Chapter 7 - Part A

[Author's Notes] Obviously I took a night off. I was stupid the night before last and passed out playing Sims on my Xbox without visualizing the next scene. Thus, nothing. Zip. Nada. Writer's Block. I'm now about 6,000 words behind. Wonder how much I can do tonight and wonder how much I can do tomorrow. I'd like to get around 4-5000 words in but so far, I'm only averaging 1500 words a day, which isn't enough for the 50,000. I'm tired of all this set up stuff. I still have to set up Kat before I get to the good parts where Kat and Tristan finally meet. Trudging on.

OH! And my other told me that in the last chapter, the Queen's voice sounded more like me than the Queen. Those that know me, is that true? LOL Oh well, I have to figure out a way to recapture her voice. Just reread all her entries and while I captured part of her voice last time, it wasn't as ... snarky as the rest of them. Okay, snarky, here I come.

Behold your future, little prophecy. Here, you shall grow in strength, in thought, in health. Here, you shall acquire fearlessness, stoutness and perhaps even reknown. Here is where you'll return to lick your wounds for this shall be your home. Enjoy it while you can. For every moment of bliss you have here, I shall be using those moments to build the foundation for my revenge.

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Both Tristan and Tiny were walking alongside the wagon that carried their supplies and tents. Tristan limped along as the red stain on her trouser leg spread. Both of them would run ahead to the head of the caravan where Remy was, then they hung back until Cece at the rear caught up to them. This way, they had some time to take in their surroundings.

"Tristan! Look! I've never seen birds soar like that before!" Tiny pointed up at about a dozen birds circling quite a distance away from them. "Wow, they don't flap hardly at all! What's keeping them up there?"

Agatha clucked a chuckle and explained, "They're gliding on gusts of wind. Those are vultures - scavenger birds. You two know what scavenger means?" Without waiting for an answer, Agatha continued "They look for creatures that recently died, then they eat their corpses. Filthy things really, but from a distance when they're flying, all you can see is the beauty of their ability." Agatha continued pacing the wagon. "If you want to know how they fly, ask Cece. If you want to know how they defend themselves, ask Remy. I can tell you what they eat, among other things."

Tristan beamed at Agatha. So many things the three of them knew! She loved talking most to Agatha because she felt safest with her. Agatha, of the three, had the most soothing and benign demeanor. She had a feeling she could tell Agatha almost anything and Agatha would react the same, with a gentle smile and a questioning look that only showed concern.

She turned to Tiny. "Let's hang back a while and watch the.." she glanced at Agatha and "Vultures" was volunteered. "Vultures," she repeated more to herself than anyone. Tiny agreed and they watched the birds dance their circular ritual. Part of her regretted hanging back as the more she watched, the more questions she had. Like why were they circling? Was it a dance? She shrugged, content to just watch the birds for a little while.

She looked down the path and saw that it wound through a wooded area. Cece caught up to them at this point and paused to chat with them a while. It was time for their geography lesson again. "Before you is the Vindu Woods, so called for the large Vindu tree that grows near the center of it. We'll be heading north for a little while, but the path will wind eastward. Can you two see above the trees?" Both nodded affirmatively. "What do you see? And in what direction?"

Tiny stood on tiptoe and pointed to a peak. "Mountaintop .. umm to the west?" When Cece shook her head, he looked dejected.

Smiling a little, Cece quickly said "Three quarters right." and Tiny stood up straighter. She added "Yes, mountaintop, but to the northwest. See? It's a little to the left, not all the way to the left. You're facing north remember?" Turning to Tristan, she said "You're a little taller, what do you see, and what do you deduce?"

Tipping on her toes, Tristan said, "Since the mountaintop is there and it's going down -" Cece interrupted "Sloping down" and Tristan repeated "Sloping down towards where we're heading, then we must be going to where the bottom of the mountain is." She beamed at Cece knowing she was right. She was, and got a large smile for her efforts. "Okay, thanks Cece! We'll be back!"

The duo dashed ahead, passing the wagon with a laughing Agatha waving at them. They caught up to Remy panting. Tsking, she said, "Panting after a short sprint like that. I'm going to make it so you two can run up that mountain without panting. Squeals of "You promise?" amidst pants made Remy laugh.

[Author's Notes] Okay, more tomorrow.