The Fields of Fire

Chapter 17: Alena Adana

To Alena's surprise the children were quite good at pulling up Potatoes. Alena could only dream that they'd actually make quota and she'd keep their farm, but at the pace they were on they just might make it. Of course the old you'll end up freezing in somebody else's shack if my farm gets foreclosed tends to be a great motivator for most people. She was doing all right coping with Tau's death. She made sure to take a long walk into the forest if she ever felt she needed to scream, best not to scare the children if it's not necessary.

    Alena woke up to the shouting of children in a language she did not understand.  She pulled herself up out of her bed. She wasn't wearing pajamas, she always went to sleep in her farm clothes. They were far from comfortable, but she assumed that if you were too tired to sleep in jeans and a button up flannel, than you weren't working hard enough that day. She walked down her stairs like a zombie to the children running around the downstairs floor of the house in circles. Of the children their were two boys and three girls, Alena hadn't asked the woman what relation they were to her. She seemed a little young to have all those children, but Alena hadn't the care to ask.

She knew their names though. One little boy with short hair, probably five or six, his name was Thento, which Alena, didn't want to admit out loud, was just the stupidest sounding name. There's an older boy, Brusi, who Alena had been told is height years old, though he had the build of a ten year old, and the potato pulling capabilities of a thirty year old lumber jack. As for the girls, Ashi and Star were twins, but they didn't act like it, they fought pretty often. And the oldest girl among them was named Alara, and she was also the most mature, and the most fiesty.

Brusi was at the lead of the group had a helicopter in his hand and was making buzzing sounds while the other children chased him. When the boy ran passed Alena she reached over and grabbed the helicopter right out of his hand, this caused him to lose balance and stumble, "I need sleep." The children were silent, she looked at the boy, "Do you like this?" She held the toy in front of him. He nodded. "Do you know what it's called?" The boy shook his head. "This is a helicopter."

    The boy smiled and said, "Helicopter!" in an accent that even Alena had to admit was adorable.

    "Yes. Helicopters are horrible flying death traps, you'd be best to stay away." She stuffed it into her pocket The last time I let a kid play with planes she ran off and got killed in the Naval Air Arm. "Trust me when I tell you that flying isn't safe."

    Star looked at Alena and said, "You suck!"

    "Well I'm glad to see your speaking has improved. I know you'll be needing it when I throw you out of here for being rude to your elders."

    The girl stood defiant, "Aunt Ishare thinks we're safer here, but she said we'd go south to see the summer lands. This place is just cold and wet."

    Alena looked at the girl and frowned, "Well, I'm sorry to know that my home isn't quite up to the expectations you held for it."

    "It would be okay if you weren't such a Coryke," Alara chimed in.

    At that moment Ishare, the woman who had been traveling with the kids, stepped through the door. Her hands brown with dirt. Her eyes scanned back and forth at the angry children standing before finally asking, "What's wrong?"

    "She stole our toy!" Star yelled.

    "My toy actually." Alena responded, "I was explaining to them why flying contraptions are dangerous, and then your daughter berated me. She said she doesn't want to live here."

    "Well surely it's okay for them to just play-" Alena wasn't amused, and Ishare caught on. She turned to her kids, "Please be gracious to our host."