Siena (Forestfolk, Book 1)

Chapter 7

The next morning, I had an idea. For some reason, it hadn't occurred to me last night during dinner. I found Bren in the large cabin reserved for parentless children. She had just herded them out the door toward the commons.

"Bren?"

Her eyebrows shot up when she saw it was me. "Yes, dear, what is it?"

"I think I may not be completely useless after all. I used to pick herbs with my mother, and she taught me how to weave and make baskets. Would that be valuable here?"

"Bless your mother," she replied with a smile. "Yes, that would be very useful here."

For the second time in two days, I grinned.

"Remi will be going hunting later. Tag along with him until you get to know the forest better. Wouldn't want you getting lost."

I nodded and went back to my cabin, beaming.

During the night I had returned the items I had stolen. Now the roll leaned in the corner, a reminder of my hasty departure from the Zurbo compound. I looked at it a long time, then decided that I wouldn't need it anymore. I seemed to have a place here now, however tenuous.

It felt strange to unroll it and toss the hides onto my bed. I laid the mat down onto the wooden floor, and it was once again just a floor mat. I gleaned a slight amount of comfort knowing that, if I needed to, I could pack it up again and leave. I wasn't sure if I dared to call this place home yet.

I looked forward to my outing with Remi with both anticipation and dread. I wanted to learn more about the enigmatic boy who shared the same captive past I did. I wondered what role his captors had relegated him to. On the other hand, his eyes always seemed to see everything about me. I feared he might eventually see into my soul and find all its secrets. Secrets I needed to keep hidden.

We left shortly after breakfast in a seemingly random direction. Remi never felt the need to fill the silence with idle chatter, and I was glad for it. I was able to think my thoughts, observe our surroundings, and watch him work.

He walked carefully, a bow slung across his back with a quiver of arrows. As we made our way through the trees, he examined the ground or listened for noises. I stopped when he stopped, and so it went.

He sighted one of the red-coated squirrels common in the forest, jabbering in a tree. Removing the bow from his back, he nocked an arrow and aimed.

My hands wrung the handle of the gathering basket. I wanted him to succeed, but I also didn't want the squirrel to die. I took a step back, not wanting to see the kill, and stepped on a twig. It snapped just as he loosed the arrow, and the squirrel scampered out of sight. The arrow sank into the side of the tree, high above the ground.

He turned and looked at me, brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"Don't worry about it." He climbed the tree that held his arrow, reaching for branches and easily scrambling up its length as if he himself had been a squirrel. After yanking the arrow out, he returned it to his quiver and jumped from branch to branch, back down to the ground.

"You really are half monkey," I said, wide eyes following every leap. "Where were you when I was bumbling around a tree like a buffalo scratching an itch?" And then I remembered. He had actually been close by. Watching.

He ducked his head, knowing exactly where my mind had gone.

"Remi, I need to know."

He rubbed the back of his neck and peered up at a tree to avoid looking at me as he spoke. "I saw the smoke. Big, thick clouds of it. I went to the tree line and climbed to see what was happening, if there might be any danger to Foresthome. And then I saw you running."