Finn Arwr and the Spirits of Concept

Chapter Three

Sima Temeno groaned. Sunlight mercilessly streamed in through an open window, casting promises of blue skies and quick adventure. She rolled over and felt something hard.

Opening her eyes, she found she had tumbled right onto her older brother, Ty. He didn't move. Sima sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She looked to the left, then to the right. She was trapped, siblings on both sides.

Crawling over Ty, she slid out of bed. Stepping over first Martin the gray tabby cat, then her older sister Effie, who appeared to have fallen some time ago, she made her way to the window.

She opened up several drawers in the wide chest that rested in between beds and under the window; she quickly used them to climb to the top and stuck her head out into the new day.

Sun faeries blew past her face, playfully swirling her hair around and around. One breathed its dust all over her cheeks, making her giggle and sneeze. The cloud faeries quickly chased them away, long and swirling and lighter than air.

"Sima..." One of her brothers groaned. She looked back, and saw Ty sitting only half-up and rubbing his face with one hand. His dark hair was matted all over his forehead, and stuck up funny at the back. She laughed.

"Do you olways 'ave to craowl ovah us?" Little Mollee wined from an un-discernible place under the covers. Martin got up, stretched, and yawned wide, and used Effie as a springboard onto the chest where Sima stood on tiptoe.

"Ouch!" Effie cried out, blinking dazedly and sitting up. "Wotch et!" Ty moaned and pulled a pillow over his head. Ben crawled over to the edge of his bed, and hung his head over the edge to goggle at his sister.

"You's felled ovah," he smiled a collection of missing teeth and half-formed adult ones. Mollee's little curled head popped up next to Ty.

"Wake up!" She cried, brining a pillow down hard on his un-protected stomach. He moaned, and took the pillow off his own head. He shot a glare at the now grinning Mollee and whacked her with Sima's stuffed horse.

"Oi!" Sima yelled from the window. "Be caheful wit' 'er!" Ty shot her a dirty glance that clearly said he hadn't forgiven her for waking them up. Effie got up off the floor, and brushed herself off.

"Whear's Immi?" She said, looking around. The others looked up as well, expect for Sima, still out the window.

"Theah she es!" She squeaked, pointing a short finger down towards the yard. The rest of her siblings crowded around the small space.

"Hey!" Ty shouted. He looked over to the corner, where their clothes were lined up. "She took me laast set o' clothes!" Sure enough, Ty's space was empty, while Immi's red dress lay folded on the floor.

"Whot's she doin'?" Effie asked. "We ain't alloud out until after breakfast," the others shrugged.

"Wea'll catch up to 'er soon," Sima shrugged. And so they all went over to the wall, picking up their clothes and getting changed.

"What'm I supposed ter do?" Ty demanded bewilderedly. When no one answered, his eyes drifted over to Immi's dress with renewed dread for the rest of the day.

***

Finn followed Immi, who seemed to be leading them along. The rope tied tight around her small waist fluttered in the wind, and her baggy pants were getting a creeping wetness from dragging down around her heels.

"Whose clothes are those, Imm?" Jack asked, taking in her odd appearance as Finn and Pip were. She kept up her slow pace, jogging along and pulling up her pants.

"Thear my brother Ty's," she said after a pause. They'd already jumped the fence out of Immi's yard, and were now weaving through cobbled streets and the occasional disapproving chicken. In the yards surrounding them, kids wielded sticks as swords and leapt from trees like they were skydiving.