“No wait!” I said, keeping my voice as quiet as possible. Coja looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed, she was clearly confused and must not have noticed who it was. The figure made itself more recognizable as it’s body emerged from the bushes. We both gazed at the top of the hill; Coja immediately drops the rock she had picked up, and replaced what was in her hand with the rabbit mask she had by her belt.

It was clear to us just who it was. The figure on top of the hill was a woman everyone knew as Mistress Winoe, (or just Ms. Winoe for short) who was easy to identify by the large bird-like mask she’d always wear, and the large dark blue cloak, alongside the empowering stance she has. Actually, Ms. Winoe is more than just a woman with a big blue coat and intimidating figure to us, she is our caretaker. In fact, Winoe is the caretaker to many children of our group. Just as her tall, stiff body would suggest, she is a very strict woman who is known for being rather cruel to us if we didn’t listen to her. She would rarely physically harm us, but Winoe had other ways to punish us. Many of which are far worse than any physical punishment could ever deliver.

Needless to say, Coja and I were beyond nervous, and beyond scared to hear whatever Winoe was about to say next.

“What are you two doing here?” she asked with a bit of annoyance in her tone. Winoe walked down the hill with her hands behind her back, staring at us with that frightening bird mask. “You were supposed to return to the campsite once you finished washing your clothes.” She examens us both carefully. Even through her mask I could see and feel her eyes scan me up and down. Then her head turns to Coja, and without a second passing by she responds. “Coja!”

“Y-Yes ma’am?” Coja fumbles with her own words, her mind is scattered and she’s visibly shaking with fierce nervosity.

“Your clothes are dirtier than when you first left the camp.” Winoe was enraged “Don’t tell me you’ve been fooling around this whole time!”

“No ma’am! It’s just...well, Strado here dropped his mask in the middle of the woods, and so he asked me to find it for him!”

“What!? That’s not-” Immediately after saying that, Coja proceeded to stomp my foot.

“You see,” she continued as I struggled to hold in my screams of pain. “Strado can be a bit clumsy at times, and so, as his senior, I have to make sure he doesn’t get himself in any trouble.”

“You little…” I wanted to call her some vulgar cuss word, but honestly that would, in no way, go down well with Ms. Winoe right in front of us. I just had to remember this for later when I get my payback.

“I am not looking for excuses young lady.” Winoe said sternly. “When you two asked if you could go by the river to wash your clothes, I expect you to be here with that one task in mind. You’re wasting everyone’s valuable time the longer you stay here, lollygagging like a bunch of children!” Winoe was going on a ranting tangent, something Coja and I are far too familiar with. Ironically, if it were true that we were indeed wasting everyone’s time, then Winoe was only adding to the time we were wasting with her long winded rant aimed towards us. Now of course I’d never say that to her because I value my life, but it’s something I definitely thought.

“Now then,” Winoe said, ending her rant spree, “you’ve wasted too much time here. It seems you’ll have to just wait for the next stop to wash your clothes, Coja.”

“Aww, what a bummer.” Coja replied sarcastically as she glared my way and smiled.

“Strado!” Winoe’s yell made me physically jump.

“Yes ma’am!”

“You’re done, aren’t you?”

“Washing my clothes? Yes ma’am, I’m finished!”

“Good. At least one of you listens to me.” Winoe leers at Coja, to which Coja bashfully looks away, trying to avoid eye contact with her. “Grab your bags and follow me. We must return back to camp immediately.” Coja and I look at each other as Winoe begins to walk away.

“What’s the rush, Mistress?” Coja asks. Winoe halts and looks back, staring directly at the both us.

“We’ve found another piece of Belthios.”