All around the forest leaves rustled in the wind, and bits of spring pollen floated around and stuck in the dewy grass. The midmorning air was crisp from the pine trees, and swallows flitted around the rushing mountain creek. The water in it, cool, and the small pebbles on the bed, polished smooth. Spring in the forests was pleasant, and the normally warm days in the valleys were almost cold in the shade of pine needles.
It is indeed the perfect day to hunt for deer and catch the now very active rabbits and mice in snares set under bushes. The berries in said bushes are plump and ripe at this time of year as well. Nothing could suggest this place like the one that kills multiple every year in the winter. A full blizzard could start in mere seconds, trapping travelers and hunters under feet of snow. It's a miracle that animals aren't yet extinct here.
Leiea remembers her years of those winters well. The village was impacted badly as well, and those travelers lucky enough to survive outside are sheltered for the season. Last year it was especially bad, and Leiea's little family had to care for 4 travelers sickened by the cold. Never has the village's food supply been so low, so fast.
During the wonderful spring, people come from all around to bask in the sun for days at a time. Leiea does so too but prefers the forest instead of the rolling hills separating towns. The life in it is reassuring. The sharp pines have a better smell than half-burnt grass.
Fleya flinches awake on Leiea's lap and her hazel eyes peer to the blue sky. Fleya's first time going into the forest this year was worrying for their Mother because the winter was so horrible. It took many trips to it periodically to make her understand that it's perfectly safe after the cold months. The only reason Leiea was ever allowed to go was because she supported her family heavily through hard times; much of the village trusted her deeply. This granted her much more freedom than her younger sister. Other children at school were always envious of it.
"Good morning," Leiea smiles and wipes a fallen hair from her eyes. Fleya grins sleepily back and sits up, yawning. Her cleaned work dress and leggings from yesterday morning are grass-stained now and her bright blond hair's ratty on the back from rolling around on Leiea's legs. She runs her fingers through her pale red hair.
Although the forest is much safer now than it was, she was still secretly on high alert. There have always been tales of fictitious creatures in these forests. They have been told to children around big campfires to scare them away from it. Usually, these tales were about creatures that only emerged during the wintertime. Giant bears with horns and long tails that killed people brave enough to escape the village. Ones like these were made for entertainment, but others were much more believable. Ones about small candy-colored foxes that pollinate like butterflies, and gold-speckled deer with antlers the size of people. These cheerful ones were always spring and summertime creatures.
Of course, Leiea has seen normal animals here; she hunts them for a living. Some things, although, have been unexplained, however minor the detail. Once, she saw a raven with feathers that shone the entire rainbow in the light. There sometimes plants like this as well. Flowers the shape of bells that rung happily in the wind. Patches of moss that smelled like roses. It's also likely that some more harsh creatures appear in the winter and fall, but no common folk would know truly.
Leiea's just one of the few people that know of these happenings. It's figured that the storytellers and other hunters do too. Fleya has always loved those stories. She's only an eleven-year-old, and shouldn't know that they might just be a reality.
Out of the corner of her vision, Fleya starts picking berries from a bush nearby and eats them by the handful. Leiea takes some from the pile set on the grass and eats them similarly, throwing a few out over the small creek. She has always done this, setting out some of her food to attract friendly birds or squirrels. People in the village typically disapproved of this, since it's wasteful and could lure out wild dogs. No one seemed to understand the simple pleasure in watching birds eat a few feet in front of you, their attention unwavering.
"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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