Magic used to make themselves look elven, the clothes, the hat, the smile. Traveling alone, they used their magic to aid others to the best of their ability, sometimes to their own detriment. They claimed to be Wraithvine, though they were not. But their only desire was to save lives, bring smiles, and ensure the innocent were well cared for. Then... they met the real Wraithvine themselves... -- Anon Guest
Another town. Another cluster of needs. Another group of excited children who'd grown up on Wraithvine stories. Another set of problems that needed a wandering mage to solve. Maybe magic and a series of creative solutions to unusual problems.
A little invention could cover the gaps between herself and what the real Wraithvine was capable of.
The patchwork hat helped her out a great deal. It had a magic within to disguise the wearer to look however they wanted. And she... always chose to look like Wraithvine. Hair short so that nobody could ask for charms. Her hair was certainly not Elven hair. Not even close. Almost the opposite, actually.
She smiled for the people she saw, ignoring their boggling at her presence. It wasn't every day that Wraithvine the Eternal wandered into their town, after all.
At the inn, she learned that it was a rarer occasion than even that.
It was not every day that a second Wraithvine wandered into their town.
There was a moment of terrified silence as she stared at hir. Her with a sack of root vegetables that a carter wanted help with. Hir with a bowl full of batter in progress and flour on hir nose.
Kindness put the sack where it should go, and then assumed the position that all of her kind were too familiar with. Kneeling on the ground, ankles crossed, and hands on her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I never meant to cause any harm. Only to help."
"This is... unusual in a pretender," allowed Wraithvine, handing the batter off to someone who had the time to spare. Ze crouched by Kindness as she shuffled to a corner less travelled. "Most do it for the vainglory, and help as little as possible. You... you were helping without being asked. Why?"
"People like these people... don't accept help from people like me." Kindness took the risk, and removed the hat. No longer appearing like an Elf, and revealing herself as a young Hellkin in hues of orange and tan. She cringed as a nearby made shrieked, and focussed on her breathing so her emotions wouldn't leak magic in alarming ways.
"Let's take this outside," said Wraithvine. "Somewhere out of the way."
Kindness had heard stories about hir since she was very small, and very lucky. Lucky enough to have a home and people who cared about her welfare. She knew exactly what happened to people who pretended to be hir.
And because she was a Hellkin, that punishment would be so much worse.
Wraithvine never just killed anyone. Ze made them pay for their sins.
Kindness' punishment was sure and certain to be a fate worse than death. Nevertheless, she followed Wraithvine's boots all the way to a little clearing not very far from the inn she'd tried to help.
She was eighteen, and likely not to get any older.
When Wraithvine stopped, she dropped. Back into the position. Magic hat at Wraithvine's feet. Would it be a geas? A curse? The kind of blessing that was going to turn sour and make her wish she'd been cursed? The rest of her existence was in Wraithvine's hands.
Whatever happened next... she wouldn't fight.
Wraithvine sat on a tuffet nearby. Let the silence flow. Allowed Kindness to accept that nothing was going to happen.
Yet.
"I would know the truth before I judge," said Wraithvine. "Let's start with your name."
"I call myself Kindness," said Kindness. "I grew up listening to stories about you and... I wanted to be just like you."
"I would argue that you're not yet grown," said Wraithvine. "It's a crime to harm a child of any peoples. Even Unwelcome ones."
"A child," Kindness couldn't help a barrage of nervous laughter. "So many of my kind don't even get to be adults. I'm lucky to be alive today, and I never expected to be alive for any longer than 'today'. I know I'm never going to be an adult. In all my time alive, I've never seen a grown-up Hellkin. We die young. It's what we do." She wasn't afraid of death, she'd been afraid of how much it would hurt on the way to the ever-after. Now? It seemed ridiculous to be afraid.
There was nothing she could do about it anyway.
"Not you. Not today," said Wraithvine. Ze offered hir hand. "You can travel with me and show people... your kind do not deserve to die."
"With a chain attached to my neck?" challenged Kindness. "That's how Elves usually keep Hellkin."
"Absolutely not. I've never approved of keeping intelligent being in chains, nor cages. If you are going to walk with me, you will do so of your own free will... and by my side as an equal."
Kindness knew that Wraithvine was no ordinary Elf... but she had also learned a healthy distrust of Elven kind. They held themselves as lords above every other middling-sized intelligent creature in all the world. They sneered down their beautiful noses at everyone who was not an Elf.
Besides... this might also be another mummer playing at being the immortal Wizard.
Ze had not immediately punished Kindness, but that was with an audience. Here, alone, ze had certainly acted like Wraithvine. Yet... Ze had not touched her. At all.
"Swear it on my left horn," she challenged.
There was no hesitation. Wraithvine's touch was gentle, yet firm as ze wrapped hir fingers around Kindness' horn. "I swear to you, should you choose walk with me, I shall treat you as my equal. We shall work together as a team, and I shall protect you from the wrath of any who object to your nature."
"And you will protect and shelter any Hellkin we happen to meet," added Kindness.
"I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't," said Wraithvine. "Codicil accepted. I will protect and shelter any Hellkin we happen to meet."
Kindness accepted this. Ze was Wraithvine in truth. "Then I will walk with you until I no longer can."
Wraithvine helped her up, and gave her the hat. "Then let us return and begin the better work." Ze paused. "I was making apple pancakes."
[Photo by Zahra Tavakoli fard on Unsplash]
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