A missing Brat [open]

Flora brushed back her long blond hair. She hated helping out in the kitchen so she decided to sneak out while the worker observing the girls was distracted flirting with one the riders. She would never notice the girl leaving. She’d probably flirt with the rider for hours before she noticed that flora wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. She might just figure that the girl had  went home.

After all flora had no family so there was nobody to be worried about her or to wonder where she was or even to check up on her. Her mother was gone and she was never claimed by a father.  So she felt safe enough leaving unnoticed.  She slide threw door and out to the woods using a secret path only small enough for a child to pass through. She won't be able to use this path to much longer though she was growing up. Soon she'll be old enough to be a candidate soon enough she only had to wait till she was older.

She found herself in the deserted part of the woods not knowing how long she wandered and explored her home. She looked around and found another path this one a bit bigger than the ones she used and decided to explore that. Soon though she found that she was lost and didn't know how to get back. But she wasn't scared not yet but as she though more about it she realized that no one would miss her and she was very much on her own lost and alone.

She tried not to cry as she continued to try and find her way back to the weyr.  She didn’t know what else to do except to keep trying to figure out how to get back. She couldn’t just sit around and wait for someone to find her. No she wasn’t that type of girl to just curl up and give up. She was adventurous and now she was on an adventure. She really didn’t know where it was going to lead and if she was going to survive well only time would tell.

She looked down at her dusty dress and though she saw a shadow upon the ground and looked up quickly straining her eyes to see. Did something fly by overhead?

The lantern in Oahvakeen's hand was as heavy as his conscience as he tried to assure himself that he was doing the right thing. Silently, he trekked through the woods, making note of the tree arrangements and the canopy above. He told himself that at the end of the day, he'd make a little cot for himself in one of the canopies, enough to rest in for the night. The night he'd run away, he'd come here, rest, and then continue running more in the morning. That was the plan anyways. His feelings and plans had been fickle and tumultuous, and part of him hated his instability.

He didn't hear anything above him worthy of nothing, but he did spot in the distance a small figure. Surely it had to be a woman, by her petite size, come out to spy on him and tattle. If he ran away, the woman would know what he was up to and tattle. But if he acted like he wasn't doing anything wrong... ?

He began to weave through the trees, approaching the figure. As he got closer, he discovered it was not a woman, but a young girl. So much for his paranoia.

"So uh.... why are you so little and what are you doing out here? Are you spying on me?", he tried to keep his voice calm, but nervousness and anxiety  squeaked through it. What if the girl wasn't even old enough to understand and he needed to talk to it like 'gaa-gaa-goo-goo' ? What if he talked to it and it broke? He had no idea how to approach the situation but tried his best.

Flora heard footsteps and saw the light before she saw the man  approaching. She was both nervous and relieved.  Nervous that she could be in trouble for being out so late and away from the safety of home. But relieved that someone found her. But wait it wasn't a rider who found her. He was walking as well and looked like he was here for a little while as well. 

When he asked her why she was so little Flora just blinked up at him for a moment and wondered why he asked such a silly question.  " Umm cause i'm  only12 and I'm not a grown up yet. " The second question was easier to answer "  I got lost I followed a path and now I forgot how to get back.  " she giggled when he asked if she was spying on him. " Umm no am I suppose to? Is it a game it sounds like a fun game ? Did you wanna play since we don't know how to get back? " She smiled up at him. "Do you have anything to eat I'm starting to get hungy and sleepy?" she asked kindof shyly maybe he knew where food was since he's been out here.

"Twelve? That's a grown up. ", he insisted. But she was rather small. Heck, what did he know about kids. Wait, he was calling her a grown up out loud and a kid in his head? Why were children so confusing? He'd just done it again...

"Well, if you followed a path here you should just turn around and follow it right back."

"No, spying is not a game. Don't ever spy on me.", his voice was cold as he leered at the child in a fury. He did not want anyone spying on him, even if he was doing nothing wrong, and especially if he was. Technically he wasn't doing anything wrong by preparing a route to escape the weyr, but he still felt dirty and guilty.

"Hungry and sleepy? Well I guess if you're hungry and sleepy than you should eat and sleep... We could probably walk back to the weyr, but if you're tired than you have to sleep, or else you'll explode or something.", he reasoned to himself out loud.

He switched his lantern to his other hand and used the newly freed one to dig through his pockets. He happened to have a bit of bread and cheese on him, and he withrew a piece of cloth. He sat down and unwrapped it, revealing a fist-sized chunk of cheese and two fists of bread. He held them out for her to take.

Next, he dug in his pocket and brought out a piece of wood. He worked it with his hands and unfolded a five inch blade. He handed that to her, too, handle first. What was Oahvakeen doing giving a little girl a blade sharp enough to cut air at the slightest touch? He simply didn't know any better.

But the other problem still remained, sleeping. If she got to sleep, than he'd sleep too. No sense in denying a good nap. So then he'd have to make a fire and sleeping bags. Could he sew leaves together to make an elaborate cloth? Weave together twigs? No and no.

"No sleeping bags so you'll just have to sleep on the ground."

He set the lantern down and wandered off, disappearing in the darkness.

Flora kindof liked this man. He called her grown up. Everyone she knew either called her to small to do things or that she'd understand when she got older and wouldn't answer her questions. "I've lost the trail. I went to pick some wild flowers I had seen and then I couldn't find the path again. " It was more hard to find the path now that it was getting darker and she didn't have light with her.

Flora shivered when his voice turned cold and  he said spying was not a game and that she better not do it with him. " she yelped softly. She was worried that she upset the man.  She really didn't know him but supposed he was around the weyr cause how else would he of ended up in the same place as her.  But she figured that he wasn't lost.

Flora shyly reached  out and took some the bread and cheese. She sat down on the soft ground. She wasn't that worried about sleeping on the ground but she did worry about animals. " Thank you" She said softly and sweetly.  When he handed her the knife as well.  She held it carefully. She had used knives before so did know how to handle it without cutting herself.

Flora assured him that she could sleep on the ground with a nod of her head. She watched as he went off into the darkness leaving the lantern behind. He was coming back right he wouldn't of left a perfectly good lantern behind.  Specially with a lowly girl child such as herself. All in all he was being super nice to her probably more so then any of the men she had interacted with before.

He didn't say much else, he couldn't think of anything to say. He'd left his lantern behind and gone into the woods. He reappeared with his arms full of things. He set them down near the lantern. He cleared a level spot with his arm, and then set some dried grass from his pile in the center. Next, he removed some big branches from the pile.

"Well, you just going to sit there and stare at me while I do all the work? Aren't you supposed to be full of energy and doing cartwheels, backflips, and bouncing from tree to tree like a demon-child? Come over here and spend some of that energy earning your keep. If I'm going to work to help you spend the night in these woods so you can sleep, then you're going to help me with it."

He snapped off a long branch and handed it to her.

"Did they ever teach you about Earth and Cowboys and Indians? Make a little Teepee with those sticks, so that the grass is inside the Teepee."

He handed her more long branches, now. He turned to the rest of his pile now, various thicknesses of branches and fallen wood. He carefully reviewed each piece, picking off anything green or wet, and tossing it back into the darkness. Some entire pieces he examined, grunted, and tossed, too.

He paused, holding up a particularly large, splintered section of wood.

"Heh, you want to see a weavil? You ever seen em? They only have on eye and lots of legs. Here, look.", he offered her the piece.

Flora smiled  when the young man Oahvakeen came back. She was a bit worried he'd get lost without the light and was thankful that didn't happen. She still had her arms wrapped around her legs and peered up at him as he dropped all the wood and went to work. She wasn't really sure what he was up to. That was till he told her that she should be helping. 

"No Sir, I don't think i heard this story of cowboys and indians. I am not sure how to make a teepee. " She was quite puzzled and wasn't familar with the word.  But she figured this thing he spoke of was some type of shelter and she figured she could attempt to make it.

Flora started putting brances together around the  grass base on the ground. She of course was doing the best she could. And listened when Oahvakeen corrected the placement of the branches that she layed down  as he explained how to make it to her.

Flora took the piece of wood from Oahvakeen carefully. Flora leaned over and peered at the weevil she had never seen a creature like this before but unlike many girls she was fascinated and not disgusted with seeing a bug of any sort. "he's kindof interesting I wonder if he fast with all them legs to push him along?" Flora inquired softly. 

As much as Oahvakeen had no idea how to handle a child or young adult, it seemed that fate was kind to him, as Flora was not an individual who would break and die if a single bad thing happened. If it were a smaller child, he would have made a billion mistakes by now, but Flora wasn't high maintenance, and she had a level head about her to protect her from his blundering.

"There you go.", he praised her in his own way. Next, he took the lantern and removed the glass casing for a second. He lit a small branch on fire using the flame from the lantern, and then transferred that branch to the dried grasses. They smoked and then burst into flame, quickly consuming the dried grasses in the middle, and then jumping to the twig teepee. "And that's how you make a fire. Don't ask me how to make a fire from nothing though, I'm not sure. "

He took the weavil-laden branch from her, lifted it, and then threw it into the ground as hard as he could. It was weakened already from the parasite, and easily split open, revealing a fist-width white grub with a single black eye. It struggled, all its legs paddling the air. It managed to get to its feet and then curled into a little ball. He grimaced at the sight of it and then checked Flora's expression.

"Wanna eat it? Actually, I wouldn't want to eat that. I don't know if it's safe.  Why don't you put it out of it's misery? You have my knife. Here's a stick. Make yourself a spear and then stab it before it can get away.", the grub curled even tighter, as if sensing their words.

Flora smiled at the slight words of praise from the man as  she placed the sticks about the grass area making almost a triangle shape of out the many sticks of wood. She grinned even brighter as he lit it and the fire started. " Now we'll have a lot more light and be able to see animals specially keep away the more dangerous ones. " she said softly

Flora watched as he threw the wood down and busted out the fist size white creature.  She wondered why he broke the wood like that.  " ewww I don't think i'd wanna eat something like that either.  We could look for berries in the morning i think we could survive for a night without a lot to eat. "She assured Oahvakeen. "I bet in the morning we'll find the way back easily enough just is hard to find in the dark cause of all the shadows and darkness obscure the pathway.

She looked again at the creature as he told her to make a sharpened stick with the knife. She worked quickly with the wood and make the one end very pointy with the knife and looked back at the creature again.  " Do you want It dead cause it wounded and in pain or cause it is dangerous or umm both? " She asked a bit puzzled as she held the now sharped small spear.

"The dangerous animals? I'm not so sure about that....", he pondered the idea of defending themselves with just his little pocket knife. A scene played out in his head, behind his eyes, and he gave a little shudder at its conclusion. "Maybe we'd best get moving back to the Weyr in the morning."

"You mean you're still hungry? Fardles, I just gave you bread and cheese. No wonder they say having children is so expensive, and you're not even a child anymore.", he sighed. " But if you're still hungry then I guess we'll have no choice but to find some berries like you suggested.... Do you know your berries? I'm not a farmercrafter so I don't know which ones are poisonous or not. "

"Obscure the pathway?", he cocked an eyebrow. "Those are big words, but you're right. Maybe you ought to lead the way in the morning."

"Oh, I was just trying to gross you out. Guess it didn't work. He's... it's not hurt. He'll just find another piece of wood to crawl into.", he added a piece of wood to the fire and it blazed higher and let loose a few sparks.

"Are you tired yet?"

Flora's eyes scanned the horizon she was wary of dangerous animals. " Hopefully they would not be anything dangerous this close to home" She looked over at  Oahvakeen. " right"

Flora shook her head softly " No, I'm not hungry i will be just fine. I was more worried about finding berries for you to eat cause I ate your food and left you with nothing to eat. 

Flora chuckled " well I did take some classes so i learned some big words from the harpers you know. I'm not completely a ignorant peasant girl. I may only be a orphan but I still have knowledge and skills enough to survive at least for a little while. I'm sure i can find the path back as soon as it get light enough to see it. " Flora promised softly.

" well i'm glad its not hurt so i don't have to kill it.  It probably would taste real gross if you tried to eat it. After all its a pretty ugly." She replied as if being ugly was tied to how it would probably of tasted. " I work in the kitchens and cut up meat and stuff  a bug isn't that gross ya know i've seen worse. "

Flora yawned softly  soon as he asked if she was sleepy. " I guess I am. You'll stay with me till I fall asleep right. " She was a bit worried about him running off and leaving her by herself.

"I don't know...", he answered truthfully, his voice drifting off as he thought about the different creatures in his head. Any real adult was supposed to tell the child that there was no such things as monsters, and thus there could not possibly be a monster under the bed. He started to say something else, but decided against it, and remained quiet.

A shocked expression shook his indifferent features as Flora conveyed her concern for him. "Well, aren't you a little mother. I didn't see that one coming. That's very kind of you. I'm sure when you're a little bigger, that will be a shining trait when you start to look for a weyrmate. All of the guys will be swarming in line to try out your hand.", perhaps this conversation was much too inappropriate between him and her as a little girl and a strange adult man, but he didn't have the sense to realize it.

"It is pretty ugly. That's too bad you don't want to kill it, I was hoping we'd get to see what color blood it has. There he goes off to kill another tree and have his babies in it...", he jabbed a thumb towards the critter that had tentatively uncurled itself and was now wiggling itself away into the forest as fast as its many legs would allow.

"Harper training and you work in the kitchens? Hmm, we'll have to talk about that, and you'll have to tell me that story about gross things in the kitchen. When you wake up."

"Yep. Nothing else to do around here until light. I wouldn't want to get myself lost all alone like you did."

"Go to sleep now, we'll talk more in the morning."

He leaned against a tree as he tossed another piece of wood into the fire, turning his lamp down as much as possible without extinguishing the flame. He stretched out his legs, crossed them at the ankle, and folded his hands behind his head. He wouldn't talk any more until morning.


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The first light of dawn danced against the sky in dark purples, along with a colder wind that stirred the canopy of trees and the undergrowth and leaves beneath. Oahvakeen woke with the sound, rubbed his eyes, and yawned silently. A storm had begun to brew overnight, and the fire had completely died. Embarrassed, he quickly re-lit the fire with his lamp and new kindling as before, hoping Flora wouldn't notice he had fallen asleep and neglected the fire.

He lay back against the tree as before, trying not to stir, but his back ached. A few streaks of lightning graced the far-away sky, followed later by a low, rumbling thunder.

Flora giggled softly when the man said that she should tell him later about gross things in the kitchen.  She was sure she probably had a lot of stories about the kitchen and kitchen staff but he was right  they should sleep for now till morning. 

She curled up on the ground  and watched the worm thiny squirm itself away from them to go back and find another tree to live in.  She wasn't sure she'd want to cut a bug open just to get a look at what color the blood was. But she could understand that  is probably something that boys were very interested in.

she looked around as she curled up trying to stiffle a yawn as she layed down.  " Thing will be much easier to find  in the morning. I be we can be back before the midmorning rush. " flora said softly as she started to drift off to sleep.

"Methusela."

"Methusela, Methusela."

"Mellisa?"

"Melanie!"

He stood over Flora's body in a crouch, tenatively, and then at last tried to jab her arm with a single pasty finger.

"Girl!", he tried again.

"I know it was an 'M' name....no.... FLORA! I remembered!", he tried to poke her arm again.

"Time to get up now, let's rise and walk back to the weyr now so no one will worry about you."

"Flora?"

"Melanie?"

He performed a face palm, at his problem remembering names, and then trudged back to his seat, as if performing a temper tantrum. He poked the fire a few times with a stick.

"The path is right beneath us, do you see it? You were on the path the whole time, you just didn't realize it because you were in the dark. You can see the Weyr if you climb up a tree for a better view. I don't know what to fix for food, so we can just walk back to the Weyr and be there by lunch time."

Flora yawned and stretched when she was awoke by the voice calling a bunch of random names and  being proded.  She sat up slowly and giggled softly " I't Flora." She said softly " thats the right name."

She looked down when he pointed out that she was right on the path already. " Well I guess thats a good thing we won't have to get up and search for it we'll just have to follow it home.  Not sure if they will notice they got one less worker in the kitchens unless they need a small hand to do it which is very rarely or have busy work that no one else wants to do. " Flora replied quietly. She really hated being the youngest to help out in the kitchens cause that means she gets the  dirty jobs that people keep passing on till  they find someone low enough that they can't pass it to someone else .

"I'm not all that hungry yet, I think i can hold out till lunch time. besides the walk back probably will be fun and exciting so we won't even be thinking about food. " She smiled up at Oahvakeen.

Oahvakeen had worried that she would be hungry and they'd have to stop to hunt for food or forage. In his primitive, non-paternal mind, if children didn't eat when they were hungry, they would die. If they got a cut or a bruise, they would disintegrate. Heavens help them if they broke a bone.

"That's good.", he breathed his sigh of relief audibly and visibly. He picked up his lantern and snuffed their campfire out with his booted foot.

"Let's just follow the path back home, then.", he pointed towards the Weyr, and waited for Flora to join him. After a thought, he held out his hand to her, a gesture to take her by the hand and lead her back home. It seemed like the right thing to do. And for once, the idea of holding a child's hand, talking to a child, or interacting with a child, didn't seem nearly so bad.

-- fade out / exit --