Katuwarrior

  I was woken up early in the morning by pain in my right arm. I went to rub it with my left hand but found nothing there. Panic briefly flooded me as the events of yesterday fshed through my mind. Is this really happening? How could I have lost my arm to a ball of goo? Anger quickly repced the panic that was starting to rise. How could this happen to me? I was supposed to be the best fighter the vilge had ever seen and I am the only one who was injured. And why couldn’t Laurel heal my arm?

  No, I chided myself, I should not be hard on Laurel. I am sure that she is already beating herself up. Let's just get up and pretend that yesterday never happened. I should get my riding clothes on. We are going to be heading out shortly.

  I thought that buttoning up my shirt with only one hand was one of the hardest things I had ever done, but Grrr. Tying my pants was not going to happen. What am I going to do now? There is no way I am leaving this tent with my pants falling down around my waist. What am I going to do? What else can I do, I’ll just stay in the tent.

  “Leafy, we need to be heading out soon.” I heard Emily’s voice from outside the tent, ruining my pn to just hide.

  It hurt having my privacy taken away from me. I could not do this on my own. Tears threatened to fill my eyes as I did the only thing I could think of. “Emily, I could use a hand.” I said timidly through the tent fp. She peeked her head in the tent. I pulled on the draw string for my pants, “I, um, can’t.”

  Emily quickly hurried into the tent giving me a big hug. “I am sorry, I never thought that you would need help with that.” She squeezed tighter, forcing me to drop the draw string and sending pain shooting up my right ‘arm’.

  “Un, thank you for the hug, but... Can I pull my pants up?” I asked, after hiding the grimace from pain. I was not sure what else to say. But I was sure my face was turning red in shame as tears still had not left my eyes. I don’t even remember washing up after fighting so I had to think that there was still mud on my face. I am sure my father would be horrified to see me looking like this. Not that I ever wanted to see or think of that man again. Thankfully, Emily was here to pull my mind back.

  “Sorry,” Emily said, and tied my pants up in less than a second. Would I ever be able to do something so simple as tying my pants without spending half a day on it? Was I going to have to ask Emily to tie my pants every time I needed to pee?

  Well let's not think about that. At least for the next hour.

  I was hoping that breakfast and packing up the camp would go better than tying my pants, but no. I felt like a toddler with how much food I spilled on my p. And as for cleaning up the camp. Unless you count pulling the stakes out of the ground. But that did not even work out. After two stakes I was feeling lightheaded and the world turned gray for a moment. Faun, who was bundling some string nearby, had to keep me from falling over. I was nothing but baggage to them. Even Faun who could also barely stand was more useful than I was. I only had Mist beat in the useful department. And that was just because I was not making more work. The worst part is that my hour is up and I need to figure out how to tie my pants really soon.

  Well I think that was one of the most embarrassing things I have ever done. I have a feeling that my face was as red as a strawberry right now. But I knew that it did not look like that to the outside since Emily said, “It looks like you are finally starting to get your color back.”

  I do not know if I should be grateful that she did not know how embarrassed I was or not. She would have plenty of chances to figure it out, it is going to take such a long time to figure out how to tie a knot with only one hand. There has to be some better way to do this than asking Emily every time I wanted to tie a knot. My pants were not the only thing at stake here. Though I do think they might be the most urgent.

  Well I will be spending most of the day riding a horse so that won’t be too bad and will give me some time to think.

  We were just about packed and ready to go when Laurel went to the river to refill our water skins. I knew it was pointless for me to come help her. It was mostly me trying to show that I could still be of use. Cinching on the saddle bags was not something I could do with one hand. Not that I even had the strength to lift them right now. Even standing up was starting to be hard. I was looking forward to sitting down soon. Even if it was on a horse.

  Laurel set down the water skins she was holding on a rock at the edge of the river as she waded deeper into the waters. I involuntarily shivered seeing her knee deep in water that had ice forming on the banks. I did not even want to get my hands, hand, in the water to fill the skins.

  But before I had to worry about getting my hands wet I had to unstop my water skin. I was almost ready to do a small victory dance after opening the skin when I heard Laurel speak, reminding me that I was not alone and quickly halting my celebration. “Flood, you are welcome to come visit whenever you want, but you might want to wait a few months. Mist’s pond is not that big and I do not think it will be comfortable to stay in for a long time. Especially since it might freeze over.” As she was speaking, Flood and Tide started to form out of the water. Tide was able to move on her own now but she did not seem to have as much luster as yesterday morning. Laurel then turned to Tide and said, “You are still up to taking Flood to my pond?”

  It was a little funny watching Tide trying not to be giddy about being invited to Laurel’s home. I don’t know if Laurel was ignoring the overt reaction or oblivious to it but she waited for the deyed Yes from Tide. I really did wonder sometimes if Laurel really was millions of years old. She could be more oblivious than some twenty year old with their first crush.

  Not that I was much better than her. I could not tell her how I felt. Not that I really knew what to say about it. She was my best friend but I felt unsure if I wanted anything more than that. The st thing I wanted was to lose that friendship. No matter how much Laurel wanted more. There were times I felt like I could love her romantically but much of the time she was just my friend Laurel.

  Laurel and the naiads had finished talking while I was still trying to sort out my feelings. Laurel waded back to the rock and grabbed the water skins that I had just finished filling absentmindedly. “You ready to go?”

  I gave a nod, then looked down at the closed water skins. A feeling of warmth started to spread in my heart. I was able to do something without any help. I was not just dead weight. I think this is the first smile that I have had all day.

  Sadly the smile did not st long. It was now time to head out but I had already fumbled several times trying to mount my horse with only my left arm. In the end Laurel put her hand on my butt and pushed me into the saddle. I once again felt I was as red as a strawberry, but since no one seemed to notice I had a feeling it did not show.