Chapter Two: Counsel

                                                Chapter Two: Counsel

Father was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly his knuckles were turning white. I couldn’t tell if he was more scared or angry with me. I hesitated a moment in the doorway, staring at Father’s flushed face, realizing how angry he was that I was out after dark. That I didn’t tell him I was leaving.

“I’ve been in town Father, one of-“

“Town?” he asked angrily, lowering his voice to a threatening whisper. I nervously nodded. “I see. Just why were you in town, exactly?”

I stared at him, wide-eyed. Father screamed when he got angry- not whisper. If he was whispering, I was in more trouble than I thought. “One of Makata’s soldiers took me.”

“Oh? And I suppose he just turned you free to come home?”

“No Father, he and Mr. Myrond started arguing and I got away.”

Father frowned at me, but returned his voice to a normal tone. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you tonight Anastasia, but I’ve heard enough of it.”

I gasped, surprised and scared at Father’s sharp reply; he never spoke meanly with me. “But- but- there’s nothing in me. I’m telling the truth.”

“I’m sure.”

“But I really am!”

“Enough Tasia!” he snapped. “I thought I could trust you, but I guess not. You are just a child who needs to be watched.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped off my chin. I had worked at earning Father’s respect and trust my entire life, and now it was all ruined. It was gone, because one of Makata’s men dragged me to town.

Father turned his back on me. My throat was tight and burning. I could hardly believe what was happening; Father had never been this disbelieving before. In a moment Father sighed and turned back towards me.

“Come here Tasia,” he said softly, holding his arms out to me.

I slowly walked over to him, and crawled into his lap; he wrapped his arms around me.

“I didn’t mean to be so cross with you…but you can’t lie to me dearest. I need to know that I can trust you.”

“I’m not lying Father,” I insisted.

He took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.

I sighed, “Father, if I was telling a tale, I’d tell you; but I’m not…Have I ever lied to you before?”

He sighed deeply.

“…I haven’t. I have never given you a reason to distrust me… but you do.” I crawled out of his arms and wiped my eyes. I was too old to be crying because somebody hurt my feelings, even if that somebody was very dear to me.

“…You’re right, you haven’t,” he said at last. “…So where have you been, then?”

I looked at him suspiciously, afraid that he was simply toying with me; but slowly answered. “When I was weeding the garden, Makata’s soldier came up on me and demanded I take him to Myrond’s house.”

“Why?”

“He had a letter from Makata, and wanted the whole town to hear it.”

“A letter? Did you sneak away before or after he read it?”

“After. The soldier couldn’t read, so he made me read it,” I replied, wiping the last of the tears off my face.

“Huh, how about that? You’re smarter than the king’s men,” Father said with a grin.

I smiled at him. We both knew that it was a rare gift to be able to read, our family being the only literate one in the entire Sector. I couldn’t understand why more people didn’t learn- it wasn’t hard- but they didn’t.

“…Well what happened after you read it?”

“Uh, well, I-” I didn’t want to tell him about soldier being rough with me. “People started complaining about the letter.”

“What did it say?”

“Makata wants all boys that are sixteen or younger to report to his castle.”

“Why?”

“We didn’t really figure that out. The soldier got mad when Myrond asked him.”

“Then what happened?”

“Then Myrond and the soldier started arguing, and I ran away.”

“Did you come straight home?”

“No sir. I was scared…so I hid in Tylia and my fort… Liandior walked me home.”

“Is he still out there?”

“I doubt it. He wanted to get home.”

Father nodded, “…Well are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes sir,” I replied.

My ribs were still throbbing, but the pain had subsided quite a bit.

“Come here, let me see,” Father ordered.

He carefully examined my arms and abdomen, but didn’t lift my shirt high enough to see my ribs, where the bruises were. After several minutes of examining me, and being reassured that I was alright, he finally let me lay out supper.  

I retrieved a small block of cheese from our ice box, a stale loaf of bread from the shelf, two clay plates and a sharp knife; and then set them on the table. I quickly divided the last of our food; cutting the cheese and bread with a precision that that I had acquired over years of trying to trick my father into eating the larger portion.

If he noticed that I gave him more, he’d refuse to eat it; so I had to be careful, only leaving a few extra slivers of cheese on each side of his block, and only tiny bit of extra bread on his half of the loaf.

I carefully carried our little table over in front of Father, and slid his plate over to him. I dragged a heavy wooden chair over to the table, and crawled on top of it. I folded my hands as Father began to pray.

“Father, please bless this food that you have provided for us. Thank you for giving Tasia a strong body that she’s blessed me with by supplying the energy needed to grow our food. Please protect Naekyan, wherever he is tonight; and protect us all tonight. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”

I looked at the meager scraps on the plates, and sighed; some job I was doing providing for our family. Father would starve if he had to depend on me much longer.

Father took a bite of his bread. “Eat up Tasia; we’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”

I pushed the block of cheese from one side of the plate to the other, sighing as rubbed my abdomen with my other hand. “My stomach’s upset.”

“Mine too, Tasia,” Father said, “But if we don’t eat, then we won’t be worth anything when it comes time to help the boys. We’ve got to keep our strength up.”

“Yes sir,” I grumbled as I stared at the food on my plate, suddenly glad that there wasn’t very much there.

I reluctantly lifted the cheese to my lips; three bites later I was washing it down with a glass of water. I forced myself to tear the bread into tiny bits, and, one by one, force them down my tight throat. How could I eat, when Kyan was trapped somewhere hiding from the soldiers?

After what seemed to be an eternity, I was finally staring at an empty plate; I looked up triumphantly, proud that I had actually forced myself to eat my whole meal, and found Father staring at me worriedly.

 I never got so worried that I didn’t eat, and Father knew it; my appetite only suffered when I was sick or in pain. I squirmed uncomfortably; scared that he’d start to question me once more about whether I was alright or not.

“I’ll go wash the dishes,” I stated, as I grabbed the two plates, two cups, and knife, and started towards the back door.

Father sighed, “Alright. Be quick.”

“Yes sir,” I replied as I slipped outside and let the door swing shut behind me.

By the time I had pushed my way through the thick bushes on the riverbank, the night was already alive; the frogs were beginning to croak to each other, the ownst the river bank; peering under the bushes I whistled softly, a soft twittering that resembled a bird’s, though was different enough Myrond whirled around to investigate.

“Who’s there?” Myrond demanded.

“It’s just me, Tasia,” I replied calmly.

He took a deep breath and lowered his blade, “Where are you, sweetheart?”

I squinted up into his face; he was still anxious, but had control of himself. I pushed myself up to my feet and squirmed through the last of the brush in front of me.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I’m fine…Why?”

“Well you have that…that,” I said, as I gestured at the knife in his hands.

He looked at his blade and then back at me. “Well would you go from town to way out here, alone, at night, when you know Makata’s men are tromping about?”

I hesitated, “No sir.”

“Speaking of which, what are you doing out at this time of night?” he asked, as I walked into the warm light that spilled out the back window and onto the step Myrond was standing on.

“Washing the dishes,” I replied quietly, “And you?”

“I need to talk to your Pap about this,” Myrond said, as he pulled the letter out of his pocket. “Is he home?”

I thought it a strange question, since Father was always home. “Yes sir, he’s in the house…please come in.”

I gently pushed the door open and stepped to the side, gesturing for Myrond to go in before me.

“Father,” I softly called my warning, “We’ve got a visitor.”

Father turned around in his chair; and, seeing Myrond, tried to scoot his chair around to face him.

“Don’t,” Myrond said as he put his hand up to stop Father. “Please don’t strain yourself.”

Father hesitated, his face betraying his thoughts of trying to turn around regardless of Myrond’s protests; I quickly intervened, pulling the table away from Father and gesturing for Myrond to take my seat in front of Father. I retrieved Father’s tobacco box and pipe from the shelf and offered it to him, as Myrond settled down in the chair.

The two sat in silence as Father tamped his pipe. After a long moment he lit the pipe and motioned for me to offer some to Myrond.

“Would you like some?” I asked, as I turned it around and held it out to Myrond.

He shook his head. 

“What can I help you with?” Father asked at last, as I placed the tobacco box back on its shelf.

“I’m sure Tasia told you what happened this afternoon,” Myrond said.

Father nodded once, “Part of it.”

“…I don’t know how the soldier got a hold of her…or really anything before they showed up on my doorstep. I didn’t even know she was involved, to begin with; that’s just what Tylia said. Tasia was gone before I got to the door.”

I sank down to the floor beside Father’s chair.

“Yes?” Father asked, encouraging Myrond to continue.

Myrond sighed, “Well the soldier and I got into it; he wanted me to read the letter.”

“Why you?” Father asked.

“He seemed to have the notion in his head that I was in charge around here,” Myrond suddenly stopped and looked down at me. “…I wonder how he ever got that idea.”

Father looked down at me too.

“Tasia?”

I took a deep breath, “Well, he snuck up on me when I was weeding, and demanded I take him to a delegate.”

“I’m not the delegate.” Myrond interrupted, “We don’t have one.”

“I know! That’s what I told him; so then he started asking about all sorts of officials, so then I told him that you’re the judge.”

“I’m not a judge!”

“Well, I mean, you kinda are. When people are arguing about something, they always come to ask you who’s right.”

“Of course, I’m their father,” Myrond grumbled.

“Not just Tylia and Liandor, everyone does,” I insisted.

“They do not.”

I sighed. I couldn’t argue with an adult, it would be disrespectful; and the last thing I wanted was to disrespect Myrond.

Father took a puff from his pipe and laughed, breaking the silence that settled in around us. “Well judge or not, will you continue your tale?”

“…Well, he talked nasty…I don’t remember exactly what all was said, but then somebody volunteered her.” Myrond said, as he nodded towards me, “and she was stuck coming back up there to read the dumb letter.”

“She did well, I hope?” Father asked.

“Oh yeah, she did great reading…The soldier-“

I cleared my throat and stood; I wasn’t sure what Myrond was about to say about the soldier, but I figured I probably wouldn’t like it. “Would you like some water, Mr. Myrond?”

He looked at me inquisitively; wondering why I had interrupted him. “No, that’s alright.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure, thanks,” Myrond said.

I shook my head ever so slightly, and then looked down at Father, “Would you like some water Father?”

“Don’t be rude Tasia; apologize to Myrond for interrupting him.”

“Yes sir.” I turned to Myrond, “Forgive me for interrupting you, sir.”

He nodded, “Of course.”

“…Good…No I don’t want any water, sit back down here.”

“Yes sir.”

I sat back down.

“I’m sorry…What were you saying?” Father asked.

“I-uh- well…long story short, I got into an argument with the ass- excuse me- I mean...no, I said what I meant. That’s what he is…though I shouldn’t use that sort of language in front of your daughter.”

“It’s alright,” Father assured him. “But he’s gone now?”

“Yeah, he took off back to castle a bit ago…had three boys with him,” Myrond grumbled.

I gasped; shocked that anyone would turn their sons over to that brute.

“Who-um…Tasia, will you go check on the animals please? I think you forgot that,” Father said.

I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself calm. I knew that Father was merely trying to get rid of me so that he and Myrond could talk about something interesting; but I couldn’t argue with him either. He was my father, and, however badly I may hate his orders, I had to obey them.

 “Yes sir,” I replied, as I stood and walked to the back door.

He knows best Tasia…He’ll let you listen to adult conversations once you’re ready…

I slipped once more into the cold night air, and silently padded across the yard. I paused as a cloud passed over the moon, leaving me without the soft light it had provided; a moment later the cloud passed and I continued down the well worn path.  I pulled open the squeaky wooden door on the barn, and walked inside; I was greeted by the sweet aroma of hay that always ruled the barn, and a gentle nicker from our old gelding Bo.

“Hey Bo,” I whispered, as I climbed into his stall.

I scratched behind his ear as he brushed his soft muzzle against my cheek. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with his lovable odor. I sighed. “Oh Bo, don’t you just wish you could be an adult, so Father didn’t always send you away when something interesting is happening?”

He snorted; his breath tickling my neck. I squirmed away from him and giggled. “I guess you wouldn’t. You probably just want more oats. That’s all you ever want- hay and oats. I doubt you even drank your water tonight.”

I carefully dipped my hand in his water bucket, testing the depth. I shook my hand off, sending droplets of water flying in every direction. “Just like I thought- you hardly drank any at all.”

He nudged me gently, pushing me backwards. I giggled. “You’re just trying to soften me up. Well, it won’t work. You’re too fat as it is.”

I put my hand down on the edge of his trough, which was so full the hay spilled over the sides and pricked my fingers. I patted his stomach which bulged from him gorging himself with grass when he was in the pasture earlier. “Nope, you definitely don’t need any more oats for a long time.”

I climbed out of his stall and slowly made my way down the dark aisle, being careful not to trip in the shadows that ruled the barn. I slipped through the fence of the goat pen and carefully stepped over the lazy buck that didn’t bother to move for me.

“I really shouldn’t be like that either. Father knows better than me, doesn’t he?”

Baa!

I snorted. “Well what does that mean Nuka? ‘Baa’ don’t tell me anything.”

Baa!

I snorted again; quickly checking to make sure that they had plenty of hay and water too. Finding that they did, as I knew they would, I hurried back to the house. Throwing the door open I heard Myrond saying, “Yeah, I’ll find-“

Both men looked at me as I walked in and kicked my boots off by the door.

“…How were the animals?” Father asked.

“Fine.”

“Okay, thank you for checking.”

“No problem,” I replied, mustering up a sweet smile.

Myrond stood, “In case we should need it. I’ll be ready.”

Father nodded, “Thank you for coming by, Myrond.”

“Bye Tasia,” Myrond said.

“Bye Mr. Myrond,” I replied, as I opened the door for him.

He walked through the door, disappearing into the darkness mere feet from our doorstep. I shut the door behind him and latched it.

“…Time for bed Tasi-daisy,” Father said.

“Yes sir,” I sighed.

I dearly wanted to ask him what he and Myrond had discussed, but I knew it was pointless; he wouldn’t tell me. I hugged Father, helped him into his bed, and then blew out the candles we had burning. A moment later I crawled up into the partial loft Kyan had built in the corner; the loft my cot sat on.  I crawled under my blanket and curled into a little ball.

Please Lord, keep Kyan safe.