Life was all the same despite being turned into a pet. I was still human, and I was still practicing magic, still within the same forest next to the same basin and on the same ground. Perhaps being turned into property wasn't all that big of a change that I thought it would be. However, a week had passed by. Still meditating on the essence of my physical body, as Ard put it, but not getting all that far in terms of progress. I had a solid grasp on what this essence is and where to find it but I didn't have any experience actually healing myself.

But I have some concerns. The first is the web of light that has been constantly growing within my body, my chest area is entirely white and my limbs will soon follow that pattern. I'm not sure what it is, it's not hurting me but besides that I can't tell what it's doing or why. And the second and biggest concern so far is that Ard had not treated the 'curse' she claimed to have been on me. I couldn't speak still, and she's made no efforts to try to remedy that. I'll address that as soon as she comes back.

Ard hadn't been within my camp since the initial agreement. I know she's around, sometimes a green package of the same smoked venison would be conveniently placed next to me after waking up. A good thing, a source of meat is good for building back strength. But, other than that I couldn't see or meet her.

She was delighted to learn that the average human lifespan, once we've reached past the age of fifteen, was roughly fifty. We could certainly live longer than that, but by then most of our use would've been used up. Most opt to die out in the woods, not wanting to be a burden to the rest. Seemed almost instinctual rather than logical, dad said his own father went out that way. Perhaps it's in our blood, then. But I wasn't certain exactly how long we live for.

Regardless, according to Ard most other animals rarely live past twenty. If I was fourteen now then there could've been a chance I only had six more years to live or even less, according to her. I laughed at that, much to Ard's confusion. Regardless, she's convinced both she and I have made the best choice possible. She then told me she'll start preparations for the removal and left me right then and there. Since that time I've not seen her.

In all, it wasn't all that long of a week. Not being with any company was a bit nerve wracking, this wasn't something I was used to, and I would often wake up from nightmares, waking up to a forest of eerie noises. But I could bear through that without much problem, other than losing more sleep than I would optimally want to. And I was pretty use to sitting in meditation for hours on end, so any need for entertainment could be provided through that. It was something to do and watching and observing the magic within me was never boring.

But the daily routine of foraging for any remaining edibles within the forest, meditating, and figuring out how to build a hut was fated to end, at least that's what I hoped. Ard eventually came, the morning of the eighth day. The sun had barely gotten up and I was eating a soup of whatever vegetables I found yesterday. No green package was next to me that morning so I guessed either something terrible has happened, or that something will soon break my monotony.

"Attie, long time no see. Or rather, long time since I've seen you awake. Prepare yourself for a short trip. We'll be heading towards my own home now, everything has been prepared for your arrival. The trip shouldn't last more than two days, so bring all your belongings with you. It'll be a chore to have to come and pick anything you've forgotten." Ard had finally arrived, and the first words to me would be to pack up and follow her. That's not so bad. If anything it probably meant better living conditions.

I looked around my camp. Other than the rudimentary shelter I'd built in a day, and the rough sentimental value I've started to invest in this area, I didn't have much of a reason to stay here. I nodded and started to pick up the items, kicking over the pot and rolling it over to the water basin so it could cool down. I quickly drank the rest of the soup and placed the wooden bowl into the basket, along with the spoon and ladle.

Ard waited patiently for me to collect everything. There was nothing else to my name, and even these things I was gifted rather than things I made myself. Grabbing the pot that had been floating on top of the basin, I filled it with water and dumped the water onto the fire. I did this several times just to make sure there would be no embers left. I then placed the pot on top of everything else, but realized that this wouldn't fit within the basket.

Taking out everything, I reorganized the contents by dropping the spoon and the ladle inside the pot, then the wooden bowl as well. Then I placed it into the basket. That worked, and I'm pretty sure this is the same way Ard had organized the basket when she gave it to me. I stood up, holding the basket by the handle expertly shaped ontop, and nodded to Ard.

"Then come." No more words needed to be said, I followed Ard towards the direction she came from.

No talk came up. There wasn't anything to talk about, apparently. I couldn't say anything, and I couldn't ask any questions because of that. Ard was walking at a pace I hadn't expected her to be able to walk, the last time I had to walk a long distance with her I had thought she was incapable of walking all that fast. She was very, very slow back then. Perhaps she was intentionally not moving with any speed on purpose?

The scenery remained the same, the same leafless trees on the same multicolored ground. We were walking between the valleys of hills, rather than ontop or on the sides. It was easier this way, of course. Hours passed by, the sun moving through his daily course, the air still as cold as it has always been. Ard kept the pace that I didn't think a human child would be capable of keeping. At one point I had to breath lightly through my mouth in order to keep up without feeling exhausted.

But night eventually came, as she always does. How far was Ard's own home? Did she have to walk this great distance every time she wanted to bring me something? Did she do this everyday? She must've been running each morning, frantically trying to spend as little time each day running between me and her own home if this is how far the distance really is. A new found gratitude blossomed in me. But, it was time to make camp and rest.

Ard and I gathered fire wood from around the forest, the wood thankfully dry now. It hasn't rained in a long while, and enough time had passed since the last bout of rain, allowing for the wood to dry out and proper, dry fire wood to come. We didn't have to collecting any kindling thanks to Ard's ability to manifest magic, which was great.

"Think you can run tomorrow?" Having had already set up the fire, Ard was sitting next to the blazing wood, doing as she always did when a fire was nearby. Watching it, not paying much attention to what I'm doing. Which was nothing to be fair. I could run for a while, probably, but I'd prefer to have periods of rest. I nodded, reluctantly. She picked up on that.

"Good. I had planned to have you walk the whole way but this is starting to bore me. We'll be running, I'll make sure not to go faster than you're capable of handling. On the topic of handling, how's your handle of your essence going? Making progress?" I nodded my head. I can't say much more than that, anyway.

"Show me, then."

Huh? How? Should I cut myself and heal the wound? I've never attempted to do that. Ard looked at my perplexed expression and walked over to me.

"No, I don't want you to hurt yourself. I want to see what you're doing, so show me." She placed a hand on my hand and waited. I think she's directly observing me by doing this, as she was capable of transmitting information from her body to me, I think she could do the same for herself. Or rather, it'd be odd if she wasn't capable of doing that. I nodded and began to do the motions.

Bringing the light fire within me, a constantly circulating thing that is expended when I move and collected when I don't, and bringing it close to the marrow of my bones, I held it there and waited for the next step. It isn't enough to simply let it sit there, but I needed more concentration in order to get whatever it is my 'essence' is. First I try to picture what I precisely am. A man, young, yellow eyed and brown haired, pale, average by most accounts. There's nothing striking about me, none of these features were exceptional within our village. That's wrong, it was dead average.

Those thoughts were enough to deepen the color of the fire magic, not nearly as deep a red as what Ard was able to procure, but certainly a rich red. Ard nodded at my demonstration, and I released the magic back into my body, to leave it to do whatever it needed to. One day I'll spend the time to map out every function these flows do within me, a new curiosity has welled up within me over that.

"That's very good. I didn't expect you to be able to get a red that deep in just a week. We'll have you start practicing with healing wounds soon, very soon." Ard headed back to her original spot and sat down, bringing her attention back to the fire rather than me. Was my progress really that good? I wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was better than seeing no progress, as in what I had to go through dealing with the dirt.

Ard had an uncanny ability to stay still for hours at a time. Perhaps she slept with her eyes open, like a deer. Or perhaps she doesn't feel the need to move as much as we do. But, no more observations. I needed to sleep, the walk has been hard and somewhat exhaustive. Ard could walk much faster than I thought she could, and seeing as I couldn't see a single drop of sweat on her I'd think she simply doesn't get tired.

Sitting and leaning on a tree, I went to sleep that day quickly and comfortably. It's much better on the mind to sleep around others rather alone, as I've begun to learn the past week.

---

A tugging at my clothes, light slaps to my face, the occasional calling to my name. All things that I woke up to, the night breaking into day and the world slowly regaining its bright coloration and vividness. I opened my eyes, slowly and carefully, to meet the enemy that was attempted to savagely beat me awake. As it turned out, it wasn't a bear, or a deer that had grown arms, or a particularly vicious squirrel that had learned my tongue.

Ard, predictably, was standing over me, trying to get me to wake up. I nodded at her, my eyes creaked open, and started to get up.

"Finally. I was thinking you'd begun to hibernate, why're you such a deep sleeper? It's dangerous out here, you know." Is it? I've not met any truly dangerous wild animals in a long, long while. Not even insects seemed to have made it into my camp, and no animals came over to the basin to get a drink. Highly unusual. Although I should consider the fact that I've been under Ard's protection, and she's a magical creature with powers that I can't scarcely comprehend. Perhaps she's set up a ward to protect me all this time.

I shrugged, having no other answer, and tried my best to stand up without cracking my back and limbs too much. Ard never has to do this, another point the oddity that is her existence. Stretching my back and arms, I waited for Ard's command. Or rather, she looked to be waiting for me to finish stretching.

"Like I said yesterday, we'll be running for the remainder of the trip. I don't know how long you can run for but considering how tired you were yesterday I can't imagine for long. Are you done stretching?" I nodded. Some amount of excitement has started to pile up, the anticipation of whatever or wherever she's taking me was enough to drive me for a while. Probably. The faerytales occasionally mention the lands of the fae, a land of paradise and immortal happiness, if her home is even a quarter of what I've listened to then I'd bear through a day of running, easily.

"Good. Follow me, then." Ard, began to walk into the forest, slowly picking up her pace, gradually until I had to sprint in order to keep up with her. Sprinting right after waking up wasn't what I had thought would happen to do, and if she expected me to be able to keep this up for the remainder of the journey, she's gravely mistaken. After thirty seconds, her pace still gradually increasing and her movement almost unnaturally fast, her legs taking her in great leaps across the ground, I had to slow down and hope she'd notice it.

She did, almost immediately. She lowered her pace to that of half of her sprint, which itself was still pretty fast. She didn't comment on how tired I looked, or how slow I was. Just kept at that pace for a while, before even then I couldn't keep up. She again lowered her pace by half, and that was something I could smoothly keep up with.

An hour went by, Ard constantly testing me for how long I could keep up with her. Slowing her pace when she was running too fast, her increasing the pace if I looked to be keeping up with her without much problem. This was mentally exhausting, not to mention physically so. I didn't feel like I was getting enough energy in my legs, and the basket I held in my left hand was starting to become dangerously heavy. I wanted to lay down and do nothing for a while, but Ard never seemed to grow tired enough herself to do that.

Eventually, however, after another hour of running at a much, much lighter pace, Ard stopped and waited for me to arrive next to her. At least, that's what I thought. Standing behind her, my hands on my knees, panting as hard as I could, I waited for Ard to decide whatever it is she wanted to do.

Ard turned around and faced me. She looked me up, from head to toe, although that was a difficult task considering how slouched I was. I got back to a proper posture and let her do whatever she wanted to do. However, instead of continuing to look at me, she nodded and began to walk, facing the same direction she had been looking before. With wobbly feet I followed closely behind her. Perhaps she does get tired, and doesn't actually show it? Somehow I doubt that.

She would walk straight, without turning, without looking side to side to see if she was walking in the direction direction. I got the sense she's walked through this path many times before, but the ground wasn't compacted as a well trodden path aught to be. I looked around, trying to see anything odd or even the sign of buildings, of anything that might lead to the fact that a settlement was nearby. But no signs like that existed. As far as I was concerned, this was a normal forest, within a normal area. Perhaps a bit too many rocks were around, but that didn't mean much.

We walked for ten or so odd minutes like this. Ard and her pace eerily consistent, not moving in anyway but straight. But she didn't give me any warning about having to walk straight myself. I knew Ard enough, and had seen her walk around enough, to know she'd walk in a much more 'human' manner than what she was showing me now.

But the air suddenly changed. The world seemed to get warmer, and the trees started to play games of illusions. Trees could, where no trees appeared to be present a moment ago, be seen. The leaves green, and the ground covered by grasses instead of leaves. Insects could be seen flying around, butterflies and the like. If this wasn't the picturesque image of the land of the fae, I don't know what was. Had I walked into their world? How did this world, which seemed to just suddenly engulf me, appear? How did this happen?

I looked at Ard, but she kept her gaze straight and her walking consistent. If I didn't know better I would've thought she was anxious. But this is Ard, she hasn't shown me much of anything in the way of fear before.

"Keep your movements slow, Attie. I'm going to introduce you to the rest of my tribe, and they're much less used to your presence than I am to yours." Ard said, her words collected and the air she gave calm. I nodded, knowing she couldn't see it herself. I wonder what the other faeries looked like?