Finn and I were to meet at dawn outside town tomorrow. That way, we would have daylight to guide us, but not too many small-folk to see us leave. I wasn\u2019t telling Ma and Da I was going \u2014 they\u2019d try to stop me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wrote a note to my parents in Finnan\u2019s office before I left to pack my things for tomorrow, dropping by Miss. Tutenhald\u2019s desk and holding out the letter to her.\u00a0\u201cWould you mind holding on to this letter for a couple days and then sending it to oak home?\u201d\u00a0I asked, rapidly batting my eyelashes, silently pleading \u00a0despite her scowling demeanor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She glanced at the address, back at me, and a paper on her desk.\u00a0\u201cYou can\u2019t take a letter to your own home?\u201d\u00a0she asked, her silver eyes now narrowed in suspicion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good point.<\/em>\u00a0I needed some kind of reasonable excuse to tell anyone curious about what I was up to.\u00a0\u201cWell, Finnan and I are setting off on an expedition tomorrow to find a rare plant we\u2019ve been hearing about. I wanted to go get some information on it for the library,\u201d\u00a0I said, the half-lie rolling off my tongue with ease. Her face lit up in delight at the mention of a new rare plant for our catalog.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t want my Ma and Da to worry too much over me before I even go, so I thought having a letter delivered a day late would tide them over while we searched. It would be a great help if you could deliver it since I have to go pretty far away and the\u00a0post might run long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Miss. Tutenhald took the letter from me, placing it in a basket on her desk.\u00a0\u201cPostage costs are coming out of your commission,\u201d\u00a0she told me with a firm resolve.\u00a0\u201cThis library is not a charity for small-folk to use as their personal messengers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I grinned as she appraised me a final time over her half-moon glasses. Surely, I\u2019d have plenty of new prints for her by the time we got back\u2026 if she didn\u2019t fire Finn and me for disappearing for a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sped off into the mid-afternoon sun, stopping by\u00a0Barlee\u2019s general shop to buy a couple of fire starters and fishing line for Finn\u2019s rod. We had everything else we needed, thanks to the few times we\u2019d been allowed to go on camping trips to search for specific plants to document. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Barlee examined the items I placed on the counter and ducked out of sight, mumbling something incoherent. A pale, freckled hand deposited a couple of fishing hooks and bandages onto the countertop, and Barlee stood back up with a pleasant smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going camping with Mr. Windwick again, I\u2019d suggest you take a couple extra hooks and bandages along with you, too,\u201d\u00a0they said, brushing some loose, brown hairs out of their face.\u00a0\u201cI remember last time. You came back to the shire with about a hundred new holes in your hands and plenty of\u00a0lost fishing wire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I nodded, counting coins from my small leather coin bag. I placed\u00a0them on the counter beside my new\u00a0supplies.\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re always right, Barlee. Thanks for looking out for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They dropped all my purchases into a brown paper bag and slid it over to me.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s my pleasure. Have a good time,\u201d\u00a0Barlee said, waving me off before greeting Mrs. Shoel in line behind me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next on my to-do list was to go to the woods and get my sword. I would need to hide it somewhere closer to oak home so I didn\u2019t waste any time in the morning. Every hour counted if we wanted to make it to Bhay Bridge to board the next ship to Roahdhan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I slipped between a few smaller homes painted in bright yellows, pinks, and blues. They lined the dirt and stone path into the woods outside of Hill Hollow Shire. I passed the old wooden gate that signified the shire\u2019s end and breathed in the fresh, woody air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My heart always raced with excitement when I took this footpath because it meant a couple hours of freedom from being\u00a0Kithri, the eldest and most responsible sibling of the Tealeafs<\/em>. I could practice magic from the spell book I was still \u2018borrowing\u2019<\/em> from the library without worrying about getting in trouble.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not that I was any good at magic beyond the small tricks I knew. Someone who knew magic would have to to teach me if I was ever going to get any better at it. In other words, I needed to find the Dragon\u2019s Head Warrior. So I could craft my skills in sword\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0sorcery\u00a0with them, whoever they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had a great hiding spot for my scimitar, a thirty-minute walk from the gate into the forest. If someone was paying close attention, they\u2019d notice notches on the tree trunks where I practiced different strikes. The marks could be confused with grooves from deer antlers, though \u2014 just like I\u2019d hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pulled a bark covering from my small hidey-hole in a nearby tree. Finn and I had covered the inside with a resin that hardened into a protective shell in the tree trunk. I pulled out the cloth-wrapped scimitar and spell book and shoved them into my backpack, returning the bark to the tree.\u00a0Easy enough.<\/em>\u00a0Finding a temporary hiding spot for my sword would be more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I snuck back into town and took off toward oak home. Da had a tool shed behind our house that he rarely visited. To add to my luck, he\u2019d weeded our small garden a few days ago, meaning there was little-to-no chance he\u2019d be back in the shed today. I stole behind the house and planted my wrapped-up sword and spell book in the most inconspicuous spot\u2026 where Da kept all the garden bed coverings for frosty spring mornings. It blended in well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I rounded the corner of oak home, and Myra ran up to me, followed by the other two youngest Tealeafs, Tamsin and Laslo. They panted, and Laslo spoke up first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDid you just come back from the forest? How far did you go this time?\u00a0Draw anything neat? Find anything for me to look at?\u201d\u00a0He rattled off questions faster than I could even answer the first one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNothing this time,\u201d\u00a0I responded, ruffling his sweaty, blonde curls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMa said that if you\u2019d go with us, we could go out into the woods and play,\u201d\u00a0Tamsin quipped next, grabbing my hand and marching toward the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Myra pleaded with her best wide, pale-green puppy dog eyes.\u00a0\u201cOh please, Kitty! We\u2019ll be so good! I\u2019ll even help you find some mushrooms to make soup tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I knelt down in front of them. They were the only ones in the family still small enough that I had to kneel to reach their height.\u00a0\u201cAs much as I\u2019d love to take you all adventuring, I\u2019ve got to prepare for a little trip for the library.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tamsin stomped her little foot in the dirt.\u00a0\u201cIf you go on a trip, that means we have to ask Liora to take us into the woods. She\u2019s not as fun as you are. She doesn\u2019t play hide-n-seek pretending to be a bear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with her know-it-all phase, Liora had become\u00a0too grown up<\/em>\u00a0to play with the younger Tealeafs. I\u2019d also gone through that same phase when I was her age, so I couldn\u2019t judge.\u00a0\u201cMaybe instead you all could pretend to be bears and chase her around if she takes you into the woods?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liora would probably make me regret that suggestion when I got back. But I needed to pack, and Tamsin still had a death grip on my hand. Laslo and Myra thoughtfully considered the option of chasing Liora around as bears.\u00a0\u201cOn top of that, when I return from my work trip, I promise to play with you in the woods all day. Whatever games you ask.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was the winner. Myra rubbed her hands together like a scheming supervillain in a story.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to come up with\u00a0so<\/bdo><\/em>\u00a0many games to play,\u201d\u00a0she said, grinning a wicked little grin to herself. Her last game had been mud wrestling, and Ma had fussed at us for an hour after we came home caked in red clay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laslo bumped Tamsin with an open palm and shouted,\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re it!\u201d\u00a0He ran away screaming, arms flailing. Tamsin went to tag Myra, who\u2019d been caught off guard, but I stopped her right before she bumped Myra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRun, run! I\u2019ll hold her off for as long as I can!\u201d\u00a0I shouted, Tamsin already wiggling free from my grasp. Myra giggled and took off in the opposite direction of Laslo, speedier than a startled lizard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tamsin pushed away from me and stuck out her tongue.\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re a big old moss-eater!\u201d\u00a0she said, pouting again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI might be a moss-eater, but you\u2019re losing the game of tag,\u201d\u00a0I replied, lightly pushing her in the direction Laslo scrambled off in. She stuck out her tongue again and ran after him, dirt kicking up with each step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma and Da must have been out with Liora and Pippa because the house was quiet when I went inside. I took in the image to take it with me on my upcoming journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roots from our oak tree snaked patterns through the living room ceiling. The house was dug out under the tree, but Ma and Da had installed wooden plank flooring and imported eggshell-colored clay to cover the red dirt walls. They\u2019d coated it with resin to make it stay \u2014 home was the inspiration for my hidey-hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was packing everything I\u2019d need for the trip when the front door opened, and a flood of sound flowed through the once-peaceful house.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDinner\u2019s in twenty minutes,\u201d\u00a0Ma shouted from the living room and five pairs of small feet stampeded through the house. Pippa cleared her throat from the door of our shared bedroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat are you packing for?\u201d\u00a0She asked, curious enough to approach the dresser I was packing from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe library heard that there was a new plant for me to document, and the trip to find it and draw it will take me a little time to do,\u201d\u00a0I said, trying to make the lie sound as dull as possible. Pippa had asked to come on three of my last real excursions, and I kept promising her that I\u2019d take her one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She plucked at one of my white, folded shirts on the dresser, twirling a loose thread between her fingers.\u00a0\u201cI guess you\u2019re packing without saying anything \u2019cause I\u2019m not invited again,\u201d\u00a0she said, disappointment clear in her tone. My excitement for my trip faltered. Pippa was a pain, but she clearly wanted to learn more about my research job and spend time with me\u2026 and Finn, by default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I turned and put my hands on her shoulders, leaning so I could look her in the eyes. Tears rimmed her green eyes and fell past her freckled cheeks.\u00a0\u201cWhen I go on a trip where I know the area, I promise I\u2019ll take you. I\u2019ve never been to this new spot before, and it could be a place for only experienced campers,\u201d\u00a0I said, squeezing her shoulders and trying to comfort her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I chose my words carefully. One wrong word could make Ma and Da worry that the trip was too dangerous. They\u2019d forbid me to go. Directly defying their orders and leaving anyhow felt like a lot worse offense than fibbing about what I was about to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pippa wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and then hugged me tight.\u00a0\u201cI just want to be like you,\u201d\u00a0she whispered, probably thinking I wouldn\u2019t hear it over the romping and stomping ensuing all over oak home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re already a lot cooler than me at fourteen,\u201d\u00a0I said, pushing back from her hug to speak to her while looking at her face.\u00a0\u201cThere is plenty of time for you to have your own adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She released a giant sigh, looking at my half-packed bag.\u00a0\u201cCan I help you pack then?\u201d\u00a0she asked a spark of hope in her questioning eyes. I nodded, and she grabbed my traveling clothes, folding them into a compact stack with the skills of a professional adventurer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dinner passed with all the usual shenanigans and hijinx expected in the Teatree kitchen. I wondered what Finn\u2019s family of three talked about the night before he was about to go on a big trip because our table had children yelling about cheating at tag between bites of shepherd\u2019s pie, my favorite dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Da leaned back in his seat, patting his extended tummy happily after the plates had been cleared from the table. Tonight, Liora helped Ma wash dishes at the sink. That was usually one of my chores, but I got the night off for my name day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Da lit up his pipe, puffing out smoke rings and making little target rings in the air. I tossed a pea left on the table through the bullseye. Ma pushed up her sleeves with wet fingers, leaving the blue fabric of her shirtsleeves with dark splotches.\u00a0\u201cSo, were you going to tell your Da and me about your work trip?\u201d\u00a0Ma said, not looking at me as she scrubbed the cooking pot with a rag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I flushed.\u00a0\u201cI figured word would get around to you, thanks to one of the tattletales,\u201d\u00a0I replied. Da coughed mid-smoke, sending a puff of smoke out of the top of his wooden pipe.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s no big deal, really. Finnan and I need to catalog a new plant up north of here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t like it when you don\u2019t tell us about these things,\u201d\u00a0Da said, his mustache curving in a disapproving frown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liora peeked over her shoulder at me as she was drying the last plate Ma had handed her. Her brows were drawn together like she was figuring out where to place a puzzle piece.\u00a0\u201cI only learned about it earlier today. We\u2019re leaving tomorrow because the flower\u2019s petals fall off once the first cold day happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan\u2019t it wait til next year, then?\u201d\u00a0Ma asked, finally looking in my direction. She was trying to hide her worry but, like always, did a terrible job at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I shook my head.\u00a0\u201cMiss. Tutenhald insisted we go this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our usual routine for the night before I left Hill Hollow ensued. Ma worried about what I\u2019d packed to wear, if we had enough to eat, what path we\u2019d take, and a million other things I had to tell her I\u2019d already planned for. Da smoked his pipe until it was out and then insisted that he come along on the trip like he always did. I had to remind him about his bad back. He\u2019d gone camping with me the first time I left the shire and came back complaining about his back for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few hours later, the house settled down for bed, but I couldn\u2019t get myself to go to sleep because of all the excitement building up inside my body. My siblings snored softly from their beds, unconcerned about what would come tomorrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I remembered was a little ping from beside my pillow. Da had lent me his alarm bell for the night. It was still dark outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I tiptoed around the bedroom, changing into my traveling clothes and grabbing my backpack from the dresser. I peered around the dim room, listening to a chorus of peaceful snores, wishing away the unprompted fear that I\u2019d not see them again.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ma had left a honey cake by the door for me. A little note was next to the plate.\u00a0\u201cTo start the journey with a happy stomach,\u201d\u00a0I read, popping the whole honey cake into my mouth and the note into a pocket on my jacket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finnan was outside bouncing on his toes when I opened our front door. He held out the cloth wrapped around my sword and spell book.\u00a0\u201cHow\u2019d you find that? I hid it so well,\u201d\u00a0I whined, snatching the lump of objects from him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI knew you wanted to keep them close by for the morning, and the garden looked like it had been recently weeded. But you\u2019d go a step further and hide it with stuff in the shed that was off-season, just in case,\u201d\u00a0he said, pleased with his deduction skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I folded the cloth neatly around just the spell book and put it in my bag. I clipped the scimitar to my hip.\u00a0\u201cWell, I\u2019m more predictable than I thought I was,\u201d\u00a0I said, placing my hands on my sides and squinting at the first hint of sun peeking over the distant hills.\u00a0\u201cWe should get a move on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finn nodded, turning on his heel and walking in step with me out of town. Before we turned a corner that would put us out of sight of oak home, I glanced back. The tree leaves were shining golden in the first light of the morning. I\u2019d be back before I knew it. Maybe I\u2019d even miss it while I was gone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We walked all day, camped, and then walked some more the next day once it got light enough out. We spent three whole days walking.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a long enough time that a game of I Spy had devolved into a mind game of finding the smallest detail and milking our hints as to what we were talking about for hours. The last straw was when Finn was using a piece of lettuce stuck in my teeth as what he spotted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the evening of the third day, I smelled sea salt in the air. My heart stopped for a moment, remembering the smell of that raider, but then a seagull swooped over our heads. We crested the hill in front of us and saw Bhay Bridge Harbor down below, a giant ship docked at the furthest port.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the buildings in town were up on stilts with ladders from the ground, for when it rained and a nearby river overfilled and flooded to the sea. The buildings were painted various shades of orange, yellow, and red, and the biggest were the size of our library. I\u2019d never seen another port city before, but this one was smaller than the shire, so it was probably the smallest in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some small-folk milled about town, though this was not a small-folk accessibly town based on the door heights. Any small-folk who saw us nodded friendly at us as we walked the main road, but a majority of the city\u2019s population looked like humans. It was a much livelier town than the shire, and despite the town being small,\u00a0there had to be four times the people here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked a well-tanned, elven woman sailor aboard the giant ship \u2014 the Onyx Glory \u2014 where the captain was. She pointed to a rowdy pub across from the docks.\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019ll be the tallest one in there,\u201d\u00a0she said with a gravelly, deep Roahdhanian accent. She looked between us, and added,\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s also got the whitest hair you\u2019ll ever see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This lady had never met Gramma Tealeaf.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ll have to see about that,\u201d\u00a0Finn whispered out of the corner of his mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We walked into the oceanic-themed pub. The net and dried sea critter lined walls echoed with laughter and singing. The lady had been correct about both the captain\u2019s height and hair. He was really young to have the long, white hair I\u2019d always\u00a0associated with old mages.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The captain sat in a corner booth, chatting with a beautiful woman and grinning a devilish smile when she spoke.\u00a0He was the first at his table to notice Finn and I approaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He leaned over the table to get a better look at us.\u00a0\u201cYou two look a little young to be in a spot like this,\u201d\u00a0he said in a low baritone. Two men were sitting at the table with him and the woman. They raised their eyebrows at one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re young adults,\u201d\u00a0Finn said, lying but sounding believable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finn\u2019s confidence in his delivery put a smile on the captain\u2019s lips.\u00a0\u201cWell then, what are two\u00a0young adult<\/bdo><\/em>\u00a0small-folk doing at my table?\u201d\u00a0The woman next to him looked displeased with our continued presence. I took stock of the swirling white-ink tattoo circling her right clavicle bone. Liora was obsessed with tattoos at the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019d like passage on your ship to Roahdhan,\u201d\u00a0I replied, staring directly into his gray eyes.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re willing to pay our way or earn it by helping on the ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The captain looked between the other men at the table, who shrugged unconvincingly.\u00a0What could I say to convince him to say yes?\u00a0<\/em>We were desperate, but I didn\u2019t need him to know we were desperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My art? I put my bag on the floor and pulled out my notebook. I flipped it open to the last painting I\u2019d done of a dragonsnap flower. The detail-work on this one was the best I\u2019d ever done.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m a talented painter, and I\u2019m looking to build my map-making skills,\u201d\u00a0I said, placing the book on the table so everyone could see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re lucky we just had two deckhands get called away,\u201d\u00a0the white-haired captain said, pushing my notebook back at me after a short glance.\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ll work during the passage, and I might let you help with map-making if you finish everything on deck. I\u2019m Captain Malcolm Serpentis. Be ready to leave at first light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I glanced at Finnan and grinned. Now, the true adventure began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Continue the adventure into chapter four here.<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n