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βA heart's a heavy burden.β
γΙΞΉΞ±ΖΟgΟ Ρ cΟΖΟΡ: #CD5C5C β ΡΠ½ΟΟ gΠ½Ρ cΟΖΟΡ #C5E3BFγ
|| Still Into you || Paramore ||
γΙΞΉΞ±ΖΟgΟ Ρ cΟΖΟΡ: #CD5C5C β ΡΠ½ΟΟ gΠ½Ρ cΟΖΟΡ #C5E3BFγ
|| Still Into you || Paramore ||
A pebble skittered beside her. Cress thought nothing of it, she wiped the sweat off of her forehead, about to get back to work when another pebble skittered beside her, stopping. Cress turned to look, her gloves covered in soil. There was a kid there, a boy. He was holding another pebble, looking like he just might cry. The knights hadn't noticed him, either that, or they didn't care about such a young child. The latter was more likely. "Get back to work," of course they had noticed her, taking a break to look up at the fake sky painted on top of the cave using holographic projections. Cress knelt down for a moment or two, then, a pebble. She turned and the child seized up. Cress looked around, seeing that Heron was busy at work and Finnley was pretending to guard, keeping watch for any sign of Astor or Jezebeth.
Cress crawled on all fours, knowing that walking would attract too much attention. "Hey there," Cress smiled, whispering. "S-stay away f-from me!" The kid yelled, taking a step back. He threw another pebble, but it bounced harmlessly off of her nose. Cress held out the pebbles he had thrown before, "looking for these?" Cress turned the stones over, examining them in the light. "This one is igneous rock. Know what that means?" She asked with a smile, having no idea what she was saying. Cress wasn't a rock expert, she was a botanist. In any case the kid shook his head, looking like he might cry at any second. "I hate you, it's your fault Mom never came home. She went to fight and now Dad is always angry."
"It means that the rock came from a volcano." Cress took his hand gently, placing the pebble in it. "Volcano rocks are rare you know? It's not every day you come across them." His eyes widened. "Show them to your dad, maybe he won't be so angry when you tell him you found something special." He looked down at the pebbles, then back up at her. "Liar, these are just stupid rocks, they won't bring Mom home." Cress shook her head, sitting back on her knees. "They may not look like much, but it's what's on the inside that counts. These rocks, they harden over thousands of years, they start out as shards, you see? Hard fragments, but over the years they get soft and rounded. This is called erosion." She found a few rocks to show him some examples.
"Your dad is a bunch of little shards right now, he's sad because your Mom is gone, he's hurting too, but eventually, with enough time and erosion, the pain will fade." He picked up the pebbles he had dropped. "It's not the volcano that makes them special." The boy stopped, wondering why a volcano wasn't special. "It's what they've survived that makes them really cool." She ruffled his hair and the boy laughed, attracting the attention of Finnley. He stomped over, pretending to be mean. "Get back to work Ashian scum!" Cress could see him fighting back a smile. "Hey! Don't talk to ladies like that!" The boy kicked Finnley in the shin, then scooped up his pebbles and ran away.
Cress laughed as Finnley hopped around on one foot, cursing out the child who was no doubt running back home to show his dad some fake lava rocks. Another knight came over then, growling. "Knight Fin, you're supposed to be keeping the Princess in the circle, not getting kicked by children." Finnley nodded his head, "Sir yes sir." He said, getting back into formation. The knight grabbed Cress by the collar of her shirt, dragging her back over to the garden where she was in the middle of planting the garden. "What did you tell my son?" Cress looked up at him, then went back to work, a small smile on her face. "How cool rocks are."
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βYes Mistress.β
γΙΞΉΞ±ΖΟgΟ Ρ cΟΖΟΡ: #FFAEB9 β ΡΠ½ΟΟ gΠ½Ρ cΟΖΟΡ #63D1F4γ
|| I'm on Top of the World|| Imagine Dragons ||
γΙΞΉΞ±ΖΟgΟ Ρ cΟΖΟΡ: #FFAEB9 β ΡΠ½ΟΟ gΠ½Ρ cΟΖΟΡ #63D1F4γ
|| I'm on Top of the World|| Imagine Dragons ||
Shiro was shaking, she didn't even realize that she was, but her hands trembled as she fell to the floor, hugging Ellis against her. Nee took her into her lap, hugging Shiro close, whispering that it was her fault, that their bloodstained history with Tartaria had caused this. Shiro shook her head, it wasn't Nee's fault, Narcia was perfect and amazing, she was all Shiro had. "It's okay," Shiro said, although it certainly didn't feel okay. No doubt the pup was putting up a show for Nee's sake, so that Narcia didn't have any stress. "They're dead and I never got to meet them, so it's not like things are going to be different." Shiro shook her head, trying to smile, but it was far too sad and broken. "I guess I'll never know, but it's better this way. Now I can pretend that they loved me."
Now Shiro could pretend that her parents hadn't willingly given her up, that they had done so in hopes of giving her a better life, knowing that her life span was already shortened. If Shiro didn't know the answer, but could now put a name to the faces, she could make up a bunch of stories in her head with them, she could pretend that she knew them, now that they were no longer blanks in her mind. There was no time to dwell on it, there were things Shiro had to do, there was a wedding to plan, hours to busy her mind with. No, Shiro wouldn't have to think of her parents, not when there were other, better things to think about. "I have you though and you really love me," Shiro smiled up at Nee. "That's enough, isn't it?"
They were searching for Nani now and Shiro hoped and prayed, waiting breathlessly to see where Nani could possibly be. "A house in the Tower Tier," Shiro smiled, "She's still alive." Shiro squeezed Nee's hands happily, her smile genuine. "Nani is still alive!" As it turned out, Nani was teaching at the Tower School in economics, she had gotten married and had two sons. All of that information scrolled up beside Nani's face. "I'm so happy, she was like a mother to me and all of the other child Narina were training." She looked as young as ever, with lively hair dyed silver and sparkling amber eyes, warm like honey.
"It'd be rude to just show up," Shiro wriggled. "Or maybe a nice surprise? Nani always liked it when one of us did well." Maybe she would enjoy seeing how Shiro turned out? "I should get her a present, she was always sneaking candies to give to us. Maybe I should get her candy? Or something for her sons?" Shiro wasn't sure, there were clearly so many thoughts floating around in the poor pup's mind that she could hardly keep up with them.