Roses and Thorns

8- Strays and Wanderers

"Rose! Wake up!" Nimbus is in my den, in my face, and incredibly enthusiastic.

I practically hit the ceiling. "What's going on?! Am I late?"

"Terribly." she says. "We need to leave. Now."
I follow her all the way to the mouth of the den, where I realize that there's already light shining in. Somewhere in the back of my mind I finally process that it's two days before the next full moon, which we've been given off as time to prepare and rest.

"You must think you're real clever." I tell Nimbus.

"We are going out to procure some extra rations for the harvest festival." Nimbus says. "So, technically not lying! Want to come?"

"I have stuff to do."
"Such as?"

"Stuff."

"One of these days, we're going to force you to be fun. I don't know how we're going to get you there, but we will." Nimbus vows, backing out of my den. "Mark my words, Rose."

"Who's 'we'?" I shout after her, but she's already gone.

I stalk into town, grabbing myself a ration of deer and eating it outside the Table. Tammory and Eris pass, with Duncan, Rye, and Nimbus following behind. So much for hunting, I suppose.

"Should I ask?" I call to the procession.

"Apparently tavern brawling is frowned upon." Nimbus mutters. She glares at Duncan. "You had it coming."

Duncan growls back, "Says the one who threw me into a wall." Even though Duncan's fur is closer to Eris's in color than Ace's (the Violaeras have a strange propensity for disparate hues), there's still a remarkable resemblance between brothers. Something about the image of Ace smacking down Nimbus in a fight makes me snort hard, and Tammory shoots me a look of utter disappointment.

"There's nothing funny about breaking the law, Rose."
"Not that, not that." I say. "Carry on."

"Would you like to join us today?" Eris asks. "We're having an intervention meeting. Promises to be a good one."

I look down at my venison, which has suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world. "I hate to say this, but I might have to pass this time. Another day?"

"Naturally." Tammory sighs. They travel into the Table and not much later, I hear Eris reciting the vows that begin the meeting.

All this diplomacy is making me lose my appetite, so I finish the slab of venison best I can and pad off towards Anassa's house, which so happens to double as the library. I find her off to the side, messing with a large sheet of wire, which she's wrapping around the exterior of an enclosure, complete with a miniscule hutch. Between her telekinesis and her teeth, she almost looks like she's making some progress.

"You alright there?" I ask.

"Reinforcing the kaanin pen." She growls, releasing the wire. "I've been meaning to for months, ever since someone snuck in and stole one, but I'm a bit of a scatterbrain. Besides that, do you have any idea how hard it is to magically weave wire? I've never been so bored in my life."

Pointy bits of wire hang dangerously close to my neck, and I try to nod. The kaanin, no longer disturbed by the noise, venture out of the hutch. They're supposedly descended from rabbits, but they've been bred so fat that they're really just amorphous blobs with tiny ears instead of anything that could reasonably survive in the wild, and their fur is longer and softer. Luckily the original wire beneath the 'reinforcement' still holds. Even if it didn't, how fast could a kaanin run? We'd have them in seconds.

"Oh yes. By the way, in the future, would you mind not throwing my books on the ground? I love you, Rose, but it's bad for business."

She's actually the local farmer, but bringing up the 'day job' dilemma generally yields bad results, so for now both jobs are treated as matters of equal significance to the survival of the Glade. "Of course." I say.