No. This isn't about me. What makes you happy, without including me?
The breeze brushed against the pack of children as if it was involved in the games itself. Overgrown grass swayed on the hill as the boys laughed and shrieked. It was a mild summer and the hills near Summerford were home to the best mountain outside of, well, the mountains. It was a ritual that they all took part in when work was done and the elders permitted them to run free - barring, of course, those most fit for helping with packing up.
"Do you miss it, Coblyn?" The brown-haired boy looked on from his task of stacking crates of unsold supplies. He'd already put up the heavy sacks of flour and beans, staples in any pantry around the world. There was a wistful longing in his voice.
"Wha', playin' on that muddy hill?" The other lad, not yet old enough to be much more than a lad, really, was packing away cloths and various bits and baubles. "Nope, not at'all. I ain't never won anyway."
"The point isn't to win, Kolin." Elder Gillem was minding them both - the trader was an old hand and had been with the caravan longer than either of the boys knew. Wise eyes turned away from the books he'd been keeping - sometimes Gillem would help the younger boys learn their letters and arithmetic when they were easier to process - and looked up at and beyond Warren and Kolin. "Looksee now." Withered and calloused hands pointed towards the hill yonder.
"Normally you look at the size of someone like Blackmast and you think 'how could I ever throw him from the top?' And you'd be right to wonder." The boy that was being pointed out, or "Blackmast" because of his love of pirate stories, was a truly gigantic child of perhaps a dozen years. Hellsguard, far as anyone knew, and he was still growing. He was currently positioned on top of the hill, shoving and throwing anyone who attempted to overpower him tumbling back down to the bottom of the mountain.
"One at a time, none of them kids got a chance." As Gillem spoke, he gestured to the boys collected at the bottom of the hill. "But if you get the right minds together... Come up with a plan?" The trader set his hands on his hips with a smile. Both of the children standing with him were watching now as the defeated children charged at once. Blackmast managed to pull off one or two of them but the crowd was upon him then, and he was helpless to throw them all off. The roegadyn went tumbling down the hill and the cheer of success echoed loud enough for the caravan to hear them.
"See that? No matter how big your foe looks, or how hopeless it might seem... Enough like-minded people can vanquish even the toughest of foes." There was a hint of pride in the old man's voice.
"Wha' 'bout the kids he threw off? They ain't cheerin' at the top'a no hill." Kolin knew all too well what that fall felt like.
"Well, they're not as lucky, I'll give you that one. But they shouldn't be any less proud. They couldn't do it alone, you see? They all knew the risks when they banded as one, and the whole is greater than the parts."
"Elder Gillem, that don't make no sense! There's - there's... There's less whole now! The kids at the bottom ain't gonna be cheered on, they're forgotten!" Kolin gestured frantically at how unfair the situation seemed.
"Will they be, Kolin? Have you forgotten?"
The breeze brushed against the pack of children as if it was involved in the games itself. Overgrown grass swayed on the hill as the boys laughed and shrieked. It was a mild summer and the hills near Summerford were home to the best mountain outside of, well, the mountains. It was a ritual that they all took part in when work was done and the elders permitted them to run free - barring, of course, those most fit for helping with packing up.
"Do you miss it, Coblyn?" The brown-haired boy looked on from his task of stacking crates of unsold supplies. He'd already put up the heavy sacks of flour and beans, staples in any pantry around the world. There was a wistful longing in his voice.
"Wha', playin' on that muddy hill?" The other lad, not yet old enough to be much more than a lad, really, was packing away cloths and various bits and baubles. "Nope, not at'all. I ain't never won anyway."
"The point isn't to win, Kolin." Elder Gillem was minding them both - the trader was an old hand and had been with the caravan longer than either of the boys knew. Wise eyes turned away from the books he'd been keeping - sometimes Gillem would help the younger boys learn their letters and arithmetic when they were easier to process - and looked up at and beyond Warren and Kolin. "Looksee now." Withered and calloused hands pointed towards the hill yonder.
"Normally you look at the size of someone like Blackmast and you think 'how could I ever throw him from the top?' And you'd be right to wonder." The boy that was being pointed out, or "Blackmast" because of his love of pirate stories, was a truly gigantic child of perhaps a dozen years. Hellsguard, far as anyone knew, and he was still growing. He was currently positioned on top of the hill, shoving and throwing anyone who attempted to overpower him tumbling back down to the bottom of the mountain.
"One at a time, none of them kids got a chance." As Gillem spoke, he gestured to the boys collected at the bottom of the hill. "But if you get the right minds together... Come up with a plan?" The trader set his hands on his hips with a smile. Both of the children standing with him were watching now as the defeated children charged at once. Blackmast managed to pull off one or two of them but the crowd was upon him then, and he was helpless to throw them all off. The roegadyn went tumbling down the hill and the cheer of success echoed loud enough for the caravan to hear them.
"See that? No matter how big your foe looks, or how hopeless it might seem... Enough like-minded people can vanquish even the toughest of foes." There was a hint of pride in the old man's voice.
"Wha' 'bout the kids he threw off? They ain't cheerin' at the top'a no hill." Kolin knew all too well what that fall felt like.
"Well, they're not as lucky, I'll give you that one. But they shouldn't be any less proud. They couldn't do it alone, you see? They all knew the risks when they banded as one, and the whole is greater than the parts."
"Elder Gillem, that don't make no sense! There's - there's... There's less whole now! The kids at the bottom ain't gonna be cheered on, they're forgotten!" Kolin gestured frantically at how unfair the situation seemed.
"Will they be, Kolin? Have you forgotten?"
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
