Lenny

“Are you okay?”

“You… I told you to run away… Argh.”

The girl ran to Josiah in order to help him lift his body out of the grass.

“Not now. You are all hurt. Come.”

“Come? Where? Do you live around here? I also live nearb…” ‘Wait’ Josiah interrupted himself with a thought: ‘it’s better to let her mother treat me or something. If the old man finds out I was fighting a pair of those things out of his sight he’ll never teach me anything again.’

He followed the girl around the forest. She would walk fast with her hand on his arm, but her fast wasn’t exactly his fast, as he was accustomed to Thomas’ heavy training.

She wasn’t much of a talker either, probably an age thing.

“How old are you?”

“Five. And you?”

“F… Er… I’m also five.” Josiah answered. ‘Yeah… That’s my age.’ He thought.

“Then we are the same age!”

She stopped running for a second and looked at Josiah.

She had deep black eyes and a bright smile.

“I am Lenny.”

“I am Josiah.”

“Come. Let’s go.”

She resumed walking.

“But then again… Where are you leading me?”

Josiah and Lenny reached a big round boulder leaning to a cliff at a certain point in the forest. Lenny simply pushed the boulder to the side revealing a small entrance to a cave. Even for its size, the boulder rolled very easily as it was almost perfectly round.

“Huh?” Josiah let out.

The cave had those luminous glass balls he had seen inside the castle as a baby. It lit the whole place around. The place was small but warm and it had a lot of personnel items inside. A bed. Some books. Toys…

“Do you… Live here?” Josiah asked finding that all strange.

“Yes.”

“Where are your mom and dad?”

“I don’t know…”

‘She is an orphan?’ Josiah observed.

“Sit. I have this small potion.”

Josiah sat down, still feeling the pain in his arm of the swing he was forced to commit to.

“What are those?”

“Potions. I need a lot of them. I am always getting in trouble like that.”

“Do you handle the forest on your own?”

“Yes.”

Lenny kept waiting for Josiah to drink the potion he had in the hands.

‘Do those things really work? You just drink them and that’s it…? Thomas did tell me about them but I never had to take one myself.’

He opened the little flask, containing less than half a regular cup of the liquid. He finished the sip in one gulp.

“It tastes good!”

“Right? It’s strawberry.”

“Wait, they have flavors?”

“No one would drink if they didn’t. Better?”

Josiah could feel his blood running through his veins on the injured arm, similar to the sensation he felt when there was blood reaction when using his weapons. But that one was directed only on the injured arm.

After a while, he tested the movements on his arm. The fingers. The hand. The wrist. Everything could be felt normally.

“Woah!”

“Is this your first time getting hurt?” Lenny asked.

“Huh, it’s the first time I drink one of these to get better after being hurt. Aren’t those expensive?”

“No. I… I get them from the store.”

“By ‘get’ you mean…”

Lenny kept staring with that bright smile of hers.

“Forget it…”

‘She probably had been living here the whole time on her own without being able to make a buck…’

“Say…. Why don’t you live on the farm?”

The mention of the farm visibly altered her mood.

“I… Don’t like it there.”

‘Clearly something happened to her when she was younger…’

Josiah got up.

“I feel much better, Lenny. Thanks. Hey…”

Josiah browsed his pocket, finding the dagger he used to finish off the quockpete at the end of the earlier fight. He extended it to her.

“Here. You can keep it.”

Lenny made a surprised face.

“But… It’s yours?”

“Keep it. You are going to need if you want to withstand living here. I have my sword.”

Josiah’s blade was resting on the floor. He had recovered it after the first quockpete started having spasms, right before they left the place.

“Are you sure?”

“Sure. Keep it as thanks for helping me up.”

“But… ‘you’ helped me.”

“It’s ok… It’s what friends do, right?”

“Friends…”

Josiah prepared to leave the hole. The afternoon was almost ending and he still had a long way to reach the farm before Thomas got back and realized what happened.

“Josiah…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you!”

Lenny offered her big smile once again.

“Come visit me here sometime.”

“I sure will!”

Josiah went to the ‘door’ and pushed the boulder to the side.

“Say… Can’t the animals do that as well? It’s so light.”

“Don’t worry, they don’t know how to move it.”

They pronounced their last regards and Josiah started making his way out of the forest.

‘Lenny. What a strange thing to do, living in the forest like that… I am going to ask Thomas if he can do something about it. Maybe she just has a wrong impression of people in the farmlands?’

Josiah didn’t stumble upon any other creatures in the way and managed to reach home before the dusk. However, he didn’t anticipate the old man would also finish his chores earlier on that day.

Thomas was waiting for him to come back to the front of their house entrance. As he saw the boy walking to it he greeted him with his arms crossed:

“Hey, Josiah. Where were you?”