Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or this world that they are in and I am making no money out of this. I just want to write a sequel to a really good book that I wish had one.
Chapter 5
Tanea Kiera was not a nature person, at least not when she didn't have a solid roof to sleep under.
They had been travelling for eight days. Since they were taking the back routes where possible to avoid setting off her curses, the journey would take longer than normal.
They had passed through a village two days ago, and she had, thankfully bought two tents, a big piece of canvas and enough supplies to make food between there and the next town.
It had been rough before then and sh now appreciated the supplies she bought. She did earn money, just not much, by selling her medicinal herbs once or twice a year.
The boy, who was still in his coma, that broken link still tying him to the world, smiled slightly and then got that confused look for a moment, and then his face went neutral again.
She made camp in a small clearing. She had set it up with the fire in the middle of the cleaning with the tents farthest from the road. She had tied her three goats on a long leash to tree at the edge of the clearing with plenty of grass for them to eat.
The weather wasn't looking good for tonight with grey clouds as far as the eye could see, there would definitely be a heavy downpour of rain overnight.
So she started to set up a shelter for her goats. Using vines she cut from nearby trees, the huge piece of canvas and the nearby trees. Tying off the corners of the canvas with said vines, making a roof for her goats.
Then she went about heating up some leftover soup for supper. As she stirred the meal the boy murmured a name, something that sounded like Kalira, whom ever she was.
She turned around quite surprised that he had made a coherent sound, that might signal that his mind was healing but more likely than not, the active part of his mind was having a very intense dream about this 'Kalira' whom ever she was, maybe she was his mother.
Or he was just saying random babble, that she concluded was the most likely thing.
She turned back around and focused on what she was doing. When the broth was just starting to boil she took it off the fire and strained him a cup.
Once she had gotten the broth into him, she stood and started to clean up, as they would be leaving a little past dawn.
Once packed for the most part she went to her own tent, satisfied that the boy and goats would be good until morning.
Then, the rain started, she scurried into her tent as the sun was starting to set.
She ate her meal in silence. The rain was pounding on the sides of her tent, the sound was oddly pleasant.
She fell asleep to the sound of the rain, the last thing she remembered was thinking "I wonder where this boy is from, I hope the Mind Healers can help him".
Tanea dreamed of her old town, it was her last day there, the day she ran away, when her curses had become fully active. They had been slowly waking over the course of several moons, but today was the day they had fully awoken. She often had this dream when under stress.
She was in the marketplace looking for some yarn for her mother's project.
Her mother was currently knitting a brown woollen jumper for midwinter, hopefully she would be allowed to attend the dance this year.
Her mother was quite protective of her daughter, but this year she had promised to let Tanea go.
As she walked through the marketplace she started feeling mixed emotions, excitement, annoyance, irritation, disappointment, interest, joy.
Somehow she knew that those emotions weren't her's, that they were coming from all the people around her, the emotions started to overwhelm her, causing a grating headache.
She carried on, plowing through the tangle of emotions, she eventually got to the stall she was after, and managed to find the yarn that her mother wanted and was about to leave when she turned around to find the Wiley sisters.
They both were looking smug, as if they had caught an annoying kitten licking the dishes in the kitchen that were supposed to be washed.
"Well well Tani what've ye got there", one said. The other walked up and looked in the basket. "Looks like un dyed yarn yet to be spun"
"Surely ye won't be goin to the midwinter dance with this".
Tanea turned to walk away, but as always one of the sisters grabbed her shoulder and spun her around but instead of one of the Wiley sisters, it was a girl of about sixteen, with bright blue eyes and silver hair.
When the girl spoke, it was with a cheerful voice, "thank you for taking care of Lan". Tanea turned and walked briskly away heading home, terror in her mind at the curse that had awoken.
When she reached home she handed the wool to her mother and when to her room hoping to get rid of her headach before the dance. As she sat on her bed, her second curse came crashing down on her, and as well as the emotions she could sense the presence of everyone in the house.
She cried out at the stab of pain that arced from one temple to the other. She ran, ran out into the woods until her curses settled down, and never went back.
And then her dream dissolved into blackness, and the next thing she knew; it was dawn and time to keep moving.
When she woke up, she made herself some breakfast and made the boy some more broth. Once they had eaten she packed up her tent and checked on the goats. As she approached them two of them gave her a cheerful bleat.
"Heyla, Lance, Marta, did you sleep okay". As she approached Merta gave her a playful head butt, "I'll take that as a yes then".
She packed up the canvass she had used for the goats shelter and put it in the pack. She then cleaned up the cooking utensils and supplies.
Finally she dragged the boy out and put him on the stretcher which she then attached to Lance and Merta, she then packed up the second tent and tied the reins of Lance and Merta. Then with the clearing cleaned up she mounted her other goat, and they started off down the road, continuing the journey to Haven.
Spring was approaching, fast.