The meeting of Ruth and Ash

Ash looked around the field, his sheep stood unmoving in a semi- circle. Ash stood and stretched on the rock he was standing on and looked to the sheep. It was time to count them, make sure that none of them were missing. If any sheep were missing, he would lose his job. The peacekeepers would assume that he had killed the sheep and used them to feed his family. If a sheep was killed by wolves, he had to bring the mangled carcass to the peacekeepers to prove that he hadn't. Then the peacekeepers would bring the sheep to their house and eat it. Or just throw it away if they didn't want to eat it. Ash felt the anger rise in him as he thought of the peacekeepers just throwing away food that a family of 8 could use to feed their family.

Ash shook his head. It was no use thinking these things. The peacekeepers didn't care and that was not going to change. Nothing he could do would help and it was not worth getting himself angry over. Putting the thought out of his mind he focused on the task; counting the motionless herd of sheep. Ash started on the left side, making his way to the right. 98, 99.... Oh no. He was short one. He sighed and searched the terrain around him, trying to think where the sheep would possibly go. A small hill caught his attention, the sheep would definately try to make it's way over the hill. He hoped that no wolves had gotten to it, and he was worried about leaving the rest of the sheep alone with no protection. He knew the consequenses for both would be terrible, but he had no choice but to leave the sheep behind and find the lost one. It was the only way to attempt to avoid trouble.

Ash got down from the rock and began to wade through the sheep. They parted for him, and turned toward him, baaing the whole while. When he got to the end of the sheep circle, he turned to see them trying to follow him. He didn't want them to move, he knew he would make better time on his own without trying to keep them from straying and find the sheep easier. He gave the sheep a stern look and pushed them back towards the crowd that hadn't moved yet. The sheep baaed nervously, but stayed with the crowd. He was sure they wouldn't move until he came back, to afraid and confused without him. That was, if no wolves came and disturbed them. He knew that would make them scatter everywhere and force him to spend many excrutiating days finding them all.

Ash made it to the top of the hill in only a few minutes. From here, he could see all of the valley in front of him. His sheep took up almost all the space from his rock to the bottom of the hill. A stream stood on the left side of the sheep while an open space that, when traveled for 3 days led back to the main of district 8. On the other side of the hill there was a bit more valley, but the sheep was nowhere to be found. Ash groaned as he looked beyond the valley and saw the woods. A sheep had little hope of survival there, but he had no choice but to look for it. If only to fidn the dead carcass to prove he had not killed and eaten it. Ash looked back at his sheep grazing peacefully in the valley below, and, steeling himself for the hard hunt ahead, began the trek down the hill and into the forest.