LadyAnnaLee

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin turned back to the pile of wood Ridahne had collected to actually start the fire, “You already know everything there is to know about me. I’m a farmer’s daughter whose mother wishes would act more like a girl. The village elders wish I wasn’t so defiant. I taught myself how to farm, and just when I was starting to get the hang of it, I got sent off on a near impossible journey.”

There wasn’t much more to tell that Ridahne didn’t know. Darin’s life was boring compared to the Elf’s. The most exciting thing that had happened to her before the Gardener came to her home was the day her father left. Exciting was the wrong word. That was more depressing than anything else. Darin looked at her carefully constructed pile of small twigs. She then pulled her flint and striker out of her pocket. She struck the flint to the metal in order to get the spark necessary. As soon as she had a small twig barely lit, she bent down to carefully blow on the flame, so it danced across the rest of the kindling. The fire stuck so Darin sat back up. She had done such an action countless times. Patience was key. That was true for most of farming. Rushin did not make the crops grow any faster. Darin looked back out at the rain. The world sent at its own pace.

Darin turned to look at Reidahne, “What more is there to tell you?”

The human was genuinely curious as to what else the Elf could want to know. Darin didn’t really have any secrets to keep from her. She didn’t think. There were things Darin wasn’t going to tell anyone, but those all related to The Seed. Personally, Darin didn’t see any reasons to keep secrets from Ridahne. The human knew that the Elf didn’t feel the same way. Darin knew that she didn’t want to talk about why she had been exiled. She also didn’t seem inclined to talk about her home. Darin didn’t want to press. She was curious, but they had just meet yesterday. It wasn’t her place.

Darin looked down at the Elf’s leg. There was another tattoo there. It was all blues and whites and blacks. Darin was smart enough to know that the tattoos on her companion’s face meant something. It was highly probable that the one Ridahne was working on, on her leg, meant something as well. Darin knew that the Elf was joking when she offered the tattoo. Besides, the human didn’t really want one. It looked like Ridahne was piercing her own skin over and over again with the needles. That level of pain was not something that was appealing to the human. Though Darin did have to wonder: would Ridahne one day bare a mark that told the world she had helped The Seed-Bearer? That tattoo couldn’t be blue or white or black. The Seed was an apple seed. If Ridahne were to ever carry such a mark it would have to be red or green or yellow. It would have to be Apple colored. Darin didn’t know how, but she just knew that much. Some apples were even pink. What would Ridahne look like; with a pink tattoo.

Darin found herself asking another question, “Can tattoos be other colors beside the colors or yours or those red ones? Can they be pink or green?”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Talbot heard Ridahne and moved to follow the Elf and her horse to the small cave. Darin moved to get off the stallion. This time Talbot stood stock still instead of kneeling down or bucking her off. He just waited for the human to slide off. IT took her a moment. It was easy for her to swing her leg over the side, but Darin had to gather her courage to drop down. It wasn’t high, but it was further than Darin was used to jump. When she did drop, she stumbled as her feet hit the ground. The human pinwheeled forward for a moment before regaining her balance. Talbot snorted at her. She turned to stuck out her tongue at him. It was super childish, but Darin didn’t care.

She answered Ridahne’s question, “Yes. I also know how to make sure the fire doesn’t get out of control.”

Darin swung her pack around. Using one hand she searched for what she was looking for. She soon found the small hand-held shovel. She then found a good space in the little cave to begin digging a fire pit. As she was digging, she felt something hit her in the leg. It was gentle and when she looked it was a good-sized rock to line the pit. Darin looked up to see Talbot looking at her. She smiled at him. Talbot let out a snort and began looking for more rocks. Darin turned back to digging the pit. She didn’t really want to let the fire burn down the forest. That would not be a good thing. Once the pit was dug Darin started taking the rocks that Talbot was passing her to line the perimeter. She kept the rocks as close together as possible. It was clear that she knew what she was doing.

She looked back out to the sky, “Just in time.” She turned her attention to the wood Ridahne had gathered, “The rain is about to start.”

As she was speaking, she heard the telltale signs of rain hitting leaves. It started off slow, but it wasn’t long before the downpour started. Darin stood up from the firepit to stare at the descending water. It was consistent but not pounding. It was a good rain for crops. They would be well watered without being pounded to the ground. Talbot came to stand next to her. She looked over to horse to see him eyeing her. She was half tempted to think that Talbot was thinking the same thing she was. She was a farmer and, in a way, so was he. Of course, they knew about the rain. Of course, they knew fire. Darin was out of her depth. She wasn’t useless. She took a deep breath to let the thought go. It wouldn’t do to be offended every time it was assumed that she didn’t know anything. It was a safe assumption after all.

As she watched the rain Darin said, “This is going to last awhile. It will peter out instead of just stopping. We are stuck until the sun comes back out. That might not even happen until tomorrow.”

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The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Take care of yourself. I promise it's okay.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Thank you for letting me know. I am not in any rush. Pleaae take car3 of yourself.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin felt her eyes go wide, “You’re a hundred and three! Humans don’t live that long.”

Ridahne looked like she was close to her age. If Darin hadn’t known better, she would have guessed that the Elf was in her mid-twenties. It was hard to fathom that Ridahne was over five times Darin’s age. The human wondered if Elf’s lagged slower or if they stopped aging when they reached a certain point. Darin wondered if at any point she would look older than Ridahne. She supposed that was inevitable.

Darin went on to explain, “Most humans live to 80, if they are lucky. 60 is a better upper limit.”

With that Darin stopped to think. She had basically completed a third of her life. Who knew how much more of her life she would waste on this quest? Then again, if her worse fears were truth, she would be looking after The Seed for the rest of her life. She had this consuming fear that she would never get to go home. She had a feeling that The Gardener hadn’t picked her to just carry The Seed. She had a feeling that she was basically the new Gardener. That was not a pleasant thought. There were things she wanted to do.

For example, she wanted to see if she could find her father. She wanted to punch him. She would probably do more damage to her fist than to his face, but she still wanted to try. That was the same thing that Ridahne had been talking about. Love was messy. Darin’s mother had loved her father. Even after he disappeared her mother still loved him. She hadn’t let that love consume her and make her bitter, but Darin still knew it had turned to pain. Darin knew he was out there somewhere. She wanted to find him and make him explain himself. He betrayed them, and she was going to find out why. However, that was a quest for another time. Right now, they just needed to beat the rain.

Darin looked at the sky behind them as she mentioned, “The storm is moving fast than I thought. We should find shelter soon or we’ll be caught out in it.”

Talbot snorted and flicked his ear. Darin sat straight up and wrapped the reins around her arms in preparation. She wasn’t an idiot. Talbot knew that being poured on was unpleasant. She was with him. She would be willing to go faster if it meant getting out of the rain while there was a chance. As soon as she felt ready, she squeezed Talbot’s flank between her knees. He then took off in a fast gallop. Darrien did her best not to focus on the movements. She wanted it to become instinct. Instead, she looked around for a place to avoid the weather that was coming. Everything was just a blur to her, so she didn’t have much hope.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin answered the question easily enough, “I’m nineteen. I started working my farm at 14 almost 15.” She went on to explain, “I should have started looking for a spouse at about 17 and if I make it to about 25 30 without finding one, I’ll be what many people call an old maid.” She shrugged, “That’s how most human females that aren’t warriors measure if they are adults or not, by marrying age. In short, I’m considered an adult, but like a brand-new adult.”

Darin only new the stuff about marriage because that was what the elders had wanted. They started coming to her mother with proposals and potential matches (It wasn’t really marriage. It was more like steady commitment. The people of her village rarely did what was consider legally or religiously binding marriages.) when she was 16 and one day. They were all second or third sons. People were looking to use Darin’s farm as their child’s inheritance. Thankfully her mother wasn’t having any of that. That plus the fact that Darin had kneed the one boy who tried to kiss her where it truly hurt. He had tried to claim her publicly. He had put hands where she didn’t want him putting hands. So, she humiliated him in public. Then there was the fact that she wasn’t really pretty, and the fact that she didn’t act the way her village thought she should act. All talk of marrying Darin off had been squished by the time she was 18.

Which was fine by her. Darin didn’t know that she wanted to commit to anyone. She certainly didn’t want to make promises like that to anyone in the village. Besides, though promises meant absolutely nothing, Darin knew that. Her father had broken all of the promises he had made to her mother the night he ran off. She didn’t want anybody to do that to her. Her mother was strong, but something had broke inside her that night. In addition, Darin was almost certain that one of those promise was kissing, and other such activities and she had never seen the point of those types of activities. Well, she understood the making kids part, but other than that it was a mystery to her. She had talked to her mother about it once. Darin was assured that it would all make sense when she met the right person. Darin wasn’t so sure the right person was out there. Besides, it wasn’t like she could go looking for them. She had more important things to worry about. She needed to get The Seed planted. Then she could worry about romance; if she wanted to.

Darin asked a question of her own, “What about you? How old are you?”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin absently pet Mitaja. She figured that Ridahne was correct. This was a hunting cat. The human was fairly positive that hunting cats should not be this friendly to strangers. Her handler’s words only proved that. Darin liked animals, and they tended to like her. Still, this went beyond that. This was something more. This was something the human didn’t quite understand.

Darin had one hand on Talbot and another entangled in Mitaja, “Animals like me better than people do, and I like animals better than I like people. In fact, I strongly dislike people though there are certain persons I like.”

That may not have made complete sense, but it was true. Darin only liked select individuals. Her mother, Milla, Thomas, Rolland, maybe Ridahne, but definitely the farmer from Greyrock. That was less than ten. On the other hand, Darin had only meet one animal she disliked, but that dog had been trained to be a bully and abused by their person. That was the first time since her father left that Darin had spent time with people her own age. The dog’s human was an older man and the teenagers of the village had worked together to get the creature away from the abuse. It had bit all of them at some point. Darin had to fight a smile. George still had teeth marks in an unfavorable location. Darin was lucky she did not. Her bite marks had healed nicely. So, there was that.

Darin shook her head, “But this is new. I think they all know. I haven’t been attacked by any animals in areas where I should have given the fact that I’ve been traveling alone. I know Talbot told his person about it. Which means other animals can tell as well, and they could tell their person. Which may not be a good thing.”

There were other people like Mark out there. There might even be people worse than Mark out there. They had to have horses and dogs and maybe even cats. Animals were loyal. They might not be able to communicate the same way Talbot seemed to be able to do, but Darin knew better than to count on that. This whole journey was making Darin a paranoid mess. She had to resist the urge to rub her hand against the band on her thigh. Ridahne hadn’t asked to see The Seed yet, and the human didn’t want to give her a reason to do so.

Talbot pressed closer to her. Darin smiled over her shoulder at him. It was clear that the horse was trying to offer some level of comfort. Darin removed both her hands from the pair of animals. She looked around for her sickle. She had lost in when Talbot all but tossed her. Talbot trotted over to a spot. Darin moved with him to see her weapon on the ground. She bent down to pick it up. Talbot blew at her hair as she stood back up. Darin looked at the horse. Once Talbot was sure he had the girl’s attention he looked at the sky.

Darin smiled and let out a small laugh, “You’re right. It is about to rain.”

The farmer could smell it, and the clouds in the distance were a sure indication. The undersides were steadily becoming a darker grey. They were also moving this way incredibly fast. Darin tucked the handle of the sickle into her belt so she could use both hands to grab on to the reins so she could get back on top of Talbot. Talbot decided to be kind and bent down so Darin wouldn’t have to climb so high. The human figured that the horse wanted to get moving just as quickly. This was going to turn into a storm; not the kind of rain anyone wanted to be caught out in for any reason whatsoever. As soon as Darin was upright Talbot unbent his knees.

The human told Ridahne, “We might want to find a place to wait out the rain. We have an hour or two at most before it hits us.”

Darin had no idea why she was telling the Elf this. Ridahne was the well-traveled warrior. Darin was just a farmgirl. Ridahne probably knew better than her. Maybe it was because Darin wanted to make it clear that she did know somethings; like weather. Her livelihood depended on the weather. Darin had learned to read the sky quickly. It was one of the few things her father had taught her. It was something everyone in the village had known how to do. If Darin was back home the whole village would be finishing up their outside work, or at least finding a stopping point, and preparing to start work that could be done in doors. That was just pure common sense.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin stared up at Ridahne, “I like horses fine. It’s being on top of them that I am not sure I can handle.”

She slowly pushed her way into to a sitting position. Without really thinking about it her hand came up to cup her injured shoulder. It had begun throbbing during the gallop and being tossed off had caused more pain. It wasn’t anything Darin couldn’t handle. In fact, she had suffered worse and believed she would suffer worse in the future. It just stung a little bit. At least Ridahne’s stiches seemed to be holding. Darin did not want to go though blood loss again. That had been a new experience. She didn’t like slowly losing conciseness as she struggled to stay awake. IT had been a battle she couldn’t win. It was terrible.

She looked around at where they were, “In fact, I like most animals better than people. Animals tend to be nicer, and if they are being mean they are usually defending territory or have been trained by cruel people.”

Honestly the human had a high opinion of animals than she did of people. That wasn’t a new opinion either. When her father had left the village, no one had come to help out her mother and her at the farm. They didn’t make them social pariahs, but they hadn’t done anything to include them either. Darin could only hope that Thomas and Milla were keeping their promise to take care of her mother. She had no proof that they would. Darin had never had that problem with animals. They had no concept of selfishness or greed.

Darin had been starting off into space as she had these thoughts. Slowly she turned to stare at Talbot as she slowly realized something. Talbot stared right back. Darin looked around for Ridahne’s cat. The human couldn’t remember the animal’s name. She couldn’t find them. That cat had come right up to her when they first meet. Ridahne’s horse had done no protesting when Darin got on yesterday. Darin knew that she had to have gone though areas with creatures such as wolves and bears. She had worried about them but had never actually never seen them. She had just though it was luck. She wasn’t sure that was true anymore.

Darin focused on keeping her breathing slow, “Your cat, what’s their name? Where are they?”

Talbot let out a snort as Darin continued to look around. He putted out. Darin slowly stood and walked over to him. With out looking she reached out to stroke his nose. Her back was to him. He put his nose on her uninjured shoulder, so Darin instinctively twisted her arm. She thought she might have figured out how Talbot knew she had The Seed. She wasn’t sure how to prove it though. If she was right Darin had both more allies than she thought and a bigger problem than even Ridahne could handle.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

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