Songs Of War - What if everyone was related?

In Underwood

/A/N/ This chapter also has a few changes in the last part.

In Underwood, a pig is eating some wild carrots. A hunter hides in the bushes, bow ready.

Just before the hunter fires, a wolf begins barking, scaring the pig away.

The hunter lets down her bow and turns around.

She walks further down towards a wolf. ' What is it, Sam? I hope it's better than tomorrow's breakfast because you just…'

She stops and her eyes widen. A dragon stone is in a small clearing in front of her, marred by endstone.

The hunter puts her bow away and approaches the dragon stone. ' What is this thing?'

Her wolf, Sam, looks at her and barks quietly as she walks towards the dragon stone. ' Sam, shush!'

She reaches out her hand to touch it, and Sam puts one leg over his eyes.

She touches the stone, which had been previously black, but now little purple specks appear on it.

Sam cocks his head.

' See, nothing happened. Come on, let's take it back with us.'

She starts rolling the egg out of the ditch and back to her house.

~*~

Her house is a nice quaint place to live with another house across the fence. There are a few farmlands and gardens.

' Abbigail? Were you out hunting again?' a voice calls out behind her.

The hunter, Abbigail, is surprised and fumbles as she pushes the dragon stone behind a log. ' Mr Finch! Sam and I went out early to catch something for dinner.'

Mr Finch walked towards the fence. ' Did you at least harvest the sugarcane before you left?'

' Yeah, I got it…' Abbigail turns towards the sugarcane which is still growing tall.

She sighs, ' I'm sorry, Mr Finch. I was going to get it this morning.

Mr Finch shakes his head. ' Alright… So, did you catch anything?'

' Well, we would have got a pig if it weren't for someone…' Abbigail turns to Sam, who droops his ears.

' Well, I imagine you both are hungry,' Mr Finch turns to the side and points to a pack outside his house. ' See that pack over there? It's full of fresh meat, bread and all sorts of other food.'

Sam's ears perk up and he dissapears behind Abbigail.

' Bought it all in Oakendale during my last trip, don't need to hunt for it,' Mr Finch continues, ' On top of that, we've got a whole season of crops of our own, ready to harvest.'

Sam quietly grabs the pack behind Mr Finch. Abbigail sees this, and her eyes widen but tries to pretend she doesn't see it.

Mr Finch leans on the fence. ' We're farmers, Abbigail. Just like your parents were. Now go get that sugarcane before it gets dark. I'll be enjoying a nice dinner in the meantime.'

Sam quickly runs into Abbigail's house before Mr Finch notices him.

Abbigail turns and starts walking away, but Mr Finch looks over the log. ' And what's this you were rolling up to the house?'

Abbigail stops in her tracks. ' Oh, that? Nothing much, just a big, purple stone…' She tries to avoid the subject.

Mr Finch's eyes widen. He picks it up. ' Nothing much? This is a dragon stone, Abbigail. '

Sam runs over and starts barking at Mr Finch for touching the dragon stone.

' Hey, you keep that animal away from me!' Mr Finch groans as he tries to kick Sam away.

' Sam, cut it out!' Abbigail tells her wolf. Sam growls and hurries off.

Mr Finch starts walking to his house carrying the stone. ' Things like this are beyond you, Abbigail. '

Abbigail sighs and goes into her house. She hangs her bow and lies in her bed.

' What did you do again?' a familiar voice calls out.

Abbigail groans. ' I forgot to harvest the sugarcane. Mr Finch is really mad at me, as usual.'

A boy with red hair walks up to her and sits on her bed. Abbigail sits upright.

' I wonder how you manged not to get scolded a single time all these years, Denny.'

Denny shrugs. ' We're different from each other. You want to go out and see the world. I accept that we are farmers, that we will probably never be able to go out on crazy adventures.'

Abbigail shifts slightly. ' Just because our parents are farmers, doesn't mean we have to be too.'

' I know, but it's dangerous out there. Who knows what we'll encounter? I just think it's best we stay safe here.'

There's a moment of silence as Abbigail thinks about his words.

Denny breaks the silence. ' I saw Mr Finch with a big purple stone. What is it?'

' He says it's a dragon stone. Very valuable, I guess...'

' Did he say anything about what it does?'

' No, he didn't. He just took it and left.'

' It must be very valuable then, if he just took it.'

' Well, I just found it somewhere in the woods, marred by a strange white stone.'

' That's weird...'

Sam nudges Abbigail. Abbigail looks at him, and he motions to the pack he snatched earlier.

' Wait, isn't that Mr Finch's pack?' Denny goes ahead and opens it.
' Wow, that's a lot of food!'

Abbigail looks at Sam, who looks back innocently.

' Well, we're in for a treat today!' Denny grabs an apple and hands it to Abbigail.

' Yeah, thanks to Sam.'

Sam wags his tail. Denny tosses Sam a piece of steak, which Sam catches and immediately starts eating.

Denny grabs another apple and takes a bite.

Abbigail looks at his brother, and smiles.