Chapter 10
While John ate his breakfast, since all the others had eaten earlier, he made pleasant conversation with Aunt Rena and Sarah. Although he was attentive, the two women found him brooding at times. Sarah correctly assumed that John thought on the recent event of discovering wings, but that was not the only thing he was thinking about.
"John?" asked Sarah.
"Hm?"
"Didn't you say that Mr. Peronel wanted to work you everyday?"
"He did, didn't he?"
"That's Ravvel for you. He was probably trying to see if you'd scare off," commented Aunt Rena.
He set his fork onto his empty plate with a light clink and finished his glass of water. As soon as he set his empty glass down Lindsey and Brittany jumped up from their corner where they had been coloring and sped to the adults to grab Sarah and John's hands, pulling them away from Aunt Rena to the door.
Sarah gave out a light laugh at the children's determination. John couldn't help but smile.
The four walked, or ran in the case of the girls as they discovered an especially "pretty" colored leaf or a few berries still clinging onto the bushes, after they had donned thick knitted sweaters or coats to fight the chill fall air. They crunched through leaves that had fallen off of the trees that lined the small pastures a short distance away from the stable. The grass was cropped fairly short within the fenced in pasture due to the various horses that had been turned out throughout the non-winter seasons.
Most of the migratory birds were gone, leaving behind the dark colored scavengers and various multicolored miniature avians. They sighted a small-feathered puffball on a branch. Perhaps it was trying to warm itself up. Brittany stepped on a stick, making it snap. The sound startled the bird, whom then hopped off the branch and took flight.
Lindsey watched in awe at how easily it flitted away after a small dive before it took to the sky. How they wanted to join it in its play when the little bird found another of its kind and twirled around each other in a sort of airborne duet.
As John looked up at the two birds, an image inserted itself. One of a beautiful woman with long black hair he had seen earlier in one of these visions/flashbacks, with large white wings joined to her back as she held a shirtless boy who had his own small wings. Both were in the air, the young boy with an apologetic look and the mother (they looked too similar not to be related) with a woeful expression.
John slid a hand down his face and simply saw an empty sky.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Sarah.
John looked down across his shoulder to look at the young woman.
"No, not at all."
"Are you sure?" she asked as worried eyes searched his.
"I'm fine," he answered neutrally and continued to walk on ahead.
Sarah stared at his rigid body a moment before walking after him and the girls that were slightly beyond him.
The rest of the week, working out in Mr. Peronel's fields with the other 4 hired hands and Mr. Peronel himself, scenes and images drifted into his head.
'Memories?' he questioned himself.
Gold and silver cat-girl twins.
'Naria and Eria, new names for a new life,' he absent mindedly thought. He paused in his labor; eyebrows pushed together, a questioning face.
"Where did that come from?" he whispered to himself. He went back to work, pushing the thought back to ponder it another time.
Another cat-girl, except this one had fluffy pink hair and was barely a toddler was being teased by a young boy.
'Van.'
Similar scenes played in his mind when monotonous work allowed it. Both innocent and horrific plaguing his mind in small intervals.
Even in sleep the visions did not cease. Unfamiliar and familiar, like that of the boy "Van", the regal adults who call him "Folken", and cat-girls, among others, snuck into the crevasses of his mind. This "Van" came as a newborn up to a five- or six-year-old and then a teenager. At least a decade gap in "Van's" growth seemed to be missing. He appeared to be important to John somehow. Another teenager soon dominated a space in John's mind. This one had sleek, silver hair and cold red eyes that called for blood. There was no sweetness to him that John associated with "Van".
A bloodthirsty cackle as heard through a comm-system caused a mental shudder and the involuntary utterance in thought.
'Dilandau.'
The almost constant barrage of these memories, as John had already decided them to be, caused him to be more tired than when he went to bed.
"Y'are'll right, Johnny?"
John turned his head away from the grain he was threshing off with a flail. He put on a tired smile and answered to the young man of twenty, "I'm fine Yidirik, just tired. I haven't been receiving a good night's rest for a few days is all."
"Sleep is essential… next to a good cup of gharva!" exclaimed the red-haired Yidirik with a guffaw, all the while working the flail efficiently with practiced hands.
A slightly chagrined smile spread on John's features at the memory of a week and a half ago of the potent brew. The normally subdued John had started shaking almost uncontrollably in energy, most definitely awake after consuming half a cup of the unsavory black-green liquid. He had felt jumpy for at least six hours until it finally wore off. He had no wish of looking foolish again.
"'Ey! Don't be embarrassed about that, I had the same experience as you did with my first cup. You just have to get used to it is all."
"How old were you?" asked John.
"Ten," grinned the young man.
John shook his head with a smile and went back to concentrating on his work.
It neared the end of the day and the piles of sheaves of grain yet to be threshed shrunk until there was one shock worth left.
"It's the last shock, boys," Mr. Peronel confirmed. After that announcement he took a seat and crossed his arms over his chest.
The men seemed quite eager and re-energized as they worked on the last bunch. John watched the other four men curiously as he worked, because they seemed to be searching for something as they quickly worked through the sheaves of grain.
"I'll get it this year, I have a feeling," said Rek, a cheerful dark-haired man whose face could have been mistaken for that of a boy if not for his five o'clock shadow.
"You said the same thing last year and you didn't get it," said the serious Fernot, Rek's elder brother.
"But I'm really sure about this time. Besides, you got it last year and then got married in the spring. It has to run in the family!" he said excitedly.
John was very curious now and couldn't stop himself from asking as he grabbed another sheaf.
"What are you talking about? And what does it have to do with marriage?"
All the other four men looked up at John with slightly incredulous looks.
Yidirik smacked his forehead then said, "I should have figured you wouldn't know the tradition, this is your first year here. Well, every year at the end of the harvesting season here at the Peronel's, in the last shock one of the sheaves has a red dyed stick in it. The one who finds it-"
Yidirik was interrupted by a solid thunk as someone's flail hit something. Everyone stopped and looked around. John looked down at the flail and bundle he was holding and saw something peeking out of the goldenish colored stalks of grain. He parted it and found a red stick.
Rek gave out a disappointed groan but his good nature won out and he said that he'd get it for sure next year.
Yidirik and the other men gave John a pat on the back and grinned mischievously.
"What?" he asked in confusion.
"You're going to get married this coming spring. So, who is she?" Yidirik asked in a half joking manner as the others chuckled.
"What?!"
"Didn't think you'd get hitched that fast did ya?" grinned Mr. Peronel as he gave a couple gruff pats to John's shoulder.
"Whoever finds the red stick will get married by the coming spring," Yidirik finished after the long interruption as the men went back to work and finished up.
"Oh," said John as comprehension overcame his features.
"So, who's the girl?" asked Rek.
John was slightly flustered.
"I'm not seeing anyone…"
"Oh come on! There has to be someone! I think yer blushing!"
John cleared his throat and seemed highly interested in his hands.
The men were now walking to a waterspout to wash up and get a drink.
"Well?" asked Rek expectantly.
"I guess there's someone…" John finally conceded.
"Who?"
"…Sarah…"
Yidirik nudged John in the ribs with a sly smile. "Lucky dog, you live under the same roof as her, if I'm not mistaken."
If it were not for his already reddened face, due to his work outside, Yidirik might have noticed a slight coloring of John's cheeks.
John searched through his mostly organized mind and found something that would not only change the subject but also give him much needed information.
"Does anyone know of where I can find work for the winter?"
"Well," Yidirik started as the men walked to Mr. Peronel's house to receive their pay, "there really isn't much I can think of that is in the way of physical labor. Do you have any other skills?"
"I really don't know," John said glumly.
They were met by Mr. Peronel who handed them each a small sack made of a light-brown, fibrous material containing their pay. No one checked the contents of their sacks as that would offend Mr. Peronel and since all trusted him. He was, after all, a very honest man. They thanked him and retrieved their horses from the small corral and went their separate ways home.
Author's Notes: I'm sorry for this pitifully short chapter, but I haven't written much since school started up and I got a bit of writer's block. I'm also sorry that it has been over a month since my last post and that is also to be blamed on school. I *love* blaming stuff on school! My favorite classes are Pottery, Creative Writing, and Japanese in that order I think. The other three I don't really care for.
Teal Huskie- Yeah, I know what you mean. I just love being mentioned in the author's notes! :-D
Harmony- This is *definitely* out after your camping trip. The wings aren't black anymore, but notice that they are grayish.
Aria- Thanks for reviewing, I've had my own e-mail troubles when e-mailing a fellow author.
ShadowShapeShifter- You're welcome about the e-mail. I just love the Fanel's wings and perhaps they'll pop up later in the story. *wink* I love long chapters too, but it's hard for me to choose a stopping point for each chapter and that I haven't written much lately.
elarayel- Thanks for telling me that this is a decent Folken story. I have my doubts at times since I think some areas are too corny or whatnot once in a while.
Otaku Pitcher- Thanks a lot for searching my story out! I hate it when I haven't been on ff.net for a while and all these stories pile up and the stories I've read before turns blue (the links turn purple after they've been clicked but change back after a couple weeks or so of not clicking them). It's hard to find stories looking since some of the titles sound the same, but the stories are different.
Myst Lady- Technically speaking English wasn't my first language either. Japanese was my first language but now English is my primary language. I can understand Japanese pretty well, but I can't speak it totally fluently anymore. We'll see if that can change.
ArtemisMoon- Thanks for reviewing! But since you're my editor you don't need to go on a guilt trip for not reviewing… or do you? LOL! :-P The perks of being my editor is that you get to read more of my story before it's released to everyone else.
Kae Noel- Hehe! Soft, fluffy wings! *pets Folken's and Van's wings*