ELM402: Flore

Rym stared at the golem creature that was assigned as her 'partner'. She put her gloved hands on her knees and bent down to take a closer look. Despite being a monster of some sort, it was quite cute.

"Hello," Rym greeted it. "Please be fair to me." The golem stared at the elemental for a few moments with its dark red eyes. The pulsation of the lava that kept the monster together could be seen flowing through the earth of the creature if one looked closely. Rym continued to wait for some type of response, perhaps from the aura that she was suppose to be sensing. "Hello?" she repeated again.

In a split second, the golem screamed a nice F sharp pitch. Rym didn't have large ears like her brothers, but it still pierced her ears like a spear and her head turned away in an attempt to lessen the pain. With her eyes away, the creature made its escape. "Hey! Wait!" She couldn't let it get away.

At first, Rym ran after the creature, but then slowed her excursion to a slow stride. Maybe this was suppose to happen. The assignment was to get used to sensing the electric aura of the partner. A tingling feeling in her fingers was her main detector. When it was strong, or sometimes even created sparks on the tips of her nails, Rym assumed the golem was close. If she traveled in the wrong direction, an apparent absence of the electric current would disappear. This took her through several hallways and areas all throughout Otherworlde. Once or twice she ended up in the library and got distracted; other times the cafeteria would enter her path, forcing her to socialize a little with students she barely knew. The sparks even took her to the basement where Rym was caught in a terrible flood. Being earth, she wasn't good at swimming and escaping was quite difficult. Where was this creature going?

Just on the outskirts of the forbidden woods, the earth creature was lying in a quite meadow. It resembled a dog very much as it rested in the medium height grass. The monster rolled around on his back and frequently snapped at the blades protruding from the ground. Also like an instinctive animal, faint sounds both loud and soft would make it suddenly alert. The one that was most attention grabbing to the creature was the sound of footsteps.

"A ha!" It was the successful voice of Rym. "I finally found you!" The golem turned its head at the sight of the gray girl. Rym thought at first it was to run away, but instead it held its ground. It carried a puzzled face which soon turned into a gullible smile. Rym couldn't help but smile too.

"Good, now come." The creature obeyed and ran happily over to the elemental, into her arms. It arrived quickly to its designation with its quick short strides. Rym picked it and held her partner in her arms like it was a baby of some sort.

"Hello," she said once again. "Now, lets try to get along shall we. We need each other for this assignment. Ok?" The monster nodded, and even let its tongue stick out in satisfaction. Some saliva in the form of lava dripped from the golems mouth. It fell on Rym's gray skin and burnt her a little. "Ow!"

Instantly, she dropped the creature back to the ground to examine her arm. Her partner promptly fell on to the ground, but landed on its feet. It ran around Rym, probably thinking it was pretty funny that she got injured. As an elemental, she healed pretty quickly and was able to adress the golem immediately after wards. "Now, that wasn't very nice you know." The golem gave a face with sad dropping eyes. it was like exactly like a dog or even a child being reprimanded for wrong doing.

Rym sighed and smiled at the creature. "But that's ok. Just be more careful next time." It nodded at her and continued around in circles to show its delighted. "Now who wants to go on a walk?" For the second time, the golem made a sound. This time it was a mix between a dog bark and that of roaring dragon. The sound fit it perfectly.

Perhaps the elementalism teacher would allow her to keep it was a pet after this assignment. She wouldn't mind it. It would be to say a great graduation present. Rym smiled at the creature and patted it gently on the head.

"Let's go...um..." The elemental realized that the golem didn't have a name. She couldn't just call it Golem, as it seemed quite unoriginal. "Mm..." Rym tapped her chin with her pointer finger. The creature barked again and moved in excitement. "You know what I'm thinking?" It sounded again, showing that it understood. "Then help me, won't you partner? Let's pick a name for you."

Instead of a howl of agreement, there was a slight whimper of depression. The monster laid down on all fours and covered his head with its front paws. "Huh? What's wrong boy?" A growl this time was the response. What was wrong with it? It's expressions helped, but Rym also sensed again that electric aura. It had a sparked feel of rebuttal. "Uh... What the matter... girl?" The happy bark returned in reaction. Rym also felt the tense aura lighten up a bit. "Oh, ok, so you're a girl. I apologize. I didn't know."

As she was standing the whole time, the elemental decided to take a seat on the lush grass closer to the creature. The monster smiled and panted in excitement. Lava dripped from her mouth and charred the grass, but didn't spread over the area to cause flame. "Ok, girl, now back to giving you a name." Another growl was released. There was something about 'giving a name' that didn't set to well with her. "Mm... do you already have a name perhaps?" A better reaction this time. The creature nodded and jumped up and down, thrilled that Rym seemed to understand. Rym was also pretty enthusiastic that she had guessed right. The elemental was usually never good at reading people, but this time she seemed perfectly well at it. Reading aura was slowly becoming more and more easier for her.

"Ok, now, how am I going to learn your name? You can't talk, but you know what I'm saying. Perhaps I can go through the alphabet. Yes, yes, that seems good. And when I hit a correct letter, you bark ok? I'll keep this pattern until we've spelled something. How does that sound?" The golem was not listening at all to Rym it seemed. Instead, she was promptly digging a nice whole for pit of lava drool that was accumulating. Rym sighed. She was going to be a handful.

Suddenly, the creature gave a loud roar resembling closer to her dragon roots. Rym covered her ears, the sound as deafening as the first screech. Then, the golem began running wildly through the lava trowel. The red substance caught on her paws as she sprinted through the grass, burning it black. "Ah! Wait! You'll ruin the whole meadow!" Meadows and grass fields, wild plants and domestic flowers were Rym's passion, and her partner was messing with it right before her eyes. And not only was one of her prides and joys being ruined, but also she could get in big trouble with the school administration for destroying school grounds!

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" Finally, the creature came to a halt and ceased to move in it's tracks. Quickly, Rym ran over and picked her up to make sure she stop running any more. The lava residue on the paws of the monster burned Rym a little, but it didn't matter. The flowers had to be saved. "What were you thinking?" Rym reprimanded the creature. "Look at all the wild flowers you burned? The grass that you charred? Why would you do that? Nature is precious and should be cherished, not destroyed!"

The golem only looked up at Rym's dark eyes with a dumb grin on her face. A sigh escaped the elemental. Her 'partner' was going to be more trouble than expect. "Let's go back to my room..."

Rym watched herself in the mirror of her room as she brushed her damp hair. It was only evening, but Rym insisted herself to take a shower. After the events earlier, the elemental was left with dark burns on her skin. They didn't hurt, and looked no more than minor injuries, but they made her feel quite dirty. The only way to rid of them though was to take a shower, which Rym did.

During that time, her partner slept quietly and peaceful on her bed. A few times, the golem would roll around, but soon return to it's resting state. The creature had been through a lot today, so her exhaustion was no surprise to Rym. But why on her bed? Rym had made a nice blanket seating just next to it with extra sheets and a blanket or two she had. It looked comfy enough, but the golem however insisted to sleep on Rym's bed.

Once her hair was combed through, Rym went to the side of her. Gently not to wake her, Rym petted the head of the earth creature. The golem's aura warmed up a little, enjoying the soft touch of the gray skinned girl. A smile eased onto the elemental's face at the sleeping figure. Slowly, not to disturb, Rym arose from her sitting position to head to the window.

Ironically, the meadow they were in previously was placed right outside the student's window. Rym both wanted to see and avoid the damage that the earth monster had done. Eventually, she decided to see how bad the damage was and estimate in her mind how much trouble she might get. The view was, or once was, a beautiful view of the grass land.

Previously, the whole area was shrouded in flowers off all different types. A few times, Rym remembered now, she would go out to those fields and pick some of the wild beauties that were there. However, Rym would not see that sight any longer it seemed. But when she looked through her bedroom window she was pleasantly surprised.

Flowers, thousands of them, had bloomed over the charred and blackened spots of the field. Blossoms of reds, violets, marigolds, and pearl whites had taken the place of the once dead areas. The sight was amazing to this fact and another. The newly grown plants had formed something, a tracing of what her partner had burned into the meadow.

"Flore," Rym read the image out loud. Once again, a smile formed on the elemental's face. "So that's what she was trying to do, or should I say tell me. Smart little thing." Rym turned to look at her partner once again. She had not moved at all since the last time Rym glanced over. "Flore. It means flower in Italian. And that is your name. I think, we'll get along wonderfully." And as if on time, Flore grinned also.