The Story, Part 2

[lissalysikan]

Leesa woke Tinky with a swat on her bottom, "time to wake up!"

Rubbing her bum, Tinky blinked up at her, "spankings this early? I haven't even had time to be bad yet!"

"I'm sure you'll earn it sometime today." Leesa tossed a tunic to Tinky. "Decided to go out to the forest today. With you."

"Yay!" She pulled the tunic over her head, then caught the trousers Leesa tossed at her, pulling them on quickly. She followed Leesa down the ladder from the loft bedroom to the kitchen and started helping cook eggs and bacon.

Moran came in and looked at them, then sniffed at the food. "Going out to the forest?"

"How'd you know?" Tinky looked at him.

"Because I didn't have to yell up the ladder to wake you, so you must be doing something fun, and you're wearing a tunic instead of a dress, so must be in the forest." He gave each girl a kiss on the cheek and took the plate of food Tinky handed him to the table. "Tomorrow is Last Day. You going to stay out overnight?"

Tinky started bouncing on her toes and waving her hands, giggling, "can we? All night in a tent in the woods? By the river for swimming? Until maybe First Dark tomorrow? Two whole days?"

Leesa put a hand on Tinky's back, caressing it to help her calm down. "Maybe." She turned to Dad, "How about First Day? Or do you have something you need Tinky for before then?"

Tinky continued bouncing, gripping her father's forearm with both hands, "How about till then, Daddy? Can we stay out till then?"

Ruffling her hair, he looked upwards as if thinking. Since only pubs were allowed to do business on Last Day, all other shops were required to be closed, he wouldn't need her then, and he had no tasks that needed Tinky's talents with tiny mechanical devices waiting. He also had a hard time saying no to her about anything.

Moran looked at Leesa, "how many of you are going to be there?"

"All four of us. We just got a load of furs into town yesterday while I was with Tinky, and don't have any commissions set up yet, so we'll all take the time to relax."

Being familiar with the Lees always knowing what all the others were doing, Moran just nodded, "that should be a fun break, then. Just watch out for my Babygirl. Don't let any bears eat her."

"Bears wouldn't be interested, she's too small. We know a lizard that might like a taste of those cute little toes, though."

Tinky looked down at her toes and wiggled them, "can't have them! I need them for bouncing." She stood by her father's chair eating, afraid she would bounce too much if she sat in a chair; she'd broken chairs before by jumping and wiggling from excitement. Eating the last strip of bacon with her fingers, she put her plate in the basin for washing, then noticed there weren't many dirty dishes in it. "Daddy, can these wait till I come home? Pleeease?"

"Peeyew, no! The place would reek by the time you got back!" He handed her his plate, then headed down to the shop. "The two of you can get them done in a few minutes. Stop and give me a kiss on your way out."

It only took the girls a short time to get the dishes cleaned and put away, then Tinky put on a belt with a small hunting knife and ran toward the door.

Leesa grabbed the back of her tunic, "nuh uh. You're not going out barefoot. There's laws about that, you know. You can take them off once we're in the forest if you need to."

"Oh yeah." Tinky pulled her trousers off and sat on the floor to pull her boots on, tying the laces just above her knees, then put her pants back on. "I wasn't thinking. I might be too excited." She grinned and wiggled, standing on tiptoes.

Giggling, Leesa patted her on the bottom. "I'd say so. What's so exciting? We go out in the forest a lot."

"But not with all of you at the same time too often, and hardly ever for all of you for overnight. Two nights!" She hurried Leesa down the stairs.

After giving Moran goodbye kisses, Leesa took Tinky's hand and stepped out into the street.

Tugging at her hand, Tinky whined, "I'm not going to run ahead. You don't have to hold my hand."

"Yes I do. You're excited and when you're excited you wave your hands a lot and that attracts attention." Leesa looked down at her, "I thought you liked holding my hand?"

"I do! My hand just wanted to move and I forgot." She stopped tugging and smiled as wide as she could.

Leesa pulled her and started walking fast. "We better hurry before you forget your name!"

Tinky giggled and skipped along beside her.

The edge of the city was marked by the end of paving. No walls or fences, simply an end of stone and a beginning of vegetation. A band of farmland several hundred feet wide separated the city from the forest, although that band was narrowing as the forest slowly recovered land it had been driven off of before the purge of magic a hundred years earlier. The edge of the forest itself was just as sudden. A wall of trees and heavy underbrush that seemed to be a little closer to the city with each cycle. Animal trails provided access to those willing to risk running into the animals that made them. Most of the city people were not willing to take that risk.

Once inside the shelter of the trees, Leesa stopped and let Tinky take off her boots and spend a few minutes rejoicing in the feel of dirt, leaves, and pine needles under her bare feet before taking her by the hand and leading her deeper into the heavy wood. It took a couple of hours to reach an area of old growth, where the underbrush was sparse and the gaps between the large trees wider. Another hour brought them to a river bank. They left the animal trail and followed a narrower path, obviously made by tools, for a few hundred feet.

They entered a small clearing, the stumps of a few trees indicating it wasn't a natural opening in the forest. One side was bordered by the mossy bank of the river, and the rest was partially walled in with a makeshift fence of poles. Three tents made a triangle with a large firepit, currently cold, in the center.

As soon as Leesa released her hand Tinky ran for the tent the sisters lived in. Removing her clothes as fast as she could, she dug into a pack and pulled out a pair of trousers that had most of the leg portions torn off. Pulling them on as her only clothing she ran back out and grabbed Leesa's hand with both of hers. Hopping up and down and giggling, she tried to pull the bigger girl with her toward the river.

"Wait, Tinky. We're bringing in some firewood now. You can go in the water once a fire is going." Leesa giggled at Tinky's excitement.

"But it's not cold! We can go in the water while they get the fire ready."

"I know you don't feel the cold, but the cold can still hurt you." Leesa hugged Tinky to her body, running her hands over the small bare back. "Remember the rules. You come out of the water when we tell you to, often. And if you notice your skin looking blue, come out even if we didn't call you. If you don't keep getting warmed up, then no more river." She knelt down on one knee to look Tinky in the eyes, "I'm serious. I love you too much to let you hurt yourself just to play a few minutes longer."

Tinky heaved an exaggerated sigh, "oh all right." Slipping out of Leesa's grip, she walked around the camp, bouncing on her toes, her hands flapping lazily.

Smiling at the signs of a happy Tinky, Leesa went into the tent and changed into shorts of her own. Normally she and her sisters didn't bother to change out of their pants and tunics when in camp, but Tinky fussed a lot about it when she was around. She was just leaving the tent when the other three Lees arrived.

Leena called to Tinky, "we have enough wood for a few hours. We can get more after you play in the water a bit." She watched Tinky tiptoeing around, "might need to make some new short pants for you. Those have worn down so much they don't even cover your bum any more."

Tinky wiggled her bottom, "but you like my bum." She let the girls drop their wood, then gave each a hug and kiss. She knew they all felt the hugs and kisses from each other, but she always insisted on treating them as individuals instead of a single person, and she knew they appreciated that.

The three, Leena, Leeya, and Leera, went into the tent to change as Tinky and Leesa prepared the firepit. The four Lees stood back and watched as Tinky ignited it with a touch of magic, which was spectacularly dull as all she did was point at it and scowl it into flames.

"It's so much easier with you here, Tinky. Fires are annoying to get started."

Tinky beamed proudly.

The four bigger girls suddenly grabbed Tinky, each one taking a limb, and carried her to the river while she squirmed and giggled and squealed. Stepping carefully on the moss covered rocks, they positioned her over a deep pool formed by a circle of stones, then dropped her, soaking themselves with the icy water as she plunged deep.

Tinky flailed her arms and legs until her head came out of the water and she gasped for air, laughing and splashing around. She didn't know how to swim, but she knew enough to tread water until she caught her breath and could dog paddle to a rock to hang on to until she stopped laughing.

Leeya slipped into the pool with Tinky and squeaked. "Wow, this is cold!" The sisters used themselves as measures of how long to allow Tinky in the water, since she couldn't tell she was freezing until it was dangerous.

Tinky made her way over to Leeya and snuggled up to her, wrapping arms and legs around her, and gave her a kiss. "It's fun! And slippery slidy," she yelled as she slipped down Leeya's body. She splashed around until Leeya's body started to ache from the cold and decided it was time to pull her out.

The five of them sat around the fire, the sisters taking turns holding Tinky on their laps, and chatted. Tinky, as usual, did most of the talking, since the Lees had no need to when talking to each other. They did sometimes speak out loud for Tinky's sake when talking amongst themselves, but since most of their communication consisted more of knowing what each was thinking rather than actual conversation, it was sporadic at best.

After running out of things to babble about, temporarily, Tinky jumped to her feet and tugged at Leera's hand. "Time for more swimming!"

Standing up slowly, Leera stretched herself out a bit, then nodded as she let Tinky lead her to the river. "Okay, but first we need you to do something. Well, you need you to do something, and we're going to help."

Scrunching her face, she looked up at Leera, "I don't need anything. I got you and bare feet and water to play in and I saw some food in the tent." She nodded, "that's all I need. Except Daddy sometimes. And Jarveth sometimes. But not now." She looked around at all the girls wearing nothing more than short pants, "their faces would get all red and they'd stutter a lot and be real embarrassed."

Leena giggled and nodded, "yes, yes they would. Especially Dad." She looked thoughtful for a second, "Jarveth might handle it a little different."

"Oh yeah. He said once." Tinky shrugged, "but it would still be uncomfortable for him."

Leera tugged Tinky to the rocky bank of the river as the other girls followed, "come this way, then after you're done if you want to go in the water again we will, okay?"

"I will," she announced.

The sisters led Tinky down the river a little way, until they came upon a large boulder, about ten feet across and relatively square for a natural rock, jutting out into the water. Smaller boulders and rocks made a convenient ramp up to the nearly flat top.

Positioning Tinky near the center of the rock, Leera pointed out into the river at a stone standing up near the middle of the water, about 8 feet of it standing above the waterline. "See that big rock out there?"

"Yup. You want me to make it crack apart?"

"No, I just want you to keep looking at it for a minute. Stand right here and look at that rock, okay?"

Tinky nodded and kept her eyes on the rock as the sisters stepped off the rocks and onto the river bank itself.

"Okay, now keep looking at that rock." Leera trembled a little, a little nervous about what she was about to try. Her sisters crowded close, their bodies giving her comfort, "and think about the man yesterday, that you burned."

Even at the distance, more than five feet, the sisters could see the shuddering and trembling in the little girl as she started jumping up and down, her hands starting to flap like little wings.

"I don't want to," she cried, tears running down her cheeks. She plopped down on the boulder and rocked back and forth, her hands waving wildly. "He was bad and deserved it. You said so."

Since Tinky didn't explode as she usually did when thinking of things that upset her, the Lees returned to the boulder and sat in a circle. Leesa caressed Tinky's back, "Can you think about the man now without needing to burn something?"

Tinky squeezed her eyes tightly closed and took a deep breath, nodding, "mostly. Burning him took the mad with it." She opened her eyes, "there's still some mad left, though. A little." She shuddered, "it's not regular mad, from having to hide all the time so it gets worse and worser. Like when we come here and then I make rocks crack and stuff. From keeping my hair colored all the time and letting it always be in my eyes. Not being able to play with kids cause they'll get older and notice I don't." She took another deep breath, tears running down her cheeks, "sometimes it hurts too much." She twisted her fingers together.

The sisters crowded in closer, all trying to cuddle her at once. "We know. Living in the city but not being able to be a part of it has to be harder than we can understand. We always have each other with us." They took turns kissing her tears away. "And we'll try to be around for you, bring you out here more."

Tinky smiled faintly, "better be lots more."

Leena pulled Tinky onto her lap, "about the man, can we ask why you burned his throat? We tried to think of a reason."

"He was screaming. Screaming hurts my head a lot. I always get mad when people scream." She sniffled again, then smirked. "He had a really ugly penis. All purple and red and pointing at me." She squirmed and looked as if she had tasted something disgusting, "I think I don't want one of them near me ever."

The sisters laughed, "we hear that when you're in love you change your mind about that, and some women want it even when they aren't in love."

"Did you ever want it?" Tinky wiped her nose on her arm.

Leesa shook her head. "You're the only person we've ever loved. Never had an interest in anyone else."

Tinky tipped her head up and kissed Leena, "you're the only ones I ever loved, too." She looked around. "Why did we have to come out to this rock?"

"Because when you do magic from being mad, you don't control it very well. It's been getting bigger lately and we didn't want a forest fire, especially since we thought you might be extra mad." Leera poked her gently in the navel, "you are going to need to get control, even when mad. I guess this time you didn't need to let it out this way."

"It came out when he was trying to hurt me. I didn't keep it." Tinky looked sheepish, "but it's different when I'm not mad. I have control then." She pointed at a stick floating by and they watched it burst into flames that the water quickly doused when she dropped her finger. "See?"

The four girls put their hands on Tinky's body, tickling and caressing and giggling as they admitted she had control. Tinky giggled and squirmed under their hands, but not enough to make them think she was objecting. She let them lay her on her back on the rock.

Tinky lay on her back using her shorts as a pillow watching the clouds. Feeling someone kissing her hand she looked over to see Leesa waking up from the nap they'd all taken. Tinky pointed at the line of shadow coming up the river, "almost First Dark. We never got any extra wood for having a fire tonight."

"And you really want a fire even though the air is warm?"

Tinky nodded, grinning. "I like fires." She stood up, picked up her shorts, and started running toward the camp. "Come on before you say it's too dark for you to see."

The girls all picked up their shorts and followed her. Hurrying into clothes thick enough to protect them from underbrush they picked up small axes and went out into the forest. Leesa led them directly to a dead tree that had fallen over. There were enough smaller branches broken from it that they didn't have to do much cutting before having enough to haul back for the night. Once they had the branches back at the camp the Lees chopped pieces off as Tinky stacked them.

Once the wood was chopped Tinky stripped and threw her clothes into the tent, then knelt and laid a fire as the girls got undressed more leisurely, putting away the clothes instead of just tossing them around. They emerged just as Tinky was pointing at the wood and igniting it.

As Leeya sat near the fire she patted her thigh, indicating Tinky should sit on her lap. "Have you been doing anything with your magic besides starting fires?"

Tinky shrugged as she sat down, wriggling her body against Leeya's. "Mm, I love when you're sweaty." She squirmed to rub her back against Leeya's chest. She sighed as Leeya tightened her grip to settle her down. "Not a lot. Fire is easy, it's just pushing magic into stuff until it gets hot. Other stuff is harder."

She stretched a hand out in front of her and made a grasping motion toward the wood pile. A piece lifted from the pile and drifted toward her until she could grab it. As her fingers tried to wrap around it, the wood fell on her bare foot and made her yelp. "Oops. It was heavier than I thought. It's hard to tell when holding it with magic." She pushed the wood away from her with her toes. "I've been practicing mostly stuff like that. Moving things. Mostly little stuff, so I can use it to fix locks and clocks and other stuff that has tiny parts." She grinned, "but I like fires best."

The Lees laughed, "We know!" Leeya tickled her, "Just because it's easier?"

"Nah. There's just something about fire, even if its not magic." Tinky shrugged. "I like figuring out the harder stuff, too, but my book doesn't tell me enough. It was made before reading and writing were banned and is mostly about mages, not how to use magic. I read about what they did and then try to figure out how." She sighed, "I think the guy figured there were enough books on how. Learning just from knowing that something works is a lot harder than being told how."

One of the Lees snorted, "I'll bet! I can't even imagine trying."

Tinky stood up and looked out over the river. "But I keep distracting myself and just getting bits and pieces and forgetting to keep working on stuff I already started." She sighed heavily as she looked into the Full Dark outside the camp, seeing by magic what normal people needed light for. "I probably should try harder."

"I'm sleepy. Bedtime!" She grabbed at the closest hand and started tugging toward the tent.

When Tinky woke up it was well past First Light, nearly halfway to Day. She was sandwiched between Leena and Leeya, but the other two Lees weren't in the tent.

"Wake up, sleepyheads! Don't want to waste the whole day!"

"We are awake, silly. We've been awake since First Light." Leeya stood up and started pulling on trousers. "We don't sleep as long as you do. You sleep like a kid."

Tinky stuck out a little pink tongue. "Nuh uh, I sleep like a mage. How come you're putting pants on?" She watched as Leena also started pulling trousers on.

"Company coming and we don't want him to turn red, stutter, and get all flustered." Leeya grinned at Tinky, "isn't that what boys do when they see a girl without clothes?"

Tinky giggled and nodded and started reaching for her trousers, then moved her hand and grabbed her shorts instead. "Who's coming?"

"Jarveth. Leesa went to fetch him while you snoozed away your morning."

Tinky dropped her shorts and reached for her trousers again, "but he doesn't know about you! You said not to tell him, so I didn't."

"We decided you need help, and we can't always be in the city. You need friends and he's already your friend. We want to let him know what we've been thinking." She shrugged, "If he didn't do anything about you being a mage he's not likely to care that we're Touched." Once she had her own trousers on she helped Tinky get hers buttoned. "We can't have you getting upset so much, especially as you get better at magic. Would be pretty bad if the next time a man did something you burnt down half the city." She grinned, "people might notice you're a mage without even seeing your eyes."

Leena watched Tinky pick up her tunic and frown at it. "What's the matter?"

"You gotta wear tunics cause you got little titties and they make boys uncomfortable. I don't got any, but I'm still a girl. I don't want to make Jarveth uncomfortable since he's coming to help me, but I don't want to wear clothes I don't have to." She scowled at the tunic and started shaking it.

Leena put her hand on Tinky's and pushed them down gently. "How about we leave that in here and if Jarveth is uncomfortable you can put it on then?"

"He wouldn't say cause he never says anything I do is wrong and he might not blush enough for me to tell."

"Don't worry, if we think you need it, we'll whisper to you and you can run in and get it, okay?"

Tinky smiled broadly, "kay! Thanks. Sometimes I have trouble deciding things." Tinky looked up, "I hear them! Hurry!"

They stepped out of the tent and found Leera waiting. The four turned toward the opening in the pole fence and waited for Leesa to bring Jarveth into camp.

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