She was but a quaint thing, neither pretty nor ugly, tall nor short, fat nor skinny. She had ash-brown hair that fell in loose waves, usually tied back by a simple, pale gray scarf, and ordinary brown eyes. A few freckles marred her face, and maybe from time to time a smudge of dirt. She wore a plain, light blue dress, sturdy walking boots and carried a staff taller than she for support while she was walking. Nobody noticed her passing, nobody said anything to her, other than a quick, “excuse me”, or maybe a peddler tried to get her to buy something.

She did not stop in her journey though. Firmly in her mind was what she set out to do, and she had made a promise to herself that she would not stray from it until she had finished it. Her legs pounded out mile after mile; across the country was where she was headed. On her back, she hefted a common satchel, made from some leathery canvas material. Inside it were her provisions: food, a half-full canteen, a couple changes of clothing, a bedroll and another object, though no one was quite sure what it was. But neither did they ask, so nobody ever found out, and before she’d even passed through a town, the object that made her lean forward slightly with its weight was long forgotten about.

The girl was rather close to her destination when she decided to stop for the night. She didn’t notice the boy watching her, though he wasn’t trying to hard to hide himself – people didn’t usually look up though. By the time she had her bedroll laid out and a small fire going to cook dinner, the boy was thoroughly confused. What was it that made her push her pack to the far side of the fire, and stare at it with such loathing in her eye?

He settled his lean frame in the embrace of the trees, inconspicuous in the shadows and continued to watch. Though he didn’t know it, the two were quite alike in their simplicity. He was another plain commoner, a swatch of unkempt dark hair and hazel eyes. He wasn’t too tall, or too skinny, and if there was anything remarkable about him, it was his ability to blend into the environment easily. Again though, that might only have been due to the fact his clothes weren’t exceptionally clean and had seen a bit of wear.

He continued to watch the girl, who ate a simple fare of jerky and cooked roots before sliding into her bedroll, and turning her face toward the fire. She was soon asleep, snuggled inside her blankets and barely visible. The boy crept cautiously down toward the dying fire, opposite the side the girl was lying on. He quietly reached out a hand and flipped her pack open, wincing as the leathery canvas material creaked. He glanced over at the girl, but she only shifted and continued to sleep. He reached inside, and felt around for whatever it could have been that the girl hated so much that she couldn’t stand even to eat next to the pack.

Finally, he concluded that the only thing in the pack was a slightly square object. He began to pull it out, amazed by its weight, when the girl suddenly sat up, and voiced a shrill, “DON’T TOUCH THAT!”

Startled, the boy dropped the object upon his toe (he just happened not to be wearing shoes), immediately grabbing the throbbing appendage and thumped down upon the ground on his posterior, next to tears. The girl immediately got up, shoved the heavy object back into her pack and tossed it in the bushes behind the trees.

“Never, ever, open that!” She admonished the boy, quite unaware he was perhaps a year her elder, as he had his head down and pressed against his knee.

Finally, he managed to look up, and she put a hand over her mouth with a soft, “Oh,” and then she continued brazenly, “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered if you would’ve seen It.”

The boy, who by now was slightly confused, told her so. “Huh?” He said. “What was it?”

The girl put a finger to her lips and shook her head. “I have forbidden myself to speak of Its evilness.”

“Why?” The boy asked, settling back as the shock of the impact of the heavy Object on his toe began to wear off. “What is it?”

The girl stomped her foot agitatedly. “I told you, I won’t say! Now, would you please go away, I’d like to go to sleep.”

“No.” The boy said, “You can go to sleep. I’m going to sleep right here tonight.” With that, he stretched out on the ground and shut his eyes.

Though the girl tried, nothing she could say would budge him, or even get a reaction out of him. With an irritated, “Ugh!” she finally stormed back to her blankets and tried to sleep, though it was a long time before she actually did.

The next morning, she rose before he did, quite irritated that the boy had managed to sleep peacefully the whole night, while she had woken repeatedly to make sure he hadn’t bothered her Object. Hurriedly, she stuffed her things into her pack after finding it in the trees, and quickly left. Hopefully the boy wouldn’t wake up until she was long gone.

Not ten minutes later though, the boy woke up with a curse for his toe (which had swollen up a little) and jumped to his feet. He ran out to the road and scanned it, glad there were few trees.

“Yes!” He muttered triumphantly to himself, and began running after her retreating form.

He slowed down once he reached her form and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked beside her.

She scowled at him. “Where are you going?” She asked him quite blatantly.

The boy only grinned. “What’s that object?” He replied ostentatiously, flicking his hair out of his eyes.

The girl sniffed, “I already told you, I won’t speak of it-”

“Then I suppose you have me for company until I find out what it is,” The boy cut her off, and began to cheerfully whistle a random tune a bit off-key.

It was quite past midday when the girl finally stopped. Her nerves had become a bit frazzled by the obnoxiously cheerful boy, who had whistled, hummed, sang, and played a reed whistle through out the course of the morning. Nothing she had said would stop him, and certainly, she wasn’t strong enough physically to make him stop or leave.

The place she stopped at was quite normal, thank you very much. A simple bridge crossed a deep, seemingly endless ravine. The path she had followed ended with the trees and led to a small sandy clearing before the bridge. On the other side of the bridge was another sandy spot, more trees, and the usual path leading into their friendly depths.

“Are you stopping?” The boy asked her, glancing around.

“I am, but you are quite welcome to continue, in fact, I advise you to!” The girl told him, hoping he would take her advice. She was getting quite annoyed with him, but she’d rather he wasn’t there for what she was about to do.

The boy shrugged and perched upon one of the large posts that held up a rope to the bridge. “I think I’ll stay, do you have any lunch?” He asked her, eyeing her pack.

“No.” The girl replied shortly, while gathering a few pieces of fallen wood from the nearby trees. She didn’t let go of her pack.

“What are you doing?” The boy asked her, watching her curiously. She had set the sticks in a small pile, and seemed to be attempting to light them; however, the limbs wouldn’t catch. “I though you weren’t cooking a lunch?”

The girl “hmphed” at him. “I’m not. Be quiet or go away.”

The boy wrinkled his nose at her, but was actually quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. “I think you need help.”

The girl straightened up and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “You do? Well I don’t!” And so saying, she knelt back down, and continued her attempts to light the wood.

The boy only laughed and walked over to her. Taking the flint from her, he made a quick motion, and soon the wood was crackling as it burned.

The girl “hmphed” again, and pulled her pack off her back. Slipping the Object from its depths, she took It from Its cover. The boy got a quick look at words scrawled across the front before she grabbed a burning stick from the fire and walked over to the bridge.

The boy, his curiosity like a cat’s, followed. The girl stopped exactly halfway across the bridge and closed her eyes for a brief moment with a smile. Then, she touched the stick to the Object and held It while It began to burn.

Tossing the stick into the ravine, she waited until it wasn’t visible and tossed the Object after it. The boy this time got a clear look at the words across the front of It. He turned to the triumphant girl, quite confused. She was dousing the flames with the water in her canteen.

“Was that your math book?”

The ordinary girl nodded happily, picked up her mostly empty pack, and started back down the trail, leaving a very confused, ordinary boy standing there.