The Spirit Wilds: Magic of the Green Sage (Fall of the Sages Book 1), стр. 8
“Stupid city boys,” laughed Sava.
“Now, Sav,” said Tuni with a smile. “We’d be just as hopeless if we went to Al-Sevara. Besides, he was nice. Didn’t appreciate my kiss, though.”
“I would always appreciate your kisses, Tuni,” Ruk said with a flirtatious grin. Tuni rolled her eyes.
“Of course you would.” Truth be told, they had kissed many times, and done a little more than that. They weren’t romantic or anything, but there were so few eligible options in her village. She had little choice when it came to men. She was just glad that they’d managed to maintain their friendship.
Tuni pushed off the fountain and brushed her hands together. “I’ll see you two later. I’m sure my mom is wondering where I’ve been.”
Sava snorted. “Yeah, she’s not gonna be happy.”
“When is she ever?” Tuni asked, though it wasn’t a joke. Her mom rarely smiled anymore. Always so serious, no nonsense.
She waved to her friends as she skipped away. Tuni strode through the village and waved and smiled at everyone she passed. She tried to be as endearing as possible to most people, and everyone in her village liked her.
After accepting a flower from the baker as she went by, she rounded a corner and went down the dirt path to her home. There were a few houses on this lane, all small and made of wood and white plaster, with roofs made of hollowed-out mushroom tops that had been glazed so they didn’t rot. In fact, most of the village looked like a bunch of mini mushroom houses.
Hers was at the end of the lane, surrounded by a low wooden fence painted yellow and surrounded by white-and-red roses that her sister Telli painstakingly took care of. Telli shared Tuni’s love of flowers.
Tuni opened the front door—a quaint blue thing that needed repainting along with hinges that needed oiling—and strode into the house. The hearth to her left was ablaze with a cauldron sitting atop it. The scent of boiling vegetables filled her nose. Radishes and potatoes. Again.
Ugh, I need some variety.
Her sister sat at the table in the center of the kitchen, a book in hand, her eyes gliding over the words. She’d always been the more studious one. Tuni, on the other hand, was far more hands-on. Why read about something when you could observe it, touch it, taste it?
That last one wasn’t always a wise choice.
Telli didn’t look up from her book when she spoke. “How was your day?”
Tuni poured herself some tea from the kettle. It was lukewarm, but she didn’t really care. “It was fun.”
“It should have been productive.”
Tuni sipped her tea and crossed her arms. “I don’t need my little sister to tell me what to do.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Telli said with a snort. Tuni walked by her and playfully punched her arm. They both chuckled.
“Where’s Mom?” Tuni asked.
“Out back washing clothes. She’s not going to be happy with you. She blew up on me earlier because you were away.”
Tuni scratched the back of her head. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean for you to take the brunt of her rage.”
Her sister shrugged. “It’s okay. She apologized once she cooled off. But still, she’s going to want to kill you.”
“I just might let her.”
Tuni left her sister as they both laughed at that. She elbowed open the back door and went into the waning evening light. Tuni found her mother kneeling in the grass in the yard, a wash basin and washing board in front of her and a pile of filthy clothes at her side. Between the house and one of the low trees in their yard hung a clothesline where white sheets fluttered in the breeze, bright and clean.
Her mom didn’t notice Tuni until she cleared her throat. “Hi, Mom.”
Her mother stopped washing clothes and looked up to scowl at her. Tuni and her mother, as profoundly different as they were in personalities, were strikingly similar in looks—not surprising since they were mother and daughter. Tuni didn’t take after her late father in the slightest.
She and her mom had the same large green eyes, and button noses, though Tuni’s was slightly crooked from when she broke it as a kid and never set it right. They had heart-shaped lips, but her mom’s were more often in a frown than a smile. They had the same golden complexion and dimples around their mouths, though her mother had more wrinkles and defined laugh lines. Tuni couldn’t recall too many times when her mom had used those laugh lines, though.
Really, the only physical difference between them was that Tuni had more rounded cheeks and a small chin whereas her mother was more angular and long. Aside from that, they were near identical.
“I wanted you back hours ago, girl,” her mom said sharply. Tuni hated when she couldn’t even bring herself to say her daughter’s name.
“I tried, Mom,” Tuni, replied, a partial lie. “I made a friend and lost track of time. I raced back here but got sidetracked by a stampede of elephant beetles.” That, at least, was the truth.
Her mother snorted and went back to washing. “By ‘friend,’ I assume you mean some random traveler from the city that you no doubt harassed?”
Tuni crossed her arms. “I didn’t ‘harass’ him. Though it’s not my fault that these city types can’t hang with me. They don’t know how to have fun.”
“Tuni!” her mother suddenly barked, losing her patience as she dropped the soap and wet shirt into the washbasin. “I’ve told you to leave them alone and to stop wasting your days in the wilds. They aren’t safe for you or anyone. And Al-Sevarans are even more dangerous. They don’t care about us. They just take and take, and push and push, and I don’t want you associating with them.”
“Ugh, you’re no fun,” Tuni said with a groan as she threw her hands