Peek: Unfair (Patreon)

Edlart's new pet is scary! Minat doesn't understand why Mom and Dad let him keep it. They never let her keep her pets! Those snakes were cute! And they'd eat the mice!

Life isn't fair.

The young elven girl glares at her older brother from across the table, definitely not jealous that he got to keep a skeleton of all things! Sure, he got his class, but he should have tamed a snake instead! Thedeim's supposed to have a whole bunch of them!

Edlart and his skeleton both seem to ignore her as the whole family eats breakfast, but Minat knows he can see her glaring at him. He probably tamed the scary thing on purpose, just to mess with her! It seems like he does everything else to mess with her, so why not this?

She doesn't bother trying to complain about it right now, though. Not only does she have chores she needs to do after breakfast, but she's already complained about the skeleton and gotten the same answer from both parents, even when she asked them separately!

You'll understand when you're older.

They've been telling her that for as long as she can remember, and not once has she been older yet!

She grumbles and finishes her eggs, and for once, her brother doesn't mess with her. Even he can feel her sour mood. She washes her plate and heads out to get the chicken feed, trying to calm herself down about how unfair everything is. Life's unfair enough to her, she doesn't need to go making things unfair to the chickens, too, by not feeding them right.

And... she kinda likes the chickens. They're kinda stinky and pretty stupid, but eggs are great, and they don't cause any trouble. They even like to eat the bugs that will eat some of the plants. Of course, if given the chance, they'll eat the plants, too. Better to just feed them seeds and stuff, and let them forage though the day.

Once the feed basket's empty, she uses it to gather eggs. Most of the chickens have their favorite roosts where they like to lay, but sometimes something in their little heads decides a random patch of grass out in the open is a better place to lay than the safe enclosed coop.

One of the nests is empty, and has been for a few days, which is a good sign one of the chickens has done just that. She sighs heavily and returns to the house to drop off the ones she has, before she goes off to look for the others.

Mom always said to put away the eggs you have before trying to go find the ones you don't.

She checks the obvious places, but nothing's there. She's actually glad about that. It means she has an excuse to wander around, instead of going to see if anyone needs help. Getting the eggs is important, because breakfast is important! And it means she can go looking for more snakes while she looks for eggs, too.

Her parents will come to understand how cute they are some day!

And so she wanders, deciding to look around near the creek. There's a lot of rocks for the snakes to sun on, and uh... plenty of places a chicken could settle down to lay. Definitely. And snakes and chickens both need water, right?

Convinced by her own immaculate argument, she heads for the creek and walks, enjoying the sound of the water as she goes. Most of the creek is pretty shallow, the land around it low enough that they don't even bother with a bridge. That's her favorite spot to look for sne- eggs. Definitely eggs. No eggs, and no snakes, either, so she continues on, following the flow of the water.

The banks rise as she walks, the creek having been wearing its path through here for quite a while, at least as long as she's been alive! The walls are steep here and the water deep, flowing lazily. She keeps up her vigilance for eggs, and stops in her tracks when she actually spots them!

That's a pretty good pile of them, actually. Probably a couple chickens have been laying there. The problem is, they're on the other side of the creek, and the crossing is way back the way she came from. She walks up to the ledge and pouts across the way, wondering how she's going to get them!

Then the ground shift beneath her feet, and she remembers why Dad says she shouldn't go looking for snakes or eggs around this part of the creek. She shrieks as she falls, and burbles when she lands in the water. It only takes her a moment to surface, coughing and sputtering, feeling pain in her ankle.

She holds back tears as she swims with the slow current, getting to a spot with a ledge she can pull herself out onto. Life continues to be utterly unfair as she has to sit, soaked to the bone and ankle hurting. With her relatively safe, she does what any girl her age would do: she cries.

She doesn't wail, she's not a baby, but she definitely sobs at the unfairness of life, and the pain in her ankle. She doesn't know how long she cries, but she eventually hears the sound of someone else walking along the banks above her.

"Hey! Help! I'm stuck down here!" she tries. At this point, she'd even settle for her stupid brother coming along to help her.

What she was not expecting was for a mossy skull to peer over the edge at her, tilted in that way the creepy thing looks at most things. "Go get Edlart!" she yells at it, not sure if it even understands her. It tilts its head to the other side before pebbles and dirt start to fall from the bank nearby, and it quickly retreats beyond her sight as a small portion gives way. Not enough to put her in any danger, but enough to illustrate why Dad always says to stay away from this part of the creek... as if her being here wasn't example enough already.

She watches the edge, wondering if the skeleton has gone to find someone, only to smile as she sees two snakes peeking over the edge! Wait, not peeking... no little snakes, stay away! Oh... those are not little snakes. Wait. They're not snakes at all!

She glares at the imposters as she recognizes them as vines from the skeleton. They blindly feel their way down the bank and toward her as she berates the skeleton. "No! Go get someone! What are you even doing?!" she shouts, taking her frustration out on the vines, before they finally reach her.

Without any ceremony, they curl under her arms, and before she can even yell for it to let go of her, they're hauling her up the bank! They're not dragging her, but this is very undignified! She squirms, trying to get free, before realizing that might not be a good idea. She doesn't need to twist her other ankle by falling in again.

So she does her best to be pulled up with dignity, and as she clears the bank, she sees the skeleton standing well back, far enough that the unstable ground isn't a concern. It keeps her lifted until it brings her next to it, where it carefully sets her down.

She takes her weight on one foot, gingerly testing the other. She hisses in pain before glaring at the skeleton again. "Go get someone to help me walk back to the house," she tries, but the stupid thing just tilts its head at her again. She tries to stare it down, but not having eyes is definitely cheating when it comes to staring, and the skeleton doesn't do as she asks.

Instead, it slowly shuffles around to the side with the injured foot and holds out its hand.

She glares at the skeleton and the hand in equal measure, but doesn't say anything. She wants to, but she gets the feeling that, if she complains, it'll just pick her up again. With one more lament at how unfair life is, she takes the hand and leans heavily against the skeleton, and leads the way back to the house.

At least it wasn't actually her brother. He'd probably lecture her about the banks the entire way back. With the skeleton quiet, she can try to think of a good excuse for being soaked and twisting her ankle.

"I don't guess you have any ideas?" she asks the skeleton, which tilts its head at her again. "Of course not."

Life isn't fair.