Trophies and Punishments

I look at the large tooth in my hands as Nir carries me in his arms. Sounds of birds begin to fill the forest with life once again as we head back to the outhouse.

“Can I see that for a moment?”, Tolbin asks me as he matches Nir’s pace.

“It’s pretty awesome, right!?”, I excitedly claim as I hand it to Tolbin. The younger slayer grabs the tooth and conjures a small knife made of water into his free hand. Magic is real here? Alright, maybe this world will be better than I thought.

“First we clean it up.”, Tolbin explains to me as he begins to scrap the tooth with the knife. “Theeeeeen,”, He continues as he finishes that step, “We make a hole near the base.” He proceeds to stab the knife into the base of the tooth.

“Pretty excited, eh?”, Nir chuckles as he looks at me. “You should be. You got your first trophy from a hunt.”, He continues as he scuffles my hair.

“Of course!”, I reply as I put both my hands around his one on my head. “It’s a dinosaur tooth!”, I add excitedly.

“There’s that word again.”, Tolbin says as he loops a small bit of rope through the hole he made in the tooth.

“So a dinosore is a real big lizard, huh?”, Nir asks contemplatively. “Where’d you even hear that word before?”, He asks me with a raised brow.

Well damn, they would not believe me if I said science. Seems lying is always going to be the best policy.

“I, read it somewhere.”, I slowly state, hoping that they will leave it at that. A moment of silence falls between us before either replies.

“Here you go.”, Tolbin says after what feels like an eternity. “One tooth necklace!”, He cheers as he places the homemade necklace around my neck. It hangs rather low on my small frame but I will most likely grow into it I suppose.

-- -- --

The stench of the outhouse hits me before the sight. Nir finally sets me down on my own two feet in the clearing.

“You’ll be fine from here, right?”, Nir jokingly asks me as he pats my head with his massive hand.

“Please stop.”, I mumble. All the head patting is starting to feel condescending. “I would be fine from all the way back from where we were before.”, I proudly lie to them as I put my hands on my hips confidently.

“There you are Lydia!”, The woman who originally found me yells in exasperation. “Please don’t do that again. If anything would have happened to one of you-”, She continues as she reaches us.

“Well miss-”, Nir cuts her off. “I’m sorry, we didn’t ask your name.”, He quickly adds clearly trying to distract her.

“Gardenia.”, The woman answers.

“Miss Gardenia,”, Nir continues, “The problem has been dealt with.”

“Oh!”, Gardenia exhales as she covers her mouth in surprise. “So what was it?”, She inquires with a raised brow. I quietly sigh in relief, it seems the distraction worked.

“A large lizard.”, Tolbin answers as he looks at me, “What did you call it? A dinosore?” Gardenia looks at Tolbin and then to me with a very perplexed expression.

“A what?”, The caretaker finally speaks after a moment of silence.

“Don’t worry about it.”, I mutter, trying to make my presence smaller. Gardenia sharpens her gaze on me for a moment before looking back at the slayers.

“Thank you both for your service.”, She says to them as she wraps both hands around one of Tolbin’s and shakes it.

“No need for thanks miss Gar-”, Nir retorts as the caretaker now shakes his hand in both of hers.

“Also, it’s mother not miss.”, The woman interrupts Nir as she lets go of his hand. “Mother Gardenia.”, She reiterates as her gaze sharpens.

“Right.”, Nir responds with a hand behind his head. “Mother Gardenia. We were just doing our job.”, The slayer finishes.

“As for you,”, The woman says sternly as her gaze lands upon me once again.

-- -- --

The small office felt suffocating. Reminding me of a manager’s office, I hated being called in there too. I wrap my hands around my dinosaur tooth as the woman sitting behind her small desk sighs deeply, filling the silence between us.

“How could you do something so dangerous?”, Gardenia inquires as she clenches her hands together. “Are you going to answer?”, She adds before silence can bear upon us again. Unfortunately for her I am completely content being silent. It is only awkward if you let it be after all. It does not take long for her to speak, “You’re not making this easier on yourself, young lady.”

Well that definitely catches my attention. Not because of the young lady, but now I am curious what she is planning to do to me.

“Curiosity got the better of me.”, I tell the mother the actual truth. I tighten my grasp around the tooth awaiting her response. I can feel the edges of the tooth cutting into my skin but it oddly did not really hurt. Gardenia obviously did not catch my bleeding hand because she begins to laugh. A gentle laugh that I would not expect from someone trying to be authoritative.

“It really is that simple for a child.”, She responds while still gently giggling. If I was my old self here and met this woman I might have asked her out. I let go of the tooth and put my hand to my face, what am I thinking? Wait, I move my palm away from my head and see nothing. I palm the tooth around my neck and see that there is indeed blood on it.

“Lydia?”, Gardenia’s voice knocks me back to our conversation, “Did you hear me?” I blink slowly as my gaze meets hers and shake my head, no point in lying. The woman sighs before continuing, “You will be helping with the cooking until further notice.”

“That’s it?”, I question. I am not much of a cook but I expected something far worse or abusive.

“What did you expect?”, She responds with a raised brow.

“Hitting or spanking me.”, I cautiously answer with a wince at the memories of abuse.

“What?”, The mother questions perplexed by my answer. “Why would I hit you?”, Gardenia asks with a concerned expression.

I feel, conflicted at her words. It is nice to know this place is run by someone kind enough to treat work as a good enough punishment. But also… Why could my parents not have been like that?

“What even is spanking?”, The woman adds.