A/N: Okay, this is the last flashback chapter I'm gonna have . . . Also, I'd like to note (just as a reminder) that this story is going to be very, very long. Because whereas Princess Academy was Miri's book, The Hawk in the Linder will be Peder's book.
- Chapter 10 -
No wolf falters before the bite
So strike
No hawk wavers before the dive
Just strike
One more day until the spring holiday. Peder could feel the anticipation in the air. Spring was warmly embracing Mount Eskel right now; birds were singing, flowers were blooming, goats bleated and wanted to go outside. Yet there was still something wrong: the girls weren't there to experience it with them.
"Ma, do you actually think that woman will let the girls come back?" Peder asked.
His ma, pausing from making dinner, shook her head. "From what you tell me of her, she seems harsh. If this was a Danlander tradition, maybe she would, but I'm not so sure. If our girls behave well, they might get out."
Peder gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm heading out," he said.
He climbed up his special hill – all the way to the top – and tried to see the academy. He could barely see it – it was as large as a pebble from where he stood. This somehow reminded him of one day . . .
A five-year-old Miri was chasing Peder up the mountain. "Give it back to me!" she bawled.
Peder raced to the top, screaming "Never!" and laughed. He turned around and saw the sunset.
The reds and golds of the beautiful sunset stopped him in his tracks. He only had five seconds of peace before Miri, not looking where she was going, bumped into him, making them both roll down their hill.
"Ouch!" Peder said, rubbing the back of his head when they were at the bottom. "What'd you do that for?"
"You stole my doll!" Miri pouted.
"Yeah, but you didn't have to roll us all the way down!" he said, gesturing wildly. "I was admiring something!"
"What?"
"The sunset!"
Miri looked up at the sky. "Doesn't seem like that much to me," she said, though Peder knew she was lying as she stared at it, fascinated.
"But look at the colors. Look, that's the color of the streaks in the pink-streaked linder. And there – it's the color of honey . . ." Peder spent the rest of the day describing the different colors to Miri, who only stared, wide-eyed.
A/N: Bleh. Not a good chapter. Phooey.