Minerva stuff revamped

“MINERVAAA! HOW’S IT GOING DOWN THERE?!”

I’m not really sure if my voice can reach her all the way down the mine, but shortly afterwards I can hear her response echoing back up the shaft, “I’M FINE! I THINK I’M ALMOST THERE!”

It’s a relief and a considerable weight is lifted off my shoulders. However the howling of the storm brewing outside the mouth of the cave is… foreboding, and- perhaps against my better judgement- I decide to run down after her. I can tell myself I wasn’t afraid of the thunder later, after I find my friend.

The tunnel gets narrower and narrower before a steep drop, the only warning of the abyss being a worn-out wooden sign that was barely visible in the darkness. Thankfully, my lantern was still burning brightly enough to catch sight of it before I plummeted into the pit on the single rope that worked as both the only way in and out.

I crash landed despite my reflexes, but a sore bottom wasn’t enough to deter me for long. Whistling, I lifted my light to get a bearing of my surroundings, before spotting Minerva digging through a particularly rich deposit of coal. She must’ve been so busy she didn’t hear me fall.

“Minerva!”

She turns, hair standing on end from surprise, but smiles after seeing me, “Hey! What are you doing down here? I thought you were waiting for me up at the entrance!“

I wasn’t ready to tell her that I was terrified of thunder and lightning, so instead I told a little white lie about someone asking for her.

“Aw, Kess, you know it’s pretty dangerous coming here alone, I’m sure they could’ve waited a bit. Who was it who asked?”

“Uhh…”

Crap.

“Well…. Erm… I dunno… but they said you should come back as soon as possible… uh yeah.”

What a convenient time for me to suddenly forget the names of the entire town.

“At your age I was telling better lies than that,” she chided, but I could tell by her tone that she was more amused than upset.

Scratching the back of my head I sighed, “Well the storm was getting kind of…”

“I see. Well, I’m almost done down here, just a few more bags left and we’ll be good to go. If you want, you can go sit over there while you wait.”

I resigned myself to a flat rock in the corner, a sigh escaping me as I plopped down. At least it was less windy down here, albeit cold and kind of damp. Minerva’s faint grunting and the click of her pickaxe were a soothing rhythm, and perhaps if I listened long enough I could even fall asleep.

As I closed my eyes, my thoughts drifted off to the girl in front of me. I always wondered why Minerva pushed herself so hard. Especially since she had asked me to come with her, and hadn’t given me a single thing to do. She was different than the rest of us, sure, stronger and faster, but she didn’t owe us anything and there was no need for her to help us out as much as she did. Even without being asked, she did the work of ten men by herself, hardly breaking a sweat along the way. It was… amazing. Perhaps her limit was a lot different than ours, being…what she is after all.

Despite everything there was no use denying she wasn't like the rest of us. People from outside had called her a monster- many dirty looks and proclamations of disgust about letting Minerva stay with us. For raising her like one of us. We had to chase some of them away, but word spread.  But they were ignorant. They didn’t know how she used her strength only to serve and protect us. Never had I seen her, even at her angriest, raise so much as a finger to anyone here. Even now, as she dug away at the face of rock, I could see the power behind her swings. There was a strength there that none of us could really comprehend, one that struck fear into the world outside. But to us she was a friend, a sister, and a guardian. They may have painted her as a snarling, wily beast, but the Minerva we all knew was brave, honest and compassionate. Her presence was a blessing to this town. I could only hope to follow in her footsteps some day…

Snapping me out of my thoughts, she turns to me heaving several bags of coal, her clothes covered in black powder.

“Alright let’s get out of here. Can you climb the rope by yourself? I’m going to need to make a few trips to get all these back up there.”

I nodded my head- I wasn’t a baby anymore despite my earlier… fears. She should know that, right?

“Alright, you go on ahead, it might take me a bit but I’ll catch up to you if you’re still waiting by the time I’m done.”

Climbing the rope was easy-everyone in Misty Gulch had done it at least once before- but Minerva made it look effortless, even as she carried up several bags of coal; one was even held between her teeth! I couldn’t help but watch as she lugged up what must’ve been 6 or 7 bags full of coal without visibly tiring. Finally, she hoisted herself out from the pit and gathered the sacks into her arms.

“Come on let’s go, you light the way.”

She was saying that more for me than her- her vision in the dark was apparently very clear by itself. I carefully made my way back through the cavern with her treading behind me, looking back every so often to make sure I didn’t lose her. As expected, she was handling this all really well, even encouraging me to hurry up a bit.

When we reached the entrance of the cave, the storm was clearing already. I sure hope she didn’t see the way my tail stiffened at the sound of the fading thunder. Minerva grunts, loading the coal onto our wagon, and I quickly scurry around to help push it up the hill.

It isn’t long before we get back to town thanks to her help, but I’m already way out of breath by the time I step foot on the familiar soil.

“There, there Kess. You did a great job, thanks for the help! Rest up if you want, I can take the from here,” she was breathing a little heavier as well, but she kept up her usual enthusiasm.

“Are you ok, Minerva?”

“Of course I am. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… I barely did anything. You did all the work today, but… you’re not tired at all…”

She laughed, “That’s not true, I could really go for a nap right now. Or some barbecue. Yeah… barbecue would be really, really splendid. Urgh, now I’m hungry ahaha! Buy y’know, dinner can wait, work always comes first. And hey, it wasn’t like you did nothing. You came with, I needed someone to keep watch for me while I was in there.”

I shifted my weight nervously, “I guess so… Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“How do you deal with… being… so different? Like… if people don’t understand you…?”

She was pauses for a long moment, and I quickly became afraid that I offended her with my question.

As I’m about to mutter an apology she takes a deep breath almost like she’s about to recite something she’s gone over many times before, “Well…I try not to think of myself as different from anyone else, even if those differences… can be pretty apparent at times. But I know everyone here has my back, we’re all here for each other after all.  I figure if I’m not going to fit in in some ways, it should be in ways that benefit y’all. It’s the least I can do for this town anyway, and I do really enjoy the exercise. My parents raised me the best they knew how, and I’ll be forever grateful they gave me a chance, especially after everything… But hey, where is this even coming from? Something else on your mind? You’re not usually the kind to bring stuff like that up.”

“No… I was just wondering that’s all,” I hope I wasn’t sweating.

She messes my hair, “Huh that so? Well anyway, unless you reallllly want to lug coal with me for some reason, I suggest you go catch that break. Go on now!”

I nod before I turn away from her, and I can feel her eyes on my back until I’m out of her sight. If it were anyone else, it would be strange, but because it’s her it’s reassuring- she takes it upon herself to make sure no one gets lost. I guess I speak for the whole town when I say I don’t know what we would do without her.

When I finally get home, I fire up my dad’s grill and take some leftover meat out of our freezer. I felt bad for asking that question, it made Minerva look… very tired. The least I could do was try to make it up to her.  If things don’t blow up like last time, Minerva will definitely be getting the barbecue she wanted.