Magical Warriors of Silvatica

This creature was full of confusions and hypocrisies. He told Padma that she shouldn't let others dictate her life or talk her into doing anything, he even said not to listen to him - and then it continued to cajole her into coming with him. He was untrustworthy, but like a spider he had spun his web around her. "Well..." Padma reached her hand out slowly, but kept it a few inches from Foo's. She was clearly still torn. Her father's voice shouted to her from just outside the door, frightening her and making her lurch forward, where her hand touched Foo's.

"N-no! Wait!" Padma begged, but it was already too late. The light was dizzying, and the girl shielded her eyes with her arms. Suddenly she lurched forward, and threw her arms down to steady herself. "Ah!" A rush of wind and the sun on her back. They were high, so high above the ground. Padma screamed briefly, not just at the height but at the huge beast beneath her. Was this Foo? Of course he could also become giant and fly, why had she expected any less of this strange creature. She was so full of emotions right now - fear, sadness at leaving her family, fear, anger at Foo for taking her, fear, but also... Exultation. She was free and she was going beyond anywhere she'd ever gone before. Ahead of them, the grand Alborz stretched high into the sky, dominated by the mighty Tochal mountain. Padma had never seen beyond these before, until suddenly they were over them and looking down onto the metropolis of Tehran. A city of concrete, glass, and heights. It was breathtaking.

Padma shielded her eyes again, and in her blindness she was greeted by a salty scent. And a sound, above the whooshing of the wind, a different sort of rushing sound that was somehow deeper and more alive than the wind. She uncovered her face and looked down into the vast blue sea beneath them. In all her life, Padma had never seen this much water. From a distance, once, when she was very young, she saw the shores of the Caspian Sea, but never anything like this. It took her breath away. To think that there was this much water in the world... Ahead, an island covered in more greenery than she'd also ever seen. What wondrous place was this?

Padma was thrust into this new world so violently that she had no time to absorb the fact that she was on the other side of the world. But this sand... It was whiter than the yellow sands she grew up in, but it was familiar. Her feet sunk in just the same. But then there was water as far as the eye could see. It was incredible! Padma's eyes streamed with wonder and joy. She couldn't stop staring at it.

Padma was only half listening to what Foo was saying. "Yes, hmm, of course," she murmured. Around her on the beach were people who were nearly naked. Padma had never seen so much skin in all her life! She didn't even really look at herself when she bathed, though that was rare in her desert village. Yet she couldn't help staring at the people who stared back at her, admiring the big bodies of the men and the boldness of the women. Some of them had beautifully pale skin, like clouds, and some had hair as yellow as the sun. What were these strange creatures?

Padma nearly jumped out of her skin when the boy brushed past her. "Ah! Oh, forgive me brother," she said, averting her gaze and bowing her head like she was preparing to be hit. But the boy with his strange language and sun-tarnished skin was gone before he could scold her for daring to touch a man. She stared after him, admiring how his brown hair had a few streaks of gold running through it. It didn't sink in that he had noticed Foo until Foo pointed it out. "Huh? He did notice you!" she realised.

"Hm, yes," Padma murmured, watching the shadow following the boy. She was distracted by the water again, and without thinking, she kicked off her sandals and waded into the shallows. Ooh, the water was just the right temperature, not warm or cold. Padma sighed with content. She wondered what the boy was doing on that long wooden board.

Padma yelped as she was dragged away. "I-I do not know!" she confessed. "I have never seen this much water before!" She assumed that nothing lived underwater due to her own ignorance. Guess that was wrong.

"I... I... What?!" Focus on the shard? Power? Foo had an awful habit of springing things on Padma and hoping she'd react straight away, and they'd only just gotten to this world of water and white sand. But the boy on the board, he needed help. Padma was already out of favour for running away from her family, she had to do right by someone else now. So she did as Foo said, and focused all of her thought on the crystal lump on her forehead. It was easy, she just breathed slowly and imagined she was praying...

Padma was entranced by the beautiful blue abaya that she now wore, but then was horrified to see that it had a slit all the way up the middle to her abdomen, and her sleeves were merely long flaps over her arms that blew back to reveal her bare skin. It was paler than might have been expected for a Persian girl, but that was because she'd been good in covering herself all her life. At least her hair was covered by a loose hood, but Padma felt most exposed in the strange shiny black boots that clung all the way up her legs. She felt powerful, of course, but also vulnerable. "F-Fooooooo!" she whined.

"Can't we just save the boy?" Padma asked. Foo was big enough to carry the boy on his back too. Padma didn't like the idea of hurting something, even if it was scary to look at and about to hurt another human being.

Padma looked tormented by this. On the one hand, a human's life was superior to an animal's, on the other she hadn't ever hurt something before. The killing of goats and chickens for food had always upset her. Not to mention, this creature was quite frightening. "I cannot swim," she protested once more. They were out over the water now. Padma didn't even understand the concept of swimming.

This was totally ridiculous... But Padma would not be favoured by Allah if she did not do right by this innocent young man. Sighing, Padma reluctantly slid off Foo's back and plummeted towards the creature. She screwed her eyes shut at the last minute, realising that she might get hurt and drown from this. She felt her body moving without her instructing it to, and when she'd opened her eyes she was back on Foo's back. Little did she know that when she got near the creature, she'd executed a perfect kick to the back of its neck, with an odd formation of water pooling around her leg and giving extra power to her kick. The beast was pushed deep underwater from her kick, and she had sailed gracefully back up onto Foo's back. "Eh?" Padma looked at Foo in confusion.