DEMISE

PART FOUR: SECRETS

To be different is to be seen differently, in a way good or bad. —Lies on the Moor, a Popular Caligoson Play

Four years had passed since Deidamia's first day at school. She was now at the proud age of nine, and showing great talent as a hunter and fisher, which delighted her stepmother and stepfather. She was especially gifted in tracking animals for Rayne to hunt and finding bait for Mark to fish with. Both were amazed at how the child could detect signs of animals that Rayne could barely see and how Deidamia knew just which logs or patches of dirt hosted infestations of crunchy insects or juicy worms. They asked her many times how she knew, but for a while she would not say, replying only with a shrug or "Intuition."

One day, when the child returned from the forest with yet another knapsack full of bugs, Rayne was more insistent than usual with her questions, not allowing her adopted daughter to merely shrug off her interrogation. Finally, when Deidamia realized Rayne wasn't going to simply drop the subject, she reluctantly replied.

"How do you know where to find them? Please Deidamia, answer."

The child stared at the women for a long moment, an expression of mixed irritation, impatience, and defeat written on her countenance, before responding. "The birds."

"What?"

"The birds tell me where the bugs are. They'll lead me to them sometimes, too. You've heard them chirping, when you were with me."

And indeed Rayne had. She hadn't noticed that Deidamia followed the sound of the bird calls, but once the connection was made, she realized.

"And hunting?"

"What about it?"

Rayne sighed. She knew Deidamia was stalling and it rather annoyed her. "How do you know where the animals are, and all?"

The girl shrugged. "Sharp eyes. Keen nose. Sometimes the birds help, but not often. They don't mind sharing the bugs, but they don't like the idea of hunting too well. They understand, of course, since that's the way of life, but they still don't like it all the same."

Rayne nodded, stunned. It was a lot to take in that her adoptive daughter could communicate with birds. "Oh, and what about the other animals you seem to be interested in? Like snakes? Or those feral cats? Can you speak to them too?"

"No," Deidamia said, frowning. "I can understand them, in a way, and they can understand me, but we don't speak to each other. It's not like that. May I go now?"

"Of course," Rayne beamed. Deidamia made to depart. "Oh, and Dei?"

"Mmm?"

"Thank you for telling me."

The child stared at her for a moment, clearly taken aback, before flashing Rayne a bright, genuine smile and heading towards the house, wriggling knapsack in hand.

Rayne went to discuss the new, startling information with Mark.

~~~***~~~

The little cottage in which Rayne, Demarkalos, and Deidamia dwelled was cozy but quite small. As preparations for winter began, the home started to feel rather cramped. As Deidamia grew, so did her appetite, and her adoptive parents were obliged to go at greater lengths to store food. In addition, the garden was quite successful that year, and many fish and animals were found in abundance. All in all, the house was no longer sufficient to store and Demarkalos decided to begin constructing a shed, of sorts, to contain the food for winter.

At first, Deidamia and Rayne simply helped with the preparation of the meat and produce. They dried and salted, cut and bundled, and readied the food for storage. But the building of the shed went slower than anticipated, and soon Mark requested that his wife and adopted daughter lend a hand.

On a bitter-cold morning towards the end of winter, a few days after Deidamia's birthday (which they celebrated one month before the anniversary of the day Rayne had discovered the abandoned child), the base of the shed had been finished and only one feat remained: the roof. Many animal skins had been donated to the cause, as to provide a watertight seal, and willow reeds by the river had been dried to create a layer of thatching. When all of the skins had been pegged to form a foundation, and all of the reeds had been hauled onto the roof, Mark climbed down and faced his adopted daughter.

"Hey, Dei!"

She raised her eyebrows to show she was listening.

"How would you like to help with the roof?"

"Mark, no! That isn't safe!"

But Mark's eyes gleamed with a passion he hardly ever possessed about anything other than fishing. "Come on, Rayne! Dei's getting a little scrawny, a little physical labor couldn't do her any harm!" he laughed, ruffling his wife's hair good-naturedly. Rayne dodged away and scowled at him, but it was clear she wasn't truly angry.

"Alright, fine. But if she falls and breaks something, I am holding you accountable, sir!"

The whole family burst into a fit of giggles, and Deidamia ascended to the roof. For a good hour, all was well. The child proved quite adept at bundling the reeds into manageable sections, but did rather poorly at the actual thatching. She was kneeling at one corner, trying to force the reeds to fall gracefully over the edge, and was growing more and more frustrated by the minute. Nose crinkled in intense concentration, she gave a sudden tug, losing her footing and sliding off the roof. It happened so fast, she didn't have time to grasp anything to hinder her fall; she had only time to hear Rayne desperately shout "Deidamia!" before she was lying in a stunned, disheveled heap on the ground.

Rayne immediately descended from the roof, Mark close behind her, racing around the shed and steeling herself to see her adopted daughter lying with several broken limbs. Instead, she and her husband found a quite unharmed Deidamia calmly brushing dirt off of her garments, sporting not one scratch, let alone a broken limb. Rayne was dumbstruck. The fall from such a height would have resulted in at least some injury for any normal person, she thought, before reminding herself that while Deidamia may have been many things, she was certainly not normal.

Okay, so I just wanted to ask y'all some questions about the story so far:

Who's your favorite character?

Do you like or dislike Deidamia? Or maybe have feelings in-between? What about Rayne and Mark?

What do you think of the plot so far?

Vote or comment if you feel like it, and thanks for taking the time to read this story.

--J.C.