Seeing Fred's face so devoid of his normal demeanour pushed Bryn into action.
Originally, she was going to ignore what she saw and just carry on lazing about until he left because she rightly guessed that a boy would definitely want a girl to see them cry tears unfitting of them.
However, Bryn was taught by her birth father to always comfort a person if you see them crying, and the tearful boy seemed pitiful, leading to Bryn making a move to go to him.
The crack and snap of branches that broke while Bryn shimmied down caused Fred to whip his head up to see Bryn climb her way down towards him.
She hesitated once she landed in front of him, conscious of what she should do next. As if by instinct, she began by insulting him first, since she was accustomed to insulting Walter who was similar to Fred's age.
"Woah, I can see yer eye boogers now."
Fred's face flushed with a tint of pink and his ears turned red, and the insult appeared to work since he had stopped crying and was now glaring at her while profusely trying to wipe off the crust around his eyes.
"Why were yer crying? Ye got scared by someone or somethin'? What a wuss." Bryn bluntly called out after Fred was finished.
"Who said I was? Yer just seeing things, and even if I was, you'd better not go 'round spreading lies." After being insulted and seen crying, Fred was very defensive and gave up on acting calm.
"Now there's a turn o' tide! Look at ye bein' so defensive, instead of yer normal, calm self. Lookit here, I was only tryin' te be nice, so don't go bein' rude. By Alder, you'd tink I had seen yer commit a crime or somethin'. Instead, yer could have just politely said I was wrong and go about yer day, but here ye are, placin' yerself in ma territory!"
The sudden burst of anger surprised both Frederick and Brynleigh. Brynleigh was normally a nonchalant child, who unlike Frederick, was indifferent to everyone and didn't care how she acted around others.
While for Frederick, Brynleigh was the first female he met who would get angry at him instead of consoling him or pitying him.
Sigh.
"I'm real sorry, friend — didn't mean it. T'was thoughtless o' me; didn' mean to be all angry at ye. Here, have a beef jerky I dried myself."
Like her angry outburst, her apology came quickly and a beef jerky was offered to Fred.
"S'alright. I owe ye a Beacon-bun for that, as well." Fred had simmered down and happily accepted her peace offering.
With such an anti-climatic resolution, the two chomped onto the jerky in comfortable silence until Fred spoke up.
"Did'ya really mean that? Ye know, me bein' a friend?"
"Not really, I just say that out of habit. But if ye want, we can be friends. I don't mind, up to yer." Quickly, Bryn denied it but also allowed for a possibility to be friends.
With deep thought, Fred considered the consequences of being friends but overall decided to go with it. His head accepted because he wanted to survey Bryn and make sure word didn't go out that he was crying, yet inside his heart, he knew that it was really because he felt alone.
"Alright. Lets. But ye better not tell anyone wot yer saw today."
"M'kay, my lips are sealed."
That promise has since then stuck, and from then on, Fred would find himself more involved in Bryn's life and would make himself a new friend, Walter.
*****
Speaking of the devil, Fred happened to be making his way towards the Taylor's home where Bryn was walking out of in a happy mood, swinging her arms about and a whistled tune surrounded the air and reached all the way to Fred.
"Fred!"
With the grace of a grizzly bear, she lopped off to the distance where she could see the oncoming outline of a tall, dark-headed man. Fred, who grew to have a similar mindset of Bryn upon being with her for so long, also began running towards Bryn.
Out of breath, the pair laughed heartily at each other for thinking the same when they met up and Bryn initiated a bear hug. In return, Fred hugged her back.
"Storms, if that ain't a welcome sight! When did ye come back? Walter never told me anythin'. Don't tell me, ye wanted it to be a surprise, didn't ye? Good gods, ye got ta tell me everything while we walk te town."
Fred was pleased to hear her babbling voice after what appeared a year of being away on a stay at a distant university in a large city. Four years ago, his father decided Fred was too clever to stay in such a small town and had spent most of his savings to send Fred off to a better school and then a niche university. Since then, Fred was only allowed to come back during holidays, and this time round, was back for the spring festival.
"Ah, don't be so surprised just yet, I have another surprise I was going to show you, but your mother insisted on having you join her quickly instead. Wait until the town center and I'll show you."
"Another surprise? Ach, will I like it? And it better not be one of those annoying friends ye bought back from university again, cos they were sure annoying like rotten kelp, and look wot they done to ye, ye speakin' all proper now. "
"Don't be daft. And my friends weren't that annoying. I'm only speaking like this because of the university not from them. And me staying here will certainly change my voice to normal, but don't go expecting me to always change my voice, someday I'll stick to one."
"Tch, fine, but I expect a pie in return, meester fancy man."
Their journey was made of rounds of banter, jokes and stories they experienced while being apart.