Tale 82-The Girl from the Rainforest

The Traveler walked, numb, through towns and villages alike, regaining where she was and ignoring the friendly greetings she got from people she’d previously met. She felt nothing within her soul, and her only comfort was the hundred tales. Eighteen more, and then she would be free. But what was she even meant to do anymore? She’d been relying on that future with Sarafelle, and if it could no longer exist, what was she meant to do with her life? Was she to rot in a house somewhere, alone and isolated until she died of starvation or sickness? Was she to give herself up to the nobles, to the men and their selfish, cruel desires that would taint every inch of her skin and leave her with nothing of her own, like Butterfly had? Or was she to move on, to find a new source of joy? That seemed impossible now. She wandered onwards, before finally coming to a new place, where a chimney sweep was working outside, accidentally getting some soot on the Traveler. She apologized and tried to clean it, but the Traveler couldn’t care anymore. Instead, the sweep set about chatting, the Traveler trying to respond politely but having very little energy. Only when the sweep mentioned a tale did she start listening properly, and documenting the tale of ‘the Girl from the Rainforest’.

‘Far away, there lived a girl who was shipwrecked, a baby taken in by a fox in the rainforest. After having fallen from the boat upon which she was carried, she gained a new family and grew up with them as a young cub would, and being named Willow. She lived with her mother for years, learning how to talk with her and communicate in growls and sounds, before her mother became pregnant and Willow named the baby cub Benji, them now being a family of three. They lived behind a waterfall in a cave, safe from any predators and danger. Despite this, Willow was a curious girl and would often venture out of the cave, befriending the animals she met across the forest. However, one day she was caught by poachers and taken away, to be sold to freakshows as a savage animal. Luckily, though, Willow escaped and jumped off the ship, floating far away in the night on a piece of driftwood, where she eventually washed up on the shore of a girl’s home. The girl, Melody, took her in and promised to help her return to the rainforest, so she could be with her family once more.’

The Traveler wrote the tale, and bid the sweep goodbye quietly, feeling herself slip down into sadness as soon as she thought about the bond between Willow and Melody. She too had been much like a savage, living on her own and struggling to survive, but Sarafelle had always been there to ease the aches and pains. But now she was gone…the Traveler couldn’t help the tears beginning again, and ran off into the night, into the dark forest she no longer had to fear.