The Place of Bearing

Demaria woke, startled at the snort of her horse. The supply of her body heat moved away, so she rolled the same direction so as to start warming up again. Her pillow gently slipped from beneath her head and, still half asleep, she sat up in alarm. She studied her surroundings, then realized nothing was wrong. She decided to get up and start the fire. As she did so, her partner did as well. It was no surprise. Jack followed her everywhere, now that she had saved his life. It had been a total accident, she had not meant to knock him down. Jack lifted his head and slyly grinned at her, cocking his eyebrows.

"Good morning, my lovely lady!" Jack said.

"Shut up," Demaria hissed. "The others might hear you." Demaria stood up and brushed her long, ankle-length dress off. She was traveling with a group of young men and women her age, most of them orphans or shamed abandoned commoners, others runaways. All had sad, simple stories. All had dirty, sickly bodies, not to mention their clothing. All had no desire what so ever to return to their original homes.

"We are a family," Demaria whispered to herself. "We stick together." She crouched over the black ashes in their fire pit. No good. They would have to collect more leaves if they wanted to wake to a roaring fire. She grabbed Lexia and Pulminaria, her two best friends, to help her gather more leaves. They picked up their old, dilapidated baskets and snuck off into the forest. They scurried back before the break of dawn and started the fire. Jack and Keesle woke to go shoot a couple of squirrels to roast for breakfast. Lexia kneaded the dough of the sour biscuit and divided it up into about 15 equal portions. She buried the rest in her leather saddle bag, which also held a wine flask and some herbs. Demaria and Pluminaria walked to the closest fresh water stream and brought back to cauldrons full of water, which they set on the fire to boil. This barely started their day. The other ten woke just as Jack and Keesle were entering the clearing. They grunted and nodded theirs heads at the sight of fresh meat. Keesle shook his head and handed the three rabbits and the six squirrels to Demaria, who skinned and cut them. She wrapped them up in some large, green leaves and soaked them in wine. Demaria threw each individual pack into the fire, along side the bread. The woman in the group were outnumbered by the men, but only slightly. There were six women and nine men. Not much of a difference.

"Good morning, Demaria. I see you are on top of things, as usual," Fabio said, nodding his head in Demaria's direction.

"You can hold your tongue, Fabio. I do not need your rude comments at this hour," Demaria replied, tossing his food into his lap. Jack snorted. Demaria shot him a dirty look.

"And what, may I ask, amuses you so, my dearest Jack? You seem to be in such a peppy mood!" Demaria accusingly asked. Jack just grunted and busied himself in his food. Fabio smirked. He knew Jack liked Demaria just as much as Fabio himself did. But Demaria could only have one Prince Charming, and Fabio was determined to be the one.

"Rafael, do you mind handing me the dirty laundry? It's Monday again," Demaria asked the now-wakening brawny, young man. Rafael walked over to the horses and brought back about nine different saddle bags. He handed them to Demaria, who then began to empty their contents into a boiling pot of water. She fished out the soap that she kept in her money pouch on her hip, and started pounding the slim sliver until suds ran over the edges of the shallow, bowl-like rock. She poured the ground soap into the cauldron and began to stir the mixture with a long stick.

Monday was always a big day for the tiny camp. On Mondays, they did the laundry and cleaned up after themselves so they could move to a new campsite. The large group was slowly journeying to the Bearing, a large fortress. It was about the size of three medium-sized towns. But the special thing about the fortress was, it was made up of cast outs, misfits, runaways, and the unknown people. Demaria, being an orphan all her life, had dreamed of the Bearing since she was a little girl. And now, on this fine Monday morning, she was journeying closer and closer to what she felt would be her first home.

Dreaming, Demaria stirred the hot, soapy liquid. She was thinking about her future in Bearing. Would she find a husband there? She could not say. But she surely hoped so. If only she had a true love, awaiting her at her new home! She would be forever happy, held in his arms, being loved and cherished by someone she loved and cherished as well...

Demaria had dreamed these dreams many times before. She had often wondered about her soul mate. "What will he look like? What about our kids? Will he love me? Does he like to snuggle? Where will we live? What is his job?" Demaria often asked herself, in her head of course. She didn't want anyone to think that she, Demaria Foshlooky, was unsure of her future. She was a born leader. Nobody would follow her if she was unsure of herself. Or would they?....

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New story, new people. What did you think? Lol let my know every detail of what you think, I want to know ;) you can leave a comment below, PM me, or post on my page, i dont care. And please fan and vote. Thank you so so much!