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3rd POV
The sounds of two metal pots sliced through the calm morning breeze. In the new light of dawn Ava Scott Kellen Chris and Amelia could be seen around the fire. Ava had the pots and was smashing them together with all her might.
"We aren't going up there to get you!! Get your butts up and get down here!"
Ava shouted up into the trees only to abruptly be cut off by a coughing fit when the cold morning air blew the fire smoke into her face. Scott chuckled at the poor girls struggling from his place by the fire.
The sun was peeking over the horizon providing a more gentle awakening as it pushed its way through the windows of the huts and across the forest floor.
Kellen and Chris, under Amelia's instruction, were attempting to set up a large pot holding structure so she could make dinner for that night. It wasn't going well and she was miserably shaking her head as Scott was practically crying from laughter for two reasons now. He was the only person so far to be able to understand how to construct Amelia's pot holding structures and watching the other two boys fail miserably was the best thing he'd seen in a few days.
After around fifteen minutes the rescues started appearing. Tiah made it down first and almost walked into Kaley as she exited her ground hut. Mae and Taylor came down in a pair only a few minutes later and Sebastian walked down from his hut that was in a different tree where the boys had taken him last night.
The outfits were more simple for everyone today with different variations of either Black, forest green, brown, or coffee colored tops (mostly sweatshirts) and either jeans or sweatpants of the same colors.
It was getting colder now that they were in the fourth week of the migration season. The rescues would need some warmer clothes.
Ava's POV
As the rescues shuffled down the stairs I handed them their breakfast. We had scrambled and cooked the flurrit eggs Amelia had swiped a few days prior and made them some cinnamon rolls with erae milk frosting. The final and main part of the dish was the naepa bacon. Unlike the last time they had naepa meat, this meat was made in a pan so all the grease that was pushed into the fire last time was sitting on the meat and cooking this meat to crispy melt in your mouth perfection. Not to mention everything was properly seasoned now.
Everyone dug in scarfing down the breakfast.
"Where are your knives? I can wrap them now"
Amelia walked up and held out her hand for my knives, I had almost forgotten that she had even offered to wrap them.
"The pelts that I wanted to use are finally ready I checked this morning"
I reached down to my belt and pulled my two main knives out of their holsters and handed them over carefully placing the tattered handles into Amelia's palm.
"Thanks for offering, you seemed pretty excited about that pelt. Do you have anything specific planned?"
Amelia reached up and grabbed the knife I had in my upper arm holster. I honestly had forgotten I even put that holster on this morning. She inspected the handle as she spoke.
"It's a bit hard to describe"
She paused for a second still scanning the handle
"So a cropped shirt with a fitted waist the shirt is loose and almost bubbles out. There's also pleat like folds in the fabric. Then large bell bottom sleeves but they are open elbow down and they are ended with sleeve cuffs that abruptly bring them to the wrist like the waist. That make sense?"
"Wow that's a bit more elaborate than normal especially for a pelt"
She hummed at my words and slid the knife carefully back into the holster
"I was actually thinking it would be perfect for the crystal sky festival"
"I didn't even think about that, we will have to work on something together. I haven't even started on mine yet"
Amelia nodded and waved me over as she started walking.
"I've got some ideas that I wanted your opinions on."
As we made it to her great oak tree she led me around the trunk to the door on the far side of the tree that opened into her studio.
The room was a comfortable size and you stepped down into the ground when you entered. The cylindrical room had three desks scattered around the outside of the room and a pair of doors on the far side. Shelves were set into the wall on every available space in the room both with doors and not. Those shelves were filled with spools of twine, thread, and ribbon. Glass vials of all shapes and sizes filled with different dyes, glues or beads could also be seen glinting in the dim light.
A large cork board took up ceiling to floor immediately to the right of the door and was about six feet wide. The cork board was covered in papers and so were the desks. There was a mannequin in the back right next to a desk. There were rolls of fabric and more papers on the floor along with scissors and more random tools. The room was lit by a complete covering of glow moss on the ceiling. There was a large bundle of glow flowers in the center but they were dormant and dark right now.
"It's been a while since I've been in here, those doors are new"
Amelia glanced over at the doors and shrugged before walking over and pulling them open.
Behind the doors were thin shelves about twenty ceiling to floor. All of them held seven to ten rolls of fabric neatly in color and texture order.
"I just needed some more space. Couldn't stand the pile of messed up fabric the rest of these shelves aren't deep enough for fabric rolls"
She closed the doors as she spoke and walked back over to the cork board.
"The festival of color is going to be held at night this year"
"Really I don't remember it ever being held at night"
Amelia squinted at the cork board, eyes scanning the papers. Finally spotting what she was looking for she quickly reached forward and pulled the thorn from the cork. She grabbed the small packet of papers off the wall and brought it over to the doorway.
"They only host at night every once in a while, kids need to sleep and stuff. Have a look at these. I'm not sure what one for you and I need help with some of the dyes"
I grabbed the packet and started flipping through the pages. The designs were beautiful, deep ocean blues and cool silvers met with shimmering golds and vivid greens.
"These are amazing but that blue on the third page, I don't even have a hunch as to how we could do that"
Amelia sighed as I continued thumbing through the packet.
"That was what I was worried about, I'll have to see if anyone in the village has any ideas. The materials I used to make the color for my pencils aren't exactly readily available, it took me ages to get enough of the color extracted for the pencils let alone that shirt."
"The villagers know all about that stuff I'm sure there's a fruit or something we're not thinking of"
Amelia shrugged as i flipped to the last page of the packet. A half sheet of blank paper felt out of the packet leaving a stary design behind.
The paper flittered toward the ground spinning and twirling before flipping onto its backside and landing on the ground.
There was a beautifully drawn side portrait on the back all in charcoal but as I took a closer look at the portrait I realized just who she had drawn.
It was him.
I glanced back up at Amelia; she was staring at the paper on the ground. Her frame looked smaller suddenly as I watched her walls crumble. She wasn't the stoic persona she put on and she definitely wasn't emotionless; she was a scared little girl who just wanted her love back.
Slowly she knelt down and picked up the paper.
"I'm scared I'll forget what he looks like sometimes: so I draw him. I...I don't know if it makes me feel better or worse honestly. But I know that it's better than nothing."
I watched as she walked over to one of the cabinets next to the cork board and pulled the door open. Inside were multiple packets of papers. Amelia reached in and pulled one out, holding it out so I could see she held her thumb in the center of the cover and allowed the pages to quickly flip past. I froze in shock as I realized everyone was of him. Portraits of all angles, full body and face portraits some with other people but most were only him. Color and grayscale. Everything you could imagine some were even painted.
Amelia placed the new portrait inside the last page and put the packet back, closing the door. She walked back over to me and took the packet of designs that I was holding and plopped them down on the nearest table before turning back to me.
Without thinking I pulled her into a hug. Amelia hugged me back nearly crushing me as if ide crumble if she didn't.
"I wasn't going to tell anyone this but I think you should know"
I heard sniffling from my shoulder and felt tears soaking my shirt. Taking a quick deep breath I spoke.
"I went back"
The sniffles came to a sudden halt as Amelia held her breath waiting for my next words. I had to say this carefully.
"I didn't see him-but I saw devin. There were too many guards around him to get his attention. It looked like he was being escorted somewhere. It honestly looked like he was being treated like I was when I was put in solitary for trying to escape"
Amelia pulled her head off my shoulder, tears glistening in her hazel orbs and off her reddened cheeks.
"It's not proof but it's better than nothing"
She whipped her eyes with her sleeves as she detached herself from my side.
"I'm gonna go take a minute upstairs. Make sure those idiots get the pot going"
I turned and headed toward the doorway. Amelia spoke again as I turned the knob and pushed the door open letting in the crisp morning air.
"We gotta get those rescues training with weapons, think you can get that going?"
"Yeah I've got that"
The two of us rounded Amelia's tree toward her steps.
"We can't have them unable to defend themselves, we can work like this but with frost coming it would be better if everyone could pull their own weight"
I nodded my head in agreement as Amelia rounded the back of her tree.
I did need to get everyone to decide on their preferred weapon soon. That way I can have them run errands without the need for one of us being near them.