From A Kingdom's Shadow

CHAPTER FOUR

Apondra could not remember when they came home. But with the darkness of night still covering them, she guessed that Barri had decided to head home early rather than risk coming across more vampires in the woods. She couldn't help but feel discouraged, this was her least successful hunting trip in months.

Barri had tried to remind her that there would be many more hunts, and that they would be more careful next time. But even as he said it, Apondra wasn't sure how true that would turn out to be. There would always be danger. Some thief or vampire. Someone who could know more than they let on.

She sat in silence at the table as Barri finally took a moment to check the wound left by his dagger, apologizing constantly for it.

She had reassured him that she was fine several times now, but he doted over her to be sure he did not need to enlist a healer in the morning. The bleeding had stopped on the walk home, and the stinging was almost gone. What could a healer do more than make sure the wound was wrapped properly?

When he was finally satisfied and her wound was wrapped as best as he could manage, Barri went through his bag and unpacked the few cuts of meat he managed to salvage and set the single blood jar down. Apondra knew he would likely be up the rest of the night preparing the meat to be preserved in salt. At least he could sell the jerky he made over the fire, but it would not bring in much. Barri would likely eat the rest of it himself over the next month or so if sales did not go well.

Apondra quietly took a pitcher from the cabinet and went to rinse her hands.

"Baby bird," Barri said softly, tossing a rag to her, "scrub well, we both need good rest tonight," he took a second rag and scrubbed at his neck.

As she scrubbed and rinsed her hands by the garden, enjoying the scent of Barri's potted mint plants that lifted on the wind, Apondra smiled. It had been a long while since Barri had used her childhood nickname, she had almost forgotten the comfort it brought her. Apondra picked under her nails carefully with the tip of one of her arrows, trying to carve the blood from under them as best she could.

She could still remember trying to tell Barri her name the first night he took her in at the shop, but her voice would not come up. True to himself, Barri had found a way to talk with her in that early time and after hours sitting with her with a parchment and ink well to no avail he had retired to bed, only to find the following morning the almost illegible words 'baby bird' scrawled among the countless mistakes and ink splotches. The only nickname she carried at that time that made her little eyes seem a bit less haunted.

Apondra clenched the rag, her hands shaking with the almost forgotten memory.

She berated herself for the memories that threatened to overtake her mind, and as she went to turn in for the night she knew the nightmares would return.

Apondra smiled at the new cloth wrap Barri had left on her bedside table. It had taken a few weeks, Barri said the shop did not have the right materials for it as they sat down to breakfast that morning.

She nodded, sipping at her morning tea while her mind raced with excitement to get back to the deliveries. The routine of it felt normal compared to the weeks spent in her room.

At the very least she had found something to keep herself busy. She had spent the time sorting through her clothes and fixing them to her liking. Barri had given her a small sewing box after the last hunt to give her something to do, and she had spent day after day tearing the backs of her dresses and the few shirts she had, finding a way to fit her wings that felt seamless. Her fingers were marked with pinpoints from her mistakes for the first week but soon calluses covered them and her confidence grew as she modified almost every dress in her closet.