Our second world- Book two: War is coming

Chapter 29

~Haren~

It was dark, save for the minuscule rays of pale moonlight filtering through gaps in the branches of the trees where ever they could. The ground that had begun to thaw just yesterday, was now frozen over from the cool temperature. After running off from camp for a little space, Haren was now sitting in a hollow of roots under a thick pine tree that looked to have been half uprooted. Half of the roots on the tree were not covered in dirt and there was just enough space for him to squeeze in without being overly cramped. With knees against his chest and his head rested on them, he tried to focus on anything but the thundering of his racing heart. The sound of the branches rustling against each other whenever an occasional breeze blew by. The sound of water as the ice on a nearby creek began to crack and melt away. The way his clothing would rustle if he shifted even the smallest amount. Spring was close, but there were no animals skittering across the forest floor, or birds gliding through the trees in search of a meal. As far as the eye could see in any direction, he was the only living thing in the forest this night.

It was normal for him to space himself from everyone and everything else when he needed time to think. This time, however, was different. His thoughts were all but a garbled mess of words and he couldn't be bothered to put in the effort to properly sort them. Not yet. How could he? Right now, he couldn't be bothered to even make an effort to move. let alone sort through the maze of thoughts that is his mind. The spot he chose to sit was a bit of strategic planning, but also quite a bit of luck. He'd walked off in the direction that the others would be heading in the morning, so they'd run into him on their way if he didn't head back. It was starting to look that way. Finding the tree hollow was pure coincidence, and frankly, a lucky find. The forest was thick, but an icy winter wind still occasionally blew through the trees. The roots he was sitting under offered a bit of protection from it.

After a while, a new sound joined the others he'd been observing in the forest. A quiet drip, drip, drip of water... Water? It smelled like iron.

"Not water, blood." He realized," One of my wounds must have opened again. Oh well. It's a little annoying, but it's not like there's anything I can do about it right now."

After checking the severity of the opened injury, he decided it would be fine to leave it alone. None of the stitches had been torn out or ripped, and only a small amount of blood had soaked the bandages. He wasn't in danger of losing a lot of blood so he re-tied the bandage and went back to quietly observing the forest.

At an unknown time, he fell asleep. Waking to faint gray sunlight seeping through the trees, leaving near golden pools on the frozen forest floor. As he stretched and crept from his hiding place, he noticed a few grass shoots and clovers budding under the trees nearby.

"I guess I should be heading back before the others freak about me being gone," He sighed and dusted off his pants before heading in the direction of the camp.
A few minutes of walking later and he arrived just as the first few soldiers were waking up. Some of them greeted him with a good morning while they took down their tents, but most of them were still to tired. About an hour later, everyone was up and the camp was completely packed away. They started moving again and slowly, chatter started up between the soldiers while they walked. It took Haren a while to notice that August was walking at the front of the group with Elise and Claris instead of the back where he usually was. He didn't care. If the wolf had been in the back, Haren probably would have gone to walk with Elise instead. The words said last night still sat on his tongue and he didn't exactly feel like talking to him yet. That would take a while, and in the mean time, he'd prefer to avoid interacting with August as much as possible.
"Even if I tried to talk to him, August would probably ignore me. I said stuff I probably shouldn't have... we both did, so it's best to give him space. He seems to be avoiding me anyway."
When they stopped to make camp again for the night, Silver approached him after dinner.
"Something you need?" Haren asked when the boy sat next to him.
"I noticed you and August have been avoiding each other all day," Silver said," What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Well, it's gotta be something. You two are usually glued to each other, so why the sudden change?"
"Fine. Since I know you won't stop bothering me until I tell you, we had a fight." Haren sighed, leaning back against the tree behind him.
"You aren't going to try and make up with him?" Silver asked.
"If I could, I would have, but as you said: He's been avoiding me all day, so I didn't really get a chance." Haren huffed.
"You could still try talking to him."
"I don't think he's quite ready to listen to an apology, and I'm still trying to gather my thoughts about it." Haren replied. Turning to Silver, he asked," Why are you so interested in it anyway? You usually don't care about anyone else's problems."
"I'll be honest and say that I heard you two arguing last night," He shrugged," I didn't hear a whole lot, but what I did hear sounded pretty bad. I'm only concerned because if you two can't keep it together around each other, it could cost every one if we get into a battle with the enemy."
Haren sighed and glanced up at the sky now beginning to fill with stars. It was hardly visible through the tree branches, but the forest was thinner here so he could see more tonight than he could last night," I know that, but I can't do anything about it when he's mad at me. I doubt he'll forgive me easily after what I said to him."
"Never know unless you try," Silver said," I'm no expert when it comes to relationships with other people, but I'd bet you two can figure something out. You're both too stubborn to be the first one to admit they were wrong, though. You don't have to forgive each other right away, but find a way to at least stand being around each other until we get back to base."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, bossy." Haren grumbled.
Silver grinned and walked back to where the others were seated around a small camp fire.
Haren sighed again and put his head down on his knees.