Gift- Book 1

Chapter 10

Even at such a slow pace, the landscape changes too quickly. By the afternoon, Leiea recognizes nothing, even behind her. That lost feeling, mixed with the sadness piled upon it, made all of her appetite go away, and have nothing but the urge to either run the other way back home or hide in the caravan in seclusion. She doesn't though. She stamps those harsh feelings down and sits in silence.

Leiea doesn't notice when Sheyric pulls the horses right, making them walk closer to the forest. When she does, the forest is only a rock's throw away and air feels much cooler. She barely makes a noise before he puts a free hand on her shoulder. "Remember what we said? You have to get used to the forest."

"It's not safe!" With her emotions still on high, she feels her throat close up like she's about to cry. He gives her a worried expression. "More safe than in the middle of grasslands. It's cooler here and more... fresh."

The horses stop with a pull of the reins.

He jumps off his seat and unleashes the horses to graze. Leiea quietly goes inside the caravan. Her pack is still sitting in the corner where it was put hours ago. It's a little strange that Fleya didn't grab a bigger bag, or just stuff it more. Only a few shirts, pairs of pants, a jacket... It seems like she'll have to buy new ones. Or heavier winter gear. Most definitely new shoes. For a second she thinks Sheyric would let her borrow his clothes, and she shivers. Just find a poncho or something in Karyk. That's their whole thing, weaving.

She takes a moment to dig deeper into her pack, look for her other belongings besides clothes. Hidden between the folds of a shirt, she finds a small framed picture. The metal frame is rusty and the photo is worn and water damaged. She doesn't recognize the object, but she does know the person printed on it.

Someone she hasn't thought about in years. Her father. A traveler, like Leiea now. After she was born, he went on year-long trips to the northern mountains, and would only come home for a few days before leaving again. In one of those visits Mother conceived. He hasn't come since when Fleya was two. so she barely remembers him. Leiea was only eight.

It's always been a mystery of what he did in the mountains. He gave no hints, but it could be anything, since he was born there. Staying with his own family, Leiea's grandparents? Or a different family, different children, different wife.

Well, he gave one hint. Every time he visited, he brought huge mountain dogs with him, which scared little Leiea. They looked like big, shaggy wolves, but were obviously domesticated. She vaguely remembers Mother making jokes with them about how much he looked like the dogs. Hairy, grayish all over, with dark eyes. The mountain look, she guesses.

The ancient picture of him confirms that. It's hard to tell, but it looks like Leiea got his deep eyes, but there's nothing similar between him and Fleya that is obvious.

Leiea continues staring at the picture until Sheyric opens the side door next to her and peers in. "All good?"

She nods and puts the picture back into the shirt she found it in. "When are we getting to the mountains?" She asks. "Oh, well, Galerus is in... a month, maybe. Probably more ." She nods again, but frowns. I forgot, I don't know which mountains Father was at. He might as well be dead anyway.

He walks away from the door and she keeps digging through the pack. On the bottom, she finds her books. Three thin, leather bound ones she's had for a long time. Her favorite one, gifted to her by Ryn, is a storybook, folktales from around Kiira. Fleya liked that one too. Leiea would read it to her before bed when they were little she was just learning to read.

The two others are on plants. How to identify safe, edible, dangerous, and healing ones. She's glad it was packed, Sheyric might be able to use it in... the forest, of course. Everything is in that forest.

She walks out the door and sees Sheyric brushing Odenne. He looks over his shoulder as she walks on the crunchy grass to sit nearby. She talks first, quietly. "Do you think I should cut my hair? It's long for this thing we're doing."

He blinks in surprise and lets his arm fall from the horse. "Now?" She nods. "I... sure. Just use a knife? I'll get one." He throws the brush next to her and she picks it up and brushes her locks out. He probably didn't mean for her to use that brush, but it'll do. It's surprisingly smoothed out already, but she struggles at the ends. Several chunks of hair break off half way, pretty much determining the new length.

Sheyric walks up behind her and sits down. Leiea feels him touch the side of her head before recoiling a little. "You want me to help, right?" She laughs and nods, flipping the majority of it onto her back, hitting his face. "How much?"

She points to a spot in the middle of her ribs. "Okay, so... a little less than half? Alright, here we go,"

He sections the mass into three or four parts and chops them off quickly, catching her off guard. The sharp noise unnerves her. After a long minute of sawing it all off, he breathes out. "That's all the length off. I can try to trim it with these, but remember, I have no idea what I'm doing."

It takes a long time, but he successfully trims everything off that was in the way. All of the weight off of her head makes walking almost easier.

For the rest of the time the sun's up, they brush and feed the horses.