Private Tales Far from home

[Zeri Rekani]

Zeri worked quickly, her hands moving with a near autonomous fluidity from all of the practice she'd had. Those hunting trips with Pa, those little expeditions she would take on her own just outside of Bhathairk, she'd had plenty of opportunities to set up and tear down a tent, different kinds of tents too, and in her hunger to explore the wider world such a skill had quickly become second nature.

Pa.

Pa really was going to be surprised to see her again. Gosh, she was going to be surprised to see him in a way. She yearned for it even though she dreaded enduring a second goodbye. Still, even when her travels would take her so far away from home, when they would stretch out the time she was gone from days to years, as it was with her sister, she would return. Eventually. So it wasn't like it was a true goodbye.

And she would return. She had to believe that. No matter what kind of perils found her along the way. Trolls or dragons or bandits, she would return. She had to, because, for one reason among many, she didn't want to make her Pa sad. They had lost Rodon, Gurrash, and Ma...she couldn't let him lose her too.

Zeri had everything in or strapped to her backpack, and, with some effort, she hoisted it up onto her hips and then around and onto her back. The bulging backpack against her small frame gave her, as it typically did, the appearance of an odd walking tortoise.

She looked across the campsite from end to end. The pilgrims mostly had their belongings packed as well, and there were men tossing packs to other men who then strapped them to pack animals and others helping the women, helping the few children, onto the backs of horses and others who were standing guard and looking vigilantly toward the hilltop and a few others still who were smothering the campfires with dirt. And the darkness of the dusk, that last vestige of flaming orange in the west nearly gone, settled in quickly.

Zeri hurried back over to Weylin and Cassia. She looked from the girl to Weylin. His leg.

"Are you going to be okay to walk?" She couldn't keep the low tremor of worry from her tone. But...though the pilgrims had welcomed them to travel in company, they wouldn't wait.

Cassia Weylin Kyrel

 

[Cassia]

Cassia watched as Weylin went to retrieve food and water for her. His answer about his injured leg raised a few more questions in her mind. She figured it would be best to save them for later, when the immediate danger was over. The young girl thanked him when he returned with the jerky and waterskin.

The food was a much needed thing apparently. As she started eating, she realized just how hungry she really was. The jerky was gone faster than she expected, maybe too fast actually as her stomach tightened up some from the sudden intake of food. She drank the water slower so she didn't get sick. Her eyes met Weylin's and she returned his smile with a halfhearted one of her own.

Zeri's return meant that they were probably ready to leave. The backpack the orcess had was almost comically large on her. Cassia might have laughed if the situation was different. "Yes, I can walk." She almost said that she had been walking for days now while traveling with the bandits, but she figured that would make Zeri worry more. She could rest later, right now there was to much danger present.

Weylin Kyrel Zeri Rekani

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The orcess didn't specify anyone with her question, but the hunter knew who it was directed towards. A slight frown crossed his face and a look of mild irritation. A bit of defiance. The girl they had rescued from the dogs might not catch it but as much time as he and Zeri had spent together it would be surprising if she missed it.

"Have I ever stopped?"

And with that the hunter turned to get himself fully ready. It didn't take long. All he really had to do was roll up a blanket he had been given for sleeping and get it tied up to sling over his back along with his dad's sword. Grab his bag with his portion of their travel rations and he was ready to go. None of his gear remained after that raid on the caravan and the time he had spent with that tribe of centaurs after all. He was lucky those items most precious to him remained.

He limped over to Zeri and held out a hand. The look directed to her on his face silently said, "Give me some of the bags." Both of them knew his leg was injured. The girl knew his leg was injured. But he had that look in his eyes that he had all too often with her.

Clearly he refused to let her carry most of their stuff. Perhaps a polite gesture. Perhaps a misogynistic one. It was up for her to decide which coming from him.

Zeri Rekani Cassia

 

[Zeri Rekani]

Zeri smiled appreciably when Weylin answered, despite the mildly cross look on his face. She believed him when he implied that he hadn't yet stopped walking, but still, like a pestering mosquito buzzing just around one's ear, the worry remained. She had to hope that it wasn't bravado, and that his leg wouldn't get worse as they went. They were close to the Bystra River. So close to home. They couldn't get waylaid now--not now!

Weylin, his things secured, came up to her. Held out his hand. And after a wordless moment Zeri got what he meant.

"O-Oh! Okay. Right." And she shouldered her large traveling pack and took some of it apart, the bedroll and the tent canvas roll. Futile, what she was about to say, she knew, but she said it anyway, "You know you don't have to."

But she handed the two rolls up to Weylin regardless.

Zeri stood, shouldering again her now lightened pack. And she started to walk, falling in at the rear of the nomads' file as the gloom of night was settling in, the colors of the once brilliant sunset all having receded beyond the western horizon behind them. Toward the east was their venture.

And the bandits? Neither Zeri nor the nomads nor anyone among them seemed to know. Perhaps they were content with staying on their side of the hill. Or perhaps, in the starlight dark, the procession of the nomads was being watched.

"Where's home for you?" Zeri asked Cassia, friendly and conversational, trying to keep the girl's (and her own) mind off of the potentially looming threat. "Are you from Bhathairk, maybe?"

Cassia Weylin Kyrel