Plans For The Future (Skitz)

[Northen Light36]

Flame reached up to rub her eyes as she studied the map she'd spread out on her lapdesk while she carefully marked the locations of tainted land that the scouts reported. Even all these months after the defeat of the demons they were still finding areas of tainted land that needed to be recorded, since after the first few deaths in those area she had no intention of letting her people stumble into one. She could have done this in her hut (and wasn't it strange to have a hut all of her own?) but she'd wanted the fresh air and the sounds of the clan all around her.

Also on her map, she kept a careful record of where the other clans were, or at least the bigger ones. It was annoyingly difficult to track the smaller ones and with so much of their usual hunting grounds tainted, raids on the larger clans - and even BY the larger clans - were becoming almost a nightly event. No one in Fira had been seriously hurt yet but Flame couldn't help but think it was only a matter of time.

She deliberately did her best to play down the trouble when she talked to Libre and tried to keep him from spending the nights at the clan. This was a clan issue and one the Master of Minds didn't need to be involved it. Ann was doing her best as well, moving from clan to clan to try and ease the tensions and get people working together.

"Hard to get people to listen to reason when they're hungry though," Flame muttered under her breath as she made another light marking on her map.

[Skittlebug]

A shadow fell over part of her map as Johan stepped up behind her and peeked at what she was doing. "Working hard to keep us all safe?" He managed to keep it from sounding sarcastic, like it did in his head. The real safety came from himself and the others warding off attacks from the other clans each night, not marks on maps.

[Northen Light36]

"I'm trying, anyway," Flame replied, looking up with a smile for Johan. She didn't blush when he spoke to her anymore, having grown out of that. Besides, after Flux and then the extremely uncomfortable conversation with her aunt Tavia, talking to a handsome man just wasn't that blush worthy anymore. "Of course, mapping won't keep raiders out but it helps the scouts avoid the tainted areas."

Setting aside her work, Flame rose so as not to have Johan towering over her. Looking up and getting an eyeful of sun was annoying. "How are you, Johan? Something I can do for you?"

[Skittlebug]

That's right, he thought when she mentioned the raiders. "Nothing in particular." He grinned back. "I've got some free time between my duties and I figured you work too hard. I'm sure you can manage a bit of a break?"

[Northen Light36]

Flame hesitated, running through a mental list of what she still had left to do today. Deciding there was nothing that had to be done right this minute she smiled and gathered up her things. "I think I can manage a little time off, yes. And I was starting to get a headache anyway. Just let me put these away and I'm all yours."

[Skittlebug]

Well, that's the plan anyway. Johan grinned. "Great. Now we can't very well go out riding, but I figured walking and talking might do?" He held out his arm for her to take. "How have you been doing?" Always a good question, girls liked to talk about themselves.

[Northen Light36]

Flame quickly dropped her things just inside her hut, making a mental note to put them away properly later, then took Johan's offered arm. "I've been well," she replied with a smile as they walked. "Working hard, of course, but it's a little easier now Elder Artica is home from the healers. Mostly I'm just glad to be back home. What about you? How have you been? I've noticed you training hard, but I hope you're not over working yourself?"

[Skittlebug]

Johan wondered just how much help Artica could be with a missing arm. "I can handle it, I need to keep in top condition with all the attacks. Gotta keep the clan safe."

[Northen Light36]

"Well, you've been doing a good job," Flame murmured as she glanced around the clan while they walked, alert for any problems. "Thank you," she added, feeling slightly bad for not giving Johan her full attention. But surely he'd understand that, as Clan Heir, she was never entirely off duty?

[Skittlebug]

Well, not quite what he'd been hoping for, but he could deal with that. "Do you know if we're going to be moving farther into the desert soon?" He was keen on getting back to their old lands, possibly having to kick someone else off of it.

[Northen Light36]

Flame frowned slight and chose her answer carefully. "The taint gets worse the deeper into the desert one goes. We will be moving on in another few weeks, I think, but I'm not sure how much deeper we'll go at the moment." She smiled at him. "Hence the mapping to work out just how close we can get to our old territory."

[Skittlebug]

Johan smiled back, though he'd realised that if she didn't want to talk about herself...he wasn't sure what to talk about either. "Important work, to be sure. Looking forward to things getting closer to normal."

[Northen Light36]

"So am I," Flame admitted with a grin. "Frankly, I'd like things to be nice and calm again by the time I become an Elder." And, not wanting to dwell on how soon her 18th birthday was, she changed the subject. "At least we've got a nice little watering hole here. Since we've both got some time to spare, want to go for a swim?"

She might not want to talk about herself overly much, but she'd developed a lovely figure over the last few years and she had no hesitations about showing it off. The looks she got while swimming gave her a secret little thrill and, well, Johan was certainly pleasant to look at too.

[Skittlebug]

Johan's smile grew at the suggestion. Why hadn't he thought of that? Swimming was always great, even more so the more women in the spring. "Sounds great!" That decided, he turned and lead Flame toward the spring.

[Northen Light36]

Flame followed along happily. She always enjoyed a good swim and, after so long away, she was still adjusting back to the heat of home. Given the time of day, she was surprised and pleased to find there were only a few other clanmates sharing the waterhole. Grinning she stripped down and made her way into the water.

The two teenage boys currently enjoying waterhole don't bother to hide their approval as they look over their Heir, or the faint jealousy when Flame calls to Johan.

"Come on, hurry up Johan," she laughs. "The water's great."