Reluctantly, he returned his attention to his childhood journal. He ran his paw down the page, as if smoothing out some unseen creases. "Right. Day six then..."
Day 6
I found out this morning that Dad ran Tannia's dad out of the abbey. He wouldn't fight my dad, and instead he ran away from Redwall.
"Mmm... probably one of the best days of my life," Tannia thought out loud. "Even if I didn't think so then."
Turan looked up at her curiously. "What? What do you mean?"
"Well," she began slowly. "For awhile, I didn't understand why your father made mine leave. I didn't know that what he did was wrong. When he told me I owed him everything, and when he got angry and told me how useless I was, I believed him. When he yelled and hit me, I was sure I deserved it. I grew up thinking you're family were the wrongdoers."
Turan had watched her as she spoke, and now he nodded. "I remember my father telling me something of those sorts. I seem to recall asking him once why you never ran or told anybody that you were being hurt."
When she only nodded and looked down, Turan continued reading.
Dad says he thinks he won't come back. Tannia stayed here overnight, and she didn't say much. She stopped crying but now she sits there and only moves to shake her head or nod if someone asks her a question. She didn't eat anything all day either. I remembered now that Tannia has no parents. Her mum died when she was born. I guess I see now. I would be very sad if my mum died, too.
"So you felt sorry for me?" Tannia interrupted his reading again.
"I still do.."
Tannia hesitated. "This sounds horrible, but that was never something that really bothered me. I was too young to remember.. I never knew her. By the time I realized what it was I was missing out on.. your mother was taking care of me. You understand?"
Turan gave a small shake of his head. "No. But I'll stop feeling sorry for you because you want me to."
She looked at him for a moment, then smiled. "Good."
Dad says him and Mum will take care of her now, and I have to look out for her too. Oh well, I won't have to do anything anyways. She just sits there and stares at the wall. Dad says I should talk to her, but I don't know what to say. He told me to try anyways, but then my friends will all know that I was talking to a girl! And Tannia of all girls. Yuck. I can't win.
Turan smiled at the last part. "Yup, I got the raw end of every deal, didn't I?"
Tannia laughed aloud, pushing him at the shoulder. "Just listen to yourself! I can't believe you cared so much about what others thought. You aren't like that now."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Like when you were flirting shamelessly with me in front of everyone just to watch me blush and be even more clumsy than usual."
"I never flirted shame- yes, I did, didn't I?" He grinned, as if proud of himself. "I did get some form of satisfaction at watching you trip every time I managed to make eye contact with you."
"Yes, I caught on."
"You still tripped."
"You never stopped!"
"You didn't flirt back!"
Which left both of them laughing.
"I suppose you figured out that I was always the one being teased, even though you were always the one flirting." Tannia said, batting her eyes at him.
"No no.. everyone was teasing both of us, you were the only one bothered by it. Once they figured out how embarrassed you got, they picked on you more."
"And you never worried about stopping them?" Tannia asked challengingly.
"Of course not. I figured if they kept teasing you, you'd eventually get sick of it and stop being so shy."
"Uh-huh..."
"Worked like a charm," he smiled.
"Yes, well, I think you just got incredibly lucky."
"I think I'm so incredibly smart, it amazes even me," Turan replied, aware of Tannia trying to start up another friendly banter.
"I think if your head gets any more bloated you won't fit through the door."
Still grinning, he opened the journal. "Day seven..."