The Ridgerunner in the Durgan Guild 2

Keya gasped and held her head. "My flute!" She whined. "No, no... I must have dropped it in that barn!"

Her screaming alerted her father to come up the steps. "What's all the yelling?"

Keya couldn't help but cry. "I lost it, dad."

"Lost what? Your mind?" Conrow replied in a cold tone as he entered the room and paused at the top of the steps.

Keya curled up on her side in her bed. "M-my flute... I lost it... the one mom made me..." She whimpered helplessly, hoping her father would show a shred of compassion towards her.

"All this over that piece of wood?" Conrow sighed. "Keya, calm yourself down. You're going to make it worse for you if you writhe about."

"It was more than a piece of wood, you know it!" Keya shouted before gripping the sides of her head tightly and crying harder.

Conrow shook his head and folded his arms. "You're acting like that object was your actual mother, Keya."

"It was all I had left from her..." Keya sniffled and wiped her perked nose with her hand.

"Hey, that's not true." Conrow slowly unfolded his arms, realizing his 'tough love' wasn't helping anyone. He walked over and sat on the edge of her bed. "We're still a family without her."

"It never feels like that anymore..." Keya rubbed her eyes gently as it hurt to press on them. "I miss her so much..."

Conrow sighed again and looked away. "Me too..."

Keya looked at her father with aching eyes. "Could you get it... for me?"

"What?!" Conrow quickly looked back at his daughter with disbelief. "Keya, it's too dangerous for me to go get your flute and you don't even know when or where you dropped it."

"Please..." Keya begged.

Conrow took a hard look at his daughter before shaking his head. "No, Keya... I can't risk that. It would endanger me and possibly the rest of us after our raid last night."

Keya whined and covered her eyes with her hands. She knew it would be dangerous for her father to go through with her request but she's in so much pain right now that she could use the comfort. "I... I understand." She finally muttered and turned on her other side.

"..." Conrow was quiet for a moment before standing up. "I'll bring up some food for you in a little bit... But I forbid you from getting out of bed. Do you understand? Cheeki said you had to be in bed all day for the herb mixture to take effect."

"I couldn't get up if I tried..." Keya whined again.

Conrow stood there a moment before gently patting Keya on the leg. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He told her before climbing back down their stairs that encircled the trunk of the tree.

Keya layed there staring up at the ceiling of her room which was made from leaves and a special tar. Tears rolled down her cheeks in opposite directions, making the pillow wet around her ears. Her head ached horribly and crying made it feel worse. "I can't believe I lost it..." She murmured with regret and closed her eyes to try to forget about that flute ever existing.

After what seemed like hours but was really thirty minutes, Conrow returned with a bowl of cherries and a cup of water and set it on the side table. "Keya, I brought you some cherries."

Keya sighed in response. "I'm not hungry..."

"Hey, Cheeki said you needed to eat. That means you need to eat whether you like it or not." Conrow sat on the end of the bed again. "So come on, eat a cherry." He reached over to the bowl, took out a cherry, and held it by the stem over Keya's face.

"I feel nauseous, dad..." Keya explained with a miserable tone.

"At least one?" Conrow lowered the cherry and somehow managed to balance it on the end of his daughter's nose.

Keya sighed and the cherry fell off her nose. She picked it up and put it in her mouth to appease her father.

Conrow nodded in response. "There you go. You should be better in no time." He stood up and walked to the stairs. "Oh, and you have a visitor."

"I do...?" Keya asked before forcing herself to sit up to look in Conrow's direction.

Another young ridgerunner, the same age as Keya, climbed up the stairs as Conrow passed him. This ridgerunner's name was Hahner.

This Hahner had been known Keya or years but just recently started to get to know her as a friend. He had comforted Keya with the loss of her mom because he had also lost his mother a few years back. The two of them comforted each other and have grown closer the passed six months.

Hahner slowly walked over to Keya and set a purple wildflower on her side table beside the bowl of cherries. He couldn't help but stare at the cherries for a moment before looking at Keya. "I heard you got hurt last night and... I brought you a flower."

Keya smiled softly. "Thank you, Hahn." Her smile soon faded as quick as it came. "Thank you for visiting me... I feel so humiliated..."

Hahner sat on the ground by the head of her bed. He was quiet a moment before replying, "It was an accident, don't be hard on yourself..."

"It was a stupid accident... I should have just grabbed an apple or something but no... I had to climb the shelves to get some grapes... It was a stupid decision. Because of my slip up, dad is mad at me and I lost mother's flute..." She began to tear up again. "How could I lose it..."

Hahner leaned his head on the side of her bed and looked at her. "I'm sorry you lost her flute... it was not your fault though... You shouldn't be hard on yourself, I don't blame you... I know how much you love grapes..."

Hahner was always a soft spoken ridgerunner but just as skittish like any other. However, he tended to have the words Keya needed at the right time. Even when he didn't, Hahner was always a great listener.

Keya started to cry again. The sight of her tears sprang Hahner to his feet.

Hahner quickly used the corner of his jacket to blot her tears and he hushed her. "Crying will make your head hurt more, Keya... It will be okay. We can even go look for the flute after you feel better."

"Wh-what... What if it's broken? Or maybe a dog got it? It's all I have left of my mother..." She whimpered helplessly.

"Then I'll go look for it for you. Where is it? Is it where you were last night?" Hahner didn't know the full extent of what he was committing to do but all he wanted to do was to help Keya.

Keya's miserable expression became worried. "No, no I don't think that's a good idea, Hahner... as much as I want my flute back... My dad is right, it's too dangerous."

"Are you really sure?" Hahner frowned softly. "I know how much it means to you..."

"Yes, I'm sure... but thank you for asking." Keya sighed but smiled slightly. "You're a good friend..."

He smiled softly before glancing at the bowl of cherries again. It was obvious to Keya that he wanted her cherries.

"You can have some, if you'd like." She responded to Hahner's hungry eyes. "I would eat them in a heartbeat... if I didn't feel so awful..."

Hahner's ears perked up and he looked at his friend. "Really? Thank you!" He happily took some cherries and snacked on them as he hung out with Keya for a few hours.

After keeping her company, Hahner left Keya's treehouse and proceeded home. However, he stopped upon reaching a cross roads. One path led toward home and the other in the direction of the human's home from the night before. Thinking about how happy his friend would be if he found her flute for her, Hahner decided to go against her wishes to look for it at the location of the raid.

Now, Hahner didn't adventure much outside the land claimed by his people and while he was nervous, the only person on his mind was Keya. He carefully made his way through the forest and down the slope to the clearing in the trees.

He spotted the barn but quickly hid because he saw a dog tied to the door. "I can't just give up... There has to be a way inside without that dog barking at me." Hahner thought to himself before spotting a window very high up on the side of the barn wall. This was also the window Keya had fallen out of when she ran away the night before.

Seeing this has his only opportunity to check and see if the flute is there, Hahner takes a quick look around before bolting to the wall and swiftly climbing it as if it were any other surface. He reached the top of the window without a problem and gazed inside. Hahner looked and looked along the ground where Keya said she fell.

The mess was mostly cleaned up from the fruit splatter but there was no sign of Keya's beloved flute.

Sighing, Hahner turned to climb out of the window with disappointment. However, he was interrupted by the sound of music.