Just what in the world possessed me to do this? Penelope thought as she looked at the sleeping boy.

After discovering that there was no immediate danger, she decided she couldn’t just let him lay there on the ground to die (though the fear of watching him pass right next to her was also very strong). When she got over her initial uneasiness, she finished the sketch of her tent and extra comfort items, before unceremoniously dragging him over and into it. Good thing she had decided to make it bigger!

Penelope was even kind enough to let him have the bedroll and blanket. The night wasn’t that cold and she’d gone without before, though this body wasn’t as used to such conditions (a good thing, she surmised). She simply did not have the energy to make more items. The ground wasn’t that hard and at least the tent kept her from being directly in contact with it.

This boy needed it more.

Penelope did what she could for him. Cleaning off his skin where she could reach with the water from the pond and a rag she was able to use from his own torn up clothes. She mentally apologized for ruining them a bit more, but his tunic was long enough that it wouldn’t matter so much. And she only just got the dress of her dreams, she wasn’t about to go ripping it up already. The goddesses and this boy could forgive her a bit for being a little selfish.

Ah, I haven’t learned at all. I’m still falling back on how I was, she thought to herself. Laying next to the boy without any cushion; it reminded her of nights where she had to stay on the floor because her sister insisted on sleeping in her bed. Her sister’s own room was locked when she was not in there, so it wasn’t like they could simply switch beds and their father was camped out in the living room more often than not. So to the floor she often was, using a pile of unwashed clothes to cushion her sleep. She was doing it again.

And yet, that lingering resentment did not fill her as it normally did whenever her sister came to steal her bed, despite having one that was softer, warmer, and comfier than her own little twin that Kasumi had continued to use since first receiving it in childhood.

No, it felt…proper. This is someone who actually needed help. And Penelope strived to still be a good and proud person who did the right thing, even if it was hard.

“Good night,” she whispered, curling up on her side of the tent.

Sleep did not come immediately, but Penelope eventually drifted off, confident she’d done the right thing.

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The world had been on fire for so long, he didn’t know where the pain started or ended anymore. Wandering on the road for so long, just looking for a place of solace, of safety. There was a promise lingering in his heart that drove his feet forward. Above all else, he had to remain safe.

Or everything would have been for nothing.

But he had been running on empty for so long, it had only been a matter of time before it felt useless to resist the call of rest, of sleep, of oblivion. And before he knew it, he was out cold, laying in the dirt. Alone, bloody and on the brink of death.

The pain seeped out of his body, draining away slowly as he lay in the darkness. Was this what dying felt like? Was it always such a restful feeling? A soft light began to break through in front of his eyes, drawing him closer and closer…

His eyes softly fluttered open. Above his head fabric stretched across supports from which bright sunlight filtered through. The sound of a bird rang through the air and he felt warm and comfortable. Was this the afterlife?

The boy moved to sit up and hissed in pain, almost throwing himself back onto the soft mat he had been laying on. Pain? So, did that mean…he survived? He was still alive? Suddenly alert, he whipped his head around, trying to discern where he was.

He froze when he sensed movement before seeing it. Another person was in here with him. In his panicked state, he rushed back and away, ignoring the searing pain as he forced his battered body to move away. In doing so, he caused the tent they were in to collapse as the supports were nowhere near strong enough to withstand his weight.

The tent toppled, falling down on the both of them like a net and the two of them got tangled. He heard the other person’s voice shrieking and complaining. It was shrill with surprise. A girl’s voice.

As they both fought to get out of the mess of a tent, they would unintentionally hit each other. The boy got slapped a good few times (and he was sure he must have hit the girl, too, in his bid to get free).

“Calm down! Flailing around like a fish isn’t going to help – hey, ow! Stop hitting me!”

“You stop hitting me first!”

“Is this how you act when someone tries to help you?! Argh! I should have left you on the road, you jerk!”

Eventually the two of them escaped the collapsed tent, puffing and worse for the wear.

The boy remained by the tent, nursing himself, while the girl retreated to a nearby olive tree, still in a tizzy.

They stared at each other, wide-eyed and bedraggled, just taking in each other in the morning sun.

She was younger than him, maybe 9 or 10 years old, judging from her height alone. There was baby fat still present in her cheeks. She looked clean and well cared for, as far as he knew. A noble’s child, maybe? But no, that didn’t make sense, he thought, why would the child of a noble be all alone in the middle of nowhere?

Then again, he was not exactly one to talk.

“Hey,” she called out, drawing his attention to her clear blue eyes. She looked at him so directly, he almost wanted to look away. How could someone have such a straightforward gaze? “You seem pretty energetic. Guess you’re not that hurt.”

The reminder of his injuries made him wince a little. She tilted her head.

“Or maybe you are? Dummy. Here, let me have a look…”

She came over to him, looking pretty unlady-like crossing the distance on her hands and knees. Definitely not the daughter of a noble – at least not one he knew. The girl settled down in front of him holding out her hand, expecting something.

“Come on,” she coaxed, pushing her hand closer. “Let me see where it hurts.”

The boy remained unmoving, just staring at the hand.

After a long pause, the girl sighed at him.

“What? You don’t talk to strangers? All right, then I’ll introduce myself! My name is Penelope, what’s your name?” The hand she held out now had a different connotation, somehow seemingly more inviting than before. She smiled sweetly at him and he honestly felt embarrassed looking at her face.

He looked away and said nothing.

“Come on now. Don’t tell me nobody ever taught you manners?” she asked, voice teasing.

I do have manners, he thought petulantly. However, he really couldn’t be saying who he was. Who knew who this girl really was…

“I’m…U….Uh…Yule.”

“Yule?” she repeated, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she heard. ‘Yule’ sucked in a breath, staring down the little girl in front of him until she just smiled and accepted it. “Nice to meet you, Yule!”

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What’s with that obviously fake name? Is this kid some kind of criminal or something?

            Somehow, she managed to convince the boy named ‘Yule’ into letting him check him over.

            Yule was an older boy, probably on the cusp of adolescence, if not already in it. A boy with slightly mussed platinum hair and careful, cautious periwinkle eyes that followed everything she did.

And he was very injured. And as far as Penelope knew, she was not blessed with healing abilities.

However she did have an idea in mind, though she felt bad that Yule was going to be a guinea pig for her next set of experiments concerning her unusual abilities. But! It would benefit him greatly, if it worked. If it didn’t, well, Penelope had back-up plans.

Her powers activated if she had intent and could visualize it. So maybe if she thought about it hard enough, she could magically heal Yule’s wounds! The mind was a powerful thing, after all – it was all mind over matter!

Pulling out one of her softer pieces of charcoal, she set to taking care of the worst of his injuries. Yule tried inching away from her, as if she were about to take a knife to him, but she was not having any of it. Besides, compared to how her little sister had been in her old life, dealing with a sulky, overly cautious boy like Yule was a piece of cake! Her sister used to bite, kick and scream just from having alcohol applied to small cuts! No way was she letting Yule get away from her aid so easily!

Penelope was small, but tenacious, holding his hand as she wrote down the word for ‘heal’ in Japanese on his cut up arm. Yule, not knowing what the characters were, kept trying to pull away more, even going so far as shoving his good hand into her face to keep her away.

“Just what are you doing, you weird girl?!”

Penelope had to resist to bite his fingers digging into her cheek. “Trying to heal you up, you dummy!” Once she got the word written down, she slapped her hand over the spot none too gently and closed her eyes, chanting ‘heal’ over and over in her head, thinking really hard on his body mending itself. Muscles knitting back together, bones no longer being sore.

A small golden light emanated from under her hand before fading quickly. It was honestly a shocking moment for the two of them. Yule, because he was not sure what he was seeing, and Penelope, because she was surprised her crazy idea actually worked.

However, pulling her hand away, she was disappointed to see that it did minimal change. The skin was healed, but there was still evidence of an injury. Looked like she needed to do this a bit more.

“What did you do? It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Yule asked, stunned.

Penelope wasn’t sure what she’d done herself. “I…I healed you, obviously!”

Not so obviously, I barely understood what I did!!!

“But hey, it worked, right Yule! Now hold still as I heal you all over!”

“Wh—No, waiiiiiiiiiii—!”

“Now, now, don’t be shy, take off your shirt and let Miss Penelope take care of all your wounds~”

“Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!”

In the end, Penelope used up two whole charcoal sticks to take care of Yule’s injuries until she was satisfied. By doing this she discovered two things: words worked as well as fast doodles did and that Yule was a very mysterious boy.

“So why were you so hurt?” she asked, bringing out some rice balls from her satchel to share.

“It’s none of your business,” Yule replied while inspecting the rice ball.

“….”

It was like this the whole time she was healing his body. No matter what question she asked he said it was either none of her business or simply looked away sullenly. All she managed to get from him was his (dubious) name, his age (14) and that he came from ‘far away’.

Not that she was any better.

“Why are you out here, you weird girl?”

“I….ran away from home?” she replied, uncertainly as he gave her the most bombastic side eye. No, wait, he was looking at her directly with suspicion!

“Oh, and by the way…my name is Penelope! Pen-el-o-pe!”

“…Weird girl.”

Penelope sighed.

It was going to be another long day, wasn’t it?