at her "my mum and dad have died, they died when i was about 6, thats why i can't control my power when im scared or frightened" he said as he looked at his body which was back to normal "i really did think that bear was going to mince me up"

When she looked back at him as he started to talk she saw he was back to his normal size. "Oh, that makes sense. With no one to teach you, how could you learn?" When she smiled at him it was full of light. "I wouldn't have let that happen." She playfully pushed his shoulder.

Jake chuckled as he smiled back "sometime inflating is fun, but other times it can be a right pain in the bum" he said as he chuckled a bit, when she playfully pushed he chuckled a bit more "i thought this trip was going to be boring, but now we have gotten to know each other it should be fun... but i still can't beleive you found out what my power was, i was hoping to keep it a seceret"

"Oh I'm sure I would have found out one way or another." She grinned at him. "Do you still not wish to know my name?"