Jungle Witch

Over Jay’s objections, Ebony walked through the gates of the Mista manor. Well, it was closer to a limp, than a walk. Her muscles still weren’t happy with her and even her bones ached. Despite all that, she absolutely refused to stay in this city one more day.

She turned to make her way towards the Northwest Gate, ignoring Jay’s glares behind her. He was not happy with her either. Since he obviously couldn’t convince her to keep resting, Jay was right behind her, ready to catch her if she fell. When she made a wrong turn, he simply took her hand and pulled her in the right direction. The sooner her got her to the jungle again, the sooner she’d rest.

A man caught sight of her and complained, “Why are you still here?”

Ebony merely shot him a very nasty glare and shouted, “I’m leaving already, so leave me alone.”

This, of course, sent him running. For once, that reaction didn’t annoy her. To say she was a little grumpy would be an understatement.

She smelled something burning and heard shouting. Smoke was rising into the air from an alleyway somewhere to her left. “Jay, is that fire supposed to be there?”

He shook his head. “No.”

Someone ran by with a bucket of water. She didn’t even think as she walked, only because she couldn’t run, towards the commotion. Several houses had caught on fire though no one was clear on how. There were lines of people hauling buckets of water around to dump on the houses.

Jay hurried up to a man that had taken charge of one of the bucket lines. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah. As far as I know.”

“Do you need help?”

“All we can get. Here, this line could use another person.” The man led Jay away, leaving Ebony behind.

Ebony tried to follow Jay, but couldn’t keep up with the pace. She felt something furry brush her leg and looked down. A little white dog was next to her looking hopeful. She crouched to show he had her attention.

“I’m called Cloud. My human is in there,” the dog told her, indicating the burning houses with his nose. “She’s trapped. Please, you have to help.”

“Which building?”

The dog pointed towards the last house currently on fire as he said, “She’s on the first floor in the master’s room. Please help her. I can hear her crying.”

“What’s her name?”

“Mala.”

Nodding, Ebony stood and looked at the fire again. The house the dog indicated wasn’t in too bad of shape yet, but she was in no condition to run in there. Jay had gone to help throw water on the fire so she couldn’t talk to him. With that option gone, she simply picked the first human she saw.

“There is someone in there,” she told them, pointing at the house.

“There can’t be. We evacuated all the houses,” the human snapped back. Apparently her obvious exhaustion made the human feel very brave because he added, “Just stay out of this Jungle Witch.”

She nearly growled, but instead decided she was wasting her time trying to tell the humans. There was only one choice. She ran into the house despite the protest of her aching body. The smoke did nothing to help her lungs either. She was coughing as soon as she stepped inside.

“Hello? Mala?” she called out, then coughed. Ducking down so that she was crawling, she continued to call out. “Mala? Where are you?”

“Help. Please someone,” she heard a weak voice that had to belong to a child.

“Keep talking to me, Mala,” Ebony ordered around a cough. Her body was coated in sweat now from the heat of the fire. She couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her because of the smoke. If that girl didn’t talk, she’d never find her. “That way I can find you.”

There was coughing then, “I’m in Mamma’s room.”

Ebony crawled towards the back of the house following the girl’s voice. She came to a door that just wouldn’t budge. Standing she put all her weight behind one big shove. The door fell open.

She stumbled into the room. The smoke was lighter in here so she could see a little better. “Mala?”

A little girl was cowering in a corner of the room, coughing. Her big brown eyes were wide with fear and tears streamed down her face. Ash covered her from head to toe. She was cradling her arm and whimpering.

Ebony crawled over carefully, so she wouldn’t startle the girl. “Hello, Mala.” She did her best to keep her tone soothing despite the smoke. “Cloud sent me.”

“Cloud? My puppy.”

She nodded. “Yes, your puppy. He’s very worried.” Ebony held out her hand. “Let’s go find him.”

“But it’s hot out there, and smokey,” Mala objected.

“And it will be in here soon too,” Ebony countered as she scooped the kid up.

Ebony hid her wince as her muscles screamed in agony. Ignoring that, she lifted the girl up and wrapped her in a blanket from the bed. The smoke began to clear only to have flames replace it. The house was even hotter than it had been if at all possible. The little girl sniffled in her ear.

“It’s okay, Mala,” Ebony said. It was getting very hard to talk now. “Be out soon.”

‘If we ever find the door,’ Ebony added mentally as she searched for the front door. It was hard to see clearly.

“Ebony?”

She could have cried with relief. “Jay?”

“Get out of there,” he snapped out, obviously angry with her.

Right now, she didn’t care. She’d never been happier to hear his voice. Turning towards his voice, she moved as fast as she could. Then she saw the sunlight and nearly laughed with relief.

“Almost there, Mala,” she told the little girl as Jay came into view.

Taking the girl from her, he grabbed her hand and practically yanked her out of the house. His muscles were shaking violently, which told her he’d been worried. The moment they were safely away from the burning house, he rounded on her.

“What were you thinking? Why didn’t you just use magic? You know you shouldn’t be doing anything strenuous yet.”

It was the first time she’d ever heard him raise his voice. “Sorry.” She suddenly felt very tired, so she sat right there on the ground. “Sorry.”

He sighed and sat with the girl still in his arms. Mala was crying again. Probably from relief. The little dog came running up barking his joy. The girl cried out and scrambled away from Jay just so she could hug her dog tightly.

A woman came running up crying. “Mala, you’re okay.”

“Momma.” Still carrying her dog, Mala rushed over to the woman. “I was so scared, Momma.”

The woman scooped the girl up with the dog and just held on tightly. She set the girl down after a second to examine the girl for any injuries. She gasped. “You’re arm.”

“I hurt it on the door,” Mala informed her with a sniffle.

“We’ll get it taken care of as soon as we can,” the mother promised as she looked over to Jay, who was still crouched in front of Ebony. “Thank you so much.”

“I didn’t do it,” Jay argued as he gestured towards Ebony. “She did.”

The woman turned, prepared to be grateful until she saw Ebony’s blond hair and black eyes. “The Jungle Witch.”

“I have a name you know,” Ebony complained a little as she shifted a little. A cough escaped her. She was so tired now. “It’s Ebony.”

“The lady saved me, Momma,” Mala confirmed, smiling around her tears. The little girl looked confused for a moment. “She can’t be the Jungle Witch, Momma. The witch eats children, not save them.”

Ebony groaned. “Why would someone think I eat children?”

“But she only eats naughty children,” the little girl informed her then coughed. “I’ve been very good.”

Ebony could decide if she wanted to groan again or laugh. She ended up coughing.

The mother looked between them as if just realizing that Ebony wasn’t feeling well. She gripped her daughter tighter. “Lady Ebony.”

“I’m not...” Ebony sighed and gave up. “Never mind. What is it?”

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome,” Ebony replied. Looking over at Jay she begged, “Can we go now?”

“Not yet,” Jay replied, still glaring at her. “We should at least help them get medical attention for the girl. And, you’re not leaving my sight this time. I don’t want you disappearing to do something stupid again.”

“I saved that girl so I wouldn’t call it stupid,” she objected with insult.

“How is running into a fire not stupid for someone in your condition?” He took her face in his hands. “Ebony?”

“What?” she growled, annoyed now.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

She met his eyes with some surprise. “I scared you.”

He looked up at the sky as if praying for patience. “Ebony, I care about you. What more do I have to do for you to believe that?”

She remembered the kiss he’d given her when she woke up two days ago and how he’d been shaking when he pulled her out of the fire. “I might actually believe you now.”

They walked out of the city gates and all Ebony could think was, ‘Thank the gods.’

She was finally free of that city. Now the only time she’d have to go back was to de-magic the Southern Manor.

Jay was being very quiet. She assumed it was because he was still angry with her. He wasn’t even looking at her. It was rather upsetting now that she thought about it.

“Jay...”

Before she could speak, her eyes landed on the house right between the jungle and swamp roads. She blinked, but it was still there. It was a large one floor house. The oddest part was that it looked like petrified wood, which told her Sith had somehow been involved.

“When did that get there?” she wondered.

“Abhay told me they finished it yesterday,” Jay answered her. He fidgeted a little. “It’s the surprise I told you about, the morning before you tried to brake the curse. I’ve been working on it for about eight days now.”

She looked at him, then back at the house. “Why?”

“Because you said you didn’t want to isolate yourself anymore, but you weren’t going to live in the city, so...” He gestured towards the house a little helplessly. “A compromise.”

“Jay...” She stood there staring at the house completely flabbergasted. “I...Well...”

He fidgeted again. “Was it a good idea or not?”

Ebony looked up at him. “I really don’t understand you. Why would you do this for me?”

He sighed, because he was too honest not to tell her the truth. “Because I love you.”

He said it so simply that she wasn’t sure she understood at first. Wasn’t that supposed to be a big deal or something? Love was one of those things one wasn’t supposed to say unless one meant it. Wasn’t it? She was really beginning to wish she knew more about humans now.

“Jay...”

“Ebony,” he interrupted with a shake of his head. “Don’t worry about it, alright? It’s not something to stress about. Just come look at the house.”

Because she didn’t know what to say to him, she nodded. He led her inside and showed her around. The library was easily the biggest room. He hadn’t bothered with a dinning room, and instead just built a very large kitchen. Other than that, there were only three bedrooms, a bathing room, and a parlor.

“Why three bedrooms?” she asked curiously.

“In case you decide to have guests overnight,” he answered in a tone that told her he didn’t believe it would happen any time soon. “Or you could use them for something else entirely.”

She looked up at him. He seemed sad to her. Was it because she hadn’t said anything when he’d told her how he felt?

“Jay, I don’t understand human things.”

“Like houses?”

“No, not like houses,” she grumbled, wishing this was easier. “Like...love.”

Even just saying the word made her feel embarrassed. Why was that?

“I told you not to worry about that.”

“And I’m ignoring you,” she snapped out, covering her embarrassment with anger. Otherwise she would never get through this conversation without turning into a tomato. “I don’t understand how humans see that sort of thing. Not really. I know my father loved my mother and me. That’s it. I was five when my mother fell ill, and nine when my dad died. They were the only contact I really had with others, and let’s just say Bura didn’t see things in the normal way.”

She paused to gather her thoughts. Please, she ordered herself silently. Please don’t mess this up.

“I don’t really understand what ‘love’ means to a human. It’s even different among the animals. Wolves see it as permanent. One mate for life. Others, like Raj, sees it as temporary. Just a fleeting moment.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “I just...I don’t know what to expect from you.”

“What do you want?” he asked her.

“I want...you to stay,” she managed. She had to be blushing but couldn’t think of a way to avoid it without just dropping the conversation. “I want what my father had with my mother, only with you. And without the sadistic monster part.”

She risked looking up at him to find that he was grinning at her again.

“I think,” he told her, “that we can arrange that.”