Firewind

Chapter 14-Diero

I grunted. Leshanna had just landed a blow to my stomach. We were sparring in the clearing by the hut. She had woken up and was in the mood to hit me. So we sparred. I ducked as she kicked up towards my head. I lashed my hand out towards her side but she was already there. She pulled my arm around and against my back.

"Ok, ok you win!" I gasped clenching my teeth.

She let my arm go and grinned. We both caught our breath and had a drink of water.

"So what did this Ronan guy say?" she asked.

"He says that Althaea is in trouble," I said casually.

"What did she get herself into this time?" she sighed.

I didn't show Leshanna the note that Althaea left.

"Something to do with our parents' deaths I think," I shrugged. "Who knows what goes on inside Althaea's head?"

"Fair," she nodded. "So what does he want us to do instead of going after her?"

"He wants us to head north. To Capritia, the north continent."

"What are we supposed to do there?"

"I don't know. He hasn't told me yet. I'm not sure we should drag Talkinn all the way to Capritia, he's only two. He might not survive the cold."

"Especially since we don't even know why Ronan wants us to go there. But we also can't just leave Talkinn here."

I nodded. This was hard on all of us. Our parents dying and then Althaea leaving. I don't know if I wanted to take my family all the way up north just for us to freeze to death too. I had no reason to trust the crazy old bat that told me I was supposed to be dead. He shows up, says I'm supposed to be dead, says that my sister is in trouble but that I can't go after her and claims that we have to go to Capritia.

"Do you think we should go?" I asked Leshanna.

"I think we should do whatever we can to help Althaea. Even if we don't know how it'll help her."

"RoRo?" I heard a little voice say. Talkinn was frowning in the doorway of the hut rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What's wrong little guy?" I asked. I walked up to him and knelt at his level.

"Whare's Thaea?" he asked looking up at me.

I looked at Leshanna. She shook her head almost imperceptibly. I sighed. We couldn't keep the truth from him forever.

"Althaea left," I grimaced waiting for Talkinn to get upset.

"Did she leave like Para and Madara?" he asked.

"No."

"Why did she leave us then?"

"I don't know little guy, I don't know."

***

That night, I made a fire out in the clearing. I moved some logs so we could sit around it together. Ronan joined us. During the day, he had gone into the forest to meditate. He said he needed to clear his head. So we sat around the fire as the htraephim brought us berries and fruit. Talkinn giggled as they wove flowers in his hair and danced on the leaves of the flowers. We talked and laughed for the first time in a while. It was refreshing and distracted us from our thoughts.

Ronan told us about some of his visits to villages and when he attended some Seer Councils. We told him about some funny things that happened in our village. The htraephim danced until the suns went down. Talkinn fell asleep laying in the grass.

I picked him up and carried him into the hut. I laid him on the straw mattress. He curled up under the blanket. I couldn't leave him here just to try to save Althaea. He'd be so upset and confused. He doesn't know what's all going on and it'd be worse if we didn't take him along. If we even decided to go.