The Shadow of Beauty

Ch 30: Apology

Two hundred years ago...

"Sit down gently. Hold still. Don't make any quick movements. Be very quiet."

Those are the things Kendrick's father told him to do if he wanted humans to not be afraid of him. He repeated them as almost a mantra in his mind.

The young giant was hiding in the trees near a human village. On the outskirts of the small settlement, he could see a group of human children playing with a ball, kicking it and chasing after it. Their excited shouts and brief squeals of delight rang out over the bustle of their darting movements in pursuit of the shared toy.

Kendrick watched the children with fascination but also longing. He wanted to play with them. He wanted to share in their fun. In his short seventy years of life (by giant standards) he'd never had anyone to play with except for his father. But, despite his father's doting parentage, the longing for a playmate his own age still pulled at his young hearts. There weren't any other giants to play with and as such Kendrick had to play on his own and make up his own games. There were some friendly gnomes in the woods but they worked and lived underground most of the time and the only ones who visited his father were older and not Kendrick's age respectively. Human children were the closest thing he wanted for a playmate.

The problem was...humans were afraid of him.

He'd tried to be friendly and approach some, but they always ran away from him and hid. The last time he'd actually gotten shot with some arrows in his arm. They stung and he couldn't understand why they'd done that to him. When he asked his father about it, he told him what he did wrong. His approach was too fast and too forceful. If he wanted to be non-threatening and not scare the humans he needed to be quiet, move slowly or not at all, and never pick up or touch them unless they allowed it. However, his father also told him not to bother the humans and not go near their settlements. Young Kendrick didn't obey the latter. He was far too eager to see if his father's suggestions would work.

Silent and still he hid behind some thick bushes and trees as he sat and watched the group of human children play with their ball. Thus far no one had seen him. But then the game veered away from the village when someone kicked the ball extra hard. The leather toy rolled closer to the trees where Kendrick was hiding. Two boys ran to control it and in their struggle kicked the ball up off the ground and into a tree. Unfortunately, the ball found a nice spot in the fork of a branch to lodge itself. Several groans of disappointment and arguing about whose fault it was chorused from the group of children.

Kendrick peeked around the branches and noticed the toy above his sitting eye level. With very slow movements he reached up and plucked the ball from its perch. He held it between his fingers like a large marble for a moment before he gently tossed it back out to the group of children.

They were still arguing about who was going to go get the ball when it "magically" returned to them. They all stared at the toy with bewilderment. One little boy picked up the ball and held it for a moment before experimentally tossing it over the forest bushes and unknowingly back to Kendrick.

A smile formed on the young giant's face when the toy came back to him.

Were they...were they playing with him? Was this working?

He plucked up the ball and tossed it out of the woods into the clearing again. The children stared at the returned ball; a mix of uncertainty and wonder written on their faces. Some of them came closer to the trees, trying to see what was tossing their ball back while a couple ran back into the village. Another child picked up the ball and once again threw it into the trees. It was promptly tossed back.

The children acted like they wanted to go through the thick brush and into the trees to see what was tossing their ball back, but apparently they were forbidden from entering the forest as they seemed to be debating verbally about disobeying. But one particularly bold boy pushed through the bushes.