What Is Done

Chapter 24 - The Forest of Colrath

The elves had evidently woken up Kitto with all their yelling. He stayed upstairs, the sound of his footsteps making him sound like he were a skittish cat, which only made the elves feel uneasy with every step he took. It felt like an eternity before he came down, and when he did, he came with a freshly-prepared meal, which surprised all of them. They thought he'd be mad about all the racket, but Kitto explained he was usually up around this hour.

While Essaerae and Laverne ate, Sellion's only plan was to go into the woods and slay what he'd seen the previous night. Laverne ate then stayed in the house, doing his own thing. After breakfast, Essaerae helped Kitto with the laundry of their day clothes like she'd promised. Kitto had offered them clothes that his patients would wear so they could do all their laundry at once.

Kitto wore a bucket hat and dirt smelling overalls specifically for this task. Essaerae hung Laverne's white robes over the laundry line. Kitto pinned Sellion's clothes to the line by the sleeves and pant legs to keep them there. He handed a few pins to Essaerae so she could do the same to Laverne's. It took Essaerae a long time to wash her wool dress. It took a specific cleaning method too.

"I can do that if you'd like me to," Kitto apprised, noticing Essaerae crouching next to the bucket and washboard.

"No, no. I'm good." She pulled the dress out by the shoulders, showing it off to Kitto. "It's made of wool. It needs to be washed with a specific set of instructions...and I like doing that myself."

Kitto accepted her decision and didn't press matters further as she hung the dress up like Kitto had done with Sellion's shirts, by the sleeves. Kitto and Essaerae exchanged a warm glance when they finished pinning clothes to the clothes line. He supposed since he had a habit of washing the garments of the patients who had mobility issues, he hadn't thought that an able-bodied guest of his would want to take chores upon themselves. Still, he thought it a courtesy to offer. 

Sellion's borrowed hospital clothes would make him stand out to whatever was in the woods but Kitto and Essaerae had taken his other clothes to the laundry. It wasn't ideal, but he, being Sellion, would make it work.

Laverne returned to his curtained-off area of the large room after using the privy. He caught a glimpse of Sellion sharpening his spear from the corner of his eye. "What are you doing?"

Sellion opted to keep his explanation simple for the High King's feeble mind. "I'm going into that woodland to get rid of a threat." Sellion didn't turn to meet Laverne's judgmental gaze.

"Uh...huh..." Laverne watched him, blankly, not sure what to think about it. "Do not die," he had said to Sellion before continuing on his journey back to his bed. That would be a bad thing. 

Instead of going back to sleep, he sat there, contemplating something no one else knew. No one could ever guess what Laverne was thinking. 

Sellion had gone outside, Kitto and Essaerae could see him from where they stood. Kitto didn't know what he was going to do until it was likely too late.

"You're such a moron!" Essaerae called out to Sellion, watching him get closer to the woods. Sellion had set aside her opinion.

Kitto had watched him with uncertainty out of the corners of his eyes. He had laid pretend not to notice. As Sellion got closer to the edge of the forest, Kitto shouted, "Don't go in there, boy!" 

Sellion had brushed aside his remark as he did with most people's and disappeared behind the underbrush and low tree branches. 

All Kitto could think of was how he'd hoped Sellion could return alive. Poor boy. Not many who venture into the Forest of Colrath come back out.