Flight From Sorrow's End Part 3
Days passed. The two tribes only caught glimpses of one another as the Sunfolk settled into the hills. Huts of wood and cloth take the place of clay and stone. The ground itself is frozen by the cold, and they cannot even try to build their homes in the style of Sorrow's End.
Rayek continued his attempts to teach his people to hunt. But the lessons often ended in frustration for all parties involved. Zhantee had the most patience for his teaching, and soon was skilled enough to teach what he had learned. Rayek was relieved to turn over the lessons to the gentler elf. His teaching seemed to be more successful. But it was more than continued failures from the Sunfolk's hunters-in-training that bothered him. It was a restless longing from inside himself. An unfulfilled desire he knew the solution for - but refused to admit to.
'Twen. Twen. What is that cursed word and why can't I get it out of my head?" Rayek stared at the snow-covered woods not far from the edge of their new village. He chewed discontentedly on a piece of dried meat, seated on the ground outside his own hut.
"Rayek!" Zhantee approached him. "I've been meaning to speak to you. About the hunters." The look Rayek gave him was both amused and skeptical. "Alright, hunters-in-training. But teaching them to use a bow is one thing. Bundles of sticks aren't like live prey."
"And you think they're ready for that?" Rayek's voice was laced with doubt.
"Shushen, Dodia, and I didn't do so bad on our first hunt."
"Prey is scarcer now. If they mess up and ruin our hunt, the whole village will suffer."
"So we'll bring Shushen and Dodia too. How badly can it go?"
Several ideas came to mind, but before Rayek could speak a new voice interrupted. "Ah! Rayek. There you are." Shenshen had a basket over one arm and was bundled in one of the warmer furs. "Leetah was looking for you earlier."
Rayek hesitated, glancing back at the huts behind him. Then he stood. "It will have to wait. Zhantee and I are taking the new hunters out to test their skills."
"We are?" Zhantee looked over at him.
"Yes. So they can practice against something other than bundles of sticks." Rayek started off, but paused. "Tell Leetah, I'll speak to her...later."
Zhantee could only offer Shenshen a shrug before hurrying to catch up to Rayek.
"Hmm..." Shenshen gazed after them suspiciously.
"Shenshen!" Someone called..
"Oh, by the midday sun..." Shenshen cursed, trying to hide the basket behind her as Leetach came out from the huts.
"There you are! Vurdah said you were going gathering alone again."
"So what?" Shenshen asked.
"I don't like you going alone. It's too dangerous here."
"Zhantee gave me a knife. He even gave me some lessons." Something in the way Shenshen said it made one wonder if she was truly referring to fighting, but Leetach wasn't distracted.
"Rayek doesn't approve of anyone going into the woods alone."
"Then don't do it. It should make him happy to have you listen to him for a change."
"Little sister!"
"He's been more ill-mannered than ever lately."
"The strangers make him nervous, that's all."
"Pooh! He needs taken down a little. Everything that's happened has just puffed him up more than ever."
"That isn't fair and you know it." Leetah frowned.
"Listen to yourself! You agree with everything he says these days. Thing have been so different between you two ever since..." Shenshen trailed off, realizing what she was saying. Leetah did not answer, and for a moment there was silence between them. "It...it won't bring them back. No matter how tight you hold onto either of us. It won't bring mother and father back."
"What's wrong with wanting to protect what I have left? Including you!" Leetah asked desperately.
"You can't protect me from living!" Shenshen exclaimed, equally upset.
For a moment there was silence again, then Shenshen turned and ran into the woods - leaving Leetah alone. Frustrated tears welled in the Healer's eyes. But there was no one there to console her. No Savah. No Toorah. She could only retreat into the nearest hut to avoid the cold wind stinging her bitter tears.
"It feels like we're going in circles." One of the hunters whispered to the other.
"I know and I haven't seen any animals. Not even distantly. Is there even anything out here to hunt?"
"Rayek knows what he's doing. Just trust him." Zhantee told them.
"All of you be quiet. You'll scare off the game." Rayek hissed.
The two hunters winced, but Zhantee only offered Rayek an apologetic smile. When he turned back to the trail, Zhantee's smile widened. He'd always idolized the hunter, but had never had the courage to speak to him much. The friendship growing between them meant more to him than he could put to words.
Not far away two pairs of elven eyes watched the hunters progress.
*They're so noisy!* Dart complained. *Why don't they send instead of speak?*
*Don't think these ravvits know how.* Strongbow told his son.
*Whoever heard of elves who can't send?*
*Whoever heard of elves like them at all? They make their holt out of dead trees. They burn flesh like humans. They bumble about the forest, scaring more game than they catch.* Strongbow shook his head in disgust.
Dart frowned, studying the hunting party. *I don't understand why they don't ask for our help. Maybe if we traded meat with them, like we do with the trolls?*
*Trolls have something worth trading for. Come, let's get our own catch back to the Holt.*
Dart hesitated. He couldn't dismiss the other elves as easily as his father could. *I think I'll keep an eye on them for awhile. Make sure they don't turn toward the Holt.*
In sending there is only truth. Strongbow could sense there was more to Dart's desire to stay than precaution. But his son was no longer a child by wolfrider standards. He nodded. *Watch out for the black haired one. He isn't like the others.*
*I'll stay out of his sights.* Dart promised.
Shenshen brushed aside tears of her own as she wandered the woods. She and Leetah had never used to argue like the way they did now. They were all changing, ever since the terrible flight from Sorrow's End. Gardners were becoming Hunters under Rayek and Zhantee's tutelage. Gathereres now carried weapons. Were the old ways to be lost forever?
She glanced around the barren forest. When the trolls had first trapped them here the leaves had been hued with bright colors like the season of flood and flower. But the leaves had fallen away, leaving only bare branches. And then the sky rained ice and white. Snow, Ahdri had called it. Calling upon all that Savah had taught her. At first it had been hard for the once handmaiden to take up the task give to her. Daughter of Memory. A new source of wisdom and knowledge for the Sunfolk. But slowly she saw her coming into her own.
Not so with her sister. The loss of the village and their parents seemed to have made Leetach cling to what she had left with an almost visible desperation. She'd always been so independant at Sorrow's End. Her need to now keep those she cared about close by her felt stifling to Shenshen. On some level she understood it. Leetah had always like to be in control of both herself and whatever situation she was in. All that had been ripped away from her, and she was trying to regains some sense of it. She wanted to help her sister - but not at the cost of her own freedom!
Her basked was nearly empty. There wasn't much to gather in the snowy woods. She looked up, and froze. Across from her was one of the elves of the other tribe. In Shenshen's eyes she seemed a mere child. Her long blonde hair was loose, and her blue eyes stared at her in amazement and curiousity. She, too, carried a basket. Though hers looked far more filled.
For a long moment neither of them moved or spoke, then the blonde elf began to giggle. "You-you're face...you look like a scared ravvit!"
Shenshen's expression soured. She did not like being made fun of. "That's nothing! You looked like a dumb old zwoot!"
The other elf's look clouded with confusion. "What's a zwoot?"
"It's...it's a big No-hump...but with a hump." Shenshen told her, before realizing how unhelpful the description was. For a moment they simply stood there again - then they both began to giggle.
The wolfrider youth bounded up to her fearlessly, blue eyes dancing. "I am called Newstar! You?"
Shenshen felt her mouth split into a wide grin in a way it hadn't for some time. "Me? I'm Shenshen!"
To Be Continued...
I've been busy in RL lately. Sorry for the slow updates to my stories. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter.