[Flashback] Learning to Smile Again [Solo]

[Amarhyl]

Season of Summer, Day 69, 508AV Learning to Smile Again Early morning sunlight filtered through the flimsy curtains of a young girl’s room, bathing the simple décor in a strange, golden glow. It was only 6 Bells, but the bed was already empty, it’s crumpled sheets left in a messy heap at its foot. The entire house was silent, its residents sound asleep, dreaming of simple things, dreaming of the coming day. None of the sleepers had heard the silent footsteps of the girl tiptoeing past their rooms, none of them had heard the front door creak open and closed. As soon as the door was placed back onto its latch, she let out the breath she’d been holding in. Long blonde hair, fell over her face, and she stood for a moment, leaning back on the door she’d just exited. Amarhyl was only 14, but the pain etched into her pretty blue eyes was that of an older woman. Now, they scanned the immediate area, looking for signs of morning activity. She found none. The farmers wouldn’t leave their houses till the 7th Bell. Tucking her hair behind her ears, and pulling her cloak tighter, she began to walk. She was headed in the same direction that she went every morning. Growing up in the Mythrin Outpost, she’d learnt that, unless you were a farmer, you had to make your own work, your own entertainment. Although right now, she wasn’t in the mood to entertain herself. Right now, she was in the mood to be alone. As usual. The Mythrin Outpost was heavily fortified, with Knights guarding its boundaries. Upon reaching the wall, Amarhyl turned, and proceeded to walk alongside it, rather than try to pass through. She was heading to a particular exit, one that she knew she could leave by, with no questions. The Knight that guarded that exit was, well she couldn’t consider him a friend, he just looked out for her. An old friend of her father’s, he knew that Amarhyl was a good girl, not a troublemaker. Upon reaching her desired exit, she paused as she saw the Knight. He appeared to be dosing, but she knew better. She purposely increased the volume of her footsteps, so that he would hear her coming; a Knight wasn’t someone you’d want to surprise. His head lifted slightly, just as she knew it would, and turned towards her. ”Morning Amarhyl.” He gave her a smile that she did not return. ”Don’t go making trouble now.” He winked, it was a joke of his, offered to the girl every morning, in hopes of seeing her mouth twitch. She hadn’t smiled since that awful day with her father. Now, she simply shrugged, nodded and walked past him, heading out towards the Syliran Fields.

[Amarhyl]

Season of Summer, Day 69, 508AV Learning to Smile Again The sun rose higher into the pale blue skies, lending watery golden rays to the lands below it. The morning was cloudless though, and, despite it being the Summer Season, the morning had a chill. The fields slowly came into view, their endless expanse of lush, green crop stretching out before her. Her pace slowed, the girl had been hurrying; her cloak flapping round her ankles as she went. She stopped about 13 yards short of the first field, as they weren’t her destination. She was no farmer; she had no reason to enter them. Besides, it wasn’t time for work to start yet, there was roughly 30 Chimes left till the workers would trudge down after her. A small sigh escaped her, and she gazed over the crop in silence. She imagined her father striding between the rows of healthy shoots, tending to the wheat that didn’t seem to be growing right. Unconsciously, she had taken a few steps towards the field, so drawn was she by the figure of the man she’d imagined. When she realised what she was doing, she inhaled sharply and retreated, fighting back tears that were threatening to spill. She turned quickly, and began to run towards a small copse of trees, not far from the growing crops. It had been her destination all along, she’d been wandering through these trees every morning since that day. Underneath the strong branches and the thick green canopy, it felt detached from the outside world. It was where she came to forget. Stepping nimbly through the undergrowth, she found her usual, tiny clearing, no more than a couple yards in diameter. She slid down a tree, and sat slumped at its base. Moments later, the sadness overwhelmed her. Tears etched shining tracks down her cheeks and she pulled her knees in tight so that she could bury her head in the soft folds of her velvet cloak. She knew that she shouldn’t have looked at the fields; she purposely averted her gaze every morning. It had been many moons since she had cried like this, and her sobs wracked her lithe frame. In the distance, the sounds of footsteps picked up. They were muffled, but many. Beyond the copse, the farmers were making their way down to the fields for their days work. Amarhyl raised her head for a moment, and sat listening to them, tears still dripping from her chin. She wondered briefly if the family she lived with had gotten used to her absence in the mornings. She expected they had, no questions were ever asked when she returned. Another sob caught in her throat and she returned her head to her knees, wrapping her arms round her legs, willing herself to pull together.

[Amarhyl]

Season of Summer, Day 69, 508AV Learning to Smile Again Amarhyl didn’t know how long she’d been hunched at the bottom of the tree, but when her tears finally ran dry, and she raised her head again, the sun had risen to almost its peak. She squinted up at it for a moment, and then rubbed her eyes. She sighed and made to stand up, but froze when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. A doe was moving silently through the trees beside her, seemingly looking for a certain leaf. Amarhyl’s eyes widened in wonder; she’d never seen a deer so close to her before. She took its tiny frame and stick-like limbs, and gazed upon its pretty little face. Amarhyl wondered why the deer was so bold as to come near a human, she recalled Sam telling her that they were extremely skittish. She figured that it hadn’t noticed her scrunched up by the tree. She almost jumped out of her skin as the dear suddenly leapt away with a frightened cry. The girl peered wildly around, her eyes wide, terrified that there was something dangerous approaching. She shrank back into the tree as much as she could, squeezing her eyes shut as footsteps drew near. Hold on…footsteps? Amarhyl opened her eyes in confusion, nobody had ever come here while she’d been around. At the edge of the clearing, a young man stood with a small sack in his hand. He smiled at the sight of Amarhyl and proceeded to make his way over. "Sam…?" Amarhyl frowned. "Why are you here?" Before answering her, the boy set himself on the ground and opened the sack, pulling out some roughly-cut sandwiches. "You’ve been gone for longer than usual. I asked that Knight where you headed and bought you some lunch." He gave a shrug and stuffed some bread into his mouth. "I figured you’d be hungry." Amarhyl stared at him for a short moment before reaching to take a sandwich herself. The two sat in companionable silence for a while, simply gazing round the clearing, or up to the sky when all the food was gone. Sam looked at Amarhyl with a critical gaze. "You’ve been crying again." His tone was soft, and he reached out to put an arm round her shoulders. She leaned into him with a sniff. "I nearly went into the field…" Sam shook his head lightly and gave her a squeeze. "Hey, it’s okay, you’ll be alright." Amarhyl jerked her head in a sort of nod. She knew that she’d pull through; she knew she’d be okay in the end. She just knew that she’d never forget Day 52 of the very same Summer. The image of her father laying still under his sheets, the frail man leaning over him, then turning to her with a solemn expression. "I’m sorry." She shook her head and pulled away from Sam, standing up. He followed suit and without a word, the pair began to trudge back to the village.

[Amarhyl]

Season of Summer, Day 69, 508AV Learning to Smile Again Upon re-entry into the village, Amarhyl shifted closer to Sam. Even though she’d lived there for the full 14 years of her life, she didn’t like to be alone when the other children were about. She saw a group of them playing a game with stones a short way off. She was watching them so intently, that she walked straight into the back of Sam when he stopped. He turned and ruffled her hair. "Go ask if you can join in Ama. I’m going to put this back." He lifted the sack a little to indicate what he was talking about, then strode off in the direction of their home. Overcome with sudden nerves, Amarhyl glanced over at the other kids again. Asking to play was something she had never done. Sure, when they were all 4 and 5 she’d joined in, there was no need to ask when you were that young. But as they all grew older together, Amarhyl started to feel like an outsider. She was the only one with a single parent, and the other children treated her as if it was her fault she had no mother. Stepping quietly towards the game, she sucked in a breath to calm herself. It wasn’t that hard, asking. You only needed to say a few words. She stopped just short of the others, 5 in all. They seemed to be working in pairs, with one girl playing in her own team. Great, that means they have some room. She shuffled awkwardly, and one boy looked round at her with a frown. "What do you want?" His tone shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. "Uh…could I join your game? I, um…noticed that…there’s an odd number…" She trailed off and looked round the circle. Every kid was watching her now. The boy laughed, but it wasn’t a nice laugh. "You want to play with us? No way, you wouldn’t understand the rules." Amarhyl was taken aback. "You could tell me?" Her voice shook, and she forced herself not to start back-stepping. "No, you wont understand, I already said. ‘sides, Lil wants to be on her own team." He nodded to the girl that had been playing by herself and she threw Amarhyl a smirk and poked her tongue out. Amarhyl felt as if she was going to burst into tears again. These kids had no reason to be cruel to her, and she couldn’t understand it. A hand fell on her shoulder and she looked up into Sam’s face. He was frowning at the others. "C’mon Ama, leave the infants to play with their rocks." He steered her away from the group, then stood in front of her, both hands on her shoulders. He bent slightly, so that their faces were level. "It’s okay, you’re way to good to play with them anyway. I have something better." He grinned and led her round to the side of their house. The family horse was tethered up, absently chewing on its rope. Amarhyl frowned, she didn’t understand what Sam meant. He walked up and patted the geldings flank. "You’re going to ride for the first time today." He grinned before lunging for her. She gasped as he lifted her up, and sat her, bareback, upon the horse. What followed was a normal, or what she gathered to be normal, riding lesson. Sam held the horse’s rope, while she attempted to manoeuvre it with various clicking noises and knee pressure. It was when Sam tried to get her to back the gelding up, that she confused herself. A frown creased her brow, and she became frustrated. "Why wont he do it?" She reached down for Sam, who pulled her off the horse. "Here, I’ll show you." Swinging his leg up over the geldings back, he adjusted his knees and gave a series of low clicks. The horse didn’t move. Sam tried again, to no avail, and again. Eventually, the poor horse must’ve gotten bored, because, when Sam was least expecting it, the gelding turned sharply, and deposited his rider onto the ground. Sam jumped up grumbling, and proceeded to tie the horse back up to its post. He turned to Amarhyl and stopped dead, shock flitting over his face. The girl had a smile winding over her mouth, and before he knew it, she had started to giggle. Catching his expression, she quickly tried to force a straight face. "Sorry, but that was funny." Another giggle escaped her."Teach me how to do that, Oh Master Rider." She then dissolved into peals of laughter, the sound so light and unexpected. Sam grinned and ruffled her hair. "It’s a skill that is only known by the very best." And just like that, Amarhyl had learned to smile again.

[Amarhyl]

End Thread

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Amarhyl   Skills Skill Gain Info. Riding 1 --   Lore Painful Memories of the Past A True Friend Learning to Ride, Relearning to Smile

Additional CommentsA very nice thread. Very emotional and well done. I hope to see more.