Hillside

“Svål! Svåååål!”



The shouting pulled Svål up from a deep doze, making her stretch her long legs out against the hillside’s thick grass. The warm sun had filled her head with cotton and made her squint as she sat up groggily. The blurry figure running down the slope did so with the awkward gait of someone who has only recently had their first set of growth spurts… and that made Svål smile, “Over here, Djon!”



Svål lifted a hand as she pushed to her feet, flagging down her younger friend, and bracing for the impact the swiftly followed. Catching the freckled blond up in her arms as the other launched at her, “Svål! Mother said you won’t be my babies’ daddy!”



The elder of the pair blinked at that then laughed, “Well… probably not…,” would she really be the one left to break that to her friend? Surely Djon was old enough to know this by now…



“That’s not fair! We’ve been friends since forever!” The shorter girl seemed to all but crawl up into Svål’s arms, tangling her lightly tanned hands into her senior’s unkempt hair. Djon’s eyes brown as a calf’s as she pressed their faces close, “I dinna want anyone else…”



The heat rose swiftly to Svål’s cheeks, her pale green eyes widening for a moment before she tugs one of Djon’s long braids, “Off with ya!” Turning her head away to hide her flush, “Wish all you want, it just isn’t in the cards that way!” Her annoyance only grew more so when her friend laughed in her ear and hugged her tighter.



“I know, but it’s fun to hear you say it!”



Djon was gone from her friend’s arms again in an instant, running along the cattle trail that winds up the steep hillside toward her mother’s home, leaving Svål looking baffled. Sometimes she’s not sure about that Djon… but in any case, there were fish to catch and that wasn’t going to get done napping or chasing girls.