Once Brothers (Songs of War Fanfiction)

Chapter 13: A Helping Hand (BEING REWRITTEN!!!)

(Hello again! Hope you're all having a fantabulous day! So first things first, I would like to thank @ChaoticBlackCat for following me! Thank-Q so much! So here's the next chapter!)

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(Would suggest listening to Our Future by Peder Helland)

Two Years Later....

The afternoon was bright and the sky was clear, promising another sunny afternoon. Walking down the path deeper into the woods, hearing the gravel crunch beneath his feet, Ingressus looked up at the sky. The sunlight shined down, decorating the ground in scattered shadows. A few white clouds dotted the sky but didn't seem to be an omen of any possible rain for the day. The birds filled the forest with their songs as all the young ardoni walked further down the path. The day was too beautiful not to enjoy. Two years had passed by in a breeze, and Ingressus had learned a lot since then...

Throughout the seasons, Ingressus had become accustomed to his daily routine. Over the weeks and months, Ingressus and Achillean would switch different tasks. Some days they spear fished. Other times they were put on early morning boat trips scheduled for a long day of heavy lifting. Soon after months of doing them, Achillean and Ingressus had started to do boat trips on their own. While Raineus and Tealeon were split off on their own trip as well. It had been difficult at first, but soon they had both grown used to it. Tealeon and Raineus had also made it somewhat competitive, seeing who could bring in more baskets of fish by the end of the day! However, there would still be days when Achillean and Ingressus would fish at the pier like they always did.

Like Serena had said, during the season of fall, traders had come to Nestoria. Ingressus had been fortunate enough to meet Serena's friend: Molly, and her father. Molly was a Felina, with greenish hair, and fluffy gray ears. She was the same age as Ingressus, however, she had been to many places around Ardonia. Always accompanying her father on his trade runs. She and her father had traveled all the way to Nestoria from Meridian. Ingressus had enjoyed hearing the stories she had told of all the places she'd seen. No sooner had they arrived, Molly and her father left with the other traders.

Winters in Nestoria were not as bad as Ingressus remembered his past ones... Snow would cover the ground and decorate the pine trees in the village. The ocean near the shores would freeze and cover the water surface with thick ice. Achillean had shown Ingressus ice fishing. Cutting a hole inside the frozen floor, they would wait for hours on end, in the chilling cold, waiting for the fish to bite. But now it was the season of summer!

Ingressus was stuffed from the afternoon meal. As they walked out of the forest, the gravel beach of the spearfishing shores could be seen. The familiar roaring of the waves hissing against the gravel and sand always seemed to calm Ingressus. Feeling the warmth of the sun against his skin, Ingressus almost wished it was a day off. There would be days when he and his friends would spend hours in the meadow, on a warm sunny day, they would doze off by the pond in the afternoons till the evenings.

"Well those fish aren't going to catch themselves," Leora says. Ingressus walks over to a tree where he had left his spear that morning and retrieves it. Then walked down the shore till he was near the water. Achillean retrieved his spear as well.

Going out a little deeper this time, they all walk into the water until the ocean reaches their waist. Ingressus, Achillean, and Leora had grown slightly taller over the years. All of them were still quite young, being 14, however, when the traders had come to Nestoria the previous fall. Ingressus had noticed that even as young as they were. They were still taller than some of the human adults that had come on the trading run.