Inked

7

"Show me how." Farid's voice caught her attention.

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up in a minute," Meggie told Jehan, who skipped ahead, swinging his basket and scanning the ground for nuts and the bushes for berries.

"Please." How childish he sounded! Meggie was still upset with him for not showing her much attention recently. It was Dustfinger all over again. She crept between the trees, shooing several fairies away from her hair, and finally saw him, walking next to her. The girl -- Soleil, what a stupid name -- was grinning devilishly, as if she knew something nobody else knew. And perhaps she did; Farid seemed to want to know what it was.

The girl shook her head and giggled. Meggie cringed in disgust. Where was some paper and a pen when she needed it most? She would read this girl out of existence, she would. Meggie! she reprimanded herself. Since when had she become so vindictive? Oh, right, since she arrived.

The girl was leaning against a tree, her arms folded across her chest, amusement written on her face. Farid was leaping across the clearing like an idiot, waving his arms and shouting unintelligible words at the sky. Fiery birds flapped their wings, but none of them was an eagle. Hills of fire rose beneath them, but nothing as majestic as the white-capped mountain Soleil had produced. Farid at last tried to make a clone of himself out of flames, but the closest he got was a vague fiery silhouette.

"Tell me," he pleaded with the girl, but she just chuckled at him, still in her relaxed pose.

Meggie glanced through the trees to her right to check on Jehan. The boy was looking up into a tree, trying to call a gold-mocker down to his waiting finger as Gecko had taught him to do.

She looked back to see that Farid had approached Soleil. One hand was planted on the bark beside her head, the other on his hip. "No, he won't," he was saying. "Dustfinger doesn't have time for me these days." Meggie heard the hurt in his voice, but she didn't feel any pity for him, as that was how she felt on a daily basis.

The girl, however, showed him sympathy. I thought you were smarter than that! Meggie insulted her in her mind. She couldn't believe the girl was falling for Farid's ruse. Then again, how many times had she let herself be fooled by him?

Soleil lifted a gentle hand to his face and Meggie felt ready to scream or throw up or both. Farid leaned closer and Meggie looked away as their lips touched. How dare he! A fairy swooped down and gripped a strand of hair with its tiny blue hands, but Meggie didn't so much as blink as it tugged out the prize and flitted away.

Meggie straightened up as they pulled apart and Soleil began to whisper. Meggie couldn't hear her, but she saw the fire forming into magnificent creatures and landscapes beside them. Farid tried to repeat her actions and soon he was able to produce a fairly decent copy of her work.

"Jehan," she called as she went to the boy. Wiping away a few stray tears, she grabbed the little boy's hand -- he hadn't been able to coax the bird to him -- and they continued gathering till they had enough for everyone in the camp.