The frown between my brows made itself noticeable, but instead of talking back, I pulled my hand back and rubbed my wrist.
“Is Papa here?” I asked.
“He’s somewhere around camp looking for berries. I told him I picked most of them a few days ago, but he wouldn’t listen. He’s wasting his time.”
I didn’t respond, because I didn’t feel like an answer was necessary. But I did recognize Fennec’s annoyance while he talked about him.
“Have you eaten breakfast already?” I asked instead, crawling past him to get down from the treehouse.
“Yeah, Papa did too. I found yeast in his tent, stored away in a small jar, so I made pancakes.”
“You went through his stuff?”
When I reached the ground, Fennec followed close behind. “Yeah, I had to. He’s got a whole lot more in there,” he stated.
I didn’t wanna know.
Privacy was still a thing out here.
“Where are the pancakes?” I asked, looking around.
“I placed them back over the fire to keep them warm. There’s also some leftover fruit.”
I looked over to the fire to see a pan on the grill, filled with pancakes. “Thank you, they look great.”
I walked over to the fireplace and took the pan away. The fire had extinguished already, since we didn’t necessarily need it all day long.
“Come sit with me. I’m working on a bow. Thought it would be a fun new way of hunting. I’m sick of the guns. I need more challenges. It’s getting too damn easy.”
He placed a bow on the table next to my breakfast, and I watched him use his knife to cut and carve his new weapon.
“Doesn’t Papa have a bow already? Why don’t you use his?” I asked.
“It’s broken. He used it once last year and later that day it broke while he pulled the string back.”
“Must’ve been a cheap one,” I pointed out.
“Probably. But this one will be of high quality. Just like my knives.”
I smiled at his determination, but I didn’t doubt him one bit.
I knew he was good at making useful things.
“Can I use the bow too? I’ve always wanted to learn how to use one.”
“Of course. When I’m finished, I’ll take you hunting up on the mountain. It’s easier to shoot birds up there,” he explained.
I started eating the pancakes, and after finishing one, Papa appeared from between the trees.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Sleep well?”
I smiled brightly and nodded, then hugged his side as he stepped closer to me.
“Yeah, you?”
“Like a bear. I found some berries. I’ll clean them and you can have some more if you’d like.”
I couldn’t help but look at Fennec’s face when Papa announced he picked berries, thinking he wouldn’t as Fen obviously found every single one around this area.
Fen’s jaw was clenched, and I looked back up at Papa with a smile. “I’d love some more berries. Thank you,” I told him, receiving a kiss on my forehead in return.
“Don’t be like this, Fen,” I whispered as Papa left to wash the berries, but he didn’t look at me.
Instead, he focused on the bow in front of him, moving the knife in my direction with every carve.
“You promised not to bring this back up,” he muttered.
I did promise him that, but I didn’t really mention anything about them not getting along.
So I kept quiet and continued to enjoy the pancakes.
“Are you still coming to find a tree or two to cut down?” Papa asked.
“Yes, I’m coming. What about you?” I asked Fennec.
He shrugged. “Probably.”
I didn’t like him being like this, but I didn’t wanna bother him any longer.
I continued to eat my breakfast, and when I was finished, I grabbed my plate and bowl to wash them in our bin filled with water.
“We need to go get some more water. It’s almost empty,” I told them.
“If you don’t wanna come with us, Fennec, you can take care of that,” Papa suggested.
I turned my head to look at Fen who was still working on his bow, but instead of looking annoyed because of Papa like I imagined he would, he nodded and got up from the table, placing the bow and his knife down.
“Yeah, let me take care of that.”
Spending the afternoon away from each other might help get whatever they were dealing with out of the way.
*
“I brought a book I found weeks ago in our living room. Mama said it was yours, so I took it with me. It’s in my bag,” I told Papa.
We weren’t too far from camp yet, but he had told me that he found bigger trees almost three miles away.
I didn’t mind walking.
I loved it, and having the fresh air surrounding me was calming.
“What’s the title of the book?” he asked.
“Raw Society. I started reading it a few days before coming here, and I saw notes you made in it.”
“Ah,” he chuckled, turning his head to look at me. “That’s the book I got for my thirteenth birthday, and it was what made me realize that society is nothing but a complex slavery system.”
“Slavery?”
“Yes. Psychopaths are in power, taking away our freedom even though they tell the working people over and over again that we’re free to do whatever we want. You’re limited living in a society like the one you were born in. You’re obligated to follow the government’s rules, and although there are some rules I agree with, most of them limit you to be your own person. You go to school for them to then work and earn money which you only have to pay back. As if they don’t have enough money already. We’re slaves, but most people don’t see it. They hate to acknowledge it.”
His words made sense in a way, and reading that book made me realize a few things I never thought of before.
I knew and understood why Papa wanted to live out here without anyone telling him what to do or how to live, and I didn’t judge him for it.
“I’m happy I’m here with you and Fen. I love it here. I just wish Mama would see what you see.”
“Mama thinks differently.”
She always had, but no matter what, I’d love her forever.
“Do you think we could spend Christmas together? I promised to visit her.”
“I’m not sure if I can do that, Vespyr.”
“Well, don’t you miss seeing her?”
“Of course, I do.”
“We don’t have to give gifts or watch Christmas movies, but knowing Mama would probably be spending Christmas on her own upsets me.”
He kept walking while I talked to him, and I tried to keep up with his big steps trailing deeper into the forest.
“We can invite her to spend those days here.”
“You know Mama doesn’t like sleeping in a tent,” I pointed out.
“By then I’ll have the cabin ready. We’ll ask her later, and if she says no…I’ll think about going back to Fairbanks to spend Christmas with her.”
A wide smile spread across my face as I heard his words, and I reached for his hand to squeeze it gently. “That would be amazing.”
Just because we lived in the wild, didn’t mean we would never leave our home out here.