After three more days of nonstop training, my skills had improved greatly. I had also never felt as physically exhausted before. After getting a quick bite to eat, I wandered back to the tent. Hizi was already there, and he smiled up at me when I stumbled in and fell face first onto my bed.
"You alright?" he asked and I let out a groan. "Narada's pushin' you hard, huh? Here, this'll help you get your strength up." I turned my face away from my pillow as Hizi dug around his bag and pulled out something brown wrapped in paper. He broke off a piece and handed it to me as I sat up. It appeared to be bread of some kind and smelled really nice. A bit like... "That's gingerbread," Hizi said. "It's really rare around these parts, but us goblins are fairly good at finding ginger roots. So it's something of a specialty of ours." I smiled at him and muttered a thanks before tasting it a bit. It was really good. It tasted a bit like gingerbread back home, but it was much more, how should I put it, rich. I felt a bit of strength coming back to me already.
"This is delicious," I said and Hizi looked pleased. "You know, ginger isn't really rare from where I come from. Gingerbreads are actually a typical Christmas dessert. Though back home, they're much more like cookies than actual bread."
"Interesting," Hizi said. He was quiet for a while, before continuing, "In goblin culture, offering someone gingerbread is a sign of great trust." I looked up at Hizi in surprise. He was looking at the ground, appearing embarrassed. He really trusted me that much? It felt weird, we had literally met a week ago. But at the same time it didn't. We had talked a lot, during the meals and in the evenings before going to bed, and I felt like I had known him longer than that. Like time wasn't really a factor in all this. I didn't know what to think, so I stopped and instead smiled and placed my hand on Hizi's shoulder.
"Thank you."
~x~
I woke up in the middle of the night, screaming. Blood. So much blood. It was everywhere, covering every surface, every wall, every single no longer breathing being. The blank eyes on everyone's cold faces were still staring at me, right through me, right into my soul, and I could still hear the manic laughing echoing around me. No. Make it stop!
Hizi was kneeling next to me before I had time to realize what was going on. His hands were on my shoulders and I clutched his arms in a desperate need to ground myself, to know what was real.
"It's okay," I heard him say, and I tried to focus on his voice, but it was hard. The laughing was too loud. "It's okay, yeah? It was just a dream. Just a dream, you're safe here. You're safe here, nothing can get you. Shh, it's okay. Nothing can hurt you here."
I let out a shaky breath and a sob. Hizi's thumb drew circles on my shoulders. I noticed that my face was wet and tried to wipe it off on my sleeve, but more tears rolled down on their place. I was distantly aware of people entering the tent, but they stopped at the door.
"There was so much blood," I managed to whisper. Hizi's fingers stopped and his grip tightened. "Everyone was dead and I was alone. And he just kept laughing, He just laughed, he was crazy, and you want me to kill him!" I snapped at the figures at the door, who visibly flinched. "You want me to kill him and I can't do that, I can't!" The rage was bubbling up, fueled by the nightmare and my confusion. "It's impossible, I can't take the responsibility of freeing an entire land. I can't just kill a person! It's too much!"
"Cinnamon..." I heard someone say, but I didn't listen.
"You need someone else, I can't do it!"
"Cinnamon, calm down," Hizi said. "You had a nightmare, you're overreacting. I'm sure-"
"No! You can't be sure, you don't know me! You don't know anything, you're just a goblin!"
Everyone gasped, me included. I slapped my hand over my mouth and turned to Hizi, eyes wide and horrified.
"'Just a goblin'?" he said. His voice and expression were completely void of emotion. "I see. I suppose I'll take my leave then." He stood up and I struggled for words.
"Hizi, I'm-" I reached out for him, but he slapped my hand away and pushed out of the tent, before disappearing into the night. I felt empty. All the anger I had had was gone and all I could do was stare after Hizi.
"Goblins are very sensitive about their worth," I heard Em's voice quietly. Now that I could focus I saw who were standing in the tent. Pessi sat down next to me, putting his hands around my shoulders, and Em sat on my knee. Narada got the candle tray and lit the candles with a flick of her wrist. "Back when the land wasn't united, many folk were scared and prejudiced towards the others. There was much hate, especially towards trolls, who were judged harshly on their appearance and resentment of daylight." I glanced at Pessi, who had a sad look on his face. "Goblins were treated especially poorly, and deemed unworthy and useless, even by some other trolls."
"It's gotten better," Pessi said, "since the Queen united every folk, but the stereotypes are hard to uproot, and many folk are still very selfconscious about what the others thought of them. This includes most of the goblins, who can get very upset if they are belittled or made feel useless."
"I didn't know, I didn't mean-" I tried. Em nodded.
"We know. Let's just hope he does too."
___________________________________________________________________
Hahaaaaa, part 14. Yay. I remembered this like half past midnight, and was like "nnnaaaah, man, I need to sleeep" and then I didn't have time to write it on Sunday because we went swimming and to a puppet theater and stuff, and then you'd written your part and I figured, it's already too late, I can write it tomorrow. But here it is now. Waaaaa~
I don't have time to write the next part atm, but I'll write it in the evening, so sit tight!
Pie out.
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