Chapter Eight: Armadillo Ferdinand Alexander Green

Even after I dried and changed hastily, the figure had not gone far. Nervously, he had scampered away. The snapping and whooshing of the plants as he sprinted informed me of his location. Soon, his crisp white collar was nearly in reach of my hand.

Eventually, I was able to yank his collar back. Even wearing my knapsack, I was able to catch up to him. “What were you doing, you…pig!” My words weren’t very powerful as my pull and weight of my bag caused both of us to plummet into the grass.

“My apologies, I-I…please do not turn me into a stag. I’ve no dogs to hunt me down and kill me. It was not purposefully done, I swear!” He sat up and righted his shirt.

On my lap, rested a large pair of thick spectacles. “These are yours, I presume?” I held them up to him, without peering upward to watch him take them. “Wait, you’re talking about Greek mythology! Artemis is only a figure of myths. Even if I was she, I would not have made you a stag.” I rubbed my shoulder, sore from the fall.

“If you are not the goddess, and you’ve no intentions to hurt me, might I have another name to call you?” He offered a thick, long-fingered hand to help me up.

“Jenny.” I graciously accepted his aid. “What is your name?” I asked once I was standing and able to look into his face. I scrunched my face as I studied him.

Light facial hair lined his jaw and above his lip. Coiffed atop his head was shaggy messy blondish-brown hair, which hung in his face. His bulky spectacles enlarged his eyes surprisingly only a tad, illuminating their dark color. “I am Armadillo Ferdinand Alexander Green, but you may call me only Armadillo or Dill if you’d like. I am truly sorry for earlier, especially for running. Might I make it up to you, Jenny?”

“Well, are you headed for Eirodin? If you are, it would be nice to have a traveling companion.” I brushed the twigs and dirt from my damp hair. I offered a small smile.

With a nod, he replied, “Eirodin, it is. I am only headed home to my parents after my year of nature documentation and analysis. You see, I was hoping for a more worldly experience to help me write my pleas to universities. My father thought sixteen sounded like a good age to do so. And then now, at seventeen, I might apply to professors.”

I queried, “Were you hoping for a particular professor?”

He jabbered excitedly, “I am not sure how much you know of, but I am extremely fascinated in the old era and I am told the only professor to learn about such is-”

“Professor Mary Lester,” I guessed bluntly. With Armadillo’s wide smile, I assumed I had estimated correctly. “She has been tutoring me for the past few weeks.”

“You have been getting lessons from Professor Lester? Is she brilliant? I should hope so. Her theories are groundbreaking and her support is flawless. Oh, I wish for a five-minute conversation with her! And you have been her student for weeks!”

“She is phenomenally brilliant. I listened to her speak her theories of women’s influence in the first era. She even suggested that it was commonplace for ladies to wear britches. Then she spoke from a few documents and I started to believe it myself.”

His eyes widened. “Then she is all that I hope her to be. I should ready my essay soon then.” More to himself, he added, “Ah, but what do I say? It’s not enough time!”

“Actually,” I grimaced. “You’ve got an entire year. She’s not teaching this year. She’s uh, working in an inn near Yondrin. It’s a favor to my father.”

Armadillo smirked at me. “Your father is having relations with the professor.”

“Clearly,” I muttered at Dill’s smug expression. I remembered how deep their bond had grown just before my departure between Papa caring for her and she sacrificing a year of study to help him at the inn.

Dill furrowed his brow. Confusion was clear in his expression. “This means that he is not faithful to your mother. This does not concern you in the least?” He inquired.

Tiredly, I sighed, “Actually, my mother left me with my father as an infant. I am going to Eirodin to search the archives to see if I can find her current location.”

“I hadn’t realized. I am sorry. Allow me to make another act of rudeness up to you. Perhaps you would like a bed tonight? Well, I cannot promise a bed. A couch.”

“I’ve only spent a few nights sleeping on the ground. It is only slightly uncomfortable, but a couch sounds perfect for tonight.” I allowed the edge of a smile.

“Then it is settled. I have not seen my parents for over a year. We should arrive late tonight if we start walking now.” Armadillo led me back to the road. “So you are from Yondrin I take it? It’s a very small village. I passed through once.”

“A bit south of town actually. I was raised in my father’s tavern.”

He forged ahead still and I had to jog a bit to keep pace. “Hardly a proper place to raise a child. A nice isolated cabin is best. My parents did right by me. They sent me to school early, taught me to work hard both physically and mentally.”

I wasn’t fond of his tone to accuse my father of bad parenting. “Excuse me, where do you get off judging how I was brought up? It’s not like I can change it based on your whims and fancies. I think I would rather travel alone than be repetitively insulted.” In my stomp of defiance, I tripped over when my hastily tied bootlaces, which were undone.

“Jenny, forgive me for being rude. It’s been quite some time since I’ve chatted as such and I fear that I am a bit out of practice. I apologize for calling you a b*****d.”

Standing, I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “You did not call me a b*****d.”

“Well, that is where my thoughts were. You have my deepest regrets for any discomfort you have experienced in my presence. I did not think beautiful women were so easily insulted.” His mouth tensed to smile, but instead stayed a straight line.

“I did not think wilderness boys thought beautiful women impressed so easily.”

Taken aback, he cleared his throat. “Shall we continue?” We walked silently.

It was a mistake to ask him to travel with you. He thinks you an oaf. Tears welled in my eyes at my frustration. Speedily, I wiped them away before Armadillo could notice. “Er, why Armadillo if you do not mind me asking?” I rubbed a dirt smudge off my face.

“Why Jenny?” He retorted. Armadillo’s tone softened, “My parents are a bit enamored with nature. They chose an armadillo for its strong shell and uniqueness. There is no other animal quite like it. I fear it has made me a bit of an oddity. I found out that in an ancient language it means little armored one. So, why Jenny?”

“It’s a nickname for Genevieve, my grandmother’s name. My father thought it was too much name for one so small, so when I was young, he shortened it to Jenny.”

“Jenny…” He mused. “I like it. It suits you well. As reflected in you, the elegance that might’ve been is replaced by a shorter less graceful version.” He stared ahead.

“That does not particularly sound like a compliment.”

“That does not particularly sound like a thank you, so we are even. I see you hold a dagger. Do you expect trouble?” He studied me as if I were a thief in disguise.

“No, I would just like to be prepared in case any trouble comes along. I do not wish to be robbed before I make it to the capital.” A pang of hunger resounded in my stomach. I pulled some of the preserved food from the pouch inside my bag. I held the pouch out to Armadillo. “Are you hungry?” I asked, rattling it. “Take what you like.”

“Thank you,” He replied, scooping out a handful. “What do you have in here?”

“Just about anything that can be preserved by drying it. Fruits, meats, herbs too.”

As he munched on it, he nodded approvingly. “So, were you going to live off your little trail mix until you got to the city?” He sounded condescending.

“No. I planned to stop for a night in a town at an inn or something.” I kicked a rock ahead of me. Contentedly, I watched it sputter and skid to a stop.

The sun was setting. The roads had cooled significantly, which was fortunate since I didn’t want my time-consuming and exposing bath to be an entire waste should I already begin sweating again. Insects began to swarm in clusters on the path.

“Could you please never tell anyone about what you saw when I was bathing?” I pleaded. “Er, how much did you see?” I thought about how I stood in the waterfall.

At this, he could not suppress a chortle. “Let me just say that I saw enough to know that you are a true redhead and also a woman. I will leave you with that.”

My face burned with embarrassment. “In other words, you saw everything?”

“Everything that could have been seen,” He confirmed. Sensing my discomfort, he changed the subject, “The sunset is nice, isn’t it?” He gestured to the cloudless sky.

The crimson of the sky blended with deep violets and radiant tangerine, swirling together in a dance, which could only end in the night, but I said none of this aloud.

“It’s lovely.” I stated, scratching at my arm in my discomfited state. We went in more silence. “Did you gain any worldly knowledge during your wilderness expedition?”

“A bit, I feel that I will gain more on these travels since I have a companion.” When I could not think of a response, Armadillo continued to speak, “Ah, Jenny, please know that I am truly sorry for the arrogance in my words earlier,” Dill apologized again. “You are truly one of the most interesting girls that I have spoken to in quite some time.”

The blush returned to my cheeks. Professor Lester’s words echoed in my head. Peering up at him, I grinned, “I find you rather interesting as well however you meant it.”

The stillness of nature’s evening crept in. The owls awoke and bats swooped by. The flowers, which only bloomed by moonlight, glittered brightly as if kissed by sun.

 Tenderly, I stroked one of the softest silver petals. “Beautiful,” I breathed.

“Jenny?” Armadillo called out into the darkness. “Are you behind me or- ugh!”

I slammed into the back of him. “My apologies. I could not see you in the dark.”

“I realized. Are you wearing boots?” He seethed, presumably clutching his ankle. “Why are you wearing boots? Where did you get the idea to wear boots?” His voice rose.

“I’m sorry. My father made them for me. He thinks that slippers are too flimsy.”

He grumbled under his breath. “Do you have a lantern with you? I wasn’t planning to travel during the night.” A rustling came from where he stood.

“I wasn’t planning on traveling during the night either.”

Blindly, he groped my shoulder, steering me to the side of him. “Just to prevent any more kicks from those boots of yours. It hurt quite a bit actually.”

“Do you want me to kiss your ankle better?” I snapped caustically. “And please do not grab my shoulder. A few weeks ago, I dislocated it and I’m still wary of it.”

“How did you dislocate it?” He queried, rattling something in his hands. “Aha!”

Light and warmth burned my eyes, a torch. “I had this dream where I was being beaten and my shoulder happened to take the worst of the damage. How did you…?” I gestured to the torch. “Were you able to make that just now?” I yawned.

He nodded, dark shadows in his features. “A bit of sap keeps it lit.”

Amusedly, I grinned. “Nice work, Wilderness Boy.” I rubbed my eyes.

“I see you grow tired. We will be there soon, I hope. My family will still be up late into the eve. I should warn you now. They’re a bit odd and they do not eat meat.”

“I think I’ve spoken to stranger people,” I speculated somnolently. With my words, I restored the silence in the air. Quietly, I hummed an unfamiliar tune. Somewhere in the back of my mind, lyrics struggled to resurface, but they weren’t in Caligerian.

“What are you singing?” He snarled at me. “I guess I’m a bit fatigued as well.”

Discontinuing the song, I replied, “I’m not singing. I’m humming and I don’t know what it is exactly. I remember it from somewhere, but I don’t know where.”

“Well, sing me a verse. Perhaps I know it.” He turned the torch to me.

Shyly, I rubbed the back of my neck. “I cannot sing and it’s not in Caligerian, I don’t think, but I don’t speak any other languages and neither does my father. Then it must mean…my father did not sing it to me. It could’ve been some stranger at the inn…or. No, I won’t give myself such false hope, but it might be one of my only hints…”

Dill furrowed his brow. “I feel like I missed something. Ah, here.” Armadillo peeled away a layer of brush to step through it. He held his hand out to me to guide me. Once I strode over it, he released my hand immediately. “Shouldn’t be too much longer. Oh, what were you saying just a moment ago about your only hint?”

“I thought maybe my mother sang it to me before she left me with my father. My birthday is the twenty-third of August. Papa said that my mother returned with me in early September. For a week or so I was with my mother. Would she sing me a song only to rid herself of me a week later?” My mind raced; sleep no longer a major concern.

Armadillo stomped grasses and snapped branches to form a path. “Jenny, could you perhaps worry in the morning and focus on walking? A happy birthday as well.”

“My birthday was a month ago. A month ago, wow, it should nearly be autumn.” I stumbled over a rock in the trail, but grasped a tree branch to bolster me. “Shouldn’t there be somewhat of a road to your home if you were raised there?”

“Not exactly, each time my family leaves and returns, we make a new path. It’s much more peaceful that way. Not as many people bother us if they cannot find us. See? There is one of the paths.” Lowly, Armadillo held the torch to the left of us, to reveal smashed grass and broken tree limbs. “By the width, I would say this is my father’s.”

“That is a bit strange,” I cogitated with an eyebrow raised.

Dill tapped my shoulder. “Home,” He exhaled excitedly with a grin spread wide across his face. Extinguishing the torch, he sprinted to the lit home ahead.

It was constructed of rich brown timber. It stood actually quite large to be hidden away. There was a grey stone chimney rising up taller than the house itself.

He barged into the center of everything while I stood behind in the doorway, a bit gauche. “Mother! Father! Rosie! Forrest! I’m home!” He called through the whole house.

 Excited yells and shrieks greeted him in return. Tight embraces and jabbering filled the entryway. A woman, stout and grey-haired noticed me first. “Dill, who is this?”

“Hello, I’m Jenny. Dill is accompanying me to Eirodin. We met this afternoon.”

Still, she squeezed me roughly. “Any friend of Dill’s is welcome here. I’m sorry that I’ve nothing to offer either of you. We’ll have tea, coffee, and bread in the morning. For now, just sit. Sit!” She goaded both of us onto a cloth sofa, which I sunk deeply into.

The balmy couch was enough to lull me to sleep even with Armadillo’s family chatting tirelessly at him. After a long while it quieted. Large hands and long fingers adjusted me into a laying position with a blanket. “Goodnight,” Dill muttered, beaming.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. This chapter was hard to get through because I didn't give it much thought at first. I made some good connections finishing up there, though! For example, Jenny's birthday. Didn't know that at first. Oh, and if that confused you, her birthday took place before the story started. She's still sixteen. Geez, this is long. Drop a comment if you're interested. Thanks again for reading!