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On his way to piano lessons. Again. It was so cliché Richard almost wanted to laugh. But whatever, he had seized an opportunity. Least he could do was make the most of it.
The reminder of that awful piano master's ugly, wrinkled face glaring at him sullened his mood though. Richard grit his teeth, looking down as he kicked a pebble on the dirt road he was walking on. Yes, yes, he should be grateful for the blessed life he suddenly had and all that—- but really. Piano lessons?
He sighed, turning his head to look at the flowering meadows he was passing by.
Richard paused, furrowing his brow as he noticed two kids hanging around in the grass. Both crouched over something, engrossed in a deep discussion. Obviously, he couldn't hear it, but given the excited look on the red-haired one’s face, he wondered if it was something interesting.
They were both girls, he noted now. Seemingly about the same age as him. One of them— he recognised as the distant relative of that astrologist woman who lived at the edge of the town close to the stream. The raven-haired girl though, he did not recall ever seeing her at all.
For someone like Richard, a well-respected young master of a wealthy family, it would only be fair that he should not spare these two middle-class nobodies any attention and be on his way. After all, they were from two different worlds. In fact, he was far above them. There should simply be no way he would ever interact with these dirt-covered, shabby kids—
“Hey!” Richard was calling out even before he realised it.
The two girls heard him and turned around, evidently surprised.
“What?!” The red-haired one yelled back, still crouched next to her raven-haired friend as a silver machine placed between them came into view.
Richard really did not know what it was, but he found himself yelling back in reply, “What are you guys doing out there?!”
The red-haired one, without missing a beat, also yelled back an answer, “We’re tryna record marigolds and–er, what was it?”
Her friend said something inaudible, which the red-haired girl yelled back towards Richard, “--freeze frame them!!”
Richard frowned. These countryside kids were so strange.
“What's freeze-frame?!” He yelled as a question.
“I dunno either!” The red-haired one replied, still shouting across the meadow, “We're tryna figure it out! You wanna join?!”
Richard paused. Of course not. Who in their right mind would let their tailor-made, branded light-coloured clothes get dirty by fooling around in meadows and flower fields. Moreover, who did these kids think they were? Richard had friends– his snobbish classmates who only ever spoke to him to curry favour— those should count as friends right? And if they didn't, it's not like he needed friends. He wasn't lonely. Not at all. He wasn't lonely in any way or form at all—
“Can I run over?!” He asked as he already stepped into the fields.
“Yeah!!” The red-haired girl yelled, “Just run here straight up.”
Richard was sure his tutor would have an aneurysm if she saw the way he just threw his satchel away and ran across the field in the most uncouth, unelegant manner ever. Somehow, the thought brought a smile to his face, and he quickened his pace as he finally reached the two strange kids.
Richard paused to catch his breath, panting as he placed his palms on his knees.
“Damn yer slow!” The red-haired girl laughed as she straightened up. The raven-haired girl stood up too, watching Richard silently. Her expression was indiscernible but her eyes were blown wide open and bloodshot– Richard wondered when was the last time she slept.
“I'm Brynhildr!” The red-haired girl pointed to herself with a toothy grin, and then she pointed to the raven-haired girl next to her, “And this— Amanda. We became best mates just a few days ago.”
—
A few days ago,
“Arghhhh so bored!!!! Take me with you!!”
Her older cousin paused to look at her with a frown, “What? You want me to take you to school with me?”
Brynhildr pursed her lips, “Nevermind. See ya. I'll go shoot some more crows in the backyard.”
Ithaqua shook his head as he sat down on his bicycle, “Animal cruelty. Why can't you do something normal like other kids? For instance, running around the town, or making new friends or something like that—”
“Pshhh,” Brynhildr blew a raspberry as she huffed and turned around, “I wouldn't be this bored if ye hadn't snitched on me to Aunt Lagertha!”
Ithaqua shook his head, “You expect me to sit silent while you go fool around in the woods where there's all sorts of dangerous animals—”
“Blah blah blah blah!!! I can't hear you!!! I'm leaving bye bye!!!” And with that, Brynhildr covered her ears and ran away from her cousin who only rolled his eyes at the childish display.
Bored and even more annoyed than before, Brynhildr dropped down on her back behind the Vilulfs’ house, sighing as she watched the passing clouds high in the sky. She missed the sea……she missed her mother's crew. She missed the Vinland……
But after her massive fuck up last time, Brynhildr was sent to stay here with specific instructions of not being allowed back on the crew until her aunt gave the approval of her best behavior. And hence, as a result, the young lass was stuck here until the end of summer.
Brynhildr groaned as she kicked up her legs in protest. A crow cackled and flew past her. She clicked her tongue and grabbed a nearby rock to throw at it.
It hit the bird head on, earning a surprised squawk from it as it fluttered and flew into the neighbour's yard. Curious about the fate of the crow, Brynhildr got up and headed over towards the fence, jumping up to peek over into the yard next door.
As expected, the bird had fallen onto the grassy floor, twitching as it tried to flap its wings again. About two feet away from the bird though, watching it with wide, bloodshot eyes was a girl. She looked about the same age as Brynhildr, and was crouching on the ground over some mechanical contraption while staring at the bird. It seemed whatever it was she was doing— was interrupted by the sudden descent of an injured crow in her backyard.
Brynhildr blinked as she watched the girl, who also turned her head and looked up just in time to catch Brynhildr staring at her. Neither spoke for a moment, just staring at each other wordlessly.
Finally, it was Brynhildr who opened her mouth first, “Watcha upto?” She asked curiously.
The girl did not blink, looking down at the device in front of her and then back up at Brynhildr.
“Recording images to produce an illusionary projection.” The girl replied in a low, hoarse voice.
Brynhildr obviously did not understand what that meant, but she did recall her aunt talking about the new family that had moved in next door. It made sense that they would choose a house a little distance away from town— given the special nature of the young girl in the family. She suffered from insomnia and…..narcolepsy was it? Brynhildr had already forgotten the meaning of that word, but she knew the girl in front of her needed the peace and quiet of the countryside to recover.
“Can I join?” The bored Vilulf asked with a grin.
The girl stared at her, and then, seemingly after a moment of contemplation, nodded her head.
“Yay!” Brynhildr immediately jumped over the fence, jogging up to the other girl and crouching down as well, “Name's Brynhildr. What's yours?”
“Amanda.” The girl replied, “Do you know how projections work?”
“Nope!”
The girl pointed to a tiny mirror embedded within the tube, “It begins with a reflection on the first mirror…….”
*****
“And that's how we ended up here!” Brynhildr finished with her hands on her hips, “After days of fooling around in our backyard we decided we needed a bigger and wider space to continue our experiments!”
“Huh.” Richard looked down at the projector. Now he knew what it was called. It was certainly an uncanny looking machine. Unlike anything he had ever seen before. Definitely not like those projectors he had seen in movie halls.
“Er….” Brynhildr scratched her head, “What was yer name again?”
Richard cleared his throat and straightened up, turning on that irresistible charm of his as he smiled. The usual fake smile he reserved for politeness, “Richard,” He introduced himself, “Richard Sterling.”
“Sterling?” Brynhildr seemed to think about it.
Richard scoffed internally. That's right. She probably already knew about him and his family. Who didn't? They were one of the wealthiest and flashiest families around. And all these neighborhood kids who always tried to befriend him in hopes of getting something good— he was already used to all these tactics—
“Haha, like the bird!” Brynhildr said with a glint in her eyes, “I once shot down two starlings with one stone, ya know?”
Richard froze, “Wh-what?”
“Heh.” Brynhildr rubbed her nose as she proudly went on, “But that ain't nothin. I once even shot down a whole flock of crows within fifteen seconds. But even that can't compare to my work in keeping the seagulls off the hull— always hittin’ the Bulls’ eye.” She grinned, “Ya wanna see?”
Richard was not really sure what the conversation was about now, “See what?”
Brynhildr bent down and picked up a rock, “My amazing aiming skills o’course. No need to thank me. I love showing off to my fans.”
Richard blinked. What was this kid even talking about?
He looked at Amanda, but she seemed to already have gotten used to Brynhildr’s antics, only crouching down again to look at the silver device while Brynhildr went on,
“Ah look! There's one right there! Eh, it looks like a cuckoo–” She aimed with her hand, and then, as Richard watched, she pulled back her fist and threw the stone in a straight line— it hit the cuckoo head on. But given that it was a considerably tiny stone, it didn't knock the bird off balance, only made it squawk in annoyance towards their direction before flapping its wings and flying elsewhere.
Richard was…..impressed. It wasn't that often he came across someone who could shoot a flying bird with that much accuracy okay. He was staring into the sky, eyes wide as he muttered, “Wow.” Without even realising it.
“Heh. I know right,” Brynhildr said with a smugly satisfied expression on her face, “Like I said— this ain't nothin’ to me.”
“Can you teach me?” Richard didn't even know why he was asking. It wasn't like he had ever cared for archery or such---but for some reason, after seeing that perfect shot from Brynhildr, he couldn't help but wonder if he could do something that amazing as well. Brynhildr though, seemed surprised by the request, “Eh….I mean I dunno….” She hummed, stroking her chin, as if thinking about it very seriously. And then, all at once her seriousness melted away to be replaced by a grin, “Okay!” She said with a thumbs up.
“I think the recording is done.” Amanda said, in her low, monotone voice. She was already crouching next to the device, peering inside carefully, then she looked up at the other two people, “Do you wanna see?” This time she was addressing Richard.
Richard’s eyes widened, he crouched down as well, replying, “Yes.”
Briefly, in the back of his mind, it felt like he was forgetting something. But eh, if he had forgotten it, it likely wasn’t that important.
*
Elsewhere,
“Where’s that Sterling boy?! He was supposed to be here an hour ago!!!”
++++