The Seeds of Wrath

8

Once I'd finished the self-volunteered chores that allowed me to spend some time with Madame Mae, she practically shoved me out of the kitchen. She seemed intent on having me do the activities around the home. The moment that I was physically on the other side of the door, the sound of Maeve and Linda arguing filled the room.

"Oh, and yeh are above it all, are yeh? Ya don' know anythin' abou' lovin' someone. When was the las' time yeh even gave it a go?" Maeve shouted, her eyes beginning to shimmer with gold around the edges. I didn't hesitate; I half-ran to her side, wrapping my arm around her waist to get her attention.
"What you two have isn't love! It's just pure lust; dirty, sinful lust. There is nothing holy about the two of you." Linda, luckily was alone, but that made me wonder where her little ones had taken to hiding. If she wasn't watching them, then who was? I frowned at her.

Instead of Maeve speaking, I interrupted. "I don't mean to interrupt; you can believe whatever the hell you want, but have you taken a look around? Where are your little rugrats?" Linda looked at me, looking puzzled at my question.
"What do you mean where are they? They're....right...." She looked just behind her, her eyes going wide with fear when she looked around, her heading swiveling like a bobblehead on a highly turbulent car's dashboard. "Angela? Celeste? Diana! Where are you?"

She immediately began to panic, rushing around the room looking for her kids. Maeve looked at me with a look that told me that she was yet again grateful. She took hold of my hand, motioning with her head for me to follow along with her. She pulled me towards the garden area, which I hadn't explored quite yet.

Today, it had an axe-throwing activity set up in the middle of it. I noticed one of the kids hovering around it excitedly, but being shooed away by the person who seemed to be manning it. I pointed it out to Maeve, who looked a little bit anxious when she saw it.
"Last time that activity was here, I really messed up." She hide her face behind her hair, which had mostly dried by now. I chuckled at her, turning to her.

"How about this? You don't have to do it yourself; how about you cheer me on?" She seemed to relax somewhat, giving a small nod to me. As we got closer, the guy in charge seemed to recognize Maeve and immediately starting shaking his head at her.

"No, no. You're worse than a child at this! I still haven't grown back ma' beard after tha' last time." He sounded bitter, and now that I got a closer look at him, I realized that there was a section of his beard that looked like it was much shorter than the rest.
"Oh, don' get yer kilt in a twist. I'm not 'ere fer it meself. Me girlfriend here wants to give it a try." She gave me a soft push towards him, reminding me why I had fallen for her all that time ago; she always knew how to push me towards new things. In this case it was literally.

The guy snorted in derision when he looked me up and down. He stood a couple heads taller than me, was built very sturdily. I wasn't too surprised that he was manning something like this. "Ya sure?"

I didn't appreciate his tone. I raised my eyebrow at him, grabbing a hold of one of the axes and feeling as if I'd somehow...connected with the axe. I felt a sense of confidence that I'd never felt before; not even when kissed by Maeve. I felt an easygoing smile sweep across my face as I shifted my weight with the axe, the head of the axe sinking into the very middle of the target. I grabbed a second one, moving to the next target and repeated the process. I tried the final axe, the last target toppling backwards from the force I'd put behind the throw.
Turning back to him, I looked him up and down the same way he had me. "Ahem. So you were saying, mister?" He stared at me with wide eyes that told me that I had just scared the actual piss out of him. I smirked at his reaction. "That's what I thought. Don't judge a book by it's cover."