making other friends[Aurum]

A breath of wind whipped Crwydryn's hair out of her eyes as she watched big, puffy, white clouds lazily drift above her head. She was sitting on a roof of one of the houses on the edge of Town. It was one of the best places for her to think. Life seemed so simple and calm here in District 5, even though the Town screen continuously played the Games. She could just hear the sound of it from where she sat. Slowly she looked around her. It was just after noon, when almost everyone was inside, sleeping and staying out of the heat. Dryn never thought much of staying indoors when it was sunny. Closed doors made her feel suffocated and she could only handle the walls at night when they gave her some comfort and a feeling of protection as she slept, weak and vulnerable. Maybe she was with her Cats too much, or maybe it was an old feeling from being alone in the woods when she was younger, Dryn didn't really know. It was just a sensitivity she could never shake.

Being on up high gave her a more secure feeling. She could see for what felt like miles. No one would be able to sneak up on her and she could observe without be asked questions that she can never answer. Being mute by choice had some advantages and some nuisances. Nothing that she couldn't handle. She like her silence. And everyone knew by now that she didn't talk. Her and Jou had been the gossip of the town before he died, not to mention how she received all his Victor wealth when he did pass away. People always whispered behind her back, as though she was deaf as well as mute. not that she could really say anything to them, but the looks of death she gave them shut them up soon enough. Although, she really was quite a gentle girl, and rarely looked at them like that. The only things that really set her off was people talking bad about Jou, Luna or her Cats. Those people were the only ones with a bad mark in her book.

Now, the afternoon sun was baking into her back, so Dryn got up. Her bare feet would have been burning, walking on the rooftop that had been sitting in the summer sun for hours, but they were used to it, and were hard with callouses. She went almost everywhere barefoot. It let her really feel the world around her. The only time she wore shoes was when she had an appointment with a Client that wished to look at her Cats. It was only then that she would pull her messy hair up into a neat bun and pull pinching shoes onto her feet and wear something other then stained tee-shirts and ripped shorts or pants. it was also the only time she wore a dress, other than the Reapings, but she was always bare foot for those. The Capital people who weren't interested in her Cats could see her as she was really was. She couldn't care less.

Presently, she was running lightly on the narrow beam on the top of the roof, her balance never faltering. She leaped from roof to roof with the grace and efficiency of a cat. Dryn was with them so much, she was picking up some of their traits. She smiled at the thought. Something caught her eye in her peripheral vision. A girl was outside reading. Not many people were out at this time of day, so this kind of surprised Dryn. Suddenly, the girl looked up and saw her. She said something about falling and Dryn laughed inside. Her fall. It was funny to just think about. She placed a warm smile on her face and her mask fell into place perfectly. No one ever saw through it. Although, today, her mask was actually reflecting her true feelings. She was quite blissful today. Being up high cleared her head. Dryn slid down the arced roof and sat on the edge swinging her legs back and forth. She pulled a pad of paper out of her bag and wrote in crisp clean lettering.

Hi, my name is Crwydryn Laurea. Yes, the adopted daughter of the old Victor Kinkajou Laurea. Would you like to come up and sit with me? There's a great from up here?

Crwydryn watched the girl scramble up onto the roof, ready to assist if she proved to not to know how to get onto on. Although the girl had been indecisive about coming up, she surprised Dryn by getting up quite easily. The girl plopped down next to her and looked out at the view they got from on top of their world. She seemed breathless. Dryn just smiled, and leaned back and looked up at the sky above them. It was a suck a bright blue, it reminded her of the painting of the sea in her house. A beautiful work of art. The waves almost seemed to move and Dryn could almost hear the white birds cawing for the fish that was being pulled up by a fishing boat. The green colored fish seemed like they were made of emeralds and glass bottles, the scales reflecting the bright sun. Dryn shook her head. She was doing it again. Her mind leaving her body to see the extents of her imagination. Usually it wasn't much of a problem, but she was with someone today. What did the girl say her name was? Fenna. That was it.

Dryn turned to her and watched her take in the view. The girl's hand was resting gently on her stomach. Was she...? Dryn tapped Fenna on the shoulder, pointed to the girl's belly and then made the motion of rocking a baby to sleep. Dryn was pretty sure she was right, but she had to ask. The girl's stomach hadn't grown large yet, nor was her chest heavy with milk. She could not feel well, but the look on her face said nothing of discomfort, only the bliss the clear air up here had on people. It was great to see that other people felt the same way she did about the view. She found it amazing, but Luna had said she preferred the ground. Although Dryn loved the woman like a sister, sometimes she didn't understand her, or how they were able to be such great friends, when they were so different. It still puzzled her.

Now, Dryn was getting restless. The urge to run again crashed over her. She leaped to her feet and was halfway up to the top of the roof, before she remembered she had a companion today. She began to motion to Fenna to follow, when the girl's shoes caught her eye. Dryn slid back down to her and pointed to the shoes, then her own feet. If Fenna wore shoes, she was sure to fall. Shoes had soles that were slippery, even boots. It was better to go barefoot, because the foot can grip and bend at will. Shoes only hindered such things. Dryn realized that the hot roof would probably hurt her feet, being that the girl wore shoes everyday, but it would hurt more to fall off. Dryn simply hoped that the girl understood what she meant. If she didn't Dryn would have to take the time to write it down, and she wanted to get up as soon as possible. For some reason she got the urge to run a lot. Maybe it was from being in the woods when she was little. It seemed a lot of her mentality came either from that or working with her Cats. They loved to run and hunt as much as she loved being up high. They were big part of her world.

Crwydryn smiled at the girl warmly as she sheepishly admitted that she was with child. Fenna did quite look as though she was, but the way her hand gently cupped her stomach as though to protect something gave it away. The girl was only a year older that Dryn, and she not only had someone to love, but was pregnant with his child. That was more than Dryn could say. When she was little she had basically no friends but her cats, since she never spoke. The other kids would tease her about where she came from and being mute. That just drove her to stay quiet. Maybe if they hadn't been so mean, she might have grown out of her silence, but now she had real trust issues, especially with people around her age. Dryn didn't know why she felt a bit more comfortable with Fenna than the rest of her peers. Maybe it was because of the baby. She had a certain soft spot for kids. They made her feel as though she was a child again. It made her feel as though she was getting the childhood she never had when she was young. They never questioned her lack of words. They had grown up knowing her. And the lack of questions was what Dryn was most thankful for.

The silent girl was pulled from her thoughts by the cries of her new found companion. Fenna was dancing back and forth because of the heat the roof gave off. Dryn nearly fell over laughing. the sight was simply ridiculous. She shook her head and dashed to the top of the roof and turned back waiting for the girl to follow. Fenna got up on top easier than Dryn thought she would, but the silent girl still offered a hand to help her up onto the wooden ridge. The top of the roof wasn't as hot as the tile, and they could put their entire foot down, instead of just the balls of their feet. Dryn glance at the girl before backing up a bit, racing across the beam and leaping onto the next house with the grace and agility of a cat. She back up to give Fenna room as the girl, although hesitantly, followed her. The pure joy that was painted across the girl's features when she landed safely on the roof, was one that brought a bigger smile to Dryn's face. The silent girl reached out and held onto Fenna's arm to make sure the girl didn't fall. Dryn wouldn't let her fall, and chance hurting her child, or even the girl herself. No one else would die for her.

When she was sure the girl had her balance she motioned to her own eye and mouthed Watch This. She ran forward and right before the end of the house, she flipped forward into a hand spring and pushed off. Landing on the next roof. She laughed out loud with pure joy. When she was younger, Jou had taken her to gymnastic lessons. Dryn didn't really like them and quite after a few months, but she still remembered the basics. Quickly, she held up her hand to make sure Fenna didn't follow her just yet. She didn't want the girl to mistake her intentions and try to do the same. The first time Dryn did it, she got hurt pretty badly, and had to stay in bed for weeks with a broken arm. She wrote quickly and folded the paper into an airplane, and flew it to the girl, so that it would land right at the girl's feet.

Please don't try that. I was just having fun. You could get hurt if you do. When I first tried that, I broke my arm. I practiced a lot to be able to a hand spring up here. If you know some gymnastics I could probably teach you, but we would start on the ground, and after you aren't pregnant. I don't want your child to get hurt.

Dryn smiled at Fenna and motioned for her to jump over. Then she turned and started to make her way to the Town Square. There was a great view there and Dryn would need to go soon. She looked back to make sure the girl was following her and hadn't hurt herself.

~♫~

OOC: So I think I'm going to led her to Town Square and make this great remark about the games. Will she be okay with watching the male D5 tribute dying? The line I'm going to have her write to Fenna is really powerful, and will be great with a death in the backround and Andal just died.

As they continued across the rooftops, Fenna seemed to fall into a comfortable rhythm, from running and leaping. Soon, Crywdryn didn't need to watch her and make sure the pregnant girl didn't fall. She smiled to herself and performed a few cartwheels on the thin beamed roof. She laughed heartily at the girl's amazed expression. Dryn thought of telling Fenna she would teach her some gymnastics sometime, but didn't want to stop running. She felt like a kid again. The wind in her hair as she rushed forward and the recklessness that Luna would yell at her for if she was any younger. Now the mother-like woman simply shook her head and gave her half-hearted speeches about broken bones and big bruises. She knew that Dryn could take care of herself. The silent girl had uncanny balance and form. Dryn's eyes crinkled with a smile as she remembered how the woman scolded her when she first fell from roof of a neighbors house.

That time, she had found she could climb onto the roof using a few crates that were leaning up against the back of her house a few days earlier. She had jumped the small gap between her roof and the one that sat so close just to her right. Dryn had cleared the gap easily, but she wore shoes that day and the stiff soles of her sneakers slid effortlessly from the small beam. She must have hit her head on the edge of the roof, because one moment she was seeing the ground rushing up to meet her, and the next she was lying in her soft feather bed, Kinkajou sitting beside her. He was in quite a state, and when he noticed she was awake, his face had flooded with relief. Jou was so happy she was okay, he didn't scold her for being up there in the first place. That didn't really matter, though. Luna ranted enough for both of them. She had been only 8 at the time, so naturally, she went back up as soon as her broken leg was healed. Dryn hadn't used shoes since that day, unless she had a client. Even then she only wore Cleopatra sandals that laced all the way up to her calf. It was also the only time she wore a dress, but that was besides the point.

The sound of the Games that was growing louder with every step brought her back to reality. They were closing in on the Town Square. The laughter and smiles that had adorned her face moments before fell from her face as she stopped at the edge of the Square and waited for Fenna to catch up to her. The two stood side by side and Dryn paid no mind to the quizzical look that the girl gave her. The afternoon was growing into evening and the gentle wind was growing, speaking of thunderstorms to come. The sun was half way down the horizon behind the two girls. The skyline before them was growing dark, but the Games played on as it always did. Suddenly, Dryn realized that one of the two fighting on the screen was the male tribute from their own District. Andy, if she remembered him correctly. He had been nice enough to her, and to see him fight for his life, seemed almost surreal.

It was the end of the fight she was watching. The other tribute, Xanthus, she remembered, had a long sword that was rippled and wavy. He sliced Andy's thigh and the boy began to bleed even more. Both of them were bleeding, the crimson liquid was everywhere. Andy swung back, but missed. The fireberge flew at Andy, but this time he blocked the attack. Andy counter attacked, this time landed a cut on the other boy's shoulder. The two kept going at it. Block. Cut on the thigh. A matching one on Andy. Finally, Andy lashed out and severed the boy's left leg off. Dryn only blinked at the horror. She had rewatched most of the old Games to prepare herself if she got reaped. The only one she put aside was Jou's Game. He begged her never to watch it. She would grant his request, even after his death. She had buried the record with his body, so she would never be tempted. The thing that did surprise the hardened girl was Xanthus's reaction. As the boy fell to the ground, due to his missing appendage, he buried his sword in Andy's chest. She turned from the gruesome images and pulled out a piece of paper. With her handwriting as clean and straight as ever, she wrote quickly and silently handed the note to her companion. All the happiness that had been set in her big green eyes was now replaced with a great sadness. She sighed.

Today, we were full of innocence fit for a child. That is not a bad thing. In this day and age, innocence is the only thing we can truly cling to. That and the love of others. Never let the man of yours go, and remind him of the innocence we must hold onto. Please promise me that you will teach your child that. Knowledge and innocence are both important.

Dryn watched the girl slump down into a sitting position with a small and sad smile. Most people thought that the silent girl was not smart at all, and that was due to her taciturnity. In reality, she had been the top of her class, when she was still in school. When Jou had died, she had been in school on and off, ascribed to Luna's constant badgering. Everything that happened to her, Dryn was quite wise for her few years. Granted, she seldom showed her intelligence to others, preferring to watch without being noticed. Her muteness, although not quite true, gave her an advantage. She was able to notice things that people who talked couldn't. Her hearing was remarkable, as though making up for her lack of words. Despite the sound of the Games, which rang through the District loudly, she could still hear the machinery in the factories, and the quite sounds of birds falling to sleep with the setting sun. Speaking of which, it was hard to run on the rooftops in the dark, even for Dryn, who knew the roofs like the back of her hand.

Dryn waited for the girl to get her bearings back, and when she did, Fenna seemed embarrassed. Dryn pulled out a piece of paper quickly wrote something. Getting sick over death was nothing to be ashamed of. It was natural. If anything, I should be ashamed of not reacting in such a way. Always mourn the dead, but most of all, mourn those who appear used to death. Something had to have happened where they witnessed such a horror, that a death, which should bring them to a state of sickness, almost seems incommensurate to what they have experienced. Never see sickness to death as a weakness.Dryn turned away from the girl, lost in memories.

Bright flames engulfing a house and the woods surrounding it. Muffled screams as the roof collapses. By her foot is the charred remains of a cloth doll. A single tear cuts a path through her soot covered face, as she waits for her mom to come in and wake her up from the nightmare, but her mother never comes. The fire only goes out in the summer downpour, and no one comes to find her. Maybe they were playing hide 'n' seek. She goes looking, and all she finds is ash. Wait, look, there is the bone she gave the dog yesterday, but she didn't give him so many. And the bones weren't that long. Oh well, he has more now. She keeps walking...

Now she is walking trough the forest, lost. She couldn't find Momma or Poppa. Even the dog wouldn't come out and play. It is the middle of the night and she can't see the fire anymore. The heavens open up, dousing her in it's tears. She can't tell which are from her eyes and which have fallen from the sky. An owl calls as she crawls under a thicket. She shares the thicket with a few rabbits that are too cold to be afraid of the tiny girl. She curls up and tries to sleep...

She stands in front of a fence. She tried to touch it once. She didn't try again. It had been days since the fire. She found some berries that Momma had gone out to pick a few weeks ago. They weren't that tasty, most were on the ground and had dirt on them, but she didn't care. she had eaten some grass, but she just threw up. There was a dead deer. She was going to try some, but it was full of flies, and a crow chased her off. She still had her doll...

She's 11 now and watching the morgue personnel lower Jou into the grave. She places the DVD of his Game on his chest before they shovel dirt. The last she sees of him was his closed eyes that were always filled with a kind of sad laughter as she attacked the tree with his short sword. No more ruffling of her hair, no more snacks waiting for her when she ran home from school. Now the Peacekeepers tell her she needs to find a new home. Since she's not related to Jou, she doesn't get his wealth. She's packing up her things, when she finds his will. A lawyer reads it out loud in the town square. A few days later, his dog turns on him, ripping out his throat. Funny, he had the dog since she was a pup. Raised it by hand. Accident, right?

Dryn turned back to Fenna. She motions for the girl to follow her. This time as she runs, the silent girl isn't filled with the joyful innocence she had on her way to the Square. The air held a sad, quiet knowledge. They say innocence is bliss, maybe they're right.