Today has been unnecessarily difficult: Physical exercise, all the learning, and even almost dying. It was just too much for me today, but at least when I went to dinner, I saw Buloke with both his cheeks swollen, but still he got off too easy for almost killing me. I still can’t punish him for hurting me, but at least I can reward Willow. I should see what I can do for him, but that is tomorrow’s Orbs problem. Right now, I am going to sleep.
So, as I am about to get into bed, something drops down from the roof and lands on my back. As I am about to say something, a hand appears over my mouth, and I hear, “Quite down, or I will snap your neck.”
Following my instructions, I quieted down, but the voice I heard was oh so familiar to me. I heard it every time I approached Sequoia house, It was Maples.
Soon after this, Maple gets off me, and I quietly ask her, “How did you get down from up there.”
“They needed to take me down so I could do some things.”
“I see you needed to relieve yourself.”
“Ladies, don’t do that.”
Damn it, Capti, you lied to me again. They never talk about girls shitting in the books I read, so I knew something was off . “Sorry, I didn’t know that, so where does your waste go,” I say with an eagerness to find out.
Caught off guard by Orb’s eagerness, Maple says the first thing that comes to her mind “It just vanishes.”
It vanishes; does that mean they just absorb food completely? But how would that work biologically? Orb, stop trying to figure it out. You simply lack too much knowledge.
Wait, if I want to know, I can just ask Maple. “Hey Maple, what’s the point of a butt hole then,” Orb says with nothing but a pure want for knowledge in his eyes.
“You know it’s rude to ask a lady about things such as that”, Maple says sternly.
“But it is just about information, so what’s the issue adults shouldn’t be bothered by that.”
“I said it’s rude, so just don’t talk about it now. Enough of that,” she says furiously.
“Ok then, so why are you here? Did you apologise to the chief.”
“Why would I apologise to that old idiot? I didn’t do anything wrong I saved two lives, so why would I have to apologise? And on that note, don’t you have something to say to me.”
I forgot about that. “Thank you, Maple, for saving me”, I say while bowing a bit.
“Hmmm, you’re welcome!” she says with a proud smile.
“Maple, if you haven’t apologised to the Sequoia how exactly are you here?”
“Well, after I took care of business I snuck off, and no one wants to come near your room because they are scared of you so it was a great hiding spot.”
Thanks for the reminder.
“I went through all the trouble off sneaking over here, and I did save your life, so I am going to have you answer some of my questions.”
“I refuse.”
Shocked by my response, she says, “But I saved your life.”
“Maple, I have recently learned that using the good deeds you committed to ask for favours is bad manners.”
She turns furious from what I said to her, but then calms down and says, “I will answer any of your questions if you answer any of mine.”
I just wanted her to ask nicely, but this is an opportunity to learn what Willow likes, they did seem close from the altercation they had, “Ok then, so will you tell me what you know about willow.”
Looking confused at my question, she asked me, “Why do you want to know about that idiot!”
“He saved my life today, and regardless of his intent, I want to reward him somehow.”
“But I saved your life and didn’t get special treatment.”
“To be honest, you almost killed me by trying to save me. If your dad didn’t come in time, I probably would’ve been stabbed to death by all the villagers.”
“But Willow was the one who alerted everyone about you.”
“He was just following the rules. I can’t fault him for that, but I can fault you for lack of ability when it comes to sneaking, and when I think about the fact that I had to endure you singing, so In my opinion what happened was more of an equivalent exchange, not a favour.”
“My singing voice is beautiful. What are you talking about? It calms everyone so much that they go to sleep regardless of their actions.”
“I don’t know who has been lying to you your whole life, but that’s simply untrue. Do you want to continue wasting time until someone finds you here or do you want to answers my questions?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Extremely Irritated by my words, she tells me, “Well, he is condescending to me, always on my back nagging me, acting like he is better than me even though we’re the same age. Everyone is always babying him, while I am always getting scolded.
He is also obsessed with animals. He loves learning everything about them. The last thing to note is that he has failed repeatedly at becoming a warrior for the previous year.”
“Isn’t he your age? Why would you be trying to become a warrior so young.”
Looking confused at my words, she tells me, “You can become a warrior at any age, as long as you can hunt. Even I am a warrior look; I got a red bracelet as proof,” Maple then goes on to wiggle her bracelet in front of my face.
I have seen everyone wearing these. I didn’t know the colours had some meaning; I see most adults with purple ones and children with blue ones.
“If someone like you could get one, why wouldn’t Willow be able to get one.”
Her face becomes visible, angry due to my words, but she comes down again and says, “Willow has a certain problem which prevents him from being effective on the battlefield.”
“What would that be.”
“It’s not my place to tell you such information.”
That’s fair. “Maple, your info has benefited me. Thank you”
“So, it’s my turn now.”
“Ask away, nothing is off bounds.”
“So, could you tell me about the world outside of here? Anything is of value.”
But when I am about to answer her question, someone Barges into my room and Screams, “MAPLE!” After taking a second to get my senses back, I see it is Sequoia.
“You shitty old man, always getting in the way of the best part,” she says to her father, enraged.
“I was going easy on you, but to think that you would attack the people I left to watch you and then go off bothering our guest. I will teach you there are some lines you don’t cross,” Sequoia says as he picks Maple up by her head.
“Sorry Orb, I have to go teach this one never to bother anyone again,” after the chief says this, he takes Maple and goes.
Letting out a little prayer for Maples’s safety, I go to bed.
-Break-
Due to Sequoia screaming at Maple all night, I could not get much sleep, so I decided to get an early start to my day. I am up so early that no one in the village is awake. It feels strange to see the village empty, since it is usually filled with people.
So, as I walk to the training grounds to get my physical exercise started, I see someone on the training grounds. Just when I thought I could enjoy some me time, someone had to be here and ruin it; I walk on trying to see who it could be until I get close enough to see its willow.
Is he doing push-ups? Aren’t his arms still injured? I run up to Willow and scream, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU FOOL.”
Hearing my scream, he falls onto his face.
As I get close to his body, I tell him, “You shouldn’t be doing any sort of physical exercise till your better.”
“That’s none of your business.” After Willow said this, he continued trying to do push-ups, but failed.
Well, I guess I got to put a stop to this. So, I kick him in his crotch, causing him to fall to the ground.
While writhing in pain, he asks me, “Why would you do that.”
“You feel that pain. It’s instant and will go away in no time. If you continue to strain your arms, you will be feeling a lot worse pain for a much longer, so stop.” After I say this to him, I proceed to sit on his back.
“GET OFF OF ME!”
“Quiet down. If you wake anyone else up, I can all but guarantee they would be harsher on you than me.”
He then grumbles at me.
What is he a wild animal, but he has calmed down, and as long as I can keep him from doing any irreparable damage to his arms, I will consider my debt to him paid. “So instead of doing something stupid, why don’t you and I have a leisurely chat.”
“I have nothing to talk to you about.”
“Oh, is that right you say that, but if I were to mention the astral phoenix, would that interest you.”
“What is it, an animal? What colour is It? How tall is it.” Noticing that he started talking to me, he then goes silent and regains his composer
He fell into my trap due to my conversations with Maple. I learned about his love of animals, and with his focus in Pines classes, he must have a longing for knowledge.
“I know lots of animals you’ve never heard about, and I can tell you if you want to hear about it.”
“Why would you do that for me.”
“You happen to be one of the only people who hasn’t treated me like a monster or object since I got here, so I would like to be friends with you.”
“Is that really all.”
He still seems suspicious of my intent. I have read that unconditional kindness from a stranger is hard to accept, so maybe I should change things around a bit, “If you still can’t believe me, then let’s do this. I will tell you anything you want to know about animals, and you can reteach me things from Pines class; I struggle to stay awake there.”
He takes a breath and says, “Ok, but could you get off of me.”
So, as we get into the position, I ask him, “So, what would you like to know first.”
“Would you be able to finish telling me about the astral phoenix, please,” he says energetically?
So as the days continue, me and willow both continue to share information. Willow teaches me in a ridiculous amount of depth the attack patterns of the animals, as well as facts and uses of the remains that I didn’t know about.
While I shared information about animals all over the world, using the snow sculptures to visualise them. We both woke up early every morning to meet and discuss with each other, and after one month had passed, I managed to make his first official friend.
They both continued like this until one day, Willow said to him.
“Orb, just watch. Today is the day will become a warrior on the hunt today.”
“Well then, it looks like I need to catch up.”
“At the rate you have been improving, I am sure you will get there in no time, but I will be going on ahead.”
He is right. All the training has made my body feel much more accessible, and I have bulked up quite a bit, so I am almost their “Good luck, Willow.”
“Thanks, but I am not going to need it.”
So as the day went on and the hunting party had gone and returned, Orb immediately went to see them expecting to hear good news but in the hands of Alis was Willow injured.
“Is he ok? What happened” Orb says as he runs over the Alis.
“He got into an accident while hunting, so let’s get him to the doctor quick,” Aea responded.
So as I and the twins are about to take Willow away, Orb hears Buloke say to Sequoia, who was also on the training grounds, that “Willow should no longer be allowed on hunts with his issues. He is a liability.”
After hearing these words, they went to get Willow Treatment.
Name: Willow Berk
Age: 13
Birthday: Sagittarius 7th
Hair: Light Green
Eyes: Orange
Height: 154cm
Likes: Animals Orb Training
Dislikes: Dishonesty, fire, poison
Name: Maple Rian
Age: 13
Birthday: Sagittarius 1st
Hair: white (primary), gold (secondary)
Eyes: Red(left), green (Right)
Height: 153 cm
Likes: food, singing
Dislikes: responsibility, Sequoia?