Project Tanellis

Saturated

Wet leaves sloshed in puddles of rain water like cold grey soup. They stuck to the underside of Otto's boots, the dirt and gravel path crunching and squishing with each step. The rain had lightened considerably at this point, but it still left the heavy scent of damp earth and shallow puddles.

Otto cupped his hands around his mouth, "Cassie!"

His voice bounced from tree to tree, startling a small flock of birds somewhere high within the branches. Otto sighed when there was no response and scrubbed at his eyes.

"We should've been enforcing the rules more," he groaned, "She knows the rules, why would she-"

"She's two, Otto," Mevia didn't quite snap this, but her voice was tight, "She only has a vague understanding of the rules."

"But I made a sheet!" he protested, "It's on the fridge! I drew a unicorn on it and everything!"

Mevia sighed and glanced at her clock; it was ever so slowly, ever so steadily, ticking closer and closer to night. The monsters would start to become a tad more daring soon, as the sun started to melt against the horizon, especially when the sky was already darkened by the rain clouds. They'd be more than eager, she was sure, to snatch a child that had wandered just a little too close to one of their caves.

She quickened her pace. The hem of her favourite robes was wet and muddy, but she'd worry about that later; nothing a wash wouldn't fix anyhow. Besides. There was no telling what condition they were going to find Cassie in- if they even found her at all.

They came to the little alcove, enclosed in a birch wood fence and speckled with an assortment of flowers that looked only slightly dull in the grey air. The bees were nestled within their hives, weary of the rain, and didn't temper when the two pushed through the gates.

"Cassie?" Mevia called out, trying to spot a blob of red hair or too big glasses hiding amongst the flowers, "Cassie, are you here? Come out now."

The only response was the light drizzle of rain pattering against the homemade hives. Otto sighed, rubbing at his jaw anxiously. His brow was creased deeply.

"If only Isa and Soren were here, we could spread out mo-"

"Don't mention Isa," Mevia snapped, and Otto blinked out of his thoughts, surprised, "It's no good wishing she were here anyway."

"Yes, well," Otto murmured, shoulders slumping, "I suppose you're right."

They started searching around the bee farm, just in case. But the farm wasn't particularly big, and there were only so many times they could search through those particularly big flowers gathered around the back. Mevia groaned, frustration arching up her spine and thumping a rhythm behind her eyes like it was having a dance party in her skull. She wished she were in bed.

"Perhaps we should meet up with Harper and Hadrian," Otto said, chewing on the inside of his cheek- a habit he'd been trying to break time and time again but was never quite successful, "They might have found her."

"Yeah," Mevia murmured, glancing around at the trees and flowers and puddles as though half-expecting Cassie to simply pop out from behind something, "I suppose."

They started to walk back. Otto sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to fight an oncoming headache. He shook his head.

"We need to find a way to stop this from happening again," he muttered, brow falling into a heavy crease, "She should know fine well that she's not allowed outside on her own-"

"She's a toddler, Otto," Mevia said, just barely keeping the irritation out of her voice at having to repeat herself, "She doesn't fully understand rules yet."