User blog:Redknight910/WWYD Elf JOVA82

Prompt:Collapsed Mine

Well, elves are pretty harmless so long as you don't try to start a fight, and very unlikely to be able to dig themselves out. I grab some of my tools and manage to open the crack enough to squeeze through. Bringing my lantern through with me, I spot the poor elf, rocks covering half her body.

"Please, help me!" She's struggling, trying to wriggle free. I get a hook and some rope and use it to lift the largest rock off of her. She quickly manages to slip out from underneath it, pulling herself far enough away so I can lower the boulder again. Looking at her she seems pretty beaten up, but also seems to mostly be okay. The only exception is her leg, which is twisted at a very wrong angle. I quickly make my way over to her, asking her if she's okay.

She gives me a dark glare. "Look at my leg!" She shouts, her voice echoeing down the new cavern. "Do I look okay?!" Her clothes are also incredibly torn, her shirt only a few threads short of coming off on her right side.

"Here, I have some splints and bandages, I'll get you patched up." She turns away, grumbling.

"Fine, I suppose it's better than nothing." I know elves are a haughty bunch, but still, would it kill her to be a bit more grateful.

I collect some of my first aid supplies and set to work. I look at her for a few seconds, earning an annoyed huff.

"Are you going to do anything? Or just look at me?" I sigh.

"This is going to hurt, okay?" She starts to reply as I set to work. She's not a word into the reply before she devolves into mindless screaming. She's beating on me before I'm done, but her light frame makes it easy to shrug off. By the time I'm done she's panting and quietly cursing.

"Why did you... have to be... so rough... with me?" She gasps.

"I was being as gentle as possible. You're just so delicate...." She glares at me again. I sigh and turn back to the cave in, looking at it from this angle. It doesn't look any easier to clear out from this side.

"How long will it take to clear this out?" She asks, trying to stand up.

"Hey, just stay there, okay?" I sit her back down. "You can't put pressure on that leg. Just stay there, and I'll get us out."

"I'm not useless." She says angrily.

"Of course not, but you are injured. So stay there and don't make it worse." She still seems indignant, but she does quiet down. I set about digging us out, grabbing a pick for the easily moved stones, and using a pulley for the larger ones. Sitting down for a rest I look over to my only company.

"You need a drink?" I ask, pulling the large canteen from my belt.

"I'm fine." She says sharply. I just sigh and take a gulp. "Do you have any food though?" She mumbles, bringing my gaze back to her.

"I've got some rations." I say, pulling up my pack. "It might not taste great, but it'll fill your stomach." I pull out a bundle of salted meat and hard bread.

"I... suppose it'll suffice." I shrug, getting tired of her attitude.

"If you don't want any I can-"

"It's fine." She panickedly states, trying to get up again, before collapsing in pain. I let a large sigh out and walk over to her.

"Here." I hand her half of the bread and meat, as well as leaving my canteen with her. We sit in silence for a while, before I go back to work. As I'm working I find a few splintered arrows, and can't help but cast a look at my companion. Working a while longer I settle down with my bedroll.

"So, I found these in the rubble." I lay the heads of the arrows in front of the lantern. "They wouldn't happen to be yours, would they?" She quickly looks away.

"So what if they are?" I give her a hard look.

"I can't find any other reason this part of the cave would have collapsed." She glares at the accusation, but falters a little when she spots the look on my face. With a sigh she slumps forward.

"I was sent out here to look for valuable deposits. My people may not like working underground, but we still need iron and precious metals." She looks back at me with a faint glitter in her eyes. "I slipped through that crack and tried to go deeper, my torch... caught a vein of explosive material...." So that explains the cave in at least.

"And the arrows?" I ask, waving to the heads laid out in front of me.

"I wanted to know if anything was inside, so I fired some arrows to flush anything out." Makes sense.

"It's probably dark out by now. I'm going to sleep." She looks at me with wide eyes.

"Y-you can't be serious!" She cries, struggling again.

"Well, I can't do much without rest." I state, rolling out my bag.

"But... but my family...." I look at her again, and there's a desperate look in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" She looks up, before covering her face.

"I-it's... I shouldn't..." she takes a long sigh "I'm not on great terms with my family." I sit down and wait for her to elaborate. "I'm... I'm a failure. I can't do anything without screwing it up somehow." Her head dips down and I can hear a quiet sobbing.

"It can't be that bad." She looks up at me, tears falling from her cheeks.

"My family's always supported me, always told me I'll find something I can do. But I can't even get a simple task like this done without botching it somehow!" I walk over to her and kneel down beside her.

"Hey, you can't be that horrible. You must have done something you were proud of." She stops sobbing for a moment to think.

"W-well, there was one thing." She pulls her bow off of her back. It doesn't look like much, but she pulls it back with ease. "I'm not a great shot, but I can fire fast." She let's loose, and in a moment another arrow is knocked and released. There's a quick *ting ting* as both arrows strike the stone. "Nobody thinks it's a useful skill, but I'm proud of it all the same." I give her a smile.

"See? You can do something." She looks at me, face tinged with curiosity.

"So, what about you? You seem to be able to do a lot." I laugh, looking at the scattered pieces of equipment.

"I'm still learning, really. My grandfather left me all these tools. I guess he figured I'd put them to use, being a geologist like him. I'd be no good in a fight, like you, though."

"How old are you?" She asks, staring at me confusedly.

"I'm twentytwo. Why?" She shakes her head.

"I forget you humans age so quickly. I... I thought you were far older." I raise an eyebrow.

"Why? How old are you?"

"Almost onehundred and fourty." Her eyes suddenly widen as she blushes.

"Wow. I guess what they say about elves having long lives is true. I thought you were still in your teens." She glares at me.

"A-are you saying I look like a child?" She huffs indignantly.

"No, no, of course not! It's just... you do look like a very young woman." My response doesn't do anything to ease her ire.

"I am a young woman. Just because I'm older than your own parents does not make me-" I silence her by standing up and grabbing my pick "where do you think you're going?!" She shouts.

"Not tired any more. Think I'll give this wall a few more swings." I trudge back towards the wall of rubble.

"Great, yeah, real smart, jackass." I mutter to myself as I work. "The one person your stuck in here with, and you go and piss them off. Great fucking work." I embed the pick into a stone, cracking it and pulling the pieces from the pile. As I'm busy I don't notice the young elf crawling up behind me, using the wall to help support herself.

"I-I'm sorry if I upset you." She says, loud enough to make me jump.

"Gah! Don't do that. I almost had a heart attack." Her eyes widen.

"I-I'm so sorry, I just... I... um... y-yeah." She drops her head.

"Didn't I tell you to stay off your feet?" She nods.

"I just had to... check on you." She mutters, handing me my canteen. "You left this back there." I sigh and take the canteen, before looking at her.

"Come on, we need to get you back down there, on the ground." She seems upset at my word choice, but doesn't say anything. I take her shoulder and help her back down to the area on the other side of the crack, sitting her down on my bedroll.

"Now, I think it's time we had some sleep." I tried to settle on one of the smoother parts of the cave, but the lack of padding made it fairly uncomfortable. As I was trying to find a position that didn't hurt, I heard a faint whisper from the elven girl.

"What was that?" I ask quietly.

"Y-you can have your bedroll. I-I'm sure I can manage on the floor." I sit up, looking over to the soft bedding wit her laying on it. There's definitely no way we'd both fit on the soft roll, but I'm not getting any sleep like this.

"Thank you, do you need a hand?" She shakes her head, rolling a few times until she's clear of my roll.

"Could you just... lend me something to use as a pillow?" I nod, grabbing my pack and emptying most of it's contents.

"Here, and thank you." She looks away.

"Well, it is your bedroll. And you are the one getting us out of here, so it only seems fair." I still thank her again as I lay down, letting sleep quickly take over me with the comfort of a few centimeters of padding beneath me.

I wake the next morning to find my friend has at somepoint in the night come up behind me and rested her head against my back. I try to quietly get up, but the motion still wakes her. Once she sees the predicament she's in she quickly scrambles away, kicking with both legs before bending over in pain.

"Ow, I-I, when did you...?" She looks up at me, furiously blushing.

"I don't know, but I think we could both use something to eat." She gives the faintest of smiles for me at not asking about the situation. I get a very similar meal as yesterday, except with cheese instead of meat. We drank what most of what was left of my canteen and I went back to working on the cave in. She decided to come with me, sitting just out of range of the debris.

After perhaps an hour of working there were sounds from the other side of the rubble.

"Hello?! Is anyone in there?!" A male voice came from the other side.

"F-father?" The elf tried to stand up, and I rushed to help her closer to the rubble.

"Father! I-I'm here!" She called, and there was a scrabbling sound from the other side.

"Esaia! Just stay there, we'll have you out soon." With that the sound of picks and digging came from the other side of the entrance. Not happy to just sit there I kept going from our side, reinvigorated by the aid.

When we finally had a space large enough to get through I helped Esaia through, before climbing through myself. On the other side were a half-dozen elves, two armed with bows, the rest shovels and picks. One of the taller ones was clutching Esaia to him, cradling the girl.

"Who is this?" One of the guards asked, bow lowered but arrow knocked.

"He helped me." Esaia quickly stated. "His grandfather was the human in the cottage. He was investigating the cave for minerals, same as me, when the cave in happened." The guard nods, relaxing slightly.

"In that case, please, come back to our village with us. I would like to thank the man who aided my daughter in such a time of need." I nodded, happy to have some hospitality.

The village wasn't far, though the forest was dense enough to hide it from most casual explorers. I was guided, more watched, to Esaia's parents house, where her mother immediately started fussing over her, much to her apparent embarassment. I sat down at the table, along with her father and younger brother.

"So, what happened to cause the cave in?" The tall man asked, pouring some tea for the three of us.

"Not sure. I was too deep down to even hear the collapse. When I got there another tunnel had opened up and partially collapsed on your daughter." He nods carefully, sipping his tea.

"So she had nothing to do with it?" I took a moment too long to answer, resulting in a sigh. "I see." He sits his cup down on the table and looks me dead in the eye.

"It was a simple mistake. There was a vein of explosive powder and-" He holds up a hand to stop me.

"It's okay. We're used to things like this. Though this is the first time she's ever been injured so badly."

"Yeah, her leg was pretty rough." He looks at me again, something forming behind his eyes.

"Perhaps you could help with something...." He looked to his son for a moment, something passing between them as the young elf got off of his chair and went outside. "I've been thinking if Esaia shouldn't have someone watching her. Tisin has been doing a splendid job of keeping an eye on her in the village, but whenever she's given a task outside... well, the boy's still but a child." He looks up at me, a picture of seriousness.

"I'm not very skilled myself, sir." He shakes his head.

"That's not what matters. I know you'll look after her, and so long as you keep her away from anything too dangerous she won't be able to cause trouble. There's still some deposits left in that mine, and perhaps this new shaft you two discovered will lead to more, but it would put my heart at ease if you could take her with you.

"Not only will you be keeping her from getting into trouble around the village, you might even be able to gain some monetary incentive." When I hesitate for a moment he adds "If you find nothing, then I won't make you stay here. I'm only asking for your help give her something to do under a watchful eye." I look at him for a few more moments, before nodding.

"Okay, I'll keep looking around the caverns for a while longer. My grandfather was convinced something was in there that would be worth a fortune, so I'll be staying in his cabin I guess." The mature elven man smiled, raising his tea in a toast.

"Thank you." With that concluded he invites me to stay for dinner. I can't think of a reason to not, so we talk for a while longer about my grandfather and his apparent work in the village.

It turns out quite a bit of his time 'alone' out in the woods was spent among the elves, and he was considered a member of their community.

Esaia eventually comes out of wherever her mother was rebinding her leg, using a crutch and dressed in clothes that aren't half hanging from her. Cleaned up and dressed she's even more elegant than I thought. Her mother comes out close behind her, the rags of her former clothes in hand.

"Thank you for doing what you could for our daughter. I know our kind have a reputation for being cold to you humans, but it's acts like this that help break that down." She glides out the door, leaving us to sit in semi-awkward silence, only broken by her father.

"So, me and your new friend have come to a decision." He says, looking between the two of us.

"W-what? About what?" He smiles coyly.

"About you, and the mine." She looks away, not wanting to meet her father's eyes.

"So, he told you then?"

"Not exactly, but it didn't take much to work out." She winces at that. "So then, you'll be acting as Mr...." He turns to me. "I'm incredibly sorry, I never got your name in all of this."

"Alexander Crimstone." I instinctively hold out my hand for a handshake, which the man gives me.

"Tirith Saevond." He introduces, before turning back to his daughter. "As I was saying, you'll be working as Mr Crimstone's asisstant." She looks incredulous, but a hand motion keeps her quiet. "You have caused him no shortage of trouble, and I believe you owe him for rescuing you." She looks between us, then nods.

"You're right." She looks at me, eyes full of fire. "I'll do everything I can to make things easier on you." I nod, hoping things go well with this new venture. Eventually dinner's served, and both myself and Esaia eat furiously. When the food is done, I'm offered a place in the guest room for the night, another offer I'm happy to accept.

In the night I hear the gentle tap of wood on wood approaching my room. When the door creaks open I pretend to be asleep, as someone approaches.

"Thank you." Esaia whispers. "I don't know if you're awake, but thank you for everything you've done for me. I promise, I promise you everything I am that I'll get this right." I feel a hand gently brush my hair, before a pair of lips quickly dab against my cheek. Before I can react she's already leaving, and I can't help but smile to myself.

Perhaps this will be more pleasant than I thought?