No Hands but My Own

Chapter 15 - Shame

"Gods, Ayri." Sle shook his head at me as I appeared from the woods, a life-sized shadow. We were by a giant poplar that was surrounded by pines -- it was our prearranged meeting spot, "I had always thought that you were at least a little stealthy."

"What do you mean?" My voice was still muffled by the mask. I gave it a quick, hard yank to remove it.

"Well, the earth shook -- I'm assuming you fell out of a tree?"

"Not quite." I gently swung the bags down from my shoulder. Gesturing to Sle to examine my prize, I began undoing the thongs holding my robes in their awkward position. I heard his quiet gasp of surprise as he uncovered the packets but I ignored it as I battled a particularly knotted strip of leather wrapped around my right elbow. It was starting to cut off my circulation painfully.

"I'm assuming there were more where this came from?" He had moved to face me, his short stature casting a long shadow over me.

"Yep." I dropped my hands to the side. My arm was going numb. "Give me a hand?"

 Sle ignored my proffered arm. "Ayri. Were there people?" His eyes stared at me, filled with concern.

I pulled myself upright with a quiet groan as my stiff limbs rearranged themselves. "'Were' is the key word."

I brushed past him and picked up some of the bags, leaving the rest for Sle to carry. His hand grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. He spun me and faced me. His face was etched with pain.

"Ayri..."

I hissed at him, "It was my life or theirs Sle. Our survival or theirs. I did what I had to do." I ripped my arm out of his grip. I began to walk back to our makeshift homes. I paused momentarily.

"Oh," I turned to face him. "And you should remember that I haven't been Ayri for a long time. I'm past being a little girl. I am the Canium. Might as well live up to the stories, right?" I shot him a twisted little smile before disappearing between the trees.