Forever in Wonder (Cinder, L, molly, closed)

Lana had a task given to her by her mentor. Herbs. In a poor District, Capitol medicine was hard to come by and very expensive, so Illiana Annwn found that most of her apprenticeship had been spent digging through plants and dirt in search of magical plants that cured fevers, numbed pain and generally did magical things to people who were hurting. Lana crouched in the bushes, avoiding actually sitting down on the wet, green grass that permanently stained almost all of Illi's clothing by now. She smiled her triumph as Lana found the plant she was looking for. The girl tugged hard on the stubborn root surprised by its strength.

She made a noise akin to the grunts athletes usually made when playing tennis, running, or lifting weights. Yeah, pulling a plant out of the ground usually isn't as hard as lifting weights, but if you haven't seen her for awhile, Illiana Annwn is a delicate flower of a girl with bird-bones, white-blonde hair and a sparkling appeal about her. Not a tough Career who grunts all the time. She finally felt that ripping sensation, followed by dirt flying up in the air and somehow making it onto her shirt. She tripped backwards, ran into a bush and yelped. Illiana held up her prize victoriously, ignoring the fresh dirt-stains on her shirt, and the prickle of a plant poking into her backside.

At last, she could go home to her warm, soft den and present the newest plant to the woman-Healer she studied under. It had been a long time since she had sat around the fire and had a chance to drink up stories of sick and wounded people from before her time as a, 'doctor.' During the Hunger Games, people tended to get rowdy and Peacekeepers felt obliged to kick their butts if they so much as looked funny. Lana could not count on her fingers and toes the number of people who had come in with some sort of injury inflicted by the Uniformed Ones in the past three weeks even.

With the dream of relaxation fresh in her mind, Illi stepped away from the bushes and trees just as somebody called hello. Oh right, yeah, I was just shuffling around in a bush. Lana thought this with amusement, wondering what the other person thought of the strange girl who lurked in the middle of nowhere, District Eight, pulling out what might look like weeds to any non-Healers. That was certainly a picture-perfect scene, waita find a way to make an entrance, the girl finally thought as she brushed leaves out of her hair and cheerfully called, "I'm here! Hello," as she stepped into view of her noontime caller.

Her mouth formed a shocked O as somebody knocked over the young girl who had called upon Illiana. She blinked away her paralyzing shock, and was instantly a flurry of movement as she crouched next to the fallen figure. "I'm a Healer," she murmured gently, but loud enough for the girl he had run into to hear her. "Stay still," she then commanded while inspecting his eyes and letting her eyes rake across his body for any other pre-running-into-girl wounds.

Lana stuffed her plant in her bag, while combing stuff out of her blonde hair. Her tone took on a careless aspect as she announced to the world that this here young man was not about to die. There was almost a bitter edge to her usually soft, pretty voice. Sue me, the teen thought, I guess I'm inclined to dislike guys who run into a girl--practically a child in this case--and don't have the good decency to even say sorry. Illiana was not yet used to having to deal with impolite males. Her father and brother-but-really-not, had always been utter gentleman, treating her and her family-female counterparts with respect unheard of in the world of the normal, which Lana Annw had obviously just joined.

She turned her face slightly to the side in order to get a better look at the victim of this man's unintentional cruelty. The girl checked out well with the Healer in Illiana, seemingly fine after the rough collision. She smiled her relief before those sea-green eyes locked on yet another violent scene, just about forty feet behind the younger teen. There was a person being dragged by uniformed people. She frowned at them, displeased with such a public show of the Capitols true nature. Did they not realize that such brutal treatment of the people was what led even ignorant, childish girls such as Illiana Annwn to gather her things and head off in the general direction of District Thirteen?

Their stupidity would certainly be their downfall. It was nearly a fact, so close was the country to war. Last years Hunger Games had impacted the people, angered the already frustrated, and frustrated the ever-so-ignorant. Even pro-Panem-as-it-is people had flinched at the bloodshed. She turned back quickly to the wounded, but not mortally so, stranger, guessing he had to have something to do with the Peacekeepers so close to them. Either that, or the nice, young girl next to her was a magnet for trouble. Her, or Illi' herself.

A thought suddenly ran through the flustered girls mind. "What are your names?" she asked conversationally. "I'm Illiana and I..." she chirped the first part, but her words trailed off into oblivion as one of the uniformed figures kicked the downed District citizen in the gut. She winced at the thought of the pain that must have been felt, trying to filter some of it into her own being. She was not one for violence of any sort. Another part of the normal world Illi had discovered, and was still not used to was just that. The bloody, bloody world as it is.