No Hands but My Own

Chapter 18 - Learn

Their valiant effort fell short when they were met with Sle's bellowing laughter. Quala and Seolo glanced at one another, faces bunched in confusion.

"What on earth is so funny, Sle?" Shrida stuck her head out of her shelter.  Analyzing the scene, her eyes lit up when she saw Quala and Seolo gazing with perplexed expressions at Sle's figure rolling on the ground. A smile twitched across her lips upon spotting Ellerin's frozen figure pulling at Chael while he snored and drooled happily. "Oh." She bit her lip, attempting to tame the mirth contorting her face.

"What?" Quala demanded, confusion and anger sparking.

Shrida tried to keep a straight face. "Nothing."

Gahnenal emerged bleary eyed from the pups' shelter. Each of the young untrained clung to one of his legs, rendering his already tired gait to something closer to an unwilling drag.

"Morning." He yawned so wide that his jaw cracked, drawing giggles from the two little ones who had hitched a ride.  "So, training today, huh?"

He shuffled off towards the pot of water from the lake. It had been a chilly night and a thin film of ice covered the water's surface. With a quick motion, he slammed his head straight into the basin. Hooting, Gahnenal shook his head vigorously, loosing droplets of freezing water in every direction.  Finally realizing the looks that people were sending his way, Gahnenal tilted his dripping head to the side, sprinkling the squealing child stuck on his leg. "What?"

"We are being invaded!" Quala glared at Gahnenal's lax pose.

"Huh. Really? Where?"

Seolo turned to me, comprehension dawning on his face. "But..."

I shook my head at him gently, "I never said anything."

"But..." He glanced at Sle who was lying on his back, smirking at the perplexed youth.

Gahnenal snorted, "You're kidding. You guys thought that was an alarm?" 

Shrida started giggling, pressing her hand into her mouth, fighting to stifle the noise. It was enough to set everyone laughing -- except for the embarrassed Seolo, the perplexed Quala, the tense Ellerin, and the (still somehow) snoring Chael. Seriously, does that guy drug himself?

"I don't understand." Quala said, lips tightly pressed into a thin line.

Seolo sighed. "It wasn't an alarm."

She turned sharply to glare at his down-turned face. "Then what was it?"

His answering shrug did not satisfy her. With a quick motion, Quala sharply kicked Sle's laughing form at her feet. "What was that?"

"Wake... up... call..." Sle gasped out, his face turning bright red.

Ellerin's petrified motionlessness was broken by a new curiosity. "But why is it so loud?" 

"To prevent this from happening." Gahnenal grabbed a small dinner bowl by his feet and filled it with water from the basin. With a few quick steps, accentuated by the children shrieking with delight, he stood over Chael. With a grin, Gahnenal splashed the icy water on the snoring young man's face.

With gasping breaths, Chael jerked awake, cursing loudly to our amusement. 

Ignoring Chael's convulsing form and diverse expletives and Gahnenal's chuckles, Seolo asked loudly. "Wouldn't it be easy to find camp if you always make so much noise in the morning?"

I walked over to him and grasped his shoulder. "Higher pitched noises bounce easier among the trees and travel further so they're harder to pinpoint. That's why it's harder to find a squeaky bird in a woods than a throaty one." I smiled at him.

"That's your first lesson of today -- if you make a noise, make sure it's high-pitched. Low noises like heavy steps are easier to track because they don't echo as much." I nodded to Shrida who was wiping tears away from her eyes. "I'm sure you will be practising that today."

Shrida nodded back and smiled. 

"Alright, folks!" I clapped my hands loudly to catch everyone's attention.  "Shrida, Gahnenal -- time to get started with training. Get going. I'm leaving you two in charge."

Immediately, Shrida stepped forward and commanded sharply, "Everyone line up!" The two little untrained detached themselves from Gahnenal's legs and raced over to her. Standing stiffly in front of her, they waited for the other slower, confused members-to-be-trained. Gahnenal walked to her side, smirking at the perplexed faces behind him.

"Well?" She rested her hand on her tilted hip, glaring expectantly at Seolo, Quala, Ellerin, and Chael. "You are really going to let a bunch of pups beat you all?"

Quala strode over angrily, "No one bests me."

"They just did." Shrida raised her eyebrows pointedly at the others. Composing themselves, they walked over to the line forming in front of Shrida.

"Waht do you think, Gahnenal? How did they do?" Shrida turned her head to meet Gahnenal's gaze.

Mischief sparked in Gahnenal's eyes. "I think they need to work a bit more on it. Maybe push-ups will help?"

"My thoughts exactly." Turning back to the line before her, she barked, "Twenty push-ups. Now."

"No way! I don't take orders from you!" Quala stayed standing while everyone else dropped to the ground around her.

"Forty."

"Not going to do it."

"Sixty."

"For Gods' sake, Quala! Just listen to them!" Seolo yelled at the ground while pumping him body up and down.

Gritting her teeth, Quala sank to the ground and joined in the fun.

"Looks like we're leaving you in good hands." I smiled at Shrida and Gahnenal. "You kids have enjoy now! Come on, Sle. Let's go."

As we strode out of camp, we heard Chael's muffled voice ask, "What about breakfast?"