15 Berries

After Oriana ran away from her neighbors, she felt relieved at escaping that predicament. There was no way that the older woman would not discover she was a girl while taking her measurement, and exposing such a secret would only end up with Gwen asking uncomfortable questions.

Still, deep in her heart, she felt apologetic towards the older woman. Oriana preferred wearing dark clothes as they would minimize her chances of catching people's eyes. Gwen would only make her nice clothes she would never end up wearing.

'What a kind family…'

Holding onto her new pair of boots, a smile lingered on her face.

"Let's finish making medicine first."

She resumed her work and after concocting her grandfather's medicine, she began preparing herbal remedies for her fellow villagers who would often come to her to be treated for minor things like headaches, fevers or animal bites.

Within their little village composed mostly of hunters, Orian was the only herbalist, an existence loved and respected by the poor villagers who could not afford the luxury of apothecaries and physicians.

She never asked for payment, but as a show of gratitude, the villagers would bring her things like fruits, vegetables or spare meat from their hunts.

After she finished packing the medicines, she was ready to leave.

"I need to get these medicines to Aunt Lora first. She can't come to get it due to her sprained ankle." She then hoisted the sackcloth bag over her shoulder. "Next stop would be Uncle Joseph for his stomach ache."

After she left home, she threaded the footpath in between the other wooden cabins and small huts built on the sides. Oriana casually greeted the little children playing with a mud ball before entering a small thatched house where a woman a year or two older than Gwen was sitting on the chair while sewing clothes.

"Aunt Lora, I brought your medicines!" Oriana went to her and handed her over the small pouch. "There is also an ointment that you can apply on your ankle to lessen the swelling. It will be fine soon."

The woman smiled at the cheerful young boy.

"Thank you, Orian." She accepted it and pointed her towards one basket placed on the table in the corner. "Since you are here, why don't you eat? These are fresh jujubes your uncle brought this morning."

"Jujube?" Oriana got excited but then controlled herself. She needed to remind herself she was pretending to be a boy and she could not drool over these berries like girls do. "I mean, that's good, uhh, great."

The woman chuckled as she saw how Oriana controlled herself. It was an open secret among the villagers that not only does Orian the Herbalist have a sweet tooth, he also loves snacking on jujubes.

"Eat as much as you want. I know you like them. You can even bring some back with you if you want."

"No, it's fine—"

"Eating berries won't make you less of a man."

Oriana no longer refused and walked towards the basket, her eyes glittering at the sight of the tiny red fruits so small they were treated as wild berries. She loved them fresh and chewy, but also liked them dried as a candy. She could not wait to get her hands on them and stuffed handfuls in the pockets of her jacket.

"Thank you, Aunt Lora. Let me know once you finish this batch of medicine," she said and left with a little skip on her steps. Lora could not help but find the young lad adorable.

After she gave medicines to others, Orian decided to return home. In her arms, she was holding several loaves of bread and some common herbs the villagers stumbled upon while they were in the forest.

'Once I return home, I will divide the jujube—half I will turn into dried candy I can eat when outside, the rest I will eat today.'

She was craving to taste her favorite berries. As if triggered by her thoughts, she could feel the sweet and sour taste of those small round red berries on her tongue.

Being impatient, she pulled a few berries out of her pocket and started to eat as she walked.

"See how this guy is enjoying berries like a little girl."

A group of boys ranging from age thirteen to sixteen laughed at Oriana, making her frown.

'These boors are picking on me again?'

She turned her head to look at them. Due to her delicate frame and pretty face, Orian had been pretending to be a lad yet to hit puberty, meaning she belonged to the same age range as these little punks.

"What, little girl? Whatcha glarin' at?" The boys laughed again, jeering at her.

"He should have been born a girl but god made a mistake."

Oriana ignored them and walked ahead as it was nothing new for her to get teased for looking like a girl.

'Well, I am a girl so not my fault I look like one, you stupid buffoons.'

Seeing her ignoring them, one boy hurried towards her and blocked her way.

"Don't go, don't go. We are about to head out to log some trees, you know, build a new shed for Old Ben. Why don't you help us carry wood and build up your muscles?"

"Not interested."

"Don't be like that—"

Oriana simply looked at him, stepping to the side as he was about to grab her shoulder.

She knew he was not really inviting her—he was merely messing with her. Fighting him was not her goal, and she didn't really want these vermin to touch her. She would prefer to stay away from this bunch of troublemaking oafs, even if it was only for the sake of their hardworking parents.

"We are not done talking, Orian!" the boy said.

"What do you want, Frank?" she asked coldly.

Frank, the oldest boy and the leader of their group, stared at her face for a moment and then smirked. "Tsk. What, you gonna tattle and have my old man yell at me again?"

A freckled boy came to them. "Hey, we are not bothering you. We just want to ask you a secret of your beauty for Frank's sister. Your skin is not even tanned. How can you be prettier than girls? Do you drink beauty potions on a daily basis?"

As if on cue, the boys laughed again. Oriana was getting pissed at obvious teasing but had to control. "Good genes are the secret and I pity your sister for not having them."

"Good genes?" Frank chuckled. "Look at you, you're fifteen, right? And I still don't see any sign of you growing a beard. My brother, who is of your age, already looks like a grown man."

Oriana had no patience listening to this crap again. Before coming to this place, she had heard the same remarks in the other villages and towns as well. Not like she could really grow a beard and mustache. That was why she always kept her age young.

"Are you done?" She asked and stepped aside to make her way past him but he blocked her way again and this time grabbed her arm, causing the gifts from the villagers to fall on the ground.

Anger boiled inside her the moment and—

"Ahh!!!"

His hand was twisted behind his back, and even before he could get over that pain, he was flipped on the ground by the frail-looking Oriana.

"Girly Frankie," Oriana sneered. "Looks like the one who needs to build up muscles is you, not me."

"Ahh…you…" the boy was in pain.

"Hey, Orian, you punk!" The other boys got over their shock and they lunged towards her but…

Swish!

Swish!

Arrows landed in front of them, sticking on the ground and blocking their way.