Tale 29- The Little Green Men

 The Traveler awoke to find herself in a field. She was surrounded by white chrysanthemums, which seemed to almost…glow. In her daze, she sat up, looking around. Where was Sarafelle? She hadn’t left her here, had she? The Traveler felt betrayal creep into her thoughts. Standing, she walked through the seemingly endless array of flowers, only stopping when she finally came to something. Before her, a large iron gate, practically covered in clematis. Her hand gripped the metal and she pulled at it, before turning as the entire array of pure white chrysanthemums turned a dark shade of pink, almost dripping with lust. Unsettled, she moved further in, the ground suddenly turning to snow below her shoes. Then, all of a sudden, she realized something. She had been stripped of her cape. Turning, she wondered if she’d dropped it, and moved among the flowers once more, searching for any hint of the black fabric. Unable to find it, she bent down toward the buds, before feeling something strange. Her wrists suddenly felt heavy. Staring down at them, they had become entangled in heavy pink chains, forcing the girl to fall onto her back. Instantly, the flowers all around her began to crawl atop her, smothering her with their petals and vines, causing her to gasp for breath among the thousands of touches attacking her body. Gasping for air and panicking, the Traveler felt them all start to move as one atop her, the terrified girl closing her eyes-

And woke up with a frantic gasp, Sarafelle immediately staring at her in concern. Heart pounding and breathing extremely fast, the Traveler looked around. They were still in the tavern. It was a nightmare. She wasn’t being… Her thoughts trailed off as the girl slowly calmed herself. Sarafelle gave her a confused but worried stare. “Are you okay?” she whispered, people in the tavern catching a glimpse of how pale she’d turned and murmuring amongst themselves. Shakily, she nodded, Sara staring around disapprovingly at the whispering people. “Come on, let’s get you some air, then.” she whispered, helping the shaky girl to stand and allowing her to lean on her. Once outside, Sarafelle found a tap and tried to run a cloth underneath it- but no water came out. A woman approached her. “Ah, the water in this town’s a bit…temperamental. My mother once told me it’s because of ‘The Little Green Men’...”

‘Many years ago, when the town was being refurbished and a new water supply was being organized, the mayor discovered a race of little green men known as Droplytes. These men were in charge of distributing water, acting as an incredible hive mind to ensure that nobody lived without the water they required. The mayor lived in harmony with the Droplytes, and figured out that their system was one of necessity- if someone needed the water more, they would prioritize. The man therefore built the town’s water supply around this system, facilitating the Droplytes’ ability to control everything, on the basis that they weren’t forced to do anything too dangerous or demanding. Unfortunately though, after the mayor died, people forgot about his directions, and demanded far too much water for the hive mind to handle. Eventually, it got so bad that they were swept away in the currents and drowned, so the water in the town became inconsistent. Since then, it has been wholly unreliable and constantly causing problems.’

The Traveler shakily documented the story, Sarafelle watching with concern as she forced herself to scribble down the woman’s words. The Traveler breathed slowly, trying to get her thoughts in order as she illustrated. Her mind wandered back to the thought of those suffocating flowers…and what they really meant. Shaking, Sarafelle finally got some water out of the pipe, after kicking it, and put it on top of the Traveler’s forehead, moving her hood back slightly to do so. The Traveler closed her book to avoid it getting wet and pressed the cold cloth against her head, her hand now on top of Sara’s. The two paused there for a moment, simply looking at each other, before walking off into the distance together, the Traveler still holding the cloth to her head and trying to deny everything.