Gareth searched up ahead. “It seems… quiet.” The dirt road crumbled under his feet. “No one else about.” The gentle chirping of birds flew above his head. “You’d think there would be more people on the road since we’re getting closer.”
Gerty noticed a pile of orange leaves scatter across her path. “I think we’re still too far away to hear or see anyone.” She attuned her ears to catch the sounds of the environment. The trees rustled in the morning air, in between the clanking of their camping equipment tied to their backpacks. “Another hour or two before we hit the castle boundary.”
Gareth stopped and slumped his shoulders. “Can we stop? My feet are aching.”
“Again, Gareth!” Gerty threw her hands up and faced Gareth.
“Just for a moment.”
Gerty grunted.
Gareth nudged Gerty and clanking their backpacks together. “And maybe have some tea?”
Gerty rolled her green eyes. “Yeah… Okay then.” She turned around. Her eyes strained down the dirt road as far as she could see. Tall, broad maple trees lined the road, keeping back the orange and brown forests on either side. Orange leaves blanketed the ground, contrasting against the green grass.
The autumn morning breeze blew in from the north and danced the leaves about in the cloudy sky in front of Gerty. “I think we need to appreciate just how far we’ve come.”
Gareth pointed at the horizon. “The mountain range looks so small from here.”
“Just think, we came from the other side of that.” The dark green mountain range sat rigid against the soft fluffiness of the forest trees. “I almost feel like I should thank it.”
“What? The mountain range?” Gareth turned to face his sister.
“We were very fortunate on our journey. We were told it could have been a lot worse.”
“We had the thunder storms as we were heading down.”
“That’s true…” But Gerty thought about the whimsical atmosphere of the forests on the mountain. “But it was mostly tranquil.” Gerty felt the muscles in her legs go tight. “Strenuous. But tranquil.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I had to listen to you the whole way.” Gareth grinned as he dropped his backpack on the ground.
Gerty ignored her brother and took a moment to take in the mountain range some more. “They have a certain gentleness and majestic feel about them. From this far away, anyway.”
“What? You’ve finally lost it, Sis.”
“Why don’t you just take a vow of silence for a few hours?”
Gareth shrugged his shoulders. “Just don’t listen to the voices in her head. You’ll turn mad.” He picked up sticks from around the base of the nearby tree. “Wait! You already are!”
Gerty faked a laugh. She watched Gareth as he collected branches to build a small fire. They both had similar broad shoulders and lankiness about them, but Gareth was much stronger.
Gerty’s long black hair blew in her face as she dropped her backpack near the tree. She brushed it out of the way.
“Argh!” Gareth jumped back, dropping a branch from his hands. “There’s a bug on that one.”
“Aww… poor baby.”
Gareth grunted.
Gerty approached the branch and shook off the bug. Creeping up beside Gareth, she poked him in his arm.
“Ow!” Gareth grabbed the end of the branch. “Ha…. Ha….”
“Do you have any matches left?”
“In the front pocket.”
Between them, they built a small fire in the clearing a few metres from the dirt road.
“What’s wrong?” Gerty moved the kettle off the fire with a large branch and placed it on the ground in front of Gareth.
“There’s only enough tea for one. You have the tea,” Gareth spooned the last of the tea leaves into the kettle.
“No, you have the tea.”
“No, you!”
“No, you!”
“Have the tea. You’re the oldest.”
“Only by a few minutes. And you know it! Saying it annoys me…” Gerty took off her coat and sat down, crossed legged, next to Gareth. “You have it. You said you wanted it.”
“But you’ll just look at me all sad, with those silly puppy eyes, while I drink it. You have it.”
“No you. You had the idea first. Enjoy your tea. I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay!” Gareth poured the tea into a tin mug and drank a sip. He breathed with relief and his leaned back on his right hand, outstretching his legs.
Gerty watched on. Her mouth watered. The smell of the herbal tea hit her nostrils as she smelt the aroma of home.
“You’re doing it!”
“What?”
“looking at me with sad eyes.”
“No, I’m not.” Gerty looked away, pretending to take her attention off the tea. It didn’t last long. “We’re only had to come on this trip because of you.”
“What?” Gareth choked on a sip of tea. “How is this my fault?”
“You poisoned the fields.”
“By accident!” Gareth sat up from his relaxed position. “Because someone misread the recipe from Mad Violetta and gave me the wrong ingredients. I wonder who that was. Hmmmm…”
“I asked you to check what I gave you. I wasn’t sure. You were supposed to check it!”
“Well, I trusted my sister and her judgement. And look where that got me! Send off on a month’s trek to ask King Faramore for more land. Because someone put the wrong ingredients in the herbal insect repellent.”
Gerty dropped her head. “I said I was sorry.”
“Not at the time you didn’t! Who took the punishment?” Gareth put his mug on the ground. “Me! I had to stay up all those nights with Mad Violetta. Burning the fields and healing the land.” He flung his arms about in anger. “While you got to say in bed. Your warm! Cosy! Bed! The village will not trust me to do anything now.” He paused a moment to sigh. “I’ve already had a hard time, because they think I’m too young for anything.”
Gareth moved to face away from Gerty and drank another sip of the tea, dramatizing the taste with a loud, long Ah sound.
“Well… Spending all this time with you… isn’t easy! That can be punishment.” She looked over at Gareth’s back. She heard a loud slurp in response.
Gerty’s stomach growled. She fumbled through her backpack. “Do you have any food left in your bag?”
“No, we ate the last of it this morning.” Gareth took another sip of the tea.
Gerty moaned, surrendering to her envious reaction, fueled by her exhaustion. She sulked for a moment, watching an orange leave fall to the ground.
“There must be something left.” Gerty pulled her backpack closer and started pulling out its contents. “Oh! I found something.” She unwrapped some brown paper to reveal the last biscuit. “One oat biscuit.” She lifted to her noise. “Smells okay.”
Gareth turned his head around. His eyes enlarged at the biscuit as his own stomach grumbled. He followed the biscuit with his gaze as Gerty raised it up to her mouth.
She stopped just before it touched her lips. “Now who’s doing the sad eyes?”
“No, I’m not!” Gareth turned away and exaggerated how tasty the tea was.
“Oh, what a performance. Ha…ha. ha. You’re such a child.”
Gareth snapped his head. “Am not!” He looked at the biscuit and muttered before turning back to his tea. “Enjoy your biscuit.”
Gerty looked at the biscuit, then over at her brother’s back. She exhaled with guilt and hunger.
Gareth’s arm reached back and snatched her tin mug.
“What are you doing?” Gerty observed Gareth’s body language, trying to figure out his actions, but his back was the only response she received.
He held out her mug for her to grab.
“What?”
“Take it.”
Gerty grabbed the mug.
“Tea’s better with a biscuit anyway,” Gareth muttered from his defensive position.
Gerty smiled, realizing Gareth had shared half the tea with her. She lifted it to her nose and gasped, taking a sip of the delicious tea.
Guilt strings pulled at her heart as she held the biscuit in her other hand. She tapped Gareth on the shoulder. Gareth turned his head.
“Tea’s better with a biscuit, anyway.” Gerty held out half the biscuit and smiled.
“Yeah, I have heard that.” Gareth took the biscuit. Gerty caught a small smile from the corner of his mouth.
“Do you think King Faramore will be nice?” Gerty changed the conversation.
Gareth moved to face his sister. He sat cross-legged opposite her. “I think so. Surely he’ll lend us the land on the other side of the river.”
“At least until the village gets back on its feet. And you have a chance to put things right.”
“Me?”
“Okay…. You and me!” Gerty exaggerated her words.
They both sat in silence for a moment, watching the flames of the fire.
“I’m really sorry.” Gerty lowered her voice.
“Me too.” Gareth took the last sip of his tea. “Do you know what?”
“What?”
“I’m glad that I had to do this trek with you. Who else can I annoy day and night and get away with it?” Gareth blew a handful of orange leaves at Gerty’s face.
“Gareth!”