Activity

Anika

Cal stifled a smile and said her feet would be fine. “They’re the most common irregular Latin verbs, they’re a present from my sister.”She got a far-away sound in her voice that made Anika’s chest tighten. She glanced at Natalya, but her face was a blank.

What is Latin? Maybe it was spoken in the schools, or in Kjerte. She cocked her head at the funny-looking words and letters, wishing she could find the courage to ask what they meant and sounded like.

“Do you have siblings?” The suddenness of the question made Anika’s head snap up and her heart thump harder. Her face darkened and she shook her head. “Well, I don’t know. It was just me when I was caught and sold, but I like to think I have more now. Maybe a little sister.” Her voice clogged up, and she turned to Natalya. “She has some, though.”

Natalya

She fixed Anika with a death-glare, then turned to Cal. “I have four brothers,” she said curtly, and was about to turn away. Then she saw Anika’s face. She couldn’t talk anymore.

“One brother is older, and three younger.” Viktor would be twenty-four, Artur and Aleksander would be fifteen, and little Gleb would be twelve.

twelve. Her gut tightened, as if the word had hit her with all the force Fedor could muster. [Fedor is the slave master]. She prayed that wherever Gleb was today, he would be safe and happy, and never think of his older sister, or come looking for her. Twelve. She shoved the number out of her head. She wouldn’t think about when she was twelve, or all the long years since then. She wouldn’t think about tomorrow, or the years that stretched ahead of her, barren, empty, desolate, except for Fedor and his children…

the word was hard, even to think. She hoped she would never have to say it. What if she were sold away, with children like her brothers had been when she was ripped away from them? What if she ‘goodbye’ was a word she could never get away from?

“You?” She barked. “Is it just you and your sister?”

She could keep her socks and her sister and her presents, and go back to her university where she learned Latin verbs and dyed her hair blue. Natalya straightened her shoulders and tilted her chin up. When the dream was over, she and Anika would go back to Colondai and Fedor, and that was that.

@rose-colored-fancy sorry it’s so short.