Chapter 4

Adina stared after the woman who had just touched her hair, confused by the girl who was living with the men, wearing men's clothes.

"Anybody got any idea who that was?" Margaret, a busty, middle-aged woman asked, her naturally loud voice carrying through the room full of woman.

"She must be a native," Another voice spoke up.

"I wonder what she's doing here and where the rest of her people are then?"

"She was very pretty." More voices could be heard commenting on the strangeness of the girl.

"Enough about the girl, what about the men?" Margaret said good-naturedly.

The woman all started talking about the men they had seen, what they were looking for. The only one who wasn't talking about the men was Adina, who just found a quiet seat in the corner on a trunk.

"What about you, Addy?" Margaret asked the shy girl. Adina's cheeks flushed, making Margaret laugh. "The way you're always blushing, girl," Margaret scolded, shaking her head. Despite the fact that Margaret teased her, Addy really liked the woman. Everyone did. People could appreciate her honest and straightforward manner. With Margaret, what you see is what you get.

"I don't know," Addy shrugged, gripping her knees with her small hands.

"I got to tell you, I'm worried about you. Your such a mystery to me." Margaret said honestly. Addy didn't need her to explain further. She was different than the rest of the women on the ship.

Falcon pointed at the wood object he was sitting on, looking expectantly at Daisy. Daisy wracked her brain for the right word, but it eluded her.

"Chair," Falcon told her.

"Chair," Daisy quickly repeated. She found it odd and fascinating the way humans made these sounds in order to understand each other. Faeries could feel others' emotions when necessary, but for the most part, they didn't need to speak. Daisy could understand why humans would need this sort of language, though. It seems that ever since she became big, she had so many questions she had never considered before.

Chair. Chair. Daisy repeated over again in her mind, trying her hardest to remember the word.

Falcon pointed to the matching wood object sitting next to the chair. "Table," Daisy remembered that one.

"Good," Falcon told her.

"How's it going, Cap'n?" Jason asked, walking into his friend's house.

"Just fine." Falcon replied. "Jason," he said, pointing to his friend.

"Jason," Daisy said, looking at him.

"Well God damn, the girl can talk!" Jason said, slapping her gently on the back in a sign of approval. Daisy looked startled as she gazed up at him with wide eyes, but then she simply smiled.

"Jason," she told him again, making Jason laugh.

"Well, I bet all the women are gonna be disappointed that the captain's been taken before they got here," Jason said, leaning casually against the wall, crossing one booted foot in front of the other.

"Don't pretend to feel sorry for them. You're just glad that they'll all be vying for the second-in-command bachelor."

Jason laughed and nodded his head. "I definitely saw some good lookin' gals. Just gonna head over to the meal now and watch them fight over me. All I can say is that I hope it doesn't come to blows."

Falcon jokingly rolled his eyes. "Is everything ready then?" Falcon asked.

"Yeah, I just stopped by to get you," Jason told his friend, motioning with his arm for him to follow as he left his house.

"Have you seen the captain?" Harriet asked Lucy in a whisper. "He is with out a doubt the handsomest man here."

Lucy looked appraisingly around at the men assembled at the feast. "You're right. Though the one that is talking to him isn't that bad looking either," she whispered back.

"That's Jason Good. He is next in line to Captain St. James."

"I would normally go after the captain, but he seems to be infatuated with that native," Lucy dared another glance to where Falcon was sitting with his arm around Daisy's waist, his head thrown back in laughter at something Jason had just said.

"Just my thoughts exactly, Lucy," Harriet replied, "I think I'll go introduce myself to Mr. Jason Good."

A look of anger flashed in Lucy's eyes before she quelled it with a simpering smile. "I was just thinking the same thing. Shall we go together?" she asked the other woman, who answered affirmatively with the same fake, cordial smile plastered to her face.

Addy watched them leave, feeling disgusted by the women's plotting and scheming. Addy didn't like the two women from day one. When they first met her on the ship, they were so nice and polite to her, but later that night, Addy overheard them talking about how mousy and ugly she was, about how she was so skinny that she looked like a boy, a weak boy. They noticed that she walked with a limp, and criticized her for that as well. Addy had vowed not to trust anything the two had said after that, and had stayed clear of them.

She surreptitiously watched Harriet and Lucy as they greeted the man they were both after. He smiled up at them, and Addy thought how handsome he looked with that smile, which he gave away so generously. She disagreed with Harriet and Lucy, thinking that Jason Good was in fact handsomer than the captain.

She blushed to herself and looked away from the man, glad that no one could hear her thoughts. She was well aware of the fact that Harriet and Lucy were the most comely women on the ship. All the women agreed, and it was often the basis of discussion that two would surely get first pick of any of the men they wanted. Margaret had even agreed that it was probably the case, since the men would be so eager to get married that they would do so before they got to know the true characters of the women, and secretly confided to Addy the two who would at first think they were the luckiest men in the fort would soon find out otherwise.

That had made Addy smile. She looked around for Margaret now, the only woman she felt was her true friend. The older woman was talking to a man with a beard. They seemed to be having a good time. Addy felt lonely, since she had no one to talk to at the moment. The one man who had paid her some attention had seen her limp, and had lost interest.

Addy realized that the men here were looking for wives, but also partners. Life out here would be rough, and they needed someone who could keep up with them. Addy sat by herself, thinking that it was probably a mistake to have come. It was her romantic soul that had forced her to run away in the first place, but it looked that she would fend no better here than she had back home. How had her life changed so completely? She could hardly believe that it was really her, sitting here in this place.

"Hello there," a man interrupted her thoughts. Addy looked up from where she was sitting. The man who had spoken to her was smiling down at her, holding out a cup of wine for her to take.

"Hello," Addy said gratefully, taking the drink.

"I'm Lawrence Longfellow," he held out his hand as he sat down in the chair next to her.

Addy shook his hand, which was big and warm. Addy inspected him from over the rim of her mug as she took a sip. He wasn't especially good-looking, but at least he wasn't old. He appeared to be only a bit older than her, and seemed to be friendly enough. Addy was grateful for the company.

"I'm Adina. It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Lawrence replied. "What were you doing over here all by yourself?" he asked her, leaning in close to her face. "You don't like any of the fellers?"

Addy wasn't really sure how to reply to that. The man was making her a little uncomfortable, but she didn't want him to leave. She would just have to make a little effort.

"That's not it at all," she gave her best friendly smile.

"So who do you like?" he asked.

Now Addy really didn't know how to answer the question. "Uhh," she said, sort of wishing that she was back by herself again.

Lawrence laughed at her nervous stuttering. "It's alright, you don't have to tell me." He took a long sip of his wine and Adina nervously sipped hers as well.

"Are you still hungry, should I get you anything, sweetheart?" he asked her leaning in close to her face.

Adina forced herself to smile cordially, despite the fact that the way he called her sweetheart made her cringe a little bit. "No thank you, I'm quite full."

Adina didn't know why this man was making her so uncomfortable. He was being perfectly nice and friendly.

"How about we go on a little walk then?" he asked, standing up before she could answer.

"No!" Adina screamed in her mind, but instead stood up and nodded. "Alright," she agreed, allowing him to take her elbow.

He would see her limp now, she thought, as she walked along beside him. He would lose interest like the other man, and try to get rid of her. Good riddance, she thought happily. Lawrence surprised her, however, by only looking mildly surprised by her limp, but then not saying anything about it.

She was being unfair to him, she decided, and felt guilty. She gave him a bright smile as she followed him.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he wandered further away from the others towards the darkened houses.

"Just a little further, that way we can be more alone," he said.

Adina didn't know why they had to be alone.

"Umm," she hesitated when he led her behind a building.

"What's the matter?" he asked, coming up to rub his hands up her arms, "You're not afraid are you?"

"No," Adina hurried to correct him, even though she was feeling a little uneasy.

"You know, you are so beautiful," he said, coming closer to her. Adina could smell the alcohol on his breath, and she cringed, pulling away slightly. Lawrence didn't seem to notice her reaction, for he kept getting closer to her.

"What's going on here?" the deep, rich voice interrupted Lawrence's pursuit. Adina felt herself blush as she looked up into the handsome eyes of Jason Good. He was even more beautiful up close, she surmised.

"Hey Jason," Lawrence was speaking now, when all Adina could do was stare at the intruder with stunned silence, "Can't say that I'm happy to see you."

Jason laughed. "Sorry to intrude," he started to apologize.

"N-noo, no," Adina stuttered out, not wanting him to get the wrong impression. "We were just heading back," she said, looking to Lawrence for confirmation.

Lawrence grew even more agitated than he had become since Jason's interruption. "If you say so," was all he said.

Adina blushed even more at the look Jason was giving her, scrutinizing in a way.

She pushed past the two men and started to walk as gracefully forward as she possibly could, but she was well aware of the two pairs of eyes watching her, following her close behind. Though Adina tried to hide her limp as best she could, she knew that there was no way Jason had missed it. She blushed, wondering what Jason was thinking of it, of her.

Stupid, she told herself. She shouldn't care what Jason thought. He wouldn't be interested in her even if she didn't have a limp, she told herself. She felt the men come to walk beside her, but she forced her gaze to keep staring at the ground. She didn't want to look into either of their faces.

2 Weeks Later

Falcon was starting to notice odd things about Daisy, inexplicable things. Like whenever she seemed to pass a plant that was sick or dying, a simple touch of her hand and it would be blooming beautifully. Or how animals seemed to gravitate toward her. It had been more than once he had seen her sitting, petting a wild rabbit that was perfectly content in her arms until Falcon appeared, in which instance it would fearfully run away.

Once Falcon had almost had a heart attack when Daisy had wandered off into the woods, and when he had finally found her, she appeared to be sharing berries with a black bear. Falcon had called out to Daisy and pulled out his rifle, but quickly realized that the bear had been acting tame before, but was now definitely angry then.

While he nearly lost all control of his limbs, with visions of the angry bear turning on Daisy, who was so close to him, and tearing her apart with those large claws and teeth, Daisy wasn't afraid at all.

"Hello," she greeted him like nothing was the matter, and ran up to him, putting her arms around his neck.

As though the bear realized that Daisy had accepted Falcon's presence, he immediately relaxed his pose and walked off.

She had also picked up English amazingly fast. While she still didn't know some vocabulary words, she was putting together sentences within a few days of his attempted teaching.

Daisy was surprised herself how easy it was to learn his language when she actually started trying. While it wasn't something that came naturally to her, like talking to the birds or sensing how a tree feels, it wasn't too difficult.

In addition to the language, she was also learning about the ways of the humans. They always had to be wearing clothes, unless they were making love, in which case they were allowed to be naked. One could choose one other person to make love to, and no one else. Falcon was hers. Women were supposed to wear dresses and men pants, but Falcon let her wear pants, since she hated the dresses so much.

She was also learning about the painful aspects of being human. She had burnt her hand the other day on the stove, and it still hurt. She felt emotional pain as well. She remembered back to the first time she realized that what she had been eating the whole time she was human had been other animals.

She had seen one of the men, she wasn't sure who, skinning a deer. The head was still on, and all she could see were its lifeless eyes. She remembered screaming and running away, not even sure where she was going. She ran out of the fort and into the woods. Falcon had eventually caught up with her, and pulled her into his arms.

She knew enough English by that time to have him explain to her that that was their food. Daisy had been filled with horrible guilt, and hadn't eaten any meat since then. Falcon explained that it was necessary to eat meat, and the food chain and all that, but Daisy still didn't want to do it. The animals were her friends.