Picnic

As Eres and Freya walked away from the Bakery, with a large basket of food clasped in Eres' hands, they chatted and laughed at their chance encounter.

"Look, I know I shouldn't laugh Eres, but your face when Mr Harral dropped to one knee was priceless, I promise you!" Freya could barely speak through the giggles. Her tone had stayed somewhat more free after speaking to Myla. Eres wondered privately if this is what she usually sounded like, and how he could get her to speak that way when they were back home.

"You know I'm not used to any of that pomp or circumstance! I could see him getting ready to bow and scrape and call me 'Mi'lord' and I don't need any of that, nope not one bit!" Eres protested between fits of laughter at the whole bizarre circumstance.

They walked down the dirt road in the centre of the territory with their shoulders nearly pressed together. If others were watching, perhaps they looked like siblings sharing a joke, or perhaps something more intimate. Freya was short for her age and Eres carried himself as if he was a little older. To them, however, they just enjoyed the freedom of the air outside and the hustle and bustle of the crowd in the town.

The laughing, joking and idle small talk continued for a few minutes, and then the next few were spent in a comfortable and companionable silence. Eres knew in his head that most ten-year-olds would need to talk constantly, but whether due to his quiet upbringing or the other memories bouncing around in his skull, he enjoyed these moments of quiet. Not loneliness, not silence, but comfortable companionship.

It was as Eres was considering just how much he enjoyed these moments, that it was rudely interrupted by a small blonde cannonball slamming into the space between him and Freya, wrapping an arm around both of their shoulders with a loud shout and a laugh.

"Ha! I knew I would find ya if I ran quick enough!" Myla laughed, her voice as loud and brash as it had been in the bakery.

Eres released the flow of magic he had begun to channel. It was too slow, far too slow to respond to someone touching him. He needed to get faster, or better with his body if he didn't want to be a sitting duck.

"Oh, um, sorry you two. Am I interrupting? Eres here looks pretty upset," Myla sounded a little embarrassed and more than a little apologetic, and started to take a step back.

"No, no. Sorry Myla, you startled me and I needed a second is all. What can we do for you?" Eres laughed off his shock and smiled at the girl. They were nearly the same height, now he looked at her. Strange, he had thought she would be taller, considering her attitude.

"Of course, you aren't interrupting," Freya smiled also, looking back at Myla. The divine power she had gathered leaked back into her core unused.

"Well, you guys seemed nice, and I wanted to be friends, ya know after Ifa and all. Plus you didn't know town, so I figured, if you don't mind I mean, maybe I could tag along. The other kids are all busy today and... well look, if I am a bother..." Myla began talking with a confident almost arrogant air, yet with every word her voice got smaller, more worried. Eres couldn't stand to see anyone like that. It reminded him of Freya refusing to meet his eyes when they first met.

Gods, it hasn't been long at all, but it feels like nearly forever, Eres thought with a chuckle.

"Of course you can come! Your dad made way too much food for us anyway, so we could use the help getting through all of it," Eres smiled as he stepped to one side to let Myla move between him and Freya, "Oh that reminds me... your parents don't know you followed us, do they?"

"Huh? Oh um, no, I just said I was going out to play, I didn't exactly say where, and Mum was busy hounding Dad about something. Why?"

"No reason, really, just... when you tell them where you were, remember what your dad's face looks like, and describe it to me the next time we see each other, alright?" Eres had a smirk on his face as he spoke, and Myla cocked her head to one side, confused.

"Ignore him, Myla. He's just being weird," Freya joked, glaring across at Eres for enjoying the panic they both knew the baker would feel when he learned where his daughter spent her afternoon, "Come on then, let's go find this picnic spot and get started on this food!"

Eres laughed out loud as the girls hurried onwards, before quickening his pace to catch up.

 * * * 

They reached the outskirts of town quickly, and along the way Myla turned out to be quite the chatterbox, and Eres and Freya learned a lot about her.

She was eleven, but only just, Ifa was only four. She had lived here all her life but she wanted to see a city someday. She played outside a lot and knew all the cool spots in town, and she loved meeting new people and learning about all their different experiences.

"Sorry, sorry. I talked all the way here huh?" Myla shrugged bashfully, hands wringing, "Mum always says I talk too much for my own good and others can't get a word in edgeways. I don't mean to I swear I don't its just... oh bloody hells I am doing it again.

"Look I am sorry you guys, I didn't mean to keep talking I just... most of the other kids are a lot older or younger, ya know?"

Freya nodded along with a kind smile, and Eres just looked at Myla with a bemused expression.

"What are you apologising for?" Eres asked, shrugging his shoulders, "I always get told I don't talk enough, so you can just fill my gaps.

"Plus, if there was a problem with you talking so much, we would have said so. I can be rude like that, so don't worry about it at all. Now come on, these sandwiches need eating, so sit down!" Eres spread his jacket on the floor and gestured for the girls to sit, while he perched on a nearby log.

They had made their way a little past the town's southern edge and were out looking over the fields that surrounded the place, the forest a few hundred feet to their east. It was a damn fine view.

When Eres looked back, the girls were sitting on his jacket, giggling about something or another. He grinned at how fast they had become friends and reached into the basket for a sandwich. He grabbed the top one before handing the basket over to the girls, taking a big bite out of the baguette.

He knew right away that Harral had conned him. Leftover bread? Yeah right, this tasted about as fresh as could be! It was filled with a sweet and salty sauce, peppers, onions and what tasted like chunks of beef. It was good, really good.

Eres took another two bites, chewing and swallowing as fast as he could before looking up and seeing his companions stare at him.

"What?" He mumbled out around a mouthful of food, barely managing to swallow it before continuing, "I'm hungry, okay?"

The two girls just shook their heads before taking a bite of their sandwiches. Both of their eyes widened as they began to chew and swallow as fast as they could to take another bite, and Eres grinned at the site.

Yeah okay, I can see it. That's pretty funny, he thought, as he finished off his food and grabbed a cloth from the bag to wipe the sauce from his mouth. They look like squirrels with tiny bites and full cheeks.

He managed to hold in the laughter and hide the smile by rooting around in the wicker basket until he found a large bottle and some cups. He popped the stopper and the sharp smell of lemons drifted out. He grinned at the citrusy smell before he poured some of the yellow cloudy liquid into the glasses before handing them over to his companions. He took a sip carefully at first, before swallowing a larger mouthful. The sour tang of lemon and the sweetness of sugar mixed as he enjoyed the drink.

"Huh, that is some really good lemonade," Eres muttered, before draining his glass.

"You like it? Mum makes it and says it's good for you. I just think it tastes good, at least when she doesn't forget the sugar," Myla stuck her tongue out at the memory.

Freya recoiled at the smell before taking a sip, and then another. She didn't seem convinced, but she kept going back for small sips again and again. Eres nearly burst out laughing watching her, the analogy of a squirrel still very fresh in his mind.

He rolled his head back, his face facing the sky, feeling the warmth of the sun and feeling the rough bark under his hands. It had taken him a while to get used to having another set of memories, but he was starting to feel more at home with it, less like a stranger in another body. Yet still, the memories yelled at him to do more childlike things, and to stop letting his family walk all over him. Going and playing outside seemed like a good compromise, but he hadn't realised how much he had missed it.

"Freya, is he alright? He looks... I dunno, sad maybe? Hard to say really, but he doesn't look okay," Myla whispered, looking at Eres worriedly. His face was twisted somewhat like it was in pain, but the lines were slowly starting to smooth out.

"He will be," Freya said with a smile, "He has people looking out for him, he just has a lot on his plate right now, so I think some time in the sun is doing him good."

Myla nodded her head for a moment, before grinning at Freya and shaking her head, "I think you might both be strange. It's alright, a good strange, but strange all the same."

Eres sat up straight, the scrunched-up and stressed face from before gone and instead a peaceful smile in its place.

"Nothing wrong with being strange, Myla," he laughed as he readjusted on the log, "far better to be strange than boring, don't you reckon?"

Myla put her hand up to her chin as if she was thinking really hard. Then her face split into a wide grin as she shrugged and flopped back into the grass.

"Sure, if you say so," she laughed as she started picking at flowers next to her head, "I ain't ever met someone who thinks strange is a compliment, but I think you might just be right this time."

Eres and Freya both laughed at her carefree comment, their shoulders shaking with how hard their laughter tore out of them.

It was that moment of laughter, that moment of joy, that froze around them as a low buzz filled the air.

The buzz turned to a soft thud as the stump Eres was sitting on shook slightly. Looking down at his hand, Eres saw a shaft of wood sticking out of his makeshift seat, maybe a foot from his hand. The feathers on the bag of the shaft were torn and ragged, but that didn't change what it was.

Looking up to his east, Eres saw a single creature stalking towards them from the forest. Green-skinned with a wide, toad-like face and jagged teeth, the short creature had a long, rusted knife in its right hand and an old bow in its left. Covered in furs and patches of leather, it started to pick up the pace as Eres stared at it. It took everything he had to stand, point and scream the only thought in his head.

"GOBLIN!" Eres yelled, pointing at the toothy, slavering monster slowly approaching from the woods.