As I was dragged into the bakery, the tension I dreaded being there was absent from the room but fully present in the form of lead in my stomach, what was there instead, was a table full of food, and five people, Mr. heart at one end, then sitting on the bench were Mr. Haleson, and Robert, on the other side of the table from the two on the bench was, Old Man Allen, and Mr. Manderbeck
Manderbeck is this towns sheriff, and a retired magic knight, he loves telling stories of his 'glory days' but he also taught me a lot about what I know of magic.
As we entered Ms. Hearte patted my shoulder and went to sit with her husband. I shuffled to the only unoccupied part of the table, now sitting opposite to the Hearts, it wasn't just Robert staring at me like I had two heads…
But, it seemed to only be in my head as everyone began small talking with each other, though neither me or Robert contributed, it seems we got into another impromptu staring contest without my real say so..
As I stared into his eyes, I once again saw that darkness, something that should never be seen in a child, one that told of an exhaustive trauma, though, to my knowledge he hasn't gone through something so, terrible…
It was without losing the eye contact that I grabbed a roll, and began to munch on it, his eyes used to be a steely grey, and now they are an Azure blue, though, with how scrunched up his eyes had become, the color of his eyes were diminished to the point that unless you were looking closely, you wouldn't see…
I decided to look away first, entirely aware I had lost, but I simply didn't care as I went and looked at his father before saying "'ow's he been since tha 'njury?"
Mr. Dervish Startles outta his thoughts and looks back at me and says "well, why don't ya ask 'I'm yer self?" As he says this, he gets a bit of a confused look on his face
I scoff and gather some spaghetti and meat balls onto my plate, "if ya haven't noticed, Mr. Dervish, yer son is too busy starin' bloody holes en me t'all times ta talk." I then gather some onto my fork and ate it
Mr. Manderbeck then speaks up, "'s tha' why yea've been so quiet as o' Late? ya 'aven't bothered me in a few weeks... got me suspicious." as he says the last bit he squints at me.
Rob cuts in, finally looking at the food and not at me, "I Have been fine." He begins to gather some of the food as well.
I pick at my food and say. "I've got me own 'tuff ta worry 'bout..." I look around the table, making sure to have eye contact with all the adults at the table "'pologies 'bout bein' distant, 've, gotten a lot 'n my mind." I then go back to eating the divine cooking of Ms. Hearte.
old man Allen scoffs in response and says " I'd 'preceiate more o' 'n explanation, but, apology accepted.." as he says this he makes eye contact with me, conveying a want for more information but also a respect for my not wanting to talk.
Mr. Hearte scoffs and grumbles out, "ya ain't tha 'nly one 'ith too much ta do, just 'member, yer apart a this community. that means 'f yer 'verwhelmed with somethin' ya can come ta any o' us."
I look around the table, I am met mostly with nods of agreement, but Rob speaks up "I've been told, you saved my life, how?" Mr. Dervish side eyes him for a bit, before he and the rest of the table begin to look at me with curious gazes.
I gulp down my food and then look him in the eyes and say "'ell Mr. Fancy-talker, found yer prints, tracked ya into the Alderbeste's territory, dumb move, by the by, got attacked by a wild dog, killed tha wild thing and placed a marker on it -so I could take it home la'er-, Continued to follow yer trail, found the book you were reading, I already gave that back to ya." I took a breath before continuing "I heard a hiss in the distance, I wasn't able to get ta ya before ya were hurt, but, I distracted the Alderbeste by blinding it with an Overcharged mana bullet, I then gathered ya up and ran as quick as I bloody could, I wasn't real' fast enough, the blinding effect wore off quickly, had to cut a tree down onto it…" I took another breath, and found my thoughts getting frayed reliving the panic induced run.
"Wait wait, 'ow did'jya but dow' a fookin tree in a sec?" Mr. Manderbeck pipes up with a incredulous tone.
I glare at him for interrupting my story, then told him simply "runic arrays, 'nyway" I was about to continue the story but before I could, he interrupted again
"Wha'- runic array? Ya don' know any runes!"
If looks could kill, I wouldn't be lookin at him right now. Without speaking, I hold out my hand, expell a string from my palm, and guide it into the form of the rune I used.
I then said in a deadpan tone l "this, 's a ripper rune, rips things up, like trees, 'nd tha such."
At his soft, but clearly baffled "oh" I continued my tale. "Hmm, where was I… ahh yea, I managed to slow it down with that, but it didn't stop it, and just as I was about to cast a disorientation curse at it, i accidentally fell into a hole I didn't see." I then recomposed myself so that I could give some half truths for this next part.
"Whare tha foock did ya learn a bloody, goddamned curse!?" He stands up, outraged and at his second interruption, my eye twitches and I have to close my eyes and count to ten, I then take a deep breath and say, "that's a story for another day, if'n yer wanten ta know more about it, I'm free t'morrow, now, can aye get back to my feckin story?" With a thump he sits back down, though now he's got a glower on his face.
Prolly would'a scared me, if'in I was an actual kid.
"*sigh* That hole ended up leading to some kind of burrow, deep under ground, I spent the next of what could have been minutes but was probably hours searching around in that place for an exit, I eventually did find one, it was annoying, dragging yer unconscious body with me. The exit I had found left us near where I had left that mark, so I went back to the mark to try and find my way back ta' town only to find that the dog thing had been taken from the spot, within the fumes I was running in at that point I managed to make it to the end of the forest before collapsin'. And that's the whole story." I shrug and then say "was mostly luck and quick thinking that saved yer life, only a small part did skill play."
The table was silent for a moment, Mr. Manderbeck slumped into himself and muttered "I'll be damned…"
That codger Allen then crossed his arms and said "an' what did ya learn fro' tha experience?" As he said this his eyes narrowed.
I huffed, disgruntled that everything had to be a lesson, but said, "I guess I learnt ta make sure I know tha environment, and the location o' tha enemy, not that I din't already know that but, 'ts a lesson best learnt through repetition…" I mumbled the last bit as I stared once again into my food, then realizing I still had food on my plate I started to devour it in gusto.
"Ya already knew tha' lesson, er else my huntin training would've been bloody useless… but I'll let ya ge' away with it, bu' this conversation ain't over, brat, ya hear?" Old man Allen said, not that I expected anything less from that perfectionist prick…
I mumbled out an "aye aye, cap'n" knowing that he hates being called that though my mind was full with thoughts like 'The real lesson I learnt was to always analyze a situation as much as I can before making a decision, if I hadn't decided to recklessly sacrifice that rock I… I wouldn't have to leave them…'
As I was eating I heard old man Allen grunt in slight displeasure, then, the rest of the uncomfortable silence inside of my chest and around the table slightly abetted, and was replaced with the sound of all of us eating.
- - - -
Shepard and the rest of the people at that table continued to eat in silence, though intermittently interrupted by someone saying something and sparking some small talk.
The dinner past quickly after that, and Shepard bid farewell to the Heartes, Halesons and Mr. Manderbeck as the sky continued to pelt snow down upon the land.
Due to the fact that they lived in the same direction, she and Mr. Allen walked together.
They chatted a little bit, but mostly just walked in silence, they stopped at Mr. Allen's house, he asked Shepard if she wanted to spend the night, but she declined, and with a heartfelt goodbye walked out of the town, down the path, and fifteen minutes later, she made it to her little log cabin.
As she made it to her home, she wiped her snow covered boots off on the mat and walked inside.
She then plopped all of her things within the the book of a corner, changed into her sleeping clothes, and unceremoniously flopped into her wool cot, and was out like a light in moments…
- - - -
That's all for this chapter, I hope it was at least in character.
Remember, if you have constructive criticism, give a comment! Thank you for reading and good afternoon, good evening and good night!