Gift- Book 1

Chapter 1

"Leiea," Fleya starts, sounding hesitant, "I love it here, but when will we go back home? I'm worried about what Mother might think of us staying another day, and I hate to see her worried." she sighs and rolls a bright red berry between her fingers with a glum expression.

Leiea scoots over sideways to her side and hugs her gently. "As soon as you wish. If Mother lets us, we can always come back. Possibly with a friend or two. You know just as well as the next person that traveling in groups how-"

"Yeah, however far is always the safest bet." Leiea chuckles and falls backward and looks at the sky through the trees. It's later now, and the clouds look much more cheerful and puffy. The grass has also dried a bit. It's almost as if the world is telling them that it's safe here now, that nothing can hurt them anymore.

Fleya jumps up suddenly with a big grin and runs deeper into the forest. "Fleya? What are you doing now?" Leiea, said, not bothering to move from her position on the ground. 

"Finding some sticks. Didn't you mention that you were taught how to swordfight?" 

"Oh, that," she answers back. Leiea did learn some things, but they were specific to the long swords carried by the soldiers stationed around the village. The soldier trusted her too, and some of them like to brag about their training and teach some of the teenagers the basics of sword fighting.

She relays this to Fleya, who returns quickly with two long sticks about the size of their arm. For the next two hours or so, they roughly spar together, hardly being proper about it and choosing to simply batter each other with the spiky end of the sticks. Through laughs and smiles, Leiea simply said what the soldier told her about swordfight etiquette, like how to hold the sword fittingly and how to aim well. After finishing up, they're bruised and scratched, but it seemed to have renewed Fleya's eagerness to stay in the forest. They gulp down the crisp water from the mountain creek and retrieve a few slices of bread to eat with berries for a quick lunch.

Full and content, Leiea lays back down on the grass and took a nap in the sun, embracing the damp earth.

She's woken up by Fleya, who's urgently nudging her awake and breathing harshly. On her face, thin scratches.

"Leiea! We have to go! Back home!" Her face scrunches up and beads of blood appear on the scratches. She snatches up the small pack they brought with them and runs out of the forest the way they came in. Leaving her to follow, Leiea topples into a running position and rushes to Fleya. Was she attacked? She thinks. I didn't see anything. Why would she want to go deeper into the forest in the dark? That's so unlikely...

Hesitant and uncertain of where Fleya is, she stops and surveys the area more. She's out of the forest now, exposing the soft light emitting from the lights in the village. Only a few windows were lit up. Soon she finds her in the distance, a tall figure supporting her gently.

Enraged and running purely on adrenaline, Leiea runs to the group to find it's her friend talking with her. Ryn, a boy her age. He's staring at Fleya intently, face paled and eyes wide. "Ryn? We have to get home,"

He nods sharply and spins around, leading the girls to the far end of the village, where their home is. Ryn lives close by as well, but the two mainly only talked at school. He was always a reliable source for essays and is a great team player. His long strides lead them over a well-worn path.

The door of their house is cracked and warm light seeps out, a welcoming sight. Ryn jumps up the steps and shoves open the door, driving Fleya inside. A gasp comes from inside and hurried footsteps come to the doorway. Its Mother, her bright red hair bobbing as she led Fleya to a chair. As she fetches bandages and some sort of ointment, Leiea inspects the living room and kitchen from behind Ryn's tall shoulder. The light's coming from a cluster of candles on the kitchen table and the faint warmth, Leiea guesses, comes from the cooling oven. It does smell like food was just finished cooking. Mother returns to Fleya with an assortment of supplies and desperately asks what happened, directing the questions to Ryn.

"Well, I didn't see anything myself, but Fleya came running up to me, rambling about an attack," he dipped his head and shrugged. "That's all I know."

Leiea piped up, "I was asleep. And she didn't tell me anything. I figured maybe she went deeper into the forest and got hurt one way or another, but I have no way of knowing." Mother sighs and puts a bandage over the salve covered scratch on her face. "What happened, sweetheart?"

Fleya shakes her head and mutters a few sentences that only a Mother can hear. She frowns a few times then straightens up and announces, " She was climbing a tree and something big attacked her. By the looks of it, it was an animal with rather small claws. Or perhaps talons." The group stays quiet for a while, Mother inspecting the rips in Fleya's dress and rubbing out patches of dirt on it.

Leiea evenly brushes out a lock of hair as a habit and thinks for a moment. She clears her throat and said, "Did it feel like a bird or some other animal? There are plenty of nighttime predators that could do that." Fleya nods and mouths "bird". "Alright," Leiea starts, "Maybe it was an owl. I've heard them in there."

Ryn nods as well and dismissed himself from the doorway quietly, bidding farewell to the small family.

Embracing Fleya, Mother then says, "Alright girls, it's late and there's no time to eat. Get ready for bed and we'll have a big breakfast. Also, remind me tomorrow to wash those clothes," She looked down disapprovingly and shoos them to get into their nightclothes.

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Thanks for reading the first chapter! Since this is by far the most popular one, I would appreciate it if you voted, and same thing for other chapters read! I don't like begging for votes, so this will be the only note I add in the story. If you do vote, thank you!