#mobile wont lemme add the cut bar >:c

[ashenbun]

-= Foster =-

Anam looked down at the head of mouse brown hair hovering awkwardly between himself and Njsta. He remembered the woman from his childhood and she hadn't much changed; large and inquisitive green eyes framed by curved face paintings in a dull orange, stumpy dirty blonde ears and short cropped hair of the same shade against not-quite-caramel skin. That made the snivelling individual being pushed towards him her son.

"Please? I remember you when you were a boy, Rhes- kind and compassionate- I trust you with Kosve." She half pleaded, her smile wavering. "He is not so skilled with a bow, but he is a good cook! And he learns very quickly."

Anam's gaze drifted down towards that trembling head of hair and the overly fuzzy ears that drooped either side of it. He didn't answer Njsta just yet and instead reached out a hand to grasp Kosve by his small chin and pulled the child's face upward to look at him directly. Green eyes immediately closed.

Anam sighed. Audibly.

"I cannae, Njsta."

"Why!?" She blurted, her grip on her son's shoulders tightening.

Though his gaze was on her, Anam watched the boy in his periphery. Those fuzzy ears began to creep hopefully upwards.

"Am no takin' a boy jist tae die! Lookit 'im-" Anam swept a hand over the scrawny figure between them, "- a strong breeze'd knock him ower! And whit's he plan on 'untin' wi' his eyes borin' holes in th'flare? His aen feet!?"

Kosve's shoulders rose up and those fuzzy ears began to straighten at those words. The fur on the tips bristled.

"I'm not giving him to Sainn! The last boy that went with him I heard was left for dead. I know it is custom to test them, but Sainn is a bastard!" Njsta snapped. "Kosve will not die, he can handle himself, I have made sure of it."

"Really? An' how'd ye'd manage that?" 

Anam put his weight on one foot and crossed his arms over his leather jerkin with a soft creak. By now a small amount of Viera had gathered to watch. Some of them tried to look as if they were busy with other tasks but their hands moved too slow and their ears were trying too hard not to twist over. 

Anam rose a brow, waiting.

"The same way we taught you! With spear and bow, and how to clean and to sew, or have you been gone so long as to forget who really teaches you men how to survive?"

Njsta's words cut across the space and left silence in their wake. By the slight widening of her eyes, Anam suspected she hadn't meant to snap so, but it had been said now and her provoking expression told him she would not back down.

"I have not forgotten." Anam kept his voice low, tempered and even. "All've us know we would nae've lasted a day'd it no been fir our mithers, but... look. That's no a boy! He's as useful as a babe by th' look've 'im an th'moment I took my eyes aff 'im he'd be runnin' back tae y-"

"Shuddup."

Anam's jaw clipped shut and he had to try hard to keep the smile from creeping in. Slowly he took his gaze from Njsta to the boy before him. To the croaky- and slightly squeaky- voice that addressed him.

"Both yous. Shuddup." Kosve gave a hearty sniff and pushed his mother's arms from his shoulders, purposefully moving to make a triangle of their bodies. "I'm small, yeah, but I'm not deaf! I'm old enough! I am going and you are taking me!!"

Those scrawny little arms shook from determined anger and the grip of tiny balled fists. Kosve stared up unflinchingly at Anam now and his eyes held the same challenging flame his mother's had moments before. Only the boy had lit that fire deliberately.

The silence stretched out and eventually even the sound of tools stopped as those closest stopped to watch in earnest. Anam kept his gaze level with the boy just long enough to test that flame, to see if it would snuff out if pushed. It held. Even if Kosve did give an anxious swallow or two. Anam sighed.

"...Grab yer things."

Kosve's eyes flew so wide, Anam almost didn't catch the laugh that threatened to escape. He nodded to the boy with an expectant quirk of an eyebrow and Kosve, now stunned and bewildered, looked up to his mother. Njsta was equally as surprised but recovered much faster.

"Yes- Go! Grab your things, Kosve! Quickly!" 

She flapped her hands at him as if it would will the boy to move faster. He was already stumbling over his own feet as he raced through the village he was going so fast. As soon as he was out of sight, Njsta rounded on Anam with a wry grin and an outstretched palm.

"Ten, as was agreed," When Anam opened his mouth to object, she produced one silencing finger. "Ah! He cracked before we could use the goats."

Anam groaned but diligently reached to a small pouch that hung from his belt at his left hip. He untied it and passed it to the woman. It clacked as it landed in her palm and she spilled some of the contents out for inspection. It contained many polished and carved stones; Anam's own handiwork. They were used to commune with spirits by the women but could only be made in places the men could reach.

"I still 'hink he'd've come willingly if ye told 'im 'e was ready. All this testin' 'is mettle seems unnecessary, Neest."

"Aww, sad that you lost, Rhes? I know my boy. He is strong but only when he is given… motivation. A lot like you, once upon a time. Now you are just a pushover, eh?"

Anam's eyes narrowed but he could not retaliate. Kosve came trotting back towards them with an expression a tangle of anxiety and excitement. Anam couldn't say another word or Njsta's plan would be exposed. The devious woman had already forced her eyes to mist as she turned back to the boy. She stole him into a hug with one hand upon the back of his head, pushed him back so that she could commit his form to memory and then turned him towards Anam. The very picture of a proud mother sending her son off. Anam wished he had never let her rope him into this ridiculous plan. Her son should have just waited until the next group of men came through instead of scrambling to go with him.

"Come along, boy." 

Turning on his heel Anam began the long trek back out to his camp. The sound of smaller feet struggling to keep up slowed him down slightly.

"My name's Kosve!"

"Not anymore it's no. Tomorrow ye'll wake up someone new."

From behind the pair, Njsta's theatrical farewell sang it's way over, crying out for her son's safety and for the spirits to aid the pair.

Anam drew a deep breath and made his own, silent prayer; to never again be drawn in by a game of chance.