The Ivory Killer (DISCONTINUED)

-Chapter Fourteen-Merhedith

Sorry, guys, This chapter is a bit short, but the next one will be longer to make up for it! Please vote, comment, and enjoy!

The last visit I took to our meeting tent ended in an organized disaster. My sleep had been plagued with chaotic dreams and I was left downright exhausted afterwards. The meeting before that had been about Carter, which was a whole new kind of mess; an emotional mess.

I wasn't looking forward to this one.

Our tent was brown. Jarad and I had talked about colors, but in the end decided that a darker, neutral color would be better. That way it wouldn't start to look as dirty and old as a lighter color would. It also blended in better with the surroundings. If by chance, and that's a strong if, a human managed to get a small glimpse of color in the middle of a seemingly uninhabited forest, what would happen then? They would probably go explore, then, boom, cover blown. So, brown was the final choice. The edges of the tent were secured to the ground with pikes that were stabbed into the ground, with a larger one spearing straight through the top, holding the "ceiling" up. It was large enough to accommodate the small table and pair of chairs we could find. Add a few water-resistance spells to the mix and the perfect tent was born.

Usually, our tent was where I went to think. Jarad and I would sit in there to just sort through issues in silence or talk through a problem out loud. It was a safe space to work out my thoughts, and, if the weather was right and things were fairly peaceful, I enjoyed it and looked forward to my next trip to the meeting tent.

Now, dread and worry were the only two things consuming my emotions. Jarad had mentioned looking through the materials we had found at the site, and I was pretty sure he didn't mean the broken down wooden cart.

I stood outside of the flap of the tent. The mug of coffee was still clutched in my hands, tendrils of steam rising up to tickle my face. The sound of shuffling papers and a scratching quill came from within. With a deep breath and a long, large swig of coffee, I stepped inside.

Jarad sat at the small table. One hand was nestled deeply into his hair, holding up his head. The salt and pepper strands stood up in long messy spikes. His wife had always pushed him to cut it, and he always said he would. He never did though because he had told me he was aiming to have a low ponytail like Karters. Currently, it sank nearly down to his ears and flopped in a side part. He sat nearly curled around a spread of papers, complete with an ink well and his quill. The poor feather was nearly being strangled in his hands and he gave whatever he was working on a frustrated jab.

"Jarad," I started, slightly concerned, a bit apprehensive, and the rest pretty nervous. I didn't know what to say to start this meeting that was obviously, by just body language alone, going to be tough.

His head snapped up. This morning, I hadn't been looking at Jared because I was too busy mushing my head into my pillow. Now I could see how stressed he looked. I winced at the state of his under eyes that were darkened, but the rest of his face managed to look slightly pale. He was clearly trying to hide it under a quickly put together smile. Whatever he had found in the cart must have been pretty mind-boggling.

"Oh, Merhedith. You got your coffee? Good. Let's move on then," He shuffled some of the random papers into a semi-organized pile and placed them elsewhere. He capped his ink and placed the quill aside.

I definitely wanted to elaborate on his not-so-well hidden state, but I didn't push it. There was no use in starting the meeting off on a bad foot when it was most likely going to get worse. If time permitted, I would ask afterwards, but for the moment...

"Alright, where do we start?" I asked. The chair made a dry scaring sound as it passed over the rocky ground. I sat down and held my coffee in front of me, cradled by both of my hands. I could already feel the tiniest buzz from my first few sips.