This fic is for Maud and Lireal..i hope you read it, if not, Ill have to tell you about it!

A/N: soo...read it and review it...well, ll write the rest below, just give it a chance

disclaimer: arram's not mine...not completely, i have no idea how Tammy will describe him in the book being published in 2008 (is it?). The rest is..I think mine, not the name "Draper" of course...well, i dont earn any money with this, so it shouldnt matter ;-)

enjoy it!

Difficult is how I call it!

First part: Hope Chapter 1: Meet the guy

The sun rose behind the horizon, shadows grew smaller and lighter.

At this time of the day, it was still very quiet in Mandala, a small village on the Southern Isle of Lumata, Lumatira. Yet, if you listened carefully enough, you could hear the first birds awake.

Only minutes later, the silence was broken by some lively young girls who started their daily work: taking the sheep, or cows, or goats out to graze. On their way towards the dry yellow meadows they passed barracks with soldiers in them. In the bright sun at noon, nobody worried about them as the inhabitants of Mandala, especially the younger ones, couldn't imagine the time before the military control had started. At night, the situation was completely different: Girls and women were warned from passing the barracks alone or even in groups without men, rumours about rape were told from mother to daughter, from sister to sister, and from friend to friend.

In the quiet hours of the morning, even the soldiers slept after a long night of drinking, throwing dices, singing dirty songs, and making out with whichever girls were their current favourites. Just a few tired-looking men on the watch were awake. They didn't bother the girls at all.

Mrs Draper woke her youngest child, five-year-old Arram, who had been fast asleep in his blankets on the floor in one corner of the room, after her daughters, Semma and Sumi, had left with the goats and her husband had gone working in the fields. Arram didn't want to wake up at all. He had been dreaming about killing giants, and turning them into small flies. Only when his mother smiled down on her son, and allowed him to go and bring a meal to his sisters at noon, the small boy with the sensitive mouth opened his huge brown eyes that were framed by long lashes. „Get up, darling, I'll make you some breakfast." Luda put a cup of milk and a kind of sweet corn pancake on a plate along with honey from the woods on the table. As soon as Arram had started eating, she said „You know, I hate it when you have to eat alone, but I've got a lot of work to do, so you understand that, don't you, honey?"

„Sure, Mother"

„And when the sun reaches its highest position, you take this basket out to the girls. You can eat with them, there's enough for the three of you. In the morning, I ask you to go to the woods and search for mushrooms, in the afternoon I might have a surprise for you. Is there anything else you need at the moment?"

"No, mommy. Just go to work an' I'll head for the woods."

Grinning, the boy jumped off his chair and ran outside. He walked through the village, looked for his friends and persuaded some of them to join his "mission". In the children's game, the mushrooms became fairies, good and evil ones, who were to be caught and brought to Arram's mother - the good ones – or changed back into mushrooms and used to mix potions they luckily never drank. The part involving the potions was Arram's favourite: What ever he could find – leaves, gras, poisonous mushrooms, rotten berries, and sand – was thrown into an old pot, and cooked over a fire. In his childish understanding of magic, Arram whispered or shouted words he made up, and distributed the potion around the area. The fact that nothing happened didn't stop him from trying again and again…

When the sun had risen higher and higher and nearly reached its zenith, Arram went back home, put the basket filled with eatable mushrooms in the kitchen, and grabbed the one containing the picnic.

So, you read it...what do you say? do you want to read any more of this stuff? Shall i go on? This time I'm better prepared, ive got some more of it finished...sorry again for my last fic, I'm not sure I want to go on, you guys made me so unsure...never mind, that doesnt belong here.

i'm not sure if Arram would call his mother "Mother" or "Mommy" or sth completely else...actually I don't know at all how english-speaking children talk -(

What I basically wanted to say: i hope my style is okay and there are not too many mistakes in it. If somebody can tell me another word for "small goat" or "animal" youre very welcome...

so, press this button down there and say sth nice... or flame me, but say sth!