Summer 514 AV Day 13
Two large buckets lay strewn in the grass, empty now though still slick with wetness, accompanied by Rue who had fallen beside them. Before such a thing would have drawn a curse from Rue's lips, but now she found she nearly cowered as her cry the sounds of the fallen buckets beating the earth drew her father from the depths of the pavilion.
"What happened?" The words were a low rumbling sound, all the more worrisome in their quiet. He had been in a poor mood when he had sent her to fetch water alone, and now his posture held the tension and shape of dangerous anger.
"There was a hoof pick hidden in the grass," Rue's voice trembled as it scraped by her lips, her body screaming of penance, "I stepped on it and the pick caught the heel of my boot." His scowl darkened and she hurried to explain, "I stumbled and the water took my balance, I caught my fall," She showed him the reddening marks on her forearms, "but the buckets weren't so lucky."
That she was worried that she had finished her explanation without interruption, it was not a good sign, rather one of his inability to express the depths of his anger.
He glanced around, and despite the early hour, there were a number of other people about. Witnesses to his anger. He yanked her to feet by one of her offered forearms, and hissed a single word into her ear.
"Inside." Rue rushed to obey despite her worry of what was to come.
Two large buckets lay strewn in the grass, empty now though still slick with wetness, accompanied by Rue who had fallen beside them. Before such a thing would have drawn a curse from Rue's lips, but now she found she nearly cowered as her cry the sounds of the fallen buckets beating the earth drew her father from the depths of the pavilion.
"What happened?" The words were a low rumbling sound, all the more worrisome in their quiet. He had been in a poor mood when he had sent her to fetch water alone, and now his posture held the tension and shape of dangerous anger.
"There was a hoof pick hidden in the grass," Rue's voice trembled as it scraped by her lips, her body screaming of penance, "I stepped on it and the pick caught the heel of my boot." His scowl darkened and she hurried to explain, "I stumbled and the water took my balance, I caught my fall," She showed him the reddening marks on her forearms, "but the buckets weren't so lucky."
That she was worried that she had finished her explanation without interruption, it was not a good sign, rather one of his inability to express the depths of his anger.
He glanced around, and despite the early hour, there were a number of other people about. Witnesses to his anger. He yanked her to feet by one of her offered forearms, and hissed a single word into her ear.
"Inside." Rue rushed to obey despite her worry of what was to come.