The Salt In The Trees

She's at it again

Many years ago

Arthur's POV

I was drinking whiskey in the local tavern when a frightened local woman burst through the door frantically looking around, I turned on my stool "It's Tatiana, she's gone again" I saw some other locals rolling their eyes saying things like "not again" and "That girl is always at it, running with that boy" I smiled at the thought of two young children trying to get away together, how sweet. A man next to me spun around and looked right at me "you must get them back, Gina's child, Tatia, she's been running through the woods driving us all crazy" I laughed a little "Sounds like troublemakers, I'll get them back"

Tatia's POV

Gunnar and I were running from our homes and through the woods for the sixth time this week, we enjoyed this very much, just running and screaming like lunatics. The only problem was if mama called the fish man on us, I've never spoken to him, Gunnar has and says he's a very kind man,"keep up Tate, they'll be onto us soon" I ran and slowly over took him, we both continued cheering until we reached our destination, the same one everyday, the lake. The lake was one of the sources of water the Fishman didn't go near so it was our space.

We sat down at the bank and talked for a while "Tatia, what happened to your papa?" I looked down "Same thing that happened to Viktor" I knew the question he was about to ask next, I would of told him but I felt I was being watched "what happened to Viktor, didn't he just disappear?" I looked at him "Gunnar, people don't just disappear, I know what happened, I just don't want to talk about it, not here" I jerked my eyes towards towards the treeline, his eyes traced the treeline and he saw a figure "Tatia, run... RUN!" I got up and sprinted around the edge of lake with Gunnar not far behind, I turned my head and saw the man from the sea racing after us" first one to fall behind loses" 

Arthur's POV

I had found the kids, they're accent was extremely thick compared to my own, but I could just about make out what they were saying, they didn't look like they were causing anyone any trouble, they're just being kids. That didn't change the fact that I still had to get them home, if I approached them slowly then maybe they'd want to talk, if not they we can play a game, if that's good with them

Tatia's POV

I wasn't afraid of the tall man, I knew where i was going, our tree houses were close by. My plan was climb on up and wait him out and then we can leave, there's a little food up there but not enough to last until the end of winter, he tends to leave more often around then, but he always comes back. I kept running "Gunnar you know what I'm thinking." I saw him climb the tree as I climbed one, I watched from the top as the man stopped in between the trees and looked at both of us "y'know, you can only survive on candy bars for so long"  I looked at Gunnar worriedly, he was figuring out our plan "We're runners, we like traveling on foot, the others don't understand that"

I saw him raise his eyebrows "is that so? Well your pretty fast for kids, I'll give ya that. Your mother sent me to get you, she's worried"  I scoffed and saw my friend in the treehouse opposite laugh"That woman? Worried? Never. All she uses Tate for is laundry and getting extra money for being a widow and losing a child" I smiled "it's true, ever since Viktor and papa vanished, I'm just the pain-in-the-ass laundry girl and occasional medic, not even her daughter anymore" we both glanced down at the fishman "I'm sure that's not true, look, why don't you both come down and we can talk this out" while he was waiting for our response, Gunnar and I were hatching a plan, we kept working out which way was the fastest home. We signalled that we would run home and not look back "let's make it a game, what do you think Gunnar, will fishman win or us?".

Without any notification to the adult at the bottom, I jumped and ran for it, I was the fastest out of both of us which put me in the lead, I could still hear heavy footsteps behind me. Gunnar was almost home since he lived on the outside of the town, that's why it was so easy to run with him. I ran to the door and stopped and regained my breath, then turned to the fishman "Good game, your not as slow as the other adults. That's good" I saw him slowly smirk. It slowly faded when I heard my mama yelling at me in the distance "Tatiana, how dare you run off like that? Get inside now, go, go!" She swatted me around the back of the head "I was just playing mama" I peaked out the window and saw her shaking hands with the man, who waved to me.

Arthur's POV

The little girl was fast but smart "She's smart, but fast for a small kid" her mother smiled "her and her brother used to run with their father to wave him off everytime he went fishing" she was grieving but it looked fake, was the boy right about just using 'Tatia' for chores? "Thank you for bringing them back home" I saw the little girl looking through the window, I waved and she smiled "She's going to make Iceland proud someday" Gina rolled her eyes slightly "I very much doubt that, she's clever but not clever enough to effect anyone else" so Gina was just using her for chores and money "if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your son and husband?" I saw her sigh deeply,which looked acted "Jorge died on a far off fishing trip, he caught the train there and never returned to us, Viktor went after him but got injured in a bombing on the way there and then drowned because he too deep searching for his father, Tatiana doesn't like to talk about them, she keeps saying they vanished" I looked at the window but the girl was no longer there, she was probably doing laundry" thank you again for returning my precious Tatiana" then she joined her daughter inside