SMV Chapter 4: The Larkspurs

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Chapter 4

The Larkspurs

Flynne

I Stood Up, knocked on the hard pine door, and waited, my stomach complaining noisily as the smell of Hurricane’s famous stew filled the air. Ever since I’d met the Larkspurs, the mystery and intrigue of the Black Forest had been too much to ignore, so I started making monthly trips to their house, then twice a month, then weekly. And then, I started wandering closer and closer to Moonflower Valley, wondering just how close I could get to the kingdom without being in its territory. One little sound—the snap of a twig, wings fluttering as a bird took flight overhead—and I bolted all the way back home.

My mom lets me wander around the South Pack without supervision, and as long as I’m in the house by nine she doesn’t ask any questions. I’ve gotten away with nine thirty, ten o’clock before, in the summer when the days are longer and I can easily ‘lose track of time’ without the obstacle of pitch-black darkness to sell me out. (“Just how did you loose track of time even after the sun went down?” And that was the beginning of a conversation with my parents that resulted in house-arrest for two weeks.)

A tall, raven-haired boy opened the door and startled when he saw me. “I didn’t know you were coming today,” Rainpelt stepped to the side so I could come in.

“Neither did I, but something came up.”

The Larkspurs lived in a den—which is a house made into the ground. That’s the traditional Fox dwelling, because in the wild our animal ancestors dig holes in the earth to live in. Theirs is a hollowed out series of hills, with polished wood floors and many circular windows. Their door is a large circle too, with a beautiful ringed pattern.

A river runs beneath their house, and they did a fantastic job at covering it up. They use it to store any perishable items such as meat and milk. (The Larkspurs have a few goats and chickens.)

“So, what is it this time?” Rainpelt asked me as we walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. “Find a cool stick? Break some rules? Wait—did you find a geode?” he cleared his throat. “Can I have it?”

“Uh, no, yes, no, and no.” I watched him think about all the things he’d said and search for the yes.

“Oo, exciting, I—” he cocked his head. “Uh oh.”

There was a pattering of footsteps behind me. Then—

“Flynne!” Moonshine jumped over the back of the couch on All-Fours, sailing right between me and Rainpelt and skittering to a halt on the floor. The black and white fox shook her head and Stood Up, grinning.

“Hi, Moonshine!” I let out a sigh of relief. Considering Moonshine’s usual crash-landings, I was relieved that she wasn’t hurt anywhere this time. “How you doing?”

“Well, today I woke up with a sore throat, so Lightningbolt made me have cough syrup, which is gross,” she narrated, her hands making wild gestures in the air. “And then instead of making quiche for breakfast like he said he would, Hurricane made soup. But soup isn’t a breakfast meal! So then I was like, ‘No, Hurricane, I am not eating that.’ But then Shadowpaw told me that if I ate breakfast, he’d take me to the market tomorrow, so, you know. Obviously I ate breakfast. Then I decided I wanted to go to the garden, so I went outside…” as Moonshine continued her play-by-play of the day, Rainpelt gave her a look and poked her in the rib cage with his bare toes.

Moonshine pretended not to notice, but took a step away from her older brother. “Flynne, can you pretend to ignore someone, or is it just the same as ignoring them?” She shot a pointed glare in Rainpelt’s direction.

“It’s the same as ignoring them,” I nodded with my eyes closed to make a point somehow. “And that’s rude.”

“Oh. Then in that case,” Moonshine turned her head to return Rainpelt’s look and put her hands on her waist. “Rainpelt. Do not. Touch me. With. Your. Disgusting. Toes. Again.”

“Moonshine, I was talking to Flynne,” he told her, tucking his feet beneath the couch.

“Yeah, well, so was I.”

Rainpelt got up slowly, looked down at his little sister like a hawk, and then swiftly picked her up and threw her onto the second couch. She erupted into a fit of giggles as he grabbed a cushion, put it on top of her, and shook it, making her laughs of glee come out sounding like she was speaking into a fan.

I watched mutely from the couch, entranced by the playful and yet dominative nature of their tousle. I wished I had an older brother. Or a younger sister. Or any siblings at all.

After a few moments, he released the pillow and returned to his seat beside me. Moonshine’s giggles slowly subsided into an infrequent squeal.

“She’s fine.” He leaned back and stretched his neck. “Anyway, you were saying? You have something ‘important’ to tell me?” he prompted.

“Right. I—”

The annoying clang of Hurricane’s dinner bell rang, and I sighed. I guess that’s the universe telling me not to tell Rainpelt.

“That’s dinner,” he declared, rising beside me. “You really have wonderful timing,” he shouted at his brother, walking to the dining room.

I walked past him and Hurricane and into the kitchen to help Sunray, Rainpelt’s twin sister, set the table.

“Hey Flynne,” the golden-haired girl greeted me, drying a soup spoon with a bright blue dish towel. “What’ve you been been up to lately?”

“I joined my school’s track team,” I said, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

“Ha! About time,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You love running more than you love us, you weirdo.”

“You guys make it so easy, though.” Sunray flicked my arm and I giggled as I opened the dish cabinet. I carefully organized eight bowls into two neat piles on the counter. “How’s life?” I wondered.

“Pretty lifey,” Sunray shrugged, putting a handful of spoons into one bowl and taking them to the counter. I followed her with the rest. “Moonshine woke up with a sore throat and was being difficult. We’re eating breakfast leftovers for dinner. Oh! But Shadowpaw, er, acquired some bread from a market.” She winked at me.

I sat in my usual spot at the Larkspur’s dinner table, between Rainpelt and Sunray. It was always a blessing to eat Hurricane’s food—whether it’s a roasted vegetable concoction or sweet and spicy chicken, and especially the rare sweet meats and eggs when he does breakfast for dinner. (And, cough, when Shadowpaw goes… er… shopping.)

“Ta-da!” Hurricane mouthed, setting a big blue pot in the center of the table on a thick crocheted pot holder. He disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with a basket of the dinner rolls that Sunray had mentioned earlier in one hand and a pitcher of parsley and mint water in the other.

All the Larkspurs are tall—they got it from their dad—but I think Hurricane takes the cake. He’s only sixteen, but he’s a little taller than Shadowpaw, who just turned seventeen. And Hurricane doesn’t seem like he’s going to stop growing for another couple of months, so this guy is going to be a GIANT.

Hurricane signed something after his hands were free, causing his siblings to laugh.

I’m not very fluent in FSL (Fox Sign Language, not to be confused with Florian Sign Language. The two are extremelydifferent.) Whenever Hurricane signs something, I either don’t notice it or I just copy Sunray’s reaction.

Hurricane isn’t deaf; that’s not why he uses FSL—he’s actually cursed.

Oh, gosh, you’re confused, aren’t you? Well, let me explain…

About fifty or so years ago, the Larkspur’s grandad was young and had a knack for talking his way into trouble. Not out. In.

He loved to travel and made quite a few enemies while abroad, joking and insulting people and making himself look bad.

Despite everything, though, he was a nice enough man. He was just young and stupid at the time.

Well, if there was ever a person to hold yourself together around, the Sorceress of Permafrost Kingdom was her. (Mr. Larkspur did get around.)

One evening, while drunk and at a bar, he spoke rather rudely to her and, as Lightningbolt had put it, nearly disgraced the family name.

Enraged by his disrespect, she decided to teach him a lesson and cast a spell upon him that stole his voice.

While he was still shocked and confused, she explained to him what she had done. He would never speak again for the rest of his life, and his second son, and his son’s second son, and so on, would also bear his curse as punishment. And so, Mr. Larkspur’s second son was my friend’s father, passing on the curse to a third generation.

After Shadowpaw led the prayer to Genevieve, the Goddess of creation and the Queen of all gods and goddesses, and everyone served themselves, I told the table—not just Rainpelt—about where I’d gone earlier that day.

“Hey guys, guess what?” I took a dinner roll and placed it beside my bowl on the table.

“What?” they chorused.

“Okay, today I was near Moonflower Valley and—”

Shadowpaw paused mid-sip from his spoon and looked at me, and the silence that radiated off of him quieted me. He set down his spoon, never breaking eye contact. “You went to Moonflower Valley?”

“Well, not in there, but—”

“Flynne, that place is really dangerous—you know that, right?”

“Well, technically, the forest is also really dangerous, but you guys still live here instead of coming to the South Pack, so…”

“That’s different, Flynne. The packs betrayed us when we asked for help. They left us to deal with our own—” (a glance around the table and a calming breath) “Flynne. There are six of us. We have locks on our door. We’re safe.”

“There were a lot of people in the East Pack and they still got destroyed.” I have to admit that was low, and I don’t really know why I said it. But I didn’t take it back, because it was true.

“Yes, and they did that,” Shadowpaw squeezed his bread so aggressively that the melted cheese that was in the center oozed out. “They killed my family, and they could kill you, too.”

“Stop saying they,” I retorted. “You don’t know anyone from there. What if the people were all different? What if, instead of mindless killers, there were mothers, fathers, children? What if you gave them a chance?”

“My parents gave them a chance.” His eyes blazed with anger. “You saw where that got them.” He stood up and stalked away, slamming the door to his room.

I buried my head in my hands, letting my long red hair cover my face from view. An awkward silence filled the room, and I noticed Rainpelt and Hurricane get up from their seats and make their way towards their room. Shadowpaw could be so… so… Gah! I can’t even properly be mad at him, because I understood why he was upset. I did. But still… he’s so infuriating!

“Well, now that the boys are gone we can PARTY!” Moonshine declared, breaking the silence. I pulled my hair out of my face to see her standing on her chair and grinning triumphantly.

“Sit down,” Lightningbolt pulled her by the elbow until she sat on her bottom.

Moonshine pouted. “You know, I think I’ll also retire for the evening,” she said primly, pushing away her bowl of soup and standing. (On the floor this time.)

“Eat your food.” Lightningbolt ordered.

“Ugh! But I already ate this for breakfast. And how come the boys didn’t eat?”

“Because they’re older,” Sunray said in sync with Lightningbolt’s “They are going to eat, they’re just having a conversation right now.”

Moonshine and Sunray winked slyly at each other.

I looked at my full bowl of soup. It was still steaming, and it smelled incredible, but I’d lost my appetite.

“I’m going to go now, alright? Enjoy your dinner,” I told them, standing and pushing my chair in.

“Aw, okay,” Lightningbolt stood and hugged me. “Are you alright? Do you wanna tell us what you did? We won’t tell Shadowpaw,” she added conspiratorially.

I glanced skeptically at Moonshine.

She put a hand on her heart, offended. “Do you think I can’t keep a secret? Me? I am so offended right now.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Flynne. I am the best secret keeper in the world. My mouth is like a steal trap—nothing can escape from it.”

Sunray snorted. “I’d like to hear that more often. Or rather, not hear it.” She gave Moonshine a look out of the corner of her eye, and Moonshine stuck her tongue out at her.

I bit my lip. Well, if they were going to twist my arm about it… So I told them. Their reaction was what I’d expected Shadowpaw’s being, wary at first, then intrigued, and then extremely excited.

As I left, something stirred inside me, some sort of anticipation. It felt almost as if bumping into Clementine would affect my future in some life-altering way. I laughed and shook it off, dropping to All-Fours. I was being ridiculous. One girl couldn’t change my life.

…Could she?