The lemon smelled really good. I mean, really good. Hizi kept staring at me. I was tired and annoyed, so I decided to ignore it. It was just a lemon. I pushed my nails through the skin of the yellow fruit and some juice squirted out. Hizi let out a horrible scream.
"What?" my voice sounded way more annoyed than I had intended it to.
"It's a lemon", he gasped.
"So?" I peeled off a small bit of the skin and sucked at the juice within. Hizi kept making horrible sounds, like he didn't want me to even touch the lemon, but never made a move to stop me.
"You... are ok?" he breathed as I sucked at the fruit, wincing at the bitterness.
"Of course I am", I said. I just wanted to go to sleep, "It's just a lemon."
"Just..." he gaped, "We need to go find Azer."
He marched out of the tent and I followed him, sighing, with the lemon in my hand. On the way a centaur glanced at me, at my hand, and startled, taking a few steps backwards. Why do they all seem to think lemons are dangerous?
We found Azer soon. He was at the main fire, talking quietly with the highest in charge of the Freedom Fighters. Hizi cleared his throat and the creatures around the fire turned to look at him.
"I hate to interrupt your meeting, high sires, but..." he hesitated for a moment, "I have good news and bad. Both very important, or I wouldn't be bothering you."
"Let's hear the bad news first", said Azer calmly.
"I believe someone tried to kill Cinnamon", Hizi said.
"What?" I blurted out. Kill me?
"How?" Azer asked, ignoring me.
"That brings us to the good news", Hizi said quietly, "Who ever tried to kill her failed, because apparently our guest is immune to lemons."
This was the moment when everyone's gaze turned towards me. I lifted the lemon I had in my hand. A drop of juice was running down my hand, so I licked it off without even thinking about it.
"I, um... I found a lemon on my pillow when we got back to the tent", I said, just wanting to break the silence and make everyone stop staring at me. It didn't work, "It's a really good lemon, sweeter than any I have ever tasted."
"You are immune to lemons?" Azer asked, like he didn't believe what he saw.
"Um..." I said again, "Immune? Um... I guess. I mean, they don't cause any problems. Sure, they're really bitter so my face flinches when I'm eating them, but..."
"You never thought to mention you were immune to lemons?" Azer said, with a serious face.
"I... never thought it was relevant. What is this fuss with lemons anyway?"
"Lemons", Em began, "Are the most terribly toxic thing to anyone from this world. Just one drop on the skin is enough to kill. Even holding one for too long can make you ill with a sickness that is sometimes fatal."
"Seriously?" I asked, my voice now sounding like I didn't believe what they said. Though that would explain everyone's reaction to the lemon I was eating.
"Yes", Azer answered, "But you, you are immune to that. You can touch lemons? You can eat lemons?"
"Well, yes", I said stupidly. I wasn't quite sure if I had just fallen asleep right after entering the tent and everything from the moment of seeing the lemon was just a dream. But no, I was awake.
"Do you know what this means?" Em asked.
"I have a superpower?" I asked, "Can I please go to bed now, I'm exhausted."
"Soon", Azer answered, "We can use lemons to defeat Folius. You can use. That's why we need you. No one else could do it."
"Awesome", I said simply. Seriously, lemons? What was up with this place?
"We need to keep this a secret", Azer said, "Everyone. You have all witnessed and heard things that cannot be told anyone else. We have a weapon no one would ever imagine we could use, but they are wrong. We can use this assassination attempt to our benefit. Stand up!"
The creatures around the fire stood up.
"You have to take an oath. An oath saying, you cannot ever tell anyone, what you saw here this night."
The creatures lifted their hands (or what counted as a hand) to their hearts, which of some where in very weird places. Azer began to talk again, words I did not understand, in a language that sounded as ancient as time. The other creatures closed their eyes and repeated in low voice the words Azer spoke.
And then, finally, after a detour with Hizi to bury the lemon someplace no one could ever find it and find it eaten, I was allowed to go to sleep.
_______________________________________________________________
About the topics I've been giving you: they've been weird and out of context for a reason. If I gave you a topic that actually has to do with the story, I'd feel like I'm guiding you to write something along the lines I see the story going. And I don't want that. I mean, if I didn't give you stupid topics, we wouldn't have lemons as a lethal weapon. Stupid topics is what make the story more interesting. Or at least more weird (which in this case probably means more interesting, since its interest won't come from well thought out characters and plots).
Fine, I'll give you a little easier (=something that might quite clearly actually have something to do with the story) topic for tomorrow: Archery.
I don't think I've got anything else today.
~matu
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