Weary, Elsie, and The Seventh
Inside Weary’s Mind:
Floating gently down the river of its home, Weary gazed up at the sky while their mind went to places far away from where they were. The thoughts of the tired esk went back to some of the journeys they made, which then made them think of Elsie. Speaking of her, she suddenly appeared in its vision and the deep thoughts they were immersed in drifted away. The larger asked her what she was doing, to which she simply shrugged. It seemed she was feeling just a touch insecure about her role in their shared boundary. Before their conversation could go any farther, Weary’s head began to ring loudly, getting closer and closer to being more like a shrieking sound. While the loud noises filled most of its thoughts, they knew that The Seventh was somewhere nearby. While many esk are terrified of Seventh, Weary was intrigued by their presence. Elsie seemed absolutely terrified and frozen to where she stood. Her eyes stared straight ahead where Seventh was just standing and staring at the pair. The noise they were emitting was now just shrieking. Weary took a few steps toward the odd Wanderer, but they stayed the same size as if Weary hadn’t moved at all. Weary continued to slowly take steps toward it, and although they seemed to be getting closer, it was obvious The Seventh was moving away but at a slower pace. As Weary got closer, they noticed how tall Seventh really was. They could the Wanderer was trying to scare them away as the screeching continued to get louder the closer he got. Weary noticed now that ice was colder and frozen where Seventh had stepped. This was closest Weary had ever gotten to it, and as they were about to look up to see how tall they really were, The Seventh simply vanished into thin air. The coldness that surrounded the area around Weary began to slowly go back to normal. Splashing behind them made their head turn; in its sight was Elsie running through the water towards them.
“What was that?” she asked telepathically.
“The Seventh,” Weary replied. “They’re one of the Wanderers, who actually transformed me.” The pair stared at where the ice was quickly melting from Seventh’s ice elemental. Elsie still seemed a little shaken but Weary just lifted his legs and allowed their body to be carried away by the weak current. Elsie watched them for a moment before hopping onto their back for a ride on the river.
Inside Elsie’s Mind:
A dark blue figure was weaving its way through the forest with a long tail streaming behind them. They stopped for a moment by the edge of the water, hoping to find the friend who transformed her; she hadn’t seen them in a while. As the esk waited, her target slowly but surely was floating down the river. She made her way into the water ahead of them; it took a while for the other, Weary, to realize she was there. They always seemed to just get lost in their thoughts. When they asked what she was doing, Elsie simply just shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing herself. She knew she wanted something but didn’t know what, and she hoped maybe connecting with a friend would help. Right as she was about to ask them a question, a loud ringing ran through her head and completely disrupted her thoughts. The noise only seemed to be getting louder, causing her to tightly close her eyes as if it would help. When she glanced at Weary, they seemed calm but were staring straight ahead at something. When she looked, she noticed a tall, thin-legged creature who she could tell was causing her head to be filled with terrible screeching. It stared directly at the pair and Elsie completely froze. She felt as if she couldn’t move and could only stare at this strange esk. She barely noticed her comrade had taken steps forward towards the creature. The poor esk’s mind was filled with the terrible screeching, reminding her a little bit about the life she had run away from when she was a human. Suddenly, her head quieted, and she came back to her senses. She noticed how far Weary had gotten away from her and she ran through the water towards him in hopes of finding some comfort.
When she reached the tired esk, she asked, “What was that?” She was still a little shaken up by the experience and thought it odd that the water had a slight chill to it.
“The Seventh,” Weary replied. They explained it was one of the Wanderers, and when they revealed that was what transformed them, a small chill when down Elsie’s back. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to be transformed by such a loud and odd looking esk. The ice from Seventh was still melting away, which the smaller esk didn’t realize until just now. As Weary lowered a little into the water and lifted his legs, Elsie jumped up onto his back to take a little ride down the river.