Ch. 6- Little Good Bard

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I was searching another village for my family. It's now been four years since the storm that took my family from me. I'm ten years old. I don't search as often anymore- mostly I just play with Violet- but I still search some.

I saw someone selling bread and traded some fish, berries, bags that I made and baskets- which I also made- for seven loaves of bread.

Satisfied with what I traded and having searched the whole village, I was heading back to Violet when someone grabbed the sleeve of my shirt.

Hey!" A little boy said. "Do you have some food?" He was a skinny little kid, about five years old with auburn hair and green eyes. He looked so much like my big brother, but he didn't have freckles and was younger than me.

"Yes. Here you go," I handed him my small pouch full of berries, my other pouch with little pieces of fish, and half a loaf of bread I just traded for.

He beamed at the food. "Thank you!" He gave me a hug.

"Look," a nearby villager whispered to their friend, "she helped the kid."

"He's the one who lost both of his parents, right?"

"Yup. That's him." Both his parents?

"Maybe she'll take him in. He's a good kid, he deserves a good home."

"Who is she anyways? She doesn't look older than ten. Twelve at most."

"Where are your parents?" I asked the boy, ignoring the villagers.

"They're not here anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Will you be my new momma?" He asked.

"Umm, sure?"

"Yay!" He gave me a hug. "Thank you, new momma!"

"Yup, she took him in," the villager said.

"'New momma'? She's a bit young to be his mom. Who is she, again? I've never seen her before."

"Me either, oh well, she probably just a spoiled kid who stays inside a lot with nothing to do. That's why we don't recognize her." The two walked off.

"What's your name?" I asked the boy.

"Bard. What's yours?"

"Starfire. You can call me Starfire."

"Can I call you Momma?"

"Umm, I'm a bit young to be your Mom," I said, honestly

"Oh," his face fell.

"But that doesn't mean you can't call me that," I said quickly.

"Yay!"

"Come on, Bard," I grabbed his hand and walked to the forest.

"Where we going?"

"Somewhere." When we walked deep enough into the forest I turned around and stood on my knees so I was on the same level as Bard. "Bard, I need you to pay attention, okay?" He nodded once. "Good. Now, I don't live here. I don't live anywhere really, I simply move around a lot, okay?" He nodded again. "Do you still want to stay with me?"

"Of course I do," he said with a smile. He leaned forward a little. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Yes."

"Okay, follow me," he pulled me through the forest, past the area Violet was waiting at, and to the bottom of a cliff.  "Stay here." He got on all fours and crawled into a small hole. He came out a minute later with a bag. "Amber, come out." Does he have a sister? I asked myself. A red dragon slowly came out of the cave. When it saw me it disappeared. "Don't be frightened, Amber. She's not gonna to hurt us. Don't be scared." I saw the dragon again, then it disappeared, then I could see it again. A Changewing.

A noise from the forest behind us caught my attention. I saw Violet hiding behind a bush. I gave her a signal to stay low and out of sight, but stay where she see me.

"Is Amber your pet dragon?" I asked.

"Yes. Please don't hurt her!" He said quickly. "Everyone else thinks dragons are mean, but Amber's not. She's nice."

"I know not all dragons are bad, Bard. In fact- Violet!" I called. "Violet, come here girl!"

In as little as a few seconds, the Night Fury showed herself, still mostly behind a bush.

"Whoa, I've never seen that dragon before," Bard smiled. "Is it yours?" She came out of the forest.

"Yes, this is my pet dragon, Violet. Violet, this is Bard and his dragon, Amber. They're going to live with us for a while." Violet let some of her guard down but not all; Amber was the same way, switching to being seen and invisible. "It'll take time for the dragons to get use to us and each other, but come on, we need to leave before the sun sets."

"Why?" He asked but climbed on top of Amber as I put my stuff away and climbing on Violet.

"Tell you on the way." We took off to a nearby island with no people on it.

"So, why?"

"We're going to a island with no vikings, that way we don't have to worry as much for someone finding the dragons. "

"Oh."

We landed and, Violet and I set up camp. "What can we do?" Bard asked.

"Gather some sticks and dead leaves for the fire. Violet, Amber, go get dinner. Violet, if she doesn't know how, then please show her." The dragons nodded, and Violet hovered a few feet in the air, a small basket in one of her paws, waiting for Amber.

Amber looked at Violet then Bard, then Violet and Bard again. "Go, Amber. I'll be right here when you get back. Go with Violet." Amber and Violet flew off.

Twenty minutes later, when the dragons returned, Bard and I had the camp set up and ready.

Amber went straight to Bard's side. "Hey, Am," he scratched under her chin.

"Good job, Vi. Double the fish for double the people. Good girls."

"Vi? Violet's nickname?" Bard asked, I nodded, "Like Am, for Amber?"

"Yes, now come help me cook these fish, Bard. I'll show you how."

"Oh, I know how to cook fish." He said proudly as he skipped over to me. He was right; he did. He barely needed any guidance. Within minutes, our food was ready to eat.

"Good job, Bard. Now eat up." We dug right in.

We had just put more wood on the fire and set up our bed (which was just a blanket on the ground) when Bard started going through his bag.

"Watcha got in that bag of yours?" I asked.

"Not much, but it's everything I own," he answered, dumping everything out on the blanket. Three pairs of clothes, a loaf of bread, and a necklace.

"What a pretty necklace. Can I see it?" I held my hand out.

"Well, yes, you can see it, but I'm guessing you want to hold it, so sure. I was looking for it. It's yours," he handed the necklace with the blue gem on it, a symbol on the gem.

"Thanks."

"It was my birth mommy's. She told me to give it to someone special, so it's yours now."

"Thank you, Bard," I pulled him into a hug.

"I changed my mind." He pulled back. "I want to you be my sister, that okay? I've always wanted a big brother or sister."

"Okay." I've always wanted someone to be with, instead of being alone. I sometimes dreamt my big brother was with me or that I had a little brother or sister to take care of, anyone who would keep me company.

I fell asleep thinking of siblings.

******

"Wake up, Bard," I gently shook him.

"What?" He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Time to go. I already packed everything, you just have to get dressed and eat breakfast. Come on." In his tired, sluggish manner, he slowly got ready and ate. Once Bard got ready we left.

"Where we going?" he asked, much more awake.

I shrugged. "Anywhere. I go where the wind takes me."

"Cool. How about there?" He pointed to an island below us.

"Nah, I already searched there."

"Searched?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for my family. I got separated from my family four years ago, and I'm still trying to find them."

"Oh, okay," he said, quietly. Something was wrong, I could tell. I didn't really want to talk about it then, so I decided to talk with him about it later. "Star, I'm hungry," he said a few minutes later.

"Okay. Let's land there," I started going closed to the island below us. I jumped off Violet and handed Bard some berries and fish. "Here you go, and here's some for Amber," I handed him a few raw fishes.

"Thanks." We ate lunch then went back to the skies.

"Look, a village!" Bard exclaimed, pointing down.

"Wanna go search?"

"How?"

"I just ask around asking around if anybody recognized the name Starfire, my name."

"It doesn't sound like much fun."

"Its really not. Let's land then sleep. It's getting dark, so we'll search tomorrow morning."

"Okay," he said, landing. We set up camp and went to sleep with minimal conversation. While he wasn't much of a talker, he was unusually quiet, even if I had only known him for a day.

I'd have to figure out what was wrong.

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