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Old 06-18-2006, 01:24 PM   #363
Nogrod
Flame of the Ainulindalë
 
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves
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Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.Nogrod is wading through the Dead Marshes.
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There were a couple of children playing in the elm tree. Cnebba was running his life for it. A sturdy 9-year old was standing by the tree. As Cnebba approached him, he saw that he was dirty and snotty, just like himself. He halted a couple of yards before him and said: ”I'm Cnebba, who are you? Can I come to play with you?”. The snotty boy looked at Cnebba with disdain. ”You’re one of them Dunledings in disguise! We will not play with you!” the boy shouted and called for his friends up in the tree. They started coming down with haste.

”You can’t catch me! Bet on that?” Cnebba said to the snotty one and run out of his reach to the other side of the tree. He was agile and nimble enough to evade the boys coming down after him and to climb the first branches while they were still descending. But soon the boys were coming after him like wolves in a pack, climbing again. ”Hey Black-eye! Come here and we will blow your nose!” one of them shouted after him from the lower branches. Cnebba kept on climbing and went much higher than the other boys had ventured. ”Hey, Dun-dung! Have you courage to meet us down here?”, called the eldest of the boys, a 11-year old kid, tanned and muscular boy with a blond hair and grayish blue eyes. Cnebba had climbed as far as he dared and looked down. The other boys were a couple of yards under him, clearly not sure whether they should pursue him further. ”Catch me if you can!” he shouted and took a daring leap to yet higher branch.

He was balancing himself on a quite slim branch as he heard the other boys shouting at him again, now from much farther beyond. ”Come here sissy! We’ll give you a smack you won’t forget!” the eldest one shouted, not being able to reach him. Cnebba was holding his balance but aware of the slenderness of the branch he was clinging to. ”Come up here if you like me that much!” he yelled back to them. The situation was all too familiar to him. Other children were almost always like that, at least in the beginning. He had won many friends too, but it always took some time and effort.

”We’ll be waiting for you!” called the eldest boy and started to descend the tree. Soon all four boys had gotten to the ground. They sat down beside the tree and went on playing a game with small pebbles.

Cnebba started descending after a while, slowly and carefully at first as not to give the other boys a chance to notice him. He would show them that he was good in sneaking too. That should give him some credit. Even though he was young, he had already learned a couple of lessons in life. One was, that the stranger would always have to prove his qualities to be accepted.

At last Cnebba was sitting comfortably on one of the lowest thicker branches. The other boys had seemingly forgotten about him as they were drawn into the game with the pebbles. Cnebba studied them carefully from above. The oldest boy clearly was the ”leader” of them. The snotty one seemed to be the one they would go on picking if there were no outsiders to pick. They already had started it, calling him names as he failed in his throw, and the oldest one poked him to the shoulder somewhat violently every now and then. The two others were remarkedly similar-looking, brothers they seemed to be, maybe twins.

Then suddenly the game seemed to end. It clearly had been the leader-boy who had missed his throw and the brothers hugged each other triumphantly, calling for victory. The big one thumped the snotty one to the ground and started arguing for a possible re-throw for him.

”Let’s do something more fun!”, Cnebba called them, and after that swang himself to the ground with one leap, managing to stay up as he landed a yard away from the snotty one who had just risen up to sit. They had seen his jump and were somewhat impressed. The three of them stood up immediately, the snotty one trailing them.

”Let’s play hide’n’seek?”, Cnebba suggested. The leader of the other boys saw his chance to wipe out the memory of him losing the game and also a chance to bolster his leadership. He accepted immediately: ”Ok, but with one condition”, he said, taking a couple of strides towards Cnebba so that he could show his physical superiority to the weird-looking stranger. ”You’ll be the seeker first. And you count to hundred…” he made a little pause here, glancing fast to the other boys, ”if you know how to count”, he then continued with a malicious grin.

”Sure I can. And you guys hide well. I’m good at this”, Cnebba answered and turned towards the tree, starting the count in all the voice an 8-year old could produce. The brothers took off with speed and so did the snotty one. The leader of the boys was unsure about what to do for a moment but then just pushed Cnebba towards the tree forcefully enough to send him on his knees and then ran away to search for a place to hide. ”You’ll never get us weirdo!” he shouted as he ran. Cnebba rose up, never breaking off with his count. They will be my friends, he thought, ”45 – 46 –47 – 48 …”

Last edited by Nogrod; 06-18-2006 at 05:45 PM.
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