Siena (Forestfolk, Book 1)

Chapter 19a

A warm hand gently shook my shoulder. "Siena, we need to get going."

My eyes refused to open and I pouted, uttering incomprehensible sounds of protest.

"I know, but we can't waste time."

I rubbed my eyes, and when they finally opened, I found Remi sitting next to me, arms resting on his knees.

"I'll never make fun of your heavy sleeping again," he said. "Well, except maybe to tell you that you snore."

"I do not," I said sleepily. "Do I?" I looked for Galen for confirmation, but he was on the other side of the tree, packing something.

Remi grinned. "Only a little." He glanced in Galen's direction, then leaned in and whispered, "You're so cute when you're sleepy."

I looked away and sat up, a blush creeping over my face. I was awake now, and acutely aware of my disheveled hair. I found the fallen hair tie on the ground next to me and ran a hand through the tangles. I noticed Remi still watching me and said, "Don't you have something else you should be doing?"

He grinned again and stood, leaving me to my task.

When I finished packing, Remi dropped out of the tree and offered a handful of acorns. I took them, and he scrambled up the tree for more. I found two flat rocks and smashed the acorns open. When he returned with more, I smashed those too. There was no time to soak the bitterness out of them, so we just ate them with corn cakes to dilute the taste.

We set out again, with Galen striding ahead of us to sense for danger. Remi walked alongside me. "Sember's mother once described what it felt like to be healed by you."

"Oh?" It was strange, no one ever bothered to tell me such things when I lived at the compound. I always thought it felt like nothing more than slight tingles. But ever since settling at Foresthome, people seemed to go out of their way to express their amazement to me.

"She said it felt like she was being filled with liquid love."

"Liquid love?" I looked curiously at him. "That sounds . . . dramatic."

"I thought so too," Remi replied. "But now I know exactly what she means. It really does feel that way." He saw my doubtful expression and continued, "It's not just energy that you give us. I think . . ." He paused and searched my face. "I think you're sharing with us your love for life."

Something unfurled inside, and my breath left me. This was the closest anyone had ever come to knowing how I truly felt. "All lives are valuable," I murmured.

"I think that is the source of your power," Remi stated.

I looked up at him, suddenly wishing we weren't plodding across endless plains toward uncertain doom. He squeezed my hand and let it go again. Then he glanced up ahead of us and said, "We'd better catch up."

***

It was another hot, sweaty, vigorous trek across open ground. And it was only morning. I felt my fair skin burning and my bones melting. I never spent this much time in the sun when living at the compound.

When we reached a small stream, I nearly fainted into it. The water felt so cool against my hot skin that I gasped with relief. I examined my arms and found them bright red. I was thankful the short sleeves of my shirt covered my shoulders. I hadn't been sunburned since I was six. I didn't like it.

Galen and Remi refilled their water skins as I splashed water onto my burned face. It felt so good that I decided to drop onto my belly along the edge of the stream and dunk my entire torso into the water, face and all. I closed my eyes and held my breath, enjoying the feel of cool water rushing past me and letting my arms float on either side of my head.

When my lungs reminded me about the necessity of air, I pulled myself up to my knees and sucked in a huge breath.

"You take the heat about as well as Zelly."

I pushed wet hair out of my eyes and looked up to find Galen standing there, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I think the sun is out to kill me," I huffed, blowing the dripping water off my nose.

"We won't be traveling by day anymore," he said, his amusement gone. "We're too visible, and we're getting close to Krat territory. We'll rest this afternoon, then travel by night."

"Good," I sat back and watched him scan the horizon for a moment, curious about what his ability was like. "Galen, do you sense danger all the time? Or is it something you can turn on and off?"

He smiled and sat down on a dry patch of grass. "When I was young, it was on all the time. I would feel anxious, and I wouldn't know why." His eyes drifted to the stream. "It took me a long time to figure out what it meant. I would have bad feelings, and then something bad would happen. Or a person would approach me, and all I wanted to do was run away from them. For no reason."

He shook his head and plucked a blade of grass. "Needless to say, I was a nervous child."

"Then you learned to control it?" I tried picturing Galen as a child, ducking behind a tree every time a bad feeling hit him.

He glanced up at me and smiled. "I was about your age when I finally learned how to harness it. Concentration didn't come easily for me, took me years to master. But I eventually got it."

I thought about how useful that would have been, living in the Zurbo tribe. "Did anyone know about your abilities?"

He twirled the blade of grass, watching it spin. "Only my mother."

He probably didn't have a bratty half brother with a big mouth.

I waited for him to continue, but when he remained silent, I decided to stop the questions. "I'm glad you're here," I said instead.

His smile chased away the haunted look in his eyes. "I'm glad you're here too. You're a ray of sunshine."

I looked down at my reddened arms. "Not exactly."

Galen chuckled and wandered off, so I dipped my head back into the stream. I could heal my burns, but I wanted to conserve energy. Though we would be traveling at night now, the pace wouldn't be any less brisk, and I was hoping not to rely too much on taking energy that wasn't mine.

The water was unusually deep here, and farther downstream was a thick growth of reeds. It was perfect for a bath. I flipped my head back, causing wet hair to fly up and around to my back.

I saw Remi approaching. He grinned and looked at my shirt. I looked down and discovered it was covered in mud. I smiled back at him and twirled my finger for him to turn around, and then shooed him away with a couple waves of my hand. He obliged, and I scampered off to the secluded part of the stream.

Ooh bath time! While you turn around to give her some privacy, click the Vote button, will ya? :)