Remi's Great Escape (Forestfolk Prequel)

Chapter 12a

By the end of the day, we'd built a bed frame. Nirrin had somehow escaped Bren's watchful eye again, and arrived just as I finished sanding the last leg.

"Is that for me?" she asked, running a hand over the smooth wood.

Barrigan had gone inside to put the leftover ties away. But Jora, who had been working on a sewing project on the front porch, answered for me. "Nirrin, didn't we fix your bed already?"

"I broke it again." The little girl had the decency to look embarrassed. But only for a little while. "It's a great place to land when I pretend to fly!"

Jora made a disapproving noise. "This is why we're going to wait a few days before fixing it again. So you learn your lesson."

"But I'll be sleeping crooked!"

"Maybe that'll make you think twice about jumping on the bed."

"I wasn't jumping. I was landing on it."

Jora shook her head and said nothing more.

Nirrin turned her attention to me instead. "What are you doing with that rock?"

I looked at the sanding rock in my hand. "It takes away the splinters from the wood."

"Can I try?"

I shrugged and handed it to her. She immediately began banging on the frame with the rock.

"That's not how it works!" I grabbed her hand to stop the pounding, but it was too late. Several dents already marred the bed frame's surface. I frowned at it. "Look what you did! I was doing a good job! Now it's ugly."

Nirrin's bottom lip trembled. "I didn't mean to make it ugly."

Maybe I was being mean, but I'd been really proud of my work. I wanted to be praised again. I wanted that warm, glowing feeling. And now there were dents.

"I'll make it better!" Nirrin reclaimed the rock from where it had dropped and began scrubbing hard over the marks she'd made, like she was wiping off a stain.

Now I felt bad. "It okay. You don't have to do that." I could hear the dejection in my voice.

"I'm going to make it better!" Her little tongue poked out as she put her whole body into the effort.

She was really trying.

When her breath sounded like she'd been running laps, I decided it was enough. "Look, it's better already." I think she might have actually made it worse, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Yeah?" She stopped and scrunched her face at her handiwork. "I don't know."

"Yeah, it's good as new. Thank you."

Her hopeful face lit up. "Can I help with something else?"

Thankfully, Jora came to rescue me. "Won't Bren be looking for you?"

The little girl's face fell. "She's always looking for me."

"Why don't you tell her about what you did today?"

Her face brightened again. "Oh, okay!" She jumped to her feet and ran off.

I dropped my fake smile and ran a hand over the now-scratched up dings in the wood.

"It's not that bad," Jora said, looking over my shoulder.

"But it's not good." If I didn't do well, the Forestfolk might find me useless. Maybe they wouldn't want me around.

Barrigan emerged from his cabin and smiled at the bed frame. "Fine work. You are an excellent helper." He finally noticed my glum face. "What's the matter?"

"Nirrin came to 'help'," Jora supplied.

"I see." Barrigan squinted at the damage. "Barely noticeable." He rapped a fist against the frame. "Still perfectly strong."

The frown eased off my face. "So it's good?"

"Very good."

I beamed at him. Maybe I could find my place here after all.

***

At breakfast the next day, I wasn't surprised when Nirrin planted herself across the table from me.

"What are you doing today?" she asked, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I don't know." It was the truth. After being dismissed from yesterday's project, I wasn't given any further instructions.

Her lower lip protruded into a pout. "That's what those boys always tell me when I want to play with them."

I regarded her a moment. "Maybe you shouldn't hit them with sticks?"

"Maybe they shouldn't be stupid, loser warriors!" she shot back.

I couldn't help smiling. "Fair enough."

My spine straightened when Galen approached.

"Nirrin, may I borrow your friend?"

Her mouth pulled to one side as she considered. She appeared to be displeased that he was taking me away, but at the same time pleased that I was considered her friend. "Okay," she finally said. "You may."

Galen bowed. "Thank you for your generosity."

Nirrin giggled.

I followed Galen away from the commons. Bren joined us, and began speaking. "Remi, we have a very important question to ask you."

I stopped walking.

My stomach formed intricate knots.

I knew it. They wanted to find out what kind of Aberration I was. They wanted to know if I was dangerous. If I was going to hurt anyone. I would be paraded around Foresthome and humiliated. It was inevitable.

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