The Fox and Her Bow

-10-

After a nice nap and supper, the sun starts to set. In the mouth of my cave, I sit, watching the moon rise in front of me. Too soon will I be heading to the village to steal one more time. Although I really want to stop stealing from my home, I know that the village is my only consistent source of food. I am going to have to give up a lot to keep myself from not going there.

Finally, the moon sits high in the sky: time to get moving. I pull my quiver of arrows and bag over my shoulder. My bow lies on my blanket in the corner of the cave. I run over and run my hand over the shaft. The wood feels familiar on my skin, and the feel of it brings back memories, most of which were good, but the bad always overcome the good. I shove away all the sad memories, and loop by bow around my shoulder.

Even with all the things I have weighing on my shoulders, I can still run fast. Dodging through the trees and around bushes, in a few minutes, the village comes into view. Not daring to take any chances with the villagers looking at me, I hide behind the trees, and stick to the shadows as I move closer to the houses. There are still villagers going among their business, but I can see the thought is just hanging in the air like fog. The thought of war. The promise of fight. Everyone has their jobs, but when there is war, I know their jobs do not matter: they are all warriors. We are all warriors. Including me.

I am a warrior. The other people have got to see that, or we will all see death in our face.

Though I have been waiting for a while, but the villagers had not dispersed. In fact, whenever one person leaves to take a break, or sleep, then another person takes their place. I can't get into the village. Then, I hear a gasp from in front of me.

I peek out from behind the bushes. A few lengths away, stands a woman. I recognize her as one of the village bakers. She bakes the best buns.

Of course, I had never been given one face to face. Whenever I came even an arms-reach away, she would slip behind the curtain, pretending she hadn't seen me. So, I had gotten Addison to buy some for me, or I would steal them when the cook wasn't looking.

Her eyes are directly on me, with surprised and scared eyes. I slink back into the bush, with only my eyes showing. Then, realizing that would probably scare her even more, I backed away even more.

"Wait!" whispers a voice.

What? Why would she of all people want me to wait?

I creep out from behind the bush. Only my head is showing, but she still backed away a step. "Hello."

In front of me, the cook has an arm reach out. She takes a hesitant step forward. "You're . . . the Fox girl, right?"

"Yes." I'm not sure where this was going. "Did you need something?"

She hesitates for a second. ". . . Yes. I do. . . we all do." She took a deep breath. "We all have seen your amazing skills in archery, and, with this war coming up soon, the whole village knows that you would be a great asset for winning this war."

"Thank you." I say proudly. Finally, someone recognizes my importance. Then her words start to sink in. "You . . . really think so?" She nods. "But. . . all this time, you never talked to me, or associated with me."

She sighed. "You are more than good with a bow. Your quiver is full of arrows, and your aim is always true. We all know you are a danger to us, but we also know, in this war, you would be a great addition to the warriors." She steps closer again. "But we know you already are a warrior."

". . . Wow. I thank you for those kind words, but they can't possibly be sincere. You have longed for me to leave the village ever since I came here!"

The cook sighs. "Our behavior towards you has not been the best, and now we need you more than ever, and you don't trust us. I suppose we deserve it."

Thinking back to all those years in the village, there was nothing I can do to stop me from saying, "Yes, you sure do."

She sighs. "I know."

I put my hand on her shoulder, and she only flinches a little. "But the important thing is that I forgive you." I slip my hand down to my side. "Even I can agree that I am a little scary."

We share a laugh. "Is there anything I can do for you?" She asks. Then she sticks out her hand. "I'm Mary, by the way."

I smile. No one had ever offered to shake my hand before. "Kalaya. Nice to properly meet you!"

Mary laughs. "Yes, yes, I know."

"When you say "do something for me", do you really mean . . . anything?"

"Within reason, of course."

My spirits sink a little bit. "Does . . . getting me back into the village count as reasonable?" I wince in expectation of her saying no.

At first, her eyes widen in surprise, but then, a moment later, her face softens. "The Chief has been very . . . on the edge lately. This war is making us all a little . . ."

I raise my eyebrows. "Yeah, I know. I've seen it."

Mary raises her eyebrows too. "So you have. How long have you been sneaking back to the village?"

I wince. "Um, a while I guess?"

She nods skeptically. "Mhmm."

I sigh. "Ok, ok, I've been going here for, like, every day since I was kicked out."

Mary nods. "For what?"

"Food mostly, but other things, like paper, pens, blankets and home supplies."

"Hmm."

Then an idea hits me. "How is Addison doing?! Is she ok?"

Mary holds up her hands. "Whoa, she's doing just fine!"

I release the breath I didn't know I was holding. "Ok. Good."

"The Chief has sent her on another mission out of the village."

"What?!"

"Yeah. She was sent to the neighboring village, in hopes of gaining another alley, and maybe a few more weapons and warriors."

I don't know what to say to that. "When was she sent?"

"Only a few days ago."

My eyebrows scrunched. That meant she wouldn't have gotten my letter. But when did she send her letter to me?