Goodbyes
'Ma, are you kidding me?' Miri said. She tried not to look amused as her mother continued to load huge suitcases onto the horse and wagon that were going to take her to Corus.
'Ma come on! You know I don't need all this stuff.'
Her mother, having perfected the art of ignoring her only daughter years ago, paid no attention to Miri's eye rollings and groans. She signalled to her four sons to carry on bringing out the stuff and busied herself with checking the holdings and straps on the suitcases and bags.
'Ma,' Miri tried to tell her mother firmly, 'I don't need all these things. I already packed everything I needed yesterday, see.' She held up a small light travel pack.
Her mother, not even bothering to look up, snorted derisively and carried on with her work, pausing every now and then to yell at one of her sons staggering towards her.
Watching the procession of bags, brothers and baskets Miri felt herself entering a glum depression. How was she ever going to be able to be a rider if she wasn't even able to control her own family?
Her eldest brother Malak appeared tottering out of the house, looking like a huge bundle of clothes with legs. Poking his head through Miri's clothes so he could see, he surveyed the scene with an ear to ear grin.
'Don't you think you're overdoing it a bit kiddo?' he called to Miri cheerfully. 'I mean aren't the riders meant to travel light?'
That was the last straw. Furious Miri launched herself at him causing all her winter clothes to go flying into the air. Both she and her brother ended up rolling on the muddy ground. Miri, being half the size of her brother, found herself, to her fury, being pinned easily in less than a minute.
Malak looking down at his little sister his face grave.
'Miri, Miri, Miri,' he sighed, shaking his head. 'So far we're not doing too well are we?' He got up, still keeping her pinned by a foot on her stomach. He looked down at her. 'Not such a tough Rider are we?' he bent down to ruffle Miri's hair which of course was a big mistake.
Miri was not one to let an opportunity like this go by. She caught her brother's hand before it had so much as touched her head and, taking advantage of his momentary imbalance pulled with all her might. Malak, to his immense surprise, found himself falling over Miri's head, face first into the mud and, feeling a bit more that slightly stupid he stayed there.
Miri got up, defiantly stuck out her tongue at her mud-covered brother (conveniently ignoring the fact that she too was covered head to toe in mud).She gloatedfor a few seconds before turning back to the cart to deal with her mother with renewed energy.
Her mother, having watched the two of the fight with an expression of a suffering saint, started fussing and clucking the moment Miri got near. In between scolding Miri and yelling at Malak she pulled Miri to her and started to wipe her face with the edge of her apron.
Miri a mixture of frustration and understanding shrugged her mother off.
'Ma! Will you stop that and just listen to me for a second.'
Her mother stopped and sighing, resigned herself to listening to what her daughter was saying.
'Ma look at me. I'm fifteen. I'mnot your baby girl anymore. I can't show up at the riders training stable's with all this.' She gestured to the three baskets of food and the five suitcases filled with things that she didn't even know she had in the first place. 'To be in the Rider you have to be able to travel light,' She made a face at Malak. 'and learn to do without everyday comforts. If I come in carrying the contents of an entire house they'll think that I'm some sort of spoilt princess who isn't up to the challenge. You know as well as I do that I have everything I need already. I don't need all these extra things. I'll be fine.'
Her mother looked her daughter frankly in the eyes, trying to see whether she really was ready to leave home. Miri held her mother's gaze determinedly, trying not to show how nervous she was to be going away by herself.
Finally her mother looked away. She turned andsignalled to her husband and sons to start taking the suitcases and baskets back into the house. Miri smiled at her mother in thanks, but in truth seeing all of those familiar things being taken away made the butterflies in her stomach increase.
'This is really it,' she thought to herself, 'I'm really going away for good.'
'Evin hurry up! You're leaving in three hours and if you're late then I'll never forgive you. George has done a lot to give you this opportunity and you're not to let him down, you hear me.'
Evin opened his eyes and after briefly registering the voice to be his mother's, turned over and tried to get back to sleep. In his cosy bed three hours seemed like plenty of time. He would just sleep for a little……
'EVIN LARSE, I WILL DISOWN YOU IF YOU DO NOT GET OUT OF THAT BED IMMEDIATELY!'
His mother's theatrically trained voice bellowed through the entire boarding house, jolting everybody but Evin out of bed with a shock. Evin simply put a pillow over his head. Having been raised in a family whose voices could collectively fill several arenas he had learnt to ignore loud noises. His mother, who in Evin's personal opinion got slightly over-excited sometimes, continued to yell. Evin using his cherished skill of selective hearing tuned her out, feeling sorry for the manager of the boarding house, who would no doubt soon be receiving a storm of complaints about the apparently crazy woman second floor. He turned over and went back to sleep.
He had just drifted off into a comfortable doze when he heard a whisper and a suspicious giggle. He opened his eyes to see a small girl with a huge pail of water swung back ready to tip on him.
'NO!' he yelled, trying to get out of his twisted covers. But the little girl, who was already slightly hysterical, swung it anyway.
A less than second later produced a soaking wet and glowering Evin, trapped in freezing cold wet sheets and a little girl rolling around on the floor, laughing so much that she could hardly breathe.
'THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!' yelled Evin, in the most terrible voice he could summon, but his words just made the little girl laugh even more, screaming cries of victory and beating the metal pail on the floor in triumph.
Evin's mother came into the room, not even bothering to conceal the smug smile that lit up her pretty face.
'Good morning honey,' she said innocently. 'Well, I must say you're up nice and early this morning.'
'You do realise,' Evin said sourly, 'that it will now take me twice as long to get ready. Miss genius down there,' He pointed to the screaming girl on the floor. ' also managed tosoak my pack which was under my bed.'
'Just stop sulking and get ready boy.' Was his mother's grinning reply. 'Don't you know that you've got a wagon to catch?'
Selda surveyed her pack discontentedly, she was already beginning to have doubts. Dragging the too-light-in-her-opinion bag down the stairs, she swore she could already feel the lack of comforts and luxuries that were part of her everyday life.
She didn't really want to be a rider, she was not the sort who had dreams about frolicking in the mud, giving out justice to snivelling commoners. But at fifteen there was very little that a merchant-class girl could do that would allow her to leave home and earn a living. Staying at home was just not an option.
It was just dawn and Selda watched with some apprehension as the sun came up on her last day at home. Most of the servants were still in bed, so Selda had to make her own breakfast. She banged the cupboard doors and plates loudly in the process, hoping that she would wake someone to do it for her. In fact her plan was successful, a few minutes later she heard the noise of someone coming down the stairs. Selda scowled, servants weren't allowed to sleep in the upper levels of the house and as her father was away on business it could onlybe one person, her stepmother.
Selda and her stepmother had never really liked each other. It was probably (though Selda would never admit it) because they were so similar. Both were spoiled brats and competed forher father's attention mercilessly. Their closeness in age, Selda's stepmotherbeing only four years older than Selda herself, had made the house a battleground forpower.
'I guess you're leaving today then?' said Mina, entering the room with a smile bordering on the smug. 'Too bad you're father won't be here to see you off. He did tell me to tell you that he's sorry. He says he'll send you a letter the moment you get there.'
Selda ignored Mina and lit the fireplace.
'You sure you got enough stuff in there?' said Mina, frowning at Selda's bag. 'That pack looks awfully small for someone like you.'
'Well Riders don't need all that crap that some people have to have with them,' Selda retorted sharply. When Mina had first came to the house she had been accompanied with three wagonloads of suitcases.
Mina held up her hands. 'All right, no need to get angry. I was only being a good stepmother and expressing a concern for my stepdaughter's well being.'
Selda rolled her eyes and sat down at the table to eat her food.
'Well if we're role playing why don't I be the dutiful daughter and ask you where you were last night.'
'I was out with friends,' said Mina, smiling to herself.
'You don't have any friends around here,' Selda muttered.
'You're wrong.' Mina relaxed herself into a chair opposite Selda and lent forward to say in a loud whisper, 'I have one very good friend here.'
'Does my father know about him?'
'Your father doesn't seem to care, as long as I'm his bed when he comes home.' Mina grinned and stretched,yawning. Absentmindedly she reached out for some of Selda's food. Selda pulled her plate away sharply and for the first time that morning looked her stepmother in the eyes. 'Maybe,' she said coldly, 'you should stay in his bedroom and not come downstairs to bother me before I leave.'
'Then you'd have nobody to say goodbye to you,' said Mina pointedly.