Omphalos (Hiccelsa)

Chapter 31

The bushes rustled for a couple more seconds. Everyone slowly raised their weapons, whatever they could find- rocks, sticks, actual swords- to face the mysterious intruder.

Finally, someone awkwardly slumped through the leafage, looked around at the group, and scoffed, "Well this is a warm welcome."

It took Ophelia a moment to connect the figure she was seeing with a familiar face in the dim light. Ull beat her too it, and he dropped his large stone with a strangled sound.

"Fulla?" He gaped.

"Nice to see you too." Fulla said, shrugging a pack onto her shoulders, and going by and patting him on the cheek.

"Wait...Fulla as eldest daughter of Thuggury?" Sigrid asked, frowning.

"That's me!" She said, seeing the sleeping packs lay out, and sat down. She looked up to see the group staring at her with open-hinged jaws, "What?"

"Fulla," Ull sputtered, "You can't be here!"

"Darn, because I was just hoping you'd let me stay. Guess I'll just leave." She spit sarcastically.

"Well, isn't that why you're here?" Ull asked, his cheeks flaming brightly, looking a bit unsure now, "Because of-,"

"You? Sweetie, don't flatter yourself. Sure, what we had on your couch was fun, but I'm not here for you." She said pointedly. There were some snickers from Randolph and Lyal in the back, until Calder sent them an icy glare.

"Then why are you here?" Gustav asked, scratching his head, "You're like, what, fourteen?"

"Sixteen. But I mean, I look fabulous most of the time, so it's understandable I look younger than my actual age." She said, patting her hair. Fulla was, in Ophelia's opinion, a bit of an enigma with genetics. Her father was brutish and not generally thought to be the most attractive man, in fact, his wife Yvla basically proved that love wasn't all about looks. And Yvla was pretty enough, but only in an ordinary way. And then their first daughter, while not immediately noticeable as attractive, was like some exotic person that became more and more beautiful. Full lips, upturned nose, circular face, slightly slanted eyes, and thick darkened hair. As a child, these feature had made for an unfortunate looking child- all her parts of her face misshapen and misshaped for the size of the rest of her- but the older she got the better it looked.

"You still haven't answered why you're here. I mean, you're the eldest, but the rule of Meat-Head will go to your brother, right?" Calder said, stepping forward, invoking a threatening presence that did make Fulla straighten a bit.

"Sigrid, Hjordis, and Gustav aren't leaders either, nor is Ull." Fulla replied, although it was more straightforward, "And I mean, why shouldn't I be allowed to join? If anything, I'm another girl because I see your girl to guy ratio is extremely lopsided." She said.

"Give me one good reason we shouldn't send you back to the mainland's right this second." Calder demanded.

"Because I can tell everyone where you are, duh?" Fulla said, "And I mean, I have some information about the whereabouts that the mainland is currently taking as truth." She said, and Ophelia noticed everyone leaning forward, "But! I'm going to tell you if you let me stay."

Calder locked his jaw, and Ophelia came forward.

"We don't have any leads," She hissed to Calder, reminding him it was not his choice alone, she was his co-leader, "One more person to-,"

"Feed? Give our location away? Worry about? Hell, she's a child!" Calder growled back, looking over Ophelia's shoulder to where Fulla gave him a raised-eyebrow.