I had some free time left, so I decided to write this chapter early. As early as I realistically could.
lunaspark149: Thanks for the review, mate, but it is nothing that deep just yet.
merendinoemiliano: Thanks for the review too. I hope I can update this story at a quick pace.
Anyhow, this is the chapter.
Fawn was inside Raven's tent. It was quite cozy, with many candles lit inside of it, and some nice decorations such as animal skulls and pelts. He was bi
He braided Raven's hair. It was an intensive and hard activity he had never done before. He never knew she had an interest in it.
Or maybe it was a training of sorts. Hard to know when his surrogate mother was that person.
To braid one's hair was harder than he first thought. He had to be careful not to make a mess or tangle her hair, otherwise, he knew it would be his head, metaphorically, on the chopping block. He did his best not to mess it up.
"You are confused, are you not?" She questioned him as if she had read his thoughts.
His pupils dilated in surprise before they returned to their normal size. "Properly grooming is an important part of yourself and how you project your image." She spoke as if it was something easy to understand, an easy guess.
"From braids to wild hair, to straight and silky, your hair is just as important as your clothes, weapons, and demeanor, child." She sat in a perfect seiza. Fawn couldn't begin to fathom how hurtful it must have felt to her to sit in that position.
He knew she was a trained woman, a warrior, but that position just gave him the ick. It was too uncomfortable to stare at.
"Before you can take care of yourself, you have to take care of others. How you care for them will affect how their image is made. If you do a poor job, it will reflect badly on them and you by association." He gulped. If he messed it up, it would reflect on her image.
If anything happened to it, he would be done for.
"I'm done, Raven." He did not dare to call her mother. He didn't know how she would react, and testing the waters was not something he would do.
Raven took a hand mirror and inspected her hair. "You could've done a better job." Fawn's blood froze in his veins. He started to hyperventilate. "Yet you did a good enough. Congrats." Fawn fell on his butt. His vision spun.
Raven was intense. Way too intense. She took a glance at him. "Am I some type of bogeygrimm to you?" Fawn shook his head.
"No, you are not, Raven." She came to him, one hand over his forehead, the other on his shoulder to hold him in place.
"Then why are you so defensive around me? You didn't used to be that way, Fawn. You were a lot more open. You even called me mother. What happened?" Her voice had an inquisitive tone, yet kind. A child would be fooled to open up immediately.
Fawn was no mere child. He could see deeper into her voice. It had a certain animosity to it, as if she searched for a clue to someone who would have strained their relationship. Her gaze held hidden intensity, like a hunter stalking their prey, awaiting for the opportunity to strike.
It made his blood run even colder.
Truth be told, Fawn seldom had memories of his first years in Remnant. He didn't remember he called Raven, of all people, a mother.
"You are the leader, Raven. I thought it would be too disrespectful to call you mother." They were not directly related; Fawn was sure of it. Raven's eyes softened.
Her gaze was not that intense anymore. "You. You are so cute." She laughed it off. A genuine laugh. Her hand moved from his forehead to his hair, patting it.
"Don't be so formal with me, brat. I chose to care for you. Remember that. Besides, you are just a kid. Don't take on too many responsibilities." Her smile was refreshing and kind.
It contradicted what he knew about the woman. It made Fawn's stomach turn to knots. She was a controversial person, that was for sure.
"I saw how you are not interacting with the other kids. Go and play with them. Don't rely on me too much, otherwise, you will grow distant from the tribe and your peers." She got up and walked outside the tent.
Fawn followed after her. He had an overview of the tribe. Many tents were spread across the terrain, with a big blue lake. They were surrounded by hills, with golden leaves from autumn falling all around them.
The wind gently carried those leaves across their "territory". Fawn was lost for a moment as he thought about what he would do. Maybe following Raven's advice was not that bad, even if it would be boring.
Yet, he saw an interesting event near the lake. A girl sat before the lake, her body twerking a little. She was one of the tribe's teenagers. Someone he had no prior interaction with.
He walked towards her. His limbs were too short to allow him to get to her in a fast manner. It was quite annoying to want to go fast but being unable to. A small distance for an adult was suddenly farther when all he had were the legs of a child.
Despite his unavoidable roadblock, he managed to get to her. She was in a meditation pose, he thought. He looked at her face; her eyebrows trembled, her eyes twitched, her lips strained against each other. "Are you okay?"
She snapped her eyes immediately, a disappointed expression across her face. "Sadly, yes. What I wanted to do didn't work." Fawn crooked his head to the side and took one finger to his mouth.
While he had many drawbacks in a body so young, cuteness was one of the few pros he had. "What do you mean?" While he thought of using cuteness as a low blow, he was curious enough to resort to those dirty tricks.
"I. Huh. You are too young to understand this. It is a training to unlock the aura, or so I heard. Some meditation thing or something like that." He had never thought about aura until now.
He knew it existed but had no idea how to unlock it outside of someone doing it for them. If meditation could help him…
Fawn sat beside the other Branwen, mimicking their pose. Immediately, he felt how problematic it was. he didn't even know how to meditate, only that keeping that pose was hard. He felt his everywhere itch and discomfort.
"Hey, watcha doing?" Rowan came to him. She stared at his strange position but said nothing. Rather, she sat beside him and mimicked his position.
It was going nowhere, but Fawn kept his posture. Maybe one day he could properly meditate, but today wasn't it, so he would conditionate himself to keep that sitting position. It was not as if he had anything better to do, either.
(...)
Days passed by in a flash. He was foraging for berries once again. The winter was coming, and so there wouldn't be any plants bearing fruits for the next months.
For reasons he couldn't fathom, Rowan kept him company despite his status as a shy boy and someone who kept to himself most of the time.
She decided to help him gather some berries and fruits while they still had some to gather.
"Why are you helping me?" He questioned her.
She shrugged. "Dunno. You always look like a know-it-all in class. I figured you must be studying extra hard in your free time or something. Gotta copy what you are doing." Fawn sighed.
"It is not that. I just… get things easily, I guess." He could not tell he had the mind of an adult. He doubted she would believe him.
"Well, then I will follow you to look after you. See what you are doin'. Copy what works." She was blunt and to the point. If what he did worked, then copying him was a good thing.
He couldn't fault that logic. "Besides, you are the scranny kid in our class. So shy and with no friends. You gotta have at least one friend, or everyone will pick on you."
Fawn couldn't care less about a child's squabbles, yet it was kind of heartwarming seeing someone so young be so thoughtful of him. "Thanks." He spoke kindly.
"You are welcome." They continued to collect berries.
(...)
Without even noticing. The season of autumn passed, and so did winter. Spring was there.
Well. I hope you guys like this chapter.