Strawblood

Chapter 2 | Faery Feud

I narrow my eyes at the ten empty pie plates in the sink. He knows I hate it when he talks to me like that. To a stranger or even his many friends, they would probably think it a soft or even loving tone. I know better though, he's just mocking me or imitating what our mother probably sounded like.

I look over my shoulder at him.

"Nothing," I reply.

Once I finish cleaning the dishes, I shut off the faucet and set down my cleaning brush. I turn around expecting to see him at the table and he still is. He's just sitting there watching me clean up their mess.

"This is unacceptable, Shurik," I grit through my teeth hearing someone rapidly knock on the shuttered window above the counter the sink is situated below.

My brother stands up briskly ignoring my comment about his behavior.

Silently, I walk back around the kitchen and then fly back to our room. The only other room beside the kitchen and our living area is a tiny bathroom situated in the back of our small kitchen.

Eventually, my brother quits talking to the visitor. I hear him close the entrance to our tent when the thick rolled-up material unfolds and hits the ground with a heavy thud. I don't know why he's bothering to tie the entrance closed when there's nothing in here to steal now that his friends ate all our food.

A string of lights with special faery beads hangs across our room. The clear beads heighten in brightness using the faint glow of my wings as their power source. Together, the strands emit a pleasant and rather useful light that does well to light the eternity of our living space behind the kitchen.

Fae used to use lanterns back in the day, but after our family died and a few before them, they got rid of them. Now, we all use these natural beaded string lights. It can be annoying though because we do have to stay in here for a while before they power up off of the glow of our wings.

Shurik strides straight to his bed which is much closer to the kitchen than mine. I have to cross over to his side to leave the room since my bed is in the corner of the back of our tent.

I scoot under my covers feeling my wings flatten under my weight. Since my wings are mostly hidden underneath me, the string lights dim a little.

"I saw you made strawberry bread. Crantz took some home for Nelly," Shurik tells me as if I should be proud of Crantz taking more of my food home to his pair. "Quit pouting."

Ignoring him, I roll over on my side facing the wall of the tent.

His bed squeaks as he lays down. "Sadie?"

Annoyed and tired of my brother's antics, I remain silent. 

He's the older one and should know better than to be freely giving away my food I have to sell. I twist the pale strands of hair between my fingertips wondering what my 'destined' pair is doing right now. My thoughts quickly drift back to work...I'll have to make ten pies come sunrise.

Finally, my brother lays back down. Since his wings are folded underneath him, the last of the faint glow of the lights above us fades to darkness.

"Goodnight," Shurik says loudly with impatience at my lack of response.

"Goodnight."

I untie the yellow ribbon from my loose fishtail braid.

When I close my eyes, I snuggle beneath the warmth of my weaved quilt secretly thankful for the feeling of security my brother brings when he returns home. When I was younger, I always worried he would pair off with someone and leave me on my own. I'm really surprised he hasn't paired off yet. It's one of the reasons I try to avoid arguing with him. Any day he could just choose to leave me.

I'm terrified of being alone.

I'm even more terrified to be trapped living with some stranger for the rest of my life. I don't know if I can live here at the fair and be as content as the other pairs all seem to be. I certainly can't stay in this tent with my brother forever either.

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