OOC character notes: Rosepetal is my brother's mule, and since she's a Mithra, I decided to use her in this story. ^^ Minimax is one of my brother's characters, and since he's, uh...from Windurst...I decided to use him. Besides, my brother asked me to.
Janeth's Story
Chapter 1: The Picnic in Tahrongi Canyon
My earliest memory is that of the time my mother took me and my sister, Rosepetal, on a picnic in Tahrongi. This was when I was very young, long before the Great War. Tahrongi was a nicer place than it is now. It was ruined in the war by powerful magic, the likes of which Windurst shall never repeat. Back then, it looked more like Sarutabaruta, endless grasslands and flowing rivers. It was also less dangerous back then, for the Yagudo did not roam nearly so far before the war. They generally stayed in Giddeus, often venturing out to Sarutabaruta, but never as far as Tahrongi. So you see, it was much safer in Tahrongi then, as long as you stayed far away from the Poltergeists, and you didn't provoke the dhalmels. How I miss those days...
My mother set up the picnic blanket while us kids played in the tall grass. I noticed Rosepetal was straying a bit far from camp. I was worried she'd get lost, so I ran after her. "Rose, be carrreful!" I shouted. "You don't want to get lost!" But she ran ahead, oblivious to my warnings. Soon, she had led us so far, I didn't even know where I was anymore. I could only hope that we were safe, that we would find our way back, that...I didn't even want to think about what might happen. "It's alrrright, we won't get lost. I know my way arrround this place." she replied. I wasn't convinced. She led us ever farther, straying far off the path. It began to get dark, and I knew we'd stayed out here a lot longer than we should have.
Presently, I spotted a wolf-like creature in the distance. "Rose, you might want to avoid that-" But she was walking right into it. She didn't seem to notice it. It turned to us, and I froze. She screamed. "Run!"
"Run wherrre?" I said. "You got us lost!" She didn't seem to know what to say to this; she didn't know her way back either.
"I've got a bit of skill with the sword. Mom's been teaching me." I said. "I might be able to hold it off awhile..."
And so I tried fighting back, using every ounce of skill I had. But all my training was not enough. It scratched at me with its claws. A gaping wound opened on my arm. I cried out in pain.
"It's too tough forrr me," I said. "I can't beat this thing."
"Then run!" said Rosepetal. "Just run anywherrre!" And we ran. We'd ran some distance in a random direction when I saw a small Tarutaru boy off in the distance. He was alone, too, so I assumed he was lost.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"No," I said, panting. "There's a...a wolf or something chasing us."
"And we're lost." added Rosepetal. "Because of you," I snapped.
"Follow me." said the little boy. "I know the way out of here."
Just then, the wolf caught up to us.
"Arrre you strrrong enough to kill that thing?" I asked him.
"No, not nearly-wearly." he replied.
"Then we'll just have to rrrun." I said. "Which way?"
He pointed in the direction of a small mountain range, similar to Ahropahgo but not as big. "Is that Ahropahgo Pass?" I asked him. "No." he replied. He ran in between the mountains and motioned for us to follow. We followed, but so did the wolf. He led us expertly through the maze of rocks, and we quickly emerged on the other side. He wasted no time in showing us which way to go next. In no time, we were back at the picnic blanket, where Mom sat, crying. "I was so worrrried about you!" she said, clearly happy to see us, but at the same time, mad that we'd run off. The wolf caught up again, and wasted no time in attempting to tear me to pieces.
But this time, Mom was there. She killed it easily. We then had to sit through her long speech about how worried she was and how we must never, ever run off again.
"You could have been killed!" she shouted. "You rrreally must learn to be morrre careful!" You know, the usual "mom" speech. "And what happened to your arrrm?" She was clearly disappointed in me. But I could tell she was happy to see us. I knew she'd been worried. She always was. "We're sorrry, Mom.." we intoned.
I tried my best to explain. "Rosepetal was rrrunning ahead, and I just wanted to make sure she was OK..." Hearing someone accuse her, Rosepetal tried to respond. "I could have dodged that wolf, if you weren't therrre!" "And then gotten lost!"
Our mom stopped the fight almost before it started. "Rosepetal, don't ever rrrun off like that again. And don't think you didn't do anything, Janeth. Next time, if Rosepetal runs away, don't run afterrr her, tell me."
"Yes, Mom." we said in unison. I looked around and realized that the little Tarutaru boy had gone. I never got to thank him...
So we left Tahrongi, and after that incident, Mom never took us there again. We took the usual path home, which involved walking in the river. Sometimes Mom let us play in the river...Not today. We both had a sense that we'd done something terrible, and Mom's attitude only encouraged that. When we got home, Mom left Rosepetal with a friend of hers, who often baby-sitted her when Mom and I were busy, and took me to see a healer, who mended the cut on my arm.
"Perrrhaps..." said my mother to me when we got out of there, "Perrrhaps you'd be safer if you learned a bit of magic. Then you can heal your own wounds." "But Mom, I like learning swordplay." I replied. "I don't want to give that up." "You don't have to," she said. "Nor, I'm sure, would you want to limit yourself to healing magic. Most healers are quite inept in combat, and I don't think that would suit you at all." So my mother found me a teacher, who was to teach me the basics of magic, for my mother had never studied magic, only the way of the sword.
To Be Continued...
P.S. Please post comments, questions, feedback, etc...This is my first story, and I'd like to know if it was any good. ^^; If this chapter didn't cover much, that's because this is a long story, and there's a lot of chapters.
Edited for spelling.
Well, my brother's been pressuring me to work on this story, so I figured I'd post again anyway. I hope this chapter is better, and I hope there are some replies this time.
