Part Four: Hanging Tree
The excuse Adee and Rune gave to both Misori and Daedalus was that for research Adee would be shown around some of the important landmarks nearby, which wasn’t exactly wrong. In fact on the way back to the hill Rune promised her to show her around – as long as Canna could come along, she wouldn’t be to pleased if she’d be left behind.
“We’ll stop by my house first to pick up Canna and the food and then we’ll stop by the hanging tree to eat, if that’s ok with you.” Said Rune, kicking away a loose branch out of the overgrown path. He turned around, still walking, with a big cheeky grin on his face, “Since there hasn’t been any ships since you’ve been here I’ve been able to go places I haven’t seen in years. I can’t wait for you to see this spot Adee, Canna has a swing there and everything.”
Finally they reached a harsh stop in the path where two broken pine trees crossed one another, barely making an organic archway to walk through. If it wasn’t for Rune showing her, Adee would have assumed this place has been abandoned for centuries. He pushed away some of the branches, careful not to break any before reaching behind him for her hand. “Make sure to close your eyes too, it hurts to get them scratched by a leaf, trust me!” he laughed, dragging her blindly past the forest’s wall.
Seconds later they met a sort of clearing, The sun barely made its way through the dense trees and yet Adee could still see clearly in front of her a small almost unnatural hill in which a little hole on the ground let to a makeshift door. Still holding her hand Rune led her towards the hill’s entrance. “It doesn’t look like much on the outside,” he said, “But just you wait! It’s beautiful inside!” He gave a quick knock on the door before pushing it open, nearly popping it off its worn hinges.
Rune was right; it was beautiful inside. It was a single room, carved into rock but it was bigger than she imagined. There was a little fireplace in one corner of the room and a set of two cots in the other. Dozens of worn old books were stacked up against each wall and plenty of Canna’s colorful drawings were tacked up everywhere.
Canna came out of nowhere it seemed, which had been near the fireplace where she had been keeping warm. She ran with almost unnatural speed and rammed right into Rune, nearly knocking him down with a hug, “Runey!” she squealed, “You’re home, you’re home, you’re home!” Gathering himself, Rune stepped away, appearing to be a little dizzy. Then, with another overdramatic gasp Canna went to hug Adee, fortunately for her, she wasn’t shoved to the ground by the embrace.
“Ok Canna, let her breath,” Rune laughed, tugging at his little sister’s braid, “Go get on a sweater and the stew pot and we’ll go outside to eat, ok? And hey! Don’t forget your socks!” She scoffed, looking extremely displeased, “But Runeeeeeeeeee! I like the ground!”
“Yeah, well I don’t like to clean your dirty feet, besides it’s way to cold, you’ll become an icicle!”
With another groan Canna marched away, leaving Rune and Adee alone in an embarrassing silence. “Sorry.” He muttered, hand grazing hers. She grasped it, a blush forming over her cheeks, “I think it’s cute, you just want what’s best for her. Anyone would want that.”
***
Canna ran ahead of the two of them, careful not to slosh the stew or burn herself on the pot. She led Rune and Adee, still holding hands, up another, more natural hill and through another group of trees.
This clearing was different though, the sun was visible and the trees created a ring around this space. However, there was a single gigantic oak tree, it’s branched splaying out like a spider web. Then Adee noticed something extremely odd. Nearly every branch was decorated with thick old rope tied into a tight noose. She wanted to consider it beautiful, but the nooses honestly terrified her in a way she was not ready to explain.
Obviously her feelings weren’t kept as silent as she would have liked. Rune was looking at her with a concerned expression, hoping she was ok and Canna, well she just gave a large-eyed stare, the closest thing her brain could conjure up to empathy. “Is everything alright?” Rune asked after a moment. Adee shook herself out of her thoughts and nodded, “Yeah, yeah,” she said, “Just… the nooses?” surprisingly Rune burst into laughter and sputtering out a giggle herself, Canna started jumping up and down in excitement.
“It’s called a hanging tree for a reason!” He remarked, looking back at Canna, “Hey, sit down the stew and I’ll lay down a blanket and get everything ready, how about you show Adee your swing and tell her about the tree, alright?”
Canna nearly threw the pot into her brother’s arms as she rushed to Adee’s side. Much like Rune, she grabbed her hand to lead the way. “Weeeeeeell!” Canna said, dragging Adee closer to the tree, “Runey says that lots and lots of time ago there was a community living nearby and when people did bad, bad things they needed to be punished. The peoples couldn’t waist they bullets so they strung ‘em up on the tree!”
“God Canna,” sighed Rune, sitting down on a brown blanket while arranging a couple old bowls, “You’re making it sound so morbid.” Canna merely brushed his remark off and led Adee to the other side of the tree where one of the ropes had been manipulated to carry not a corpse, but a very, very old tire. “Just ignore him,” she whispered, her little eyes squinting to even smaller slits, “He thinks everything is morbid! Now look at this Ms. Adee! This is the swing Daddy made me!” Once again Rune butted in, “Us, Canna, Dad made it for us,” All Canna did was role her eyes, obviously taking her own advice. She plopped down on the swing, kicking up her feet to let herself rock against the breeze. Her mind might have been singed around the edges but what many people didn’t know was that Canna had extremely keen observation skills – at least when she wanted to. Looking at Adee, who offered to push her on the swing, Canna noted her change of clothes. Her uniform had changed from the standard black leather to something that looked formal? Perhaps it was the oversized grey scarf that hugged Adee tight that made her tall boots and loose woven shirt look less like a soldier’s garb and more ordinary but Canna knew something still wasn’t right. She looked over at Rune, who was still setting up their makeshift picnic. He kept looking over at Adee, an odd expression on his flat face, it looked so familiar to Canna, something she had seen so many times but stuffed so far back into her memory banks. Then it clicked, “Runey?” she asked, slowing down the swing. He looked up, almost dropping a spoon into the pot, “Yeah?”
Then, without any sort of filter she blurted out, “Are you and Ms. Adee in looooove?” and then the spoon dropped and Adee choked on thin air. If Rune’s large eyes could have gotten any bigger they would have, “What?” He exclaimed, “Why do you think that?”
She leapt of the swing, prancing over to her brother’s side. “Because you’re looking at Ms. Adee the way Daddy looks at Mommy.” Adee – coming to the rescue – butted into the conversation by sitting down on the soft blanket in front of them, “Well Canna,” she said, her voice still a little stifled from a mix of embarrassment and laughter, “Your brother and I are just friends, that’s all.”
“Then why are you wearing pretty clothes?” Canna glared down at Rune, “And Runey, you’re wearing pretty clothes too.” She usually was silent – besides her daily question in the early morning – but once in a while that filter of quietness would lift and word would spout out like a broken sink… Unfortunately for Rune and Adee, this was one of those times.
“Oh Canna,” Adee laughed, clamping a soft hand on Canna’s shoulder, “It’s nothing of the sort. You see, Rune here wanted to do something nice for my birthday.” Rune glared at Adee as his sister churned the information over in her head. Thank you, he mouthed.
After what seemed to be an eternity the three of them were finally eating. Rune had released how boring soup had become but Adee seemed to be perfectly content. Most likely because since the moment she was born – besides the milk of her own mother’s breast – Adee had never eaten something made just for her. It was always rations; always berries and nuts p
icked off of bushes and trees… but those were meant for others too, for people like Rune… survivors, “humans”. She had to admit a part of her felt unworthy of such a simple meal. She had lied to Rune about his own species, she knew so much about him but he barely knew anything about her…
“Runey, can we sing to Adee, for her birthday?” asked Canna, rocking back and forth from her hips to ankles, spoon hanging from between her crooked teeth. Rune shrugged, “Only if you remember the song yourself. You gotta practice, remember?” the most frustrating groan came from his sister as she spat her spoon back into the bowl. She looked over at Adee, cocking her head with a yawn. “Weeeeeeell Ms. Adee, I don’t remember it, but! I’ll sing you one I made up!” she squealed, “Happy birthday Adee, Adee, happy, happy birthday!”
And then, as if the earth itself was playing a game the moment Adee applauded Canna’s little song a crack of ferocious thunder blew through the sky like a bomb. “That sounded a little to close.” Adee muttered into her bowl and then as if she commanded it herself rain began pouring down onto them. Rune let out a frustrated groan and slammed the lid onto the stew pot before the rain got to it.
“The entire world is against me today it seems!” he growled, “Canna, grab the bowls, Adee if it’s ok with you, you should come back to our house. If it’s pouring already-” another glare towards the sky as a drop dropped onto his face, “This rain is going to turn into an all powerful storm.” With a gust of wind every drop of rain fell from the full leaves and right onto Rune’s freshly washed hair. He looked over at Adee and his sister who were both trying their hardest not to laugh. “Adee, just stay at the house. Chances are the piss poor weather we’re having is gonna slap you too!”