Fernando - A Very Short Story

Hi everyone! Our gaming group has a new ongoing writing challenge. Once a week, we pick a theme and write a minimum of 250 words on the topic. This week was write about an NPC. I was not sure what to write about, but then in the pirate game my character, Scara, found one of her missing crew members, Fernando. I'll let you read about why that was special, but I knew immediately what I wanted to write about.

I encourage everyone to have these types of writing challenges within your gaming groups. It has become a way to take notes almost, because it is just a few words. Still, those few words capture a moment in time for your character and let the rest of the group know just what that moment meant to you.

So here is my entry to this week's challenge.


Fernando - a Very Short Story

                “You’re here,” Scara whispered as she wrung the majority of the cool water from the rag. Gently as possible, she slipped the dry rag off Fernando’s feverish forehead and placed on the cool one. She didn’t want to wake him, because he needed every moments rest, but his eyes fluttered open. “Shhhh” she gentled, but he reached up for her hand.

Clammy and weak, his hand trembled slightly in hers. “I cannot believe you are alive,” he mumbled with his thick country accent. Turning his head, he coughed, a rasping thing that shook his body pitifully.

Scara reached over to a nearby desk grabbing her tea pot and pouring a hot cup. She pressed it into his hands, before helping him tilt it to his lips. Thick and green as the jungle around them, the herbal concoction smelled only slightly better than the unlaundered clothes that sat in a rumpled pile in a corner of the hold. He tried not to, but the boy grimaced slightly from the heat and aroma, yet managed to get some down. “Thank you,” he croaked. Closing his eyes, he leaned back into his cot.

Suppressing a sigh, she rose. A step took her to an area she spread with medicine, herbs, and jars of prepared salves. Perusing them, she turned and scrutinized Fernando. He had scars, old and new. Bruises of various ages peppered his body with all the hues of the rainbow. The sight made the girl cringe. She had always been sheltered from such things in her former life, but now she was confronted with brutality every day. Still, it was different when it was someone that she cared about.

But how did she care? Looking down at Fernando, peaceful in his sleep, she marveled at him. When she got on Myrmidia’s Spear everyone was either cruel or indifferent toward her, except for him. He had given her attention and kindness when no one else had. Just when she began to wonder at her feelings about him, they were captured and he was ripped away from her. During her own imprisonment she thought about him almost every moment- wondering if he was alright, what he was going through. Now, a quick view of him confirmed that no matter what she had imagined it was not enough.  He had suffered and was barely alive.

The question of exactly what she felt about him remained. He was so young, but so kind. And then there was Baldemaro. She’s started developing a crush on the older man, but when he did not pick up on her invitation to dinner she’d been disappointed. When Jacque convinced him that he was a ‘tornado’ she was irritated. The new Baldemaro was irritating, but there was some trace of her old feelings there. Looking down at Fernando, there was more than a trace of her feelings about him. It was all very complicated. Finally, she selected a balm and kneeling next to him, started carefully soothing it over a cut on his cheek. His eyes fluttered open, he smiled at her, then slipped back into unconsciousness. Though he could not see it, she returned her with her own smile. There was time enough to decide on everything later. Right now, she would savor this victory. Tonight she had started reassembling her crew.