"Of course. I'd be delighted." Taran nodded. "Well, I should leave you be. I'll be sure to tell him that. But you shoud be prepared to have him bother you quite often, although you don't strike me as the kind of person who would mind."
%20pngg.png)
Boar-back snorted. "Maybe, maybe not. Careful with your words, Kali. I've heard it said that people should respect their elders, especially when their elders are bandits. My opinion on the good doctor is really none of your business, clear?" He didn't sound mad, though, just far less flustered than Brandon had been.
"I respect my elders if they deserve respect," Taran said, sending him an innocent smile. "And I am being very respectful. I don't care about your opinion of the doctor. It really isn't any of my business. I was merely pointing out that you don't seem like the kind of person to mind."
"Well, you are right about that." The chief sat back and turned to the next page of his book. "Did Muddybones help you find what you needed for a new arm, by the way?"
"Yup, he did." Taran hid an amused smile at the change of subject. "It should be done by tomorrow at the most."
"Good. I'll start planning our next visit to the outside world so you can test it out in battle, hm? Let me know when you're ready for a fight."
"I'm always ready for a fight." Taran started to walk back to her tent, waving to him as she did. "With who, for who, it doesn't matter, as long as there's a fight."
"In that case, you'll fit right in around here," Boar-back called. "I'll see you later, then."
"Later." She hurried away. It was strange, being around all these nice people. She had heard stories of evil bandits, who would raid and kill. These guys seemed more like puppies than anything else - not that she would ever tell them that. Some people would take kinder to being called puppies than others.
For the next hour or so, no one bothered her. It seemed that the bandits who were naturally curious, like Ango and Shiv, were all busy with other tasks now, and the more sociable ones like Muddybones and Florida had other people to chat with. At one point, there was a brief ruckus as some bandits got too close to a crow's nest just outside camp, but other than that the only sound was the crackling of the fires as lunch was slowly prepared.
Taran slouched over her table, trying to screw in a small screw to the metal of her arm. It was slowly taking shape, but it was taking a painfully long time. At this rate, it would be done tomorrow at the earliest. She scowled, sitting back and glaring at the lump of metal on her desk. Her stomach grumbled, and she pinched her lips. When was lunch?
As if on cue, the camp suddenly erupted with barks and howls, as if someone had set off a grenade made of insane dogs. Rising over the tumult was a youthful but authoritative voice, ordering the dogs to shut up and sit down. As the dogs' cries turned to eager whines, the camp started to stir, and the bandits left their shelters to grab something to eat.
"It's as if I'm magical." Taran gave a wry smile and hurried out of her tent, clipping on her old arm as she did so. It was awkward, sometimes, to only be using one arm to do things.
One of the closest fires was occupied by Muddybones, Shiv, Ango, and a few other Scavengers. As soon as Muddybones saw Taran, he waved to her. "Hey, you hungry? Come sit over here, we've got soup."
"Just soup?" Taran gave a dramatic sigh and sat down. "Fine. I guess I'll sit here with you losers." She sent them all a grin. "So, what have you boring people been up to since I last saw you?"
"Nothin' much," Ango said cheerfully.
"Cleaning with Doctor Brandon," Shiv replied, poking at the fire. "I also did part of my schoolin' after you left. The doctor's letting me read his medical books so I can get better at helping out."
Muddybones took a deep whiff of the soup. "I hunted for scraps in the woods with Birchblood and Tinsnips here." He waved at two of the other Scavengers–a blond girl wearing nothing but blue clothing and a squinty young man wearing a large sieve as a hat. "We didn't find much, but was something to do. How 'bout you, Kali?"
"I talked with the chief and the doctor," she said cheerfully. "And worked on my stupid arm. I swear, if it's going to be this difficult in making, then I'm going to scrap it altogether." She shrugged.
Tinsnips tilted his head, and the colorful shards of plastic attached to his cracked sunglasses jangled. "You're making a new arm? I make stuff out of metal too. I like to make art."
Muddybones groaned. "Don't get started on your "art" again. It's a waste of good scrap if you ask me."
Taran laughed. "Is there really such thing as 'good scrap'? There's scrap, just scrap, until someone gives it meaning, and makes something out of it."
(Sorry, had to work this afternoon)
Muddybones snorted. "And that kind of talk is what makes you a Fighter, not a Scavenger. Clearly you've never seen good scrap next to bad scrap before. It can be incredibly hard to know the difference sometimes, but if you've got an expert eye–like I do–the good scrap shines like a starry night sky….."
Shiv plopped her chin in her hands and sighed with deep boredom as Muddybones rambled on. Ango caught her eye and stifled a laugh, then leaned over to Taran. "Can you reach the soup from where you are? I think it's done cooking."
(It's fine!)
"Yeah, I got it." Taran helped dish some out to everyone, every single word of Muddybones' going straight through one ear and out the other. She jerked her head at him. "Are you guys sure that he's sane? Because I think he might need to be checked out, mental health wise."
"He's just got a giant ego," Birchblood replied. Apparently, her speaking was a rarity, because even Muddybones turned to listen. "Trust me, he's actually one of the more stable ones. All the real crazies hang out with the Fighters."
Shiv nodded. "Yeah, a lot of the Fighters are messed up 'cause they like hurting people more than anything else. Or they're like Blue Tommy, we think he sees and hears things that aren't there. Some of us Scavengers might be…..weird in the head, but at least we're not dangerous."
"I dunno," Taran said, balancing her soup bowl on her knee and brushing her hair from her face. Her bad arm hung limp by her side. "I've met a few bad Scavengers, and good Fighters. Some of the Fighters I know would give their life, their income, and their sourceof happiness just to save some ungrateful kids from abusive parents. And some Scavengers I know would kill anyone, steal anything, to get enough money and power and fame. It all depends on who you meet."
Muddybones rolled his eyes, but Ango looked thoughtful. "Huh. I mean, there are nice and not-nice people on both sides. Blue Tommy's actually pretty cool as long as you don't spook him. And anyway, none of that's really important, right? We're all part of the same tribe, so the chief says we should work together, like a family."
"Tell that to Florida and her cronies," Muddybones muttered, angrily gulping down his soup. "Kali, if you start hanging out with the Fighters more after this, make sure you don't believe a word she says, aright? All she's good at is picking fights and bullying people."
"Well, if I do start to hang out with her, and she does something I don't like, you might have a few more crippled Fighters." Taran smiled beautifically. "I mean, you didn't hear it from me, of course. I'm just an innocent little newbie who will go along with anything anyone says."
Muddybones snickered gleefully. "I knew you were okay, Kali, from the minute I first saw ya. We won't breathe a word, will we guys?"
The others shook their heads with varying levels of interest. Ango helped himself to more soup. "By th' way, does anybody know when the next raid's gonna be? Chief hasn't made any announcements yet, but he must be makin' plans."
"Doesn't he have helpers to help determine when he will do more raids?" Taran asked, finally eating some soup herself. "Or does he do it all by himself?"
"Um…" Shiv shrugged. "Well, Renzi helps him organize things, and I think he has some spies 'n scouts watching the other bandit tribes, but mostly it's what he decides. If he wants us to do anything tonight, we'll find out after lunch. That's when he usually makes announcements and stuff."
"I hope we don't do another looting mission so soon," Muddybones remarked with a yawn. "I'm still tired after the one last night. If the chief doesn't have any plans, I'm taking a nap right away."
"Do it. Even if he has some plans, it's better to get some rest than none at all." Taran helped herself to another bowl of soup. "So, how long have you all known each other for?"
"Quite a while," Muddybones replied. "Outta this group here, I've been part of the Hounds the longest. I've been around long enough to remember when Boar-back wasn't in charge. I was real young back then, though. Then there was Shiv, we found her orphaned in a village and got her to join. Then not long after that, Ango showed up from way back east, sayin' he was supposed to find the chief for some reason. He had a letter for the chief and nobody knows what it said—not even Ango, right pal?" Ango nodded. "Anyway, the chief read it and let him join. That was a while ago now. Birchblood and Tinsnips are the newest pair here besides you, Kali. Tinsnips used to be a part of a different gang that we swallowed last year, and Birchblood has 'bout the same backstory as Shiv."