The Meaning Behind the Ink

~by Renee~

I know that to most of the people in Menth, I seem to be some kind of freak. I refuse to go along with the way of life here, I want my destiny to be different. It's not that I hate my land; I wish that I could do something to make things better for all my fellow Menthians. I have no animosity towards my parents or authority figures or any of those classic traits of rebellion. I just don't fit in. It's as simple as that.

My name is Rio Tejkenia, quite a mouthful, I know. I suppose I should describe myself so you can picture me in your mind. I am almost eighteen years old, with long, thick, ebony hair and bright green eyes. My friend Nico says that my eyes remind him of water in a spring he once saw on one of his journeys. Now you may think that having your eyes compared to green water isn't much of a compliment, but Nico has assured me that it was a magic spring and the green color was not murky or dirty, but rather like a peridot jewel. That sounds pretty to me.

I'm not very tall or thin; I'm what you would call average. My body does stand out in one way, however, namely the tattoos that cover it. I know that in some lands there are those who mark their skin with ink, to signify their clans or achievements. Do my tattoos tell a story? Well, when I first decided I wanted them, I didn't think they had to. I just liked the way they looked. I had seen Nico's many tattoos and wanted some of my own.

"My dear, Rio," he had informed me, 'you can't just get inked because you think something looks interesting. It has to have some meaning. There has to be heart behind the symbols permanently etched into your body."

Nico is my mentor, you see. My brother married his sister, which is how we met. My brother, Albert, is a coal miner, just like most of the men in Menth. Nico's sister Sara was perfectly content to be a coal miner's wife and live a life of love, yes, but definite poverty. Nico, on the other hand, was different. Rather than becoming a coal miner, he used his flair for art to learn how to become a tattoo artist. At the age of eighteen he left Menth to travel the world, making a living doing tattoos in all kinds of interesting places. He came back to Menth twenty years later for Albert and Sara's wedding, that was when I met him. From the beginning Nico could tell I was different, just by the unusually colorful dress I wore to the wedding three years ago.

"Any woman who wears a fuchsia hued gown to an affair in such a drab land as Menth has to have extreme creativity flowing through her blood." I was shocked that Nico recognized the color of my dress as fuchsia, as well as acknowledging that I was an artist myself.

"I saved up for months to have the material sent. Mum helped me sew it, but the design is all mine."

From that moment on, Nico and I were inseparable. He decided to stay in Menth so that he could teach me all he knew about the world and about art. If he wasn't so much older than me, perhaps we would have married. As it was, he became an older brother figure, and the best teacher I had ever known.

That's why when I turn eighteen in a few weeks; I too am planning to travel the world as a "Tattooist for Hire." Nico has already given me a gift of my own needles and ink that he made himself from berries, flowers, and roots that he has imported into our land. He taught me how to make ink as well, but with all his experience, Nico's is much brighter than mine. Nico also gave me a bag filled with silver coins, which I think is too generous a gift, but he insisted that I will need it. "I wish someone could have given me some money to get me started," Nico admitted to me. "My parents couldn't do it, though, they were too poor. Rio, I have more money than even my own family knows about. If you follow your heart and tattoo with your soul, you too will have a lucrative life, both spiritually and financially."

Which leads me to the story of my first tattoo, the one that has such profound meaning behind it.

On the outside of my right calf is a pair of green eyes. Not crystal green like mine, these are dark like emeralds, almost black. They could almost be mistaken for cat's eyes, but these are human. At least, I think they are. Around the eyes is a huge lick of fire, brilliant red, orange, and yellow. The eyes do not burn in the pyre, rather it seems that the flame comes from the eyes.

Flame. I think that is her name, but I'll probably never know for sure.

She saved my father, Jerry Tejkenia, a typical coal miner, a big, jolly man with grey hair and a grey beard. I think of my father all the time. He has died now, but once the Flame saved his life.

There was a collapse at the mine not long after my brother got married. Most of the Menthian men were there. Thankfully, Albert was honeymooning, but my father was there. A messenger rode through the streets, calling out to the women and children, "The mine has fallen, collapse! Collapse!" We all dashed to the border of Menth, the mountainous wall where the coal came from. Coal that we sold to other lands as fuel, coal that was turned into diamonds for the rich and powerful. Coal that was turning into the Grim Reaper for our people.

There weren't supposed to be any outsiders in Menth that day. I don't know where the Flame came from or what she was doing there. I just remember holding my mother and crying when at last they pulled my father from the debris. "Jerry's going to die!" Mum kept screaming. "He's going to die!"

And then she was there, that woman on a horse. Her red hair like a sunset, highlighted in gold. She was a Cucurullo; I knew this because of something in my family's past. I knew that she would save my father.

She looked down at him, I remember, as if she expected him to speak to her. As if he had something she wanted. And then everything got hazy. I thought it was because of my tears, but no, it was magic!

When my sight cleared, my father was fine. Mum was hugging and kissing him. Eventually all the miners were saved, it was truly a miraculous day.

I did get to speak to the Flame before she moved on. She began riding away on her horse, with her caravan. Though I sensed something foreboding about her, I had to thank this mysterious woman.

"You saved my father, I am forever in your debt," I cried out to her. She halted her horse and held up a hand so that her caravan would do the same.

She looked over her shoulder at me, as if to see if I was worthy of addressing. "You owe me nothing. This is not exactly what I have intended, but things rarely turn out the way we plan."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I admitted, "but things have turned out well here." Meeting her gaze as boldly as I could, I added, "I know what you are. I know that not many people would be happy to see you riding through their town. I, however, am glad that you chose today to ride through mine."

I don't know if the smile she gave me was patronizing, I don't know if her words were sincere. She spoke to me one last time, though. "I am not one to give of my services freely. There was much magic used here today, some will linger with you. Someday you will use it to repay this debt to me." She raised her sword. "Now be off before I decide to use more than just magic on your people."

The Flame rode off. I ran back to the Menthians that were celebrating life instead of black, angry death.

The next day I went to Nico and explained what I wanted as my first tattoo. He listened silently and inked my leg without making a comment. I know he was worried about me having a connection to the Flame, but Nico is not the type to pass judgment and he let it go.

I got many tattoos since then, my favorite kind of flower, which is the purple dragon heart, a design on my lower back that depicts Aquarius, the zodiac sign I was born under, as well as the most recent tattoo, my father's name in a gravestone on my left hip. The coal mountains finally did take him a week ago; he died of black dust poisoning.

I think that's one of the reasons I know it's time for me to leave Menth and make my way in the world. Things aren't meant to be romantic between Nico and I, but I do dream of finding a man who will love me. Who will understand me the way none of the men around my age in Menth do.

And the Flame. I still have a debt to pay. You see, ever since the day she saved my father, I have had healers magic. It's not as strong as some, but I think I may be able to learn to cultivate it. Also, my ears can pick up on sounds and conversations from rooms and miles away. It doesn't happen all the time, but this is another gift I know came from the fiery-haired woman.

I have a debt to pay, and a wish I long to have granted. I want to find her; I want to learn from her. I yearn to know the Flame, just as I learn to know my own destiny, my own place in the world.

And so I shall leave in a few weeks. Nico has given me a map and a good idea of where to begin my adventure. There is a town not too far from Menth that is always bustling with action and activity. A town called Ashby…

The End

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