The Lost

28- Problems

Lyn

I woke up having slept better then I ever have in my entire life. The bed was absolutely huge! Soft and warm, dark and quiet in the room too. Everything was totally perfect here. Everything, not just the bed. I was with Aspen and Azure in a tribe, a real tribe, and Wren was letting Lucius stay!

Two days had somehow passed since we arrived at the tribe. Azure and Aspen had been eager to leave the first day after arriving, but Wren had insisted on us waiting. No use running off in this condition, had been their words. They had commanded us all to clean ourselves up properly. That meant things like Rosin dressing her wounded arms in pale bandages, Aspen finding himself a green cloak to wear and Azure finally getting to wash her hair. Oh, I just loved Azure's hair. It had taken an entire day to dry after she washed it— I could never imagine my own hair being so long. The girl had been about to trim half of it off before I protested against it. Well, 'protested'. In reality I had torn the scissors from her hands and cast them out the window. How could she cut her hair when it was so pretty? She had apologised very sincerely to me when I demanded that very question, but everyone else had been laughing.

Azure. Aspen. Everything about the two of them was amazing. He was brave and smart, Captain of the scouts, she was the most beautiful girl in the whole entire universe, and her determination for getting what she wanted was unmatched. I could have stayed under the covers forever and dreamt about scouts and red hair, wings and huge beds with puffy pillows.
But there was a horrible commotion outside.

———

When I woke up, everybody else was already awake. It was obvious by the clattering and jumble of voices coming through my window that there was something going on. Was it early? Late? I didn't feel tired anymore, I knew that. I scrambled into my new dress, provided by Robin, still white but made to fit me properly. Any morning grogginess had worn off. Something was going on and I wanted to know what.

I barrelled out of the door and immediately regretted it. The sun was blazing through the leaves above and practically incinerated my eyes, leaving me blind for a minute. Light here wasn't like the pale ceiling glow back in the school— the sun was always impossible to look at, even on a cloudy day. Midway through rubbing my palms against my eyes, I heard a voice.
"Lyn? Why are you up so early?"
After a few more little blinks, I could see again.
"Azure?" I said, surprised. So it was early. I knew that Azure always went to bed last— even Rosin didn't stay up as late as her— so why was she already awake? By the looks of it, she was working.

The girl's red hair had been drawn back and tied by a little twine of something green, and was hanging behind her shoulders. That brown vest she had been wearing since I met her hadn't changed aside from being thoroughly cleaned and sewn up a bit. But she had changed her trousers. They were big and puffy at the bottom so her boots were almost hidden. But already smeared with dirt on the knees. Both of her hands were freshly cut.

"Still tired?" She smiled. I realised that I hadn't actually answered her question when she repeated it, "Why don't you go back to bed- It's very early, you don't need to be awake."
I skipped towards her and ignored the suggestion, "What's going on? Why are you awake? And your hands, what happened? And where's Aspen? He's usually with you."
The girl laughed, "Alright- you don't seem very tired, but I am, so hold the questions for a second. Aspen is still asleep. Don't wake him up-" she cut in before I could go running off, "He's still healing so he's allowed to be lazy for a bit."
I had to laugh at her calling him lazy. "But what about all this?"
Other people from the tribe were up and about. Some of them were heaving around what seemed like logs of wood. Big long things with scraps of bark still hanging on the edges. How on Earth they could lift them I had no idea.
"Oh," Azure followed my eyes. "Right. There might be some bad rain coming. Look, that's how I cut my hands- carrying those things. They weigh a ton."