Memoir of The Last

“A…Noldorin elf?”

Nash was more astonished by how the woman looked rather than what rare blood flowed through her veins. He had never seen a creature with such alluring, shimmering emerald eyes before––not to mention one of them looked cool to him with the scar over the blind eye. He was curious about the story about it. And how odd her ears were, indeed. Once he regained his state of mind, Nash forced himself to stop staring at her. “I never heard of that kind of elf before.”

“That’s because my kind was wiped out many millennials ago… By a very dangerous and wicked person.” She rose to her feet and returned to the desk where she was occupied before. He peeked over before she sat down and saw that on the desk lied something sharp. A pair of twin blades? Nash sensed no danger, seeing as Azusa had fed him and even told him her name––but the weapons made him uneasy.

“Who did it?” He abruptly asked.

“Did what?” She asked in return, sitting down with a new smile. He suspected Azusa was trying to hide a serious issue with a smile, but he asked anyway.

"Who murdered your kin?” He hadn’t realized that what he said was probably too harsh because with a mind as an underdeveloped Salamander it just seemed like getting to the point. Azusa froze, her good eye fixated on a single spot as she thought long and hard about what she should tell him. In the end, smiling was all she could do.

“And what about your kin? The Salamanders know one of their children was wandering around amid a storm?” Nash looked out the single window in the room, and to his surprise, the gentle falling snow was now thrashing in the numbing winds. He thought about what would have happened to him had Azusa not found him. Death was the most likely answer. He also thought about his mother, his family. Were they worried about him? Had they even gone out to look for him? The doubtful thoughts made Nash’s headache throb even more.

“What do they care? It isn’t like I have any friends or anything to worry about whether I’m alive or not…”

“And your family?” Azusa asked just as straightforward as Nash had before, and that made him realize his approach was way too direct. He turned away with a fake angry frown on his face––the same facade he had put on when he was running away.

“I don’t have one, okay?!” He lied. In one swift motion, Nash brought the tea to his mouth and began to chug it to hide his sorrows within the cup while the Elf watched him. She felt bad for him, and maybe even a little unsure of what to do with him. Her gut told her to look after the boy, at least until his fever was gone, but knowing that he had no family would be like giving him to the enemy within their ground. Nash would be as good as dead. Suddenly, he gagged at the feeling of something going down his throat and looked into the mug. The same white things that lingered in his stew were in his drink.

“You must really like rice to put it into your tea brews…” He said, staring down into his mug with confusion.

Azusa lifted an eyebrow, “Rice?”

“Yeah. You know, the white things in my stew and tea.”

“Huh? Oh! Haha, you mean the maggots!”

Nash’s eyes widened and the tea nearly splurted from his nose as he was taking another sip. He could feel his lips curl in disgust and thought his ears had played a trick on him.

“M-Maggots?!”

“Yes. What do you think the M stood for in “M-Stew”, huh? They’re packed full of nutrients and should help your fever go down… Aren’t you going to finish?” She seemed almost innocent when she asked that like she didn’t know that bugs in food were considered disgusting among the normal. To spare her feelings, and to thank her for her hospitality, Nash finished his meal––avoiding chewing as much as he could.

Once he finished, the somehow soothing noise of rough winds and the fever was making him sleepy once more. He lied back as Azusa brought in a new tub of ice water with a washrag in it. She rang it out and placed it gently on his forehead, then got up with the tub in her hands to leave while Nash rested. But his next question had broken the air like knives and also broke Azusa’s heart.

“Could I stay with you?”

Azusa nearly spilled the water when hearing that. She turned around quickly at the weary boy who could hardly keep his eyes open.

“What…?”

“I asked if I could stay with you… Azusa.”

“Uh, Nash, I understand you have no one to go home to. But you must understand that I am not who you think I am… It wouldn’t be wise of you to stay-”

“That’s okay.” Nash yawned. His heavy eyes urged him to sleep now, and no matter how much of a fight he put up, his exhaustion was winning. He forced a wry smile to the woman he was grateful to, still astonished by her abnormal looks and kindness that was so unheard of these days. “Thank you for at least putting up with a… no-good Salamander like…me.” Nash let himself be consumed by sleep, while Azusa watched with sad eyes. She sighed and quietly left the room.

That night, Azusa stared at the wall while sitting on the sofa, thinking about anything. Everything. About the little Salamander boy in the next room with nowhere to go. About the promises, she had made to herself. It was then that there was a faint knock at the front door, almost inaudible due to the storm.

Azusa took a deep breath before going to the door. She looked over her shoulder at the bedroom where Nash was, then she opened up to a man in a winter robe with a staff in one hand and a large bag in the other. He was shivering in his boots and playfully glared at Azusa as his bottom lip quivered.

“What took you so long? It's f-freezing out here...”