Library of Rain

A Meeting in the Rain

When Rain went on a quest to find presents for Lucus and Ise, as well as plant her new fourth bound coin, she didn’t expect to get stranded. Yet here she was. 

She had already bought a super cool-looking dagger for Lucus with a wire-wrapped hilt and mottled bronze blade and was searching for a gift for Ise when it started to rain. Far from bothering her, the rain had made the shopping even more exciting - that is, until the water started collecting into channels carved into the street and rushing down the city. 

Now, every time she came across one of the rapidly moving streams, it got hard for her to breathe, and her heart started pounding; she could feel the water all around her crushing her and pulling her down as she drowned in the waterways under the city.  

The water wasn’t enough to stop Rain, but it sure killed the fun of buying presents for her family. Every time she came across one of those evil things, it took her a few minutes to gather the courage to cross, and when she did, her shallow breathing and pounding heart made her feel like she was going to pass out. 

By the third crossing, not all the water on her face came from the rain, a fact that Lon found amusing as he mocked her for her fear.

Rain was close to yet another stream and wishing that whoever she could feel following her would leave so she could just warp home, when she heard a voice in her head.

“Goddess! Goddess, please wait!”

Rain backed away from the stream and looked around for the caller.

Running down the street was a small - boy? - in a pretty blue skirt. He was maybe a few years older than Rain, with red shoulder-length hair. The boy splashed right through the small stream and came straight toward Rain. 

What was going on? No one ever came near Rain if they could avoid her. 

“Are you Rain?” the boy panted, placing his hands on his knees. 

That caught Rain’s attention. Most people in the Crown Ring who knew about her, knew her as Raina due to Lady Estom.

“Yes, what do you want?” Rain asked, folding her arms and getting ready to act if something happened. 

“I need you to save my family!”

It was the same voice that called her goddess, and it wasn’t coming from the boy in front of her. 

Rain put her back to a wall and looked around for the other person. Was she being attacked? She couldn’t think of another reason that people would track her down. Was this because of Svend? 

“Sorry to run you down. Swift-tail got excited when he heard a shopkeeper thinking about a creepy little girl.”

Rain didn’t know what that meant other than that she was pretty sure she was being called creepy again. Still, the boy had been telling the truth and didn’t seem hostile. 

“Who’s Swift-tail?”

The boy looked confused at that. 

“He’s the uffter who's been looking for you.”

Now, Rain was the one who was confused. 

“You helped my mama evolve.” 

Evolve: that happened when some people read her books like Mr. Mirage and Ms. Wer. Rain’s eyes widened as she realized what an evolved uffter meant. 

“Are you here to get back at me for what I did?”

“What? No! I need you to save my family.”

That wasn’t what Rain would have expected. But if they were in trouble, then Rain owed it to them to help. 

“Do we need to go right now, or can it wait until tonight?”

“Yes, tonight! We don’t want that person who is following you to see.”

“Wait! You can tell someone is following me?”

“I could feel you worrying about it, so I looked for someone watching. I can feel their mind, but they’re too strong for me to read it from here.”

Rain was shocked by that, this uffter could read minds! Already dozens of uses for that power were running through Rain’s head. Was this how she could hear him without actually hearing him? 

“You find out the creatures you experimented on are able to think, and instead of apologizing to them, you think of how to use them. You never cease to disgust me, Rain.”

Rain winced at Lon’s rebuke. 

“I’ll help you tonight, but first, who are you?” Rain asked, looking at the boy in a dress. 

“I’m Runt. Swift-tail is my partner,” Runt said with a puffed-out chest.

“Okay.” 

Rain wasn’t really sure what to make of that, but he wasn’t a liar, and he didn’t seem to be a bad guy.

“Can you help me with something, Runt?” Rain asked while kicking the ground. 

“Men like me are always supposed to help girls in need.”

Rain didn’t quite get why he was bragging about being a man while he was dressed like a girl, but as long as he was willing to help, that was fine. 

“Can you help me get home then?”

“Why do you need help getting home?” 

Runt sounded completely baffled by the request.

“The running water… It… scares me. If you hold my hand, I won’t be so scared when I step over.”

Rain couldn’t force herself to look up; she could feel her ears going red from embarrassment. She was an evil black classer who worked with the princes of darkness. She was so creepy and scary that others avoided her, yet here she was, asking a stranger for help because she was afraid of running water.

“Swift-tail says I gotta do it, so okay. Give me your hand.”

Rain stuck out her hand, still too ashamed to look up. That didn’t stop her from noting that Swift-tail was only talking to one of them at a time. 

When a warm hand wrapped around hers, it broke her out of her downward thoughts. This boy was the fourth person to ever hold Rain’s hand; there was Ise, Lucus, Ms. White, and now Runt.

She hadn’t thought about what she was asking him to do because she was so focused on getting home.

Rain looked up at Runt and didn’t see any of the repulsion most people had around her. 

“Are you not bothered by being around me?”

“Nope. Swift-tail says you’re a good person.”

That wasn’t the response Rain was expecting. Rain was a bad person; she hurt people, and she’d experimented on Swift-tails Mama. If he could read minds, he should know that. So why would he mislead Runt like this?

“Are these the things you’re afraid of crossing?”

Rain nodded.

“Okay. I’ll jump across and hold your hand while you cross.”

And just like that, Runt stepped over the rushing water while holding Rain’s hand. 

Rain couldn’t ease her vicelike grip on his hand as she lept over the foot-and-a-half-wide stream. 

That had been a lot easier than crossing them on her own. 

“Thanks.”

“Of course, it's a man's duty to help girls out.”

The two of them walked silently for a while, repeating their routine for crossing whenever a stream got in the way until Rain couldn’t take the silence any longer. She wanted to be friends with Runt.

“Um, I think your dress is cute.”

For some reason, Runt didn’t seem happy about the compliment. His face got all red.

“Stop making fun of my human.”

But she wasn’t. Rain wished people would call her cute. Why did Swift-tail think she was making fun of Runt?

“I’m not making fun of you; it's a really pretty blue dress. I wish I had one like that.”

Rain batted away a tendril from her cloak that started reaching out to eat Runt's dress at her words.

“Goddess, Lady Wervle makes him wear girly clothes. He’s very sensitive about the topic. Personally, I think more fur is better, but he doesn’t.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to be mean!”

“What did you expect? You’re a horrible person who only knows how to hurt people.” Lon muttered from the side.

Rain needed to make this up to Runt. How could she be mean to someone who was nice to her? She fought to ignore the part of her that enjoyed seeing his ears turn red. Maybe she should tell him he has a pretty face? Nope, bad Rain.

Runt was silent for a long time until Rain heard him muttering under his breath.

“I’ll grow a beard; no one can call me girly then.”

Hearing that immediately sent Rain’s mind to war over whether she should try to comfort him or make him blush more. Before Rain could make another mistake, they arrived at the gates of Estom Manor. 

“Take this.” Rain said, pressing the old coin she had been planning to hide in the Crown Ring into Runt’s hands. “find an empty room to hide in tonight and put this coin on the floor. I’ll come visit you.”

“Ya, okay.” Runt said, looking a little off.

Rain regretted embarrassing the boy when he’d helped her so much. She needed to be better. Still, it had been fun seeing him go red.

Runt took the coin and walked away without another word.

“Thank you for saving me.” Rain called to his retreating back. She was happy to see him stand a little straighter after that.

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