Chapter Two: The Simple Life
Haru grabbed a big basket full of clothes, and carefully dragged it out of her parent's room. She made a pit stop at her own room to grab her two other dresses to also put into the basket. Biting her lip, she walked down to the end of the hallway, and climbed up the ladder to pound politely on the trap door leading to the attic, where her new friend slept.
The attic wasn't as bad as it could have been, especially after her father repaired the roof extensively and gave the blonde boy many blankets to keep him warm during the long mountain nights. And Haru was certain that if he had anything to complain about of his new accommodations, he would let her know.
"Humbert?" she called through the slightly thick wood. "Mama's asked me to collect all the laundry, so it can be washed."
The trap door opened, making a few pieces of hay fall into her hair as the blonde boy grinned down at her, motioning with one hand for her to step off of the ladder.
He still didn't say much, Haru concluded as she quickly hopped down, and waited for him to descend with a bundle of clothing tucked under one arm. But every word he did speak, he apparently saved for her alone.
He stepped off of the ladder with a soft step, and smiled warmly at her as he neatly set his clothes into the basket before trying to lift it by himself. But it was slightly too heavy for him.
Haru giggled happily, since he usually tried to take over her chores. "Maybe if we both grip a side of it, we'll be able to take it down the stairs."
He looked up at her, and smiled sheepishly. "As you wish." He moved to one side, and gripped it firmly as his small companion grabbed the other end with a slightly irritated sigh.
"I wish you'd say something besides that to me," she told him sulkily as they lifted the basket as one, and carried it back down the modest hall and down the stairs to the main room where her mother was pounding dough for bread.
The redheaded woman looked over her shoulder, and smiled warmly at the children as she continued to pound the dough in her hands. "Thank you, Haru, Humbert. Would you mind washing them in the stream for me? I must finish this bread if we want to have it done in time for lunch."
Haru locked eyes with her friend for a second, silently asking for his opinion. He grinned and nodded at her, making her look at her mother again. "We'll do it, Mama. It shouldn't take all that long with two of us."
In unison, the two children bowed to the woman before carefully walking to the front door.
"I'll have some clotheslines ready for you two when you get back," Naoko called to them before returning to her task, smiling in contentment.
ooOoo
"This way, Humbert," Haru encouraged her friend, carefully stepping around the rocks lining the sides of the riverbank.
After seeing her blonde companion stumble a little longer, the small brunette took pity on him, and set the basket on the ground, overturning it so that all the clothes would fall out. "Have you ever washed clothes before?"
Humbert shook his head casually, having been practically raised inside the boarding school his father had been forced to leave him in.
"Well, it's not all that hard to learn," she told him, grabbing one of her father's shirts from the pile of clothes and moving to the fast water's edge, kneeling on the river pebbles as she dipped the shirt into the ice-cold water. "All you really have to worry about is keeping a good grip on the clothes so that the water doesn't carry it away, and making sure that you scrub the dirt and smell out like this." She began fiercely rubbing and dipping the article of clothing into the water as Humbert mutely joined her side, a pair of her father's pants in his hands.
With his green eyes flickering often to her, he imitated her movements until they seemed to move as one, tossing the wet but clean clothes into the basket before retrieving some more clothes to wash.
It was strenuous work, but the cool water kept their task from becoming unbearable in the summer sun.
Haru looked at her friend mischievously when they were just finishing, and slapped the dress in her hands into the water sharply enough to send cold water down his face and front.
Humbert gasped in shock and from the cold, but then looked at her with a wicked smile. He sharply turned to toss his shirt into the nearly overflowing basket, sending a wave of water over the front of the dress she was wearing.
Laughing in delight, the little brunette splashed water at him while tossing the last of the laundry to the basket so that she and her green-eyed friend could engage in an enthusiastic water fight.
After a while, she was even able to coax a few laughs out of Humbert, making the day a success in her eyes.
To be honest, she was just happy to hear him make a sound other than, 'as you wish'.
ooOoo
Humbert looked over his keeper's shoulder as Hasho carefully led old Moriko, now hitched to the family wagon filled with surplus maple sugar and warm knitted pieces of clothing that Haru and Naoko had been laboring over for the past few months, to sell or trade as needed in town.
"Now sweetheart," the tall redheaded woman said sternly as she looked at her daughter. "Your father and I are going to be busy for a few hours, but try not to get into another fight with Machida."
"I can't help it if he's a jerk," Haru muttered under her breath, making her slightly taller friend look at her with surprise.
"Try to ignore him then. You'll keep her in line, won't you, Humbert?" Naoko asked him worriedly, making the blonde boy nod, although a little dubiously.
They reached the general merchandise store, making Haru hop off of the back of the wagon and beam up at her friend. "Come on, Humbert! I'll introduce you to my other friends."
"As you wish," he said politely as he slid from his seat, bowed to the parents, and allowed Haru to grab his hand again as she guided him through the modest fishing village at the base of the mountain they lived in.
"Not much happens around here," Haru said, wrinkling her nose from the constant fish smell that hung in the air like a pestilence. "Except at night, or so Hiromi says. That's when the sailors go to the tavern her family owns so they can drink beer and get into fights. But I wouldn't know; Mama and Papa never spend the night down here because they don't like the smell or the rowdy sailors."
"Haru!" a lighter brunette girl called from an alley before running up to hug the darker brunette happily. "When did you get into town?"
"Just now. Hiromi, this Humbert, a new friend of mine that's living with my family. Humbert, this is the friend I was just telling you about."
The hazel-eyed girl looked up at the blonde boy, who bowed respectfully. "Why are you living with Haru? Where are your parents? Aren't you scared of living on the mountain? How come you haven't said hi yet-"
"Humbert doesn't talk much," Haru cut in smoothly before the girl could ask more questions, gripping her perplexed companion's hand comfortingly. "He's an orphan Papa volunteered to raise, and he isn't afraid of very many things. Is anything interesting going on?"
"Granny was about to tell us a story," Hiromi reported with a grin, bowing to her and Humbert. "Want to join us?"
Haru nodded happily before turning to her slightly taller friend. "Her granny tells the best stories!"
Humbert looked interested, so they followed the chattering brunette back to the alley, where an elderly woman was sitting back on a comfortable chair, a bit of knitting between her hands as she patiently waited for the children to come join the three children already gathered around her feet.
"Hello, dears," she greeted them in her soft raspy voice. "And who is this handsome young man?"
"This is Humbert, a new friend of mine," Haru said proudly, completely missing the violent blush that crossed the blonde boy's face.
"Always a pleasure, my dear," she cooed softly at him, clicking her knitting needles as the three children sat at her feet with the others. "Now, what story would you like to hear, Humbert?"
He flushed a little, and sent a frantic look at Haru.
She nodded, understanding that he wasn't ready to start talking to anyone besides her yet. "How about the sky pirates, Nana? He probably hasn't heard that one."
The confused look on the blonde boy's face was all the encouragement that the old woman needed, as well as the squeals of delight from the other children.
"Yeah, do that one, Granny!" Hiromi cheered.
"All right, my dears," the white-haired crone laughed, turning the scarf in her hands over so that she could start knitting again. "Let's see… this was a very long time ago, when my grandmother was a little girl. Our poor country was constantly under attack by a strange race of pirates that sailed the sky instead of the sea. Hardly a day went by without a village raid or an attack on a ship at sea."
Humbert's dignified green eyes went wide, and he unconsciously leaned closer to the old woman.
"Now, these pirates were not only exceptional magicians, but they were also shape-shifters. That means that when one of their number reached a certain age, he or she could gain the power to turn into their spirit animal, either fully or halfway. One time, my grandmother was almost carried off by one who was part snake, and even to the day she died, she still had nightmares about the terrible pirate. You can imagine how terrified the king at the time was, since walls were no good against those to sailed over them, and they could raid over land just as easily as the sea. Eventually, the king of the sky pirates made an offer to our king.
"If he gave the Sky King his daughter's hand in marriage, then he would pull back his people, and never touch his lands again. Of course, the king had no choice but to deliver his poor daughter to the Sky King after a few choice raids on the capital. After that, the sky pirates all but vanished from the face of our fair kingdom. The government and many of the people dedicated the following decades, even unto this day, to forget that the sky pirates have ever existed. But…" the woman continued with a sad wink.
"Although the Sky King never broke his vow to leave our king's lands alone, more than one vessel has vanished without a trace over the past two centuries, far out into the open water. So beware of the sea, dear children, and never go out of sight of land when you must sail the salty ocean. For if you ever lose sight of your homeland… you may never see it again."