Tamah

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As I listened to Mirai talk, one thing struck me that made me both uncomfortable and sad. She knew all there was to know about me, but I still knew fairly little about her.

I knew she cared for me. Cared so much that I could trust her with my life. From the different things we'd done together, I knew she had a childish side. Not one that made her immature, but one that made her playful like a child. Today was enough proof of that. And now I knew she was both a witch and a flagae.

But other than those three things, I knew nothing. All that we had done had been focused on me. She had tried to come up with things for us to do that she thought would help me in different ways.

I needed that changed.

"Can you tell me something about yourself?" I asked her and watched as her eyebrows creased.

"Like what?"

"Anything."

"Well..." She looked to the side and I could see her eyes fogging up again. I stretched out a hand to her. Had she planned on seeing what my reaction would be to different things she could tell me? I didn't want that. I wanted her to be the focus. Wanted her to tell me something she wanted me to know, not because it would make me laugh or similar, but because it was important to her. I wanted to know her properly and make sure she knew she could rely on me when she needed to.

My touch did what I had hoped. Her eyes cleared and she looked back at me.

"The first thing that comes to mind," I said.

She moved a hand up and rearranged her hair to lie over one of her shoulders.

"I've only ever had two friends," she said in a voice that was much quieter and softer than usual. "Most never liked me. Or were jealous. Our Priestess spent a lot of time trying to make me better at using my sight. And a lot want her attention, want to gain more benefits and whatever. So they were jealous and never liked me because, in their eyes, she favored me. And I guess she did in the beginning until I had disappointed her too many times. But at that point, they had disliked me long enough that it was second nature."

She gave me half a smile that quickly dimmed. I wanted to comfort her somehow, but, not knowing how, I simply reached forward my hand again and squeezed hers. The smile returned and stayed.

"It's okay," she said. "Like I said, I have two friends, and they are the best friends I could have ever asked for. Richmond and Redmond. Both are shifters. Richmond is a panther shifter and Redmond a lynx shifter. They are more than friends, really. More like protective, older brothers."

Her eyes shone as she spoke of them. The sun made the ocean glitter and the birds sung in the forest.

"Can you show me?" I asked.

Her eyes widened a bit, but then her smile grew. "Of course."

She turned her hand over, to hold my hand that rested on hers. Then she closed her eyes and I followed.

Quickly, the vision took over my mind. The place was a lawn outside of a fancy-looking house. Mirai walked with two men next to her, one with skin in a similar color as mine, which I somehow knew was Richmond, and the other had pale skin, which then had to be Redmond. She was a bit younger, but it couldn't have been that long ago. She was as tall as now, it was just that her features were more child-like. She looked as pretty as always though and I smiled to myself, happy over getting a chance to see her when she had been younger.

"Look who it is! Our precious little freak-eye," a female voice said. It came from a blonde girl who stood a bit away from where Mirai walked. Around her were others who sniggered at her words. I already knew all of them were horrible people with poor taste. How dared they insult the most beautiful eyes that had ever existed?

"Should we bow down to you? Maybe pledge our loyalty?" she continued.

"Ignore her," Richmond whispered to Mirai.

"Though what's the point? She can't do a thing right. Considering how useless she is, it would have been better for her to not even have been born."

I wanted to storm over to her and beat her up. But I couldn't since it was a vision, and even if I could have, I wouldn't have had time.

Redmond had rushed over and stood towering over the girl. The girl's breathing hitched, and she took a step back.

"I dare you to say that again," Redmond snarled through clenched teeth.

"I... I..." the girl stammered, but nothing more came out.

"I thought so," he huffed. "All bark, but no bite. You're making all dogs feel shame. You'll regret being born if you ever say that again."

He then turned around and walked back to where Mirai stood with Richmond, who had pulled her close to him with an arm around her shoulders.

The scene dissolved and I looked back at Mirai.

"He should have hit her," I mumbled, and Mirai laughed softly.

"Most of the time they'd tell me to ignore it," she then said and shrugged. "And I did, for the most part. But as soon as someone became too nasty, they'd never hesitate to defend me."

"I hope I get to meet them one day," I told her.

"You will," she smiled.

It was just a little of all the things I wanted her to tell me, but even so, all felt better than it had moments ago. Somehow it felt like we were more even. Not like she held me up towards the sky, but that we held hands as we walked up there together.

"Let's finish the cotton candy now so we can go on more rides!" Mirai exclaimed next and I obliged. Happy and excited to try all the different rides there were.

When the cotton candy was finished, Mirai had obviously decided what ride we would go on next. She took hold of my hand and led the way through the park.

A big wheel towered before us. The wheel itself was white, but at even intervals hung boxes in different colors. It spun at a rather slow pace and came to a halt as we reached it.

Mirai skipped forwards and opened the door to the orange box that hung for us to step into.

"Ladies first," she said and did a little bow. I giggled slightly as I stepped inside.

When both of us were seated and the door closed, the wheel started turning again.

"This ride is more just to see the view," Mirai explained. "It usually stops at some point so you can get a proper look. Wouldn't surprise me if it stops when we're at the top."

I nodded and looked out. At first, I mainly saw the rest of the park. It was much larger than I had imagined, and I doubted we'd be able to go on every ride that day. But as the box rose higher and higher, I could see past the park.

When we reached the top, it stopped, just like Mirai had predicted. While it had moved, I hadn't dared to get out of my seat. But I couldn't resist now that we stood still.

The view was absolutely breathtaking. So much nature. Green grass, a field of flowers in all colors, a forest, the glittering ocean. I could even see a mountain in the distance. This world truly was magnificent and seemed to have to end.