Odina was surrounded by vibrant foliage. The young warrior absolutely adored how the trees shifted with the seasons in certain areas of the forest, some opting to keep their spindly and crystal leaves while others lost theirs like a blanket dropped whenever the colder season began. Odina adored how her family home was always a comforting sight amongst the vibrant colors of autumn with its large treehouse-like structure wrapping around one of the great trees that stood on top of one of Chiume’s larger cliffs, a shimmering white structure that stood out against the crimson autumn leaves. The large gnarled branches wrapped around a swinging walkway of ropes and planks that twisted around the upper level of the home, the larger round room where most of her family slept in the now three split rooms while the area below was also round with larger open windows, the currently bronze curtains constantly swaying from the ocean breeze that came from the pristine white beach nestled right below the larger cliffside. During the colder months it would not be uncommon for Odina to nestle up in a pile of pillows in the main room, the Vandrea enjoying the view of the ocean while staying warm during the winter. She would still go out and train, especially now that she was older, but it was nice knowing that she had a place to relax whenever things were too bitter or she needed a break. Not that she really bothered reading many of the tomes and scrolls in her mothers’ study as the girl only opted to steal training tomes and anything related to weapons, she was simply too much of an action person more so than a general reader and writer. Still, even Odina knew that she couldn’t quite enjoy the coziness of winter without first helping out with the harvest. While sisters gathered what they could, hunting and gathering from the forest to store away supplies for the winter months, Odina was one of the first to rise with the sun so that she could begin her training and then jump into roaming the forest for berries and the like. When she was a youngling she would always race to fill a basket before any of her siblings and even though she had taken up a bow for hunting, Odina still preferred to fill a few baskets with berries so that their family could have preserves and the like during the winter months. She especially enjoyed jam spread on fresh bread, the very thought making her stomach grumble as she wandered the forest now and started plucking the darker red berries from their bushes.

“This is a good haul.” She smirked as she didn’t mind the juices staining her fingers as she continued reaching over and over into the foliage, not even minding the little thorns that pricked at her skin, and Odina quickly filled up all three baskets that had been hanging on her arms. She hoped that her mothers could help make tarts, one of the few things that Odina had actually learned to make thanks to her love of sweets and disdain for going into the earthling cities to purchase baked goods, and then once she baked a full tray the warrior would bring them to the harvest festival where all the other sisters and cousins brought their own offering to the harvest feast. All of the Vandrea and Alkidike living on Chiume would gather near Esena and send offerings of lights up into the heavens before participating in games and a huge feast where the whole community simply forgot about their worries for one night and enjoyed the bounties given to them. Her mothers always said that the same thing happened back home in Chibale even though the timing and urgency of the harvest festivals were not quite the same considering how the jungle often stayed warm and it was more so just a habit of celebration and making certain to bond with sisters by enjoying some festivities together. Odina vaguely remembered visiting once or twice when she was a youngling and helping out with such festivities though most of her teenage years had been spent on Chiume where she felt most at home. It was here that she would continue gathering berries and the like in the forest before helping with whatever else needed prepared before the harvest festival, the warrior always pushing herself to prove her strength to the community and showing that she truly had a heart of gold for any sister in need. Tomorrow I’ll help weed the gardens and make certain to help patch any spots in our home that will potentially allow a draft when the weather becomes bitter. She mused as she shifted the baskets on her arm and started back through the forest once more.

[800]