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@rose-colored-fancy

I KNOW! When I get done with a story I’m usually sad. (okay, I finish things so seldom I can’t say ‘usually’). I feel like I’m saying goodbye to old friends. I mean, it’s not goodbye goodbye, but I’ve been intimately aquainted with them for months (or years) and now our relationship has to change. 🙁 sniff.

I loved Cal’s interaction! Anika and Natalya will have NOOO idea how to react to kindness. Poor kids. It didn’t occur to me til today, but Natalya is probably very pretty, and Anika not so much. I don’t think it matters, but just in case you wanted to know.

Anika

The floors were cold. No colder than Colondai got in wintertime, but still a shock after the cool, fresh feeling the earth had in springtime.

Anika shifted from foot to foot almost unconsciously. It was a habit after so many years.

“Don’t ma’am me, I’m Cal.” her voice was softer this time. Anika’s head shot up and she looked her over quickly. she doesn’t look like a slave.

Anika dipped her head in a quick nod of assent.

She sat down on the floor with a sudden determination. Anika stared. From behind her she felt Natalya shift, staring at this strange person with blue hair. Cal whipped off her boots and handed them to her. Anika’s eyes widened, but she made no move to take them. Where was the catch? No one would think of offering a common slave shoes in Colondai.

Anika hesitated, trying to make sense of it all. She wasn’t a mistress, she didn’t look like a slave. Who is she? How would shoes feel after so long? 

Natalya elbowed her as if to say, “take them before she changes her mind.”

Anika glanced down. Cal was only wearing socks. Before she could protest, Cal said shortly, “Here, take them. It’s too cold to go barefoot.”

That sounded like an order. Anika took them, almost instinctively, still arguing with herself. Cal’s feet would get cold, and she probably wasn’t used to going barefoot, like Anika was. She bent down and started lacing up the shoes without a word. Cal had sounded on the verge of being more than brusque, and Anika didn’t want to make her angry. The shoes pinched in strange places, but her feet instantly felt warmer.

She stood up. “Thank you ma—Cal.” Habit.

Curiosity suddenly overcame her fear and she asked timidly, “Where are you from?” She was a little taller than Cal, and Cal wasn’t holding anything to hurt her with. A quick glance told her there were others there, but the passage was just behind them, and they were quick runners.

 

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Hope that’s enough to go on, I’ve been an extremely dull question-asker lately.