With a mock frown of disappointment, Meena glanced down at Celesta.
The younger girl had placed her finger in her mouth. Her eyes opened wide, and she blinked rapidly.
“Oh, no. Did that hurt?” Meena asked, gently touching Celeste’s cheek. She hoped her empathetic face communicated the words she spoke.
Celesta nodded.
“I’ll do the next one,” Meena whispered, pointing to herself to communicate with her hands as well as her whispered words. With another careful flick, the third acorn flew into the clearing, bouncing smartly off the tree.
This time, Erich was so surprised he flipped completely around, landing in a defensive prowl with his knees on the ground.
Meena looked down to see Celesta’s reaction. She seemed to have forgotten the pain in her finger and was shaking with laughter. Meena smiled. They both needed a distraction today.
Nodding her head vigorously, Celesta pointed to the pile of remaining acorns.
Meena raised her eyebrows in a smirk and proceeded to comply with her friend’s wish.
Another acorn bounced against the tree trunk in the meadow below them.
This time, however, Erich was already alert and other than whipping his head around, he was disappointingly stationary.
“I’ll find you.” His voice was menacingly low, but he advanced toward the offending tree, moving in the completely opposite direction from where Meena and Celesta remained safely hidden from view. “No one disturbs my lady!” he yelled at the imaginary squirrel.
Aizel, however, remained seated on the blanket, her eyes scanning the meadow around her.
Meena and Celesta froze as she examined the very bushes they hid in. She must have sensed something, for her eyes remained glued in their direction.
“Begone, ruffian!” Erich called heroically up into the tree.
Celesta tapped Meena’s shoulder, then quietly crawled out of hiding. As soon as she was visible, she made a motion with her hands, talking to Aizel in their voiceless language.
Meena crawled out into the open after Celesta, watching Aizel’s carefully schooled reaction. Fortunately, Celesta’s older sister did not make a sound or alert Erich to their presence.
Instead, Aizel nodded in response to whatever Celesta had said with her hands.
Meena could not follow what they said to each other. She had been learning the hand motions so she could communicate with Celesta, but she’d only known the girl for a few days.
Celesta reached back, motioning for Meena to take her hand.
Completely willing to follow this new direction, Meena nodded and dropped her hand into Celesta’s.
Aizel was already heading up the hill toward them, quietly sprinting.
Celesta dragged Meena down to the blanket while Aizel disappeared into their previous hiding spot.
Realizing that they had switched places, Meena opened her mouth in jubilant surprise and nodded gleefully at Celesta.
However, Celesta didn’t catch the gleeful nod that Meena sent her because she was busy helping herself to the small feast laid out on the blanket in front of her.
“I return to you, victorious!” Erich called as he returned to them from the canopy of trees. He was holding up a stick as though it were a trophy, but he drew up short and dropped his hand when his eyes registered Meena and Celesta sitting on the blanket.
“What have you done with my wife?” he cried, brandishing the stick like a sword in front of him. “Release her at once!”
Celesta, popping a handful of berries into her mouth, stood and squared her shoulders, her face fierce and smiling. Waving her arms, she rushed at Erich. The small girl attacked the grown man who was twice as tall as she was, but Erich, good-natured as always, fell to the ground under the weight of her assault.
“Tell Aizel that her name was on my dying breath.” He sighed dramatically and flopped his head to the side.
Celesta spun around to Meena, gleeful victory written all over her face. Meena stood, throwing her arms in the air. “We are victorious!” she shouted, sharing her own jubilation through body language.
