Searching for Hope

[Rei'sari]

1st Ymiden, 719

Location: ---


She knew this place. As Ari'sora looked around, she was certain that she had seen this place once before. But the hauntingly beautiful cry of agony that permeated this place distracted her, making it hard to think. Then it hit her; she was in the house she and a few others had had to search in order to find some mirror shards. She had, in fact, found one. But she had never learned what they had needed the shards for. The world had ended before they could.

And this ruin is all that remains. Ari'sora mused uneasily as she looked around what was left of the ruined house.

Some of the outer walls were intact, but not all of them. And the same could be said of the inner walls that separated the various rooms. Some of the inner walls were intact...and some...were most decidedly not. Of the ones that were not, some lay in fragments all around her. More disturbingly was the fact that some of them were simply...gone. They looked as if they had been partially dissolved by acid in some cases. Or worse...eaten by something that was very, very hungry. Something that Ari'sora very much did not want to meet.

A chilling howl made her freeze in her tracks, eyes darting around fearfully as she looked around for the source of the sound. It wasn't here...but it was close. Too close for Ari'sora's comfort. And when the howl sounded again, she realized that it was coming closer. Ari'sora shivered.

"Right, then. I certainly can't stay here much longer." she told herself.

She wouldn't have been able to stay in the entryway indefinitely in any case. Not if she wanted to find the children that she could hear crying in the rooms all around her. And Ari'sora did want to find them. No...she needed to. Somehow she just knew that if she could find the children, and save them from the monsters that lived here, she would be able to find Shadow. And that was something that she wanted more than anything else in this world...or any other.

But in order to save the children, she was almost certainly going to have the fight the monsters that ruled this place. And to do that, she needed a weapon. She wasn't foolish enough to think that she would stand a chance against the monsters that had killed Shadow without a weapon of some kind. So Ari'sora began to search for one. Unfortunately, there wasn't any weapons to be had in the entryway. There were a lot of glass shards, though. So she looked among the shards until she found one that was as big as her hand, and was shaped roughly in the form of a blade in that it was broader at one end than at the other, and that the narrow end was sharp and pointy like a sword. Sort of. It would have to do.

[Rei'sari]

Location: ---


Ari'sora began her search in the room where the crystal tree had once been. She didn't find any children there, but looking at the spot where the crystal tree had once been gave her an idea. She stared at the glass shard in her hand, frowned in concentration, and focused her will on the shard. As she did so, she pictured what she wanted firmly in her mind; a short bow and a quiver filled with arrows. Her mental image was so complete that she could feel its weight in her hand, and see its form clearly in her mind's eye. After a few bits, her efforts were rewarded. The glass shard began to shift form until she had the bow and arrows she had imagined in her hand.

That will certainly be more useful than a piece of glass she thought with satisfaction.

The more distance I can keep between the monsters and I, the better as far as I am concerned.

There weren't any children in the room she was in, but Ari'sora could hear a desperate sobbing coming from nearby. The child sounded lost and alone...and something in the tone of the child's cries told her that the child didn't expect any aid to come. It was a heartbreaking sound, and it made Ari'sora long to help the child. No one should feel the way this child clearly did.

Since the crying sound was so close, Ari'sora moved into the next room to continue her search. A through search paid off, and she found a toddler huddled in the far corner of the room. The child was much smaller than she should have been for a child of two or three arcs, and after her time working in Luna's Dream, that set alarm bells off in her mind. It was painfully clear that this tiny child had not been getting enough to eat...and that that condition had been ongoing for quite some time.

The scent coming from the corner told her that the toddler's diaper needed changing, and badly. So that was clearly the thing that needed to be tended to first. Ari'sora moved slowly, and spoke soothingly to the little girl as she approached. The last thing she wanted to do was frighten her, and something in the way the child was trying to hide in the shadows told her that it would be very easy to frighten her.

When Ari'sora reached the child, she continued to speak softly in order to reassure her. It seemed to help since although the little girl flinched when she picked her up, she didn't offer any other protest. Ari'sora was startled to see that the child had a tiny pair of rumpled black wings attached to her back.

She's a half Avriel just like I am. she realized as she carried the little girl over to a flat surface that was the closest to a changing table she was likely to find in this ruined house.

Ari'sora looked around in search of a clean diaper. There were no diapers conveniently laying around, but she remembered the success she had had in changing her glass shard into a usable short bow earlier. A second search turned up some loose paper, and when Ari'sora turned her will on it and focused as hard as she could on imagining a clean diaper in its place, the paper changed form obligingly.

As Ari'sora changed the tiny child, she couldn't help but notice that the little girl looked strangely familiar to her. She tried to remember where she might have seen her before, but she couldn't think of anything. None of the children in the orphanage where she worked were half Avriel. But it was more than just that. This little girl looked an awful lot like she must have when she had been that age. They had the same black wings, and Ari'sora knew that her mother had ignored her as much as possible until she was old enough to have been of some use to her. So it was very likely that she hadn't been fed or changed as much as she should have been either. But it wasn't until she got a good look at the little girl's eyes that Ari'sora realized what was happening.

She knew those eyes. How could she not when she looked at them in the reflection in the water in her washing basin every trial? It wasn't just that they were the same size, shape, and color as her own. Those similarities could be explained by the fact that they were both half Avriel. No. It was the expression in the tiny toddler's eyes that told her that she was looking at her younger self. The child's eyes were filled with the same painful longing that Ari'sora had felt all of her life.

People had many different needs. Physical needs were the most obvious, but they also had mental and emotional needs that were just as important as the physical ones. Those needs were often overlooked, especially in cases of abuse. The physical needs were easier to see, so when an abused child was rescued, it was those needs that were usually tended to. Mental and emotional needs were often overlooked in favor of the physical ones, especially if the abused child was injured. But it was those needs that struck Ari'sora now that her younger self's diaper had been changed.

Ari'sora hugged the little girl tightly, trying to convey a sense of safety and reassurance in the gesture as she comforted her younger self. In some way, she was trying to give herself the comfort and care she had so desperately longed for when she was younger through taking care of this child now.

"It will be okay little one. I know you won't believe me now, but our life really will get better." she promised softly.

A low growl warned Ari'sora that they were not alone. She set the child down gently behind her, and stood in front of her protectively. The scent of almonds filled the air, clinging to the wolf like creature that stood before her. Ari'sora felt the familiar fear and helplessness wash over her, but the desire to protect the tiny child clinging to her legs behind her gave her the strength to stand her ground. She would not run. The monster that killed Shadow would not harm this child.

As the creature approached her slowly, Ari'sora nocked an arrow, and took careful aim. When she released the arrow, it flew straight, and true. She had expected that it would. She was far from an expert, but nothing had jostled her to spoil her aim as she had released the arrow. Nor was there any wind to blow her arrow off target. The arrow would hit its mark. Well...it should have. Problem was...the wolf like monster was no longer in the place it had been in when she had fired her arrow. Instead, it was several feet to the right of where the arrow embedded itself in what was left of the far wall.

And that was the greatest weakness of her chosen weapon. Arrows flew straight so long as nothing impacted them with enough force to change their course. But once released, they could not change their course midflight to compensate if the target should dodge the attack. Seeing that drove home another fact. Aim was important. Ari'sora knew that. If you failed to take proper aim, you wouldn't hit your intended target. Simple, right? But it wasn't that simple. Unless you and your target were completely isolated, there was a chance that something...or someone else could mistakenly move into the arrow's path. And once released, an arrow couldn't change its path. So it became incredibly important to take very careful aim before unleashing an arrow. If an innocent was in a position where they might be hit if they moved the wrong way, then the shot shouldn't be taken unless lives were at stake. And even then, it should only be taken if there was no way of taking a shot from another angle that wouldn't put the innocent in danger.

Lesson learned. That wouldn't help her now, though. Ari'sora's eyes narrowed as she watched the monster closely. She needed to kill it before it could attack them...but how? Even if she tried to shoot it with another arrow, what was to stop it from just dodging it again? The answer came to her as she studied the situation.

The wolf like monster probably would try to dodge another arrow. But it was flush up against the corner of the room. It couldn't move any further to the right. So that meant that if it was going to dodge, it would have to jump to the right. She could work with that.

Ari'sora took aim at the monster again. It saw her, and snarled at her as if it knew what she was doing. She moved as if she was about to release the arrow. The monster jumped to the left. At the last trill, Ari'sora shifted her aim to the left, and watched with a deep satisfaction as the arrow hit home. The creature died and faded away.

"It looks like we're safe now, little one." Ari'sora crooned softly.

She hugged the little girl tightly, imagining that by doing so, she was giving herself a hug when she needed one so badly at that age. In a way, she was. As she hugged the child, the tiny body became insubstantial. She watched with wide eyes as the child faded away. Was her younger self safe somewhere? Had she gone back to her own time? Had anything she had done for the child done any good? She had to believe that it had.

Ari'sora didn't have long to think about it. In her hands, she held a hammer that had appeared when the little girl faded away. She was supposed to do something with it...but what? She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard another child crying in the distance.

Following the sound of the cries, Ari'sora found herself moving out the door that the book turned cat had fled out of the first time she had been here. She hadn't been in this part of the house when it had been whole, but she found herself in a ruined hallway. The crying sound was coming from the end of it.

When Ari'sora entered the room, she could tell immediately that it was a bedroom. The only piece of furniture that wasn't laying on the floor in scattered splinters of wood was a bed, so she was fairly confident in her guess. And judging by the size of the bed, it seemed likely that this bedroom had once belonged to a child. Ari'sora wondered if this room had truly been a child's bedroom back when they had been exploring the house for the first time, or if she was simply seeing it as such because she was following the cries of a child.

The child she was searching for wasn't anywhere in sight, but the muffled sounds coming from under the bed gave Ari'sora a good idea of where to look. She moved carefully over to the edge of the bed, and knelt down beside it. Sure enough, she could see a small form huddled under the bed.

"Why are you hiding under the bed?" Ari'sora asked softly, trying to pitch her voice in a reassuring tone.

"Min ubble." came the fearful, muffled reply.

It was hard to tell how old the child was from her current position, but as small as she was, she couldn't be any older than five...if that. Ari'sora took a few trills to puzzle out what the child had said. But her experience working at Luna's Dream made it easier to translate than it might otherwise been had she not been used to dealing with young children. She started to ask why the little girl was in trouble when the scent of almonds distracted her. That scent seemed to be the most obvious when a monster was nearby.

And this time was no different. By the time she had stood so she could get a good look around, she heard a low growling sound that made her tense with fear. Ari'sora stood with determination burning in her eyes. It had been impossible for her to tell for certain when she couldn't see the child clearly, but the first child had been a younger version of her. So it wasn't impossible that this child was as well. Her voice certainly sounded the way she had at that age, at least. In a strange way, it felt as though she was helping herself by protecting these children...and that only made her determination even stronger.

With that thought in mind, she drew her arrow, and nocked it. She waited for the monster to attack first so that it would be harder for it to dodge her arrow. Her strategy seemed to work because her arrow struck home. It wasn't a fatal shot, but the force of the blow did knock the wolf like creature off course, and halt its attack. The creature glared at her, and Ari'sora shivered at the pure hatred in its eyes. She refused to back down, though. No one had helped her when she was a helpless child desperately in need of aid. She knew what that felt like. And knowing that, she wasn't going to fail the child that she was trying to protect. The monster seemed to sense her resolve because it snarled at her viciously, but rather than follow its threat up with another attack, it faded away.

Ari'sora stayed where she was for several more bits just to make certain that they wouldn't be attacked again. When she was certain that they were safe for the trill, she turned her attention back to the child cowering under the bed.

"Why are you in trouble?" she asked softly.

"It broke. My fault. 'zuri says."

The little girl shifted so that Ari'sora could see what remained of a broken vase. She closed her eyes, and shuddered. She remembered that vase. Mi'zuri had broken it when Ari'sora was five. She hadn't even been in the room at the time, but her sister had been terrified of risking her father's anger, so she had blamed her for breaking it. Ren'zar had demanded that she fix it so that it was as good as new. It was an impossible task, and they had both known it. But an order was an order, and she didn't dare disobey it. So she had tried her hardest to fix the vase. But in her reality, the vase had been shattered, not merely broken. She hadn't even been able to find all of the pieces, never mind glue them back together. The punishment that she had earned for her failure...had been a horrible one. If in some way she could help her younger self avoid such a fate, then she wanted to try.

"Can I see it? Maybe I can help you fix it."

The little girl hesitated for a trill or two, then scrambled out from under the bed with the broken vase. Ari'sora stared at it for a long trill, then glanced at her short bow. It had appeared when she had willed it into existence. Could she do something like that again? It was worth a try, at least. They needed some glue in order to fix the vase, so Ari'sora focused her will, and tried to imagine that a large pot of glue was sitting on the bed in front of her. It took several bits worth of intense focus, but her efforts paid off.

"I think this should do the trick." she told her younger self with a smile.

The little girl stared at her with hopeful eyes, but didn't respond. Ari'sora used the small brush that was resting in the glue pot to brush a thick layer of glue over the jagged edges of the broken vase. Then she asked the little girl to hold it steady while she fit the broken pieces together. As she did, the cracks faded as the edges sealed themselves together as if the vase had never been broken in the first place.

"There. It's as good as new."

The little girl grinned at her as she hugged Ari'sora tightly and thanked her. After a few trills, she took the vase, and faded away. Where the vase had been sitting on the bed, there was now a small bag. Curious, Ari'sora peeked inside, and found it to be filled with nails.

A hammer, and a bag of nails, huh? Well, it's pretty clear that I am supposed to be doing something with these...the question is...what? she wondered.

[Rei'sari]

Location: ---


Ari'sora looked around the now empty room thoughtfully.

So it seems like I have to save the children that are trapped here...and when I do, they fade away, and leave some tools behind when they go. I would wonder if they were dead, seeing as how they fade away once I save them, but both of the kids I've helped so far have been me when I was younger. Does that mean that they are memories instead of ghosts? And what does it mean, exactly...am I saving myself somehow when I help these kids? Is that even possible? How can it be? The past is the past. It can't be changed...right? Does it really matter either way? Maybe the more important question to ask is how will saving me save this place? Because I'm pretty sure that's what I'm supposed to do...and then there's the tools. They fit into this somehow. They have to. But what, exactly am I supposed to do with them? And when? I have a feeling that nothing will work unless it is done at the right time, and in the right order. Then there's Shadow. I still need to find her, too. She's alive...I know that. And she's here in this place...somewhere. But I haven't seen so much as a glimpse of her fur while I've been searching for the children. Does that mean that I have to find them all first and help them before I can even start looking for Shadow?

There were no answers to her questions. And it was nearly impossible to think with the haunting song that filled this world. But that didn't stop her from trying.

What else do I know? The scent of almonds. That's right. Whenever the monsters are nearby, I can smell almonds. Is it a warning of some kind? If so, I'll take it. I need every advantage that I can get.

The sound of another child crying distracted her from her thoughts. Everything else could wait. With any luck, it would sort itself out, and she would just somehow...know what to do when the time came. For now, though, she had another child to save. And if the pattern she was beginning to notice held up, there would be another monster to fight soon after she succeeded in finding the child. She would have to be ready for that.

The crying child could be heard even over the mournful lament that pervaded this place. And that was saying something. But it meant that she was able to follow the sound as she searched, and she wasn't going to complain about that.

Her search brought her into what looked like the remains of a child's play room. There was a chest in the far corner, but it was cracked, and partially caved in from where a ceiling beam had fallen on it. Wooden blocks were scattered around the floor as were the broken remains of other toys. A beautifully painted broken rocking horse that was missing one of its rockers caught her attention, as did a doll that was missing its head. The head itself had rolled over to the wall where a series of broken shelves could be seen; probably a place to store all of the toys when they weren't being used. Mi'zuri had had toys like those. She had not, of course. But she could remember a time when she had waited until everyone else in the house had fallen asleep, and she had stolen a ride on Mi'zuri's rocking horse. And there had been another time when Mi'zuri had flung her doll to the ground in a tantrum because she couldn't have a piece of candy she wanted. Ari'sora had felt sorry for the doll, so she had picked it up, and given it a quick hug. She had been punished for both of those crimes; for daring to play when she was meant to be working, as well as for daring to sully Mi'zuri's precious toys by touching them.

Ari'sora pushed those thoughts aside. That was neither here nor there, and she had a job to do. The child she was looking for wasn't immediately visible, but she could still hear her crying. That told Ari'sora that the child was hiding somewhere, probably trying to compose herself before she got in trouble for bothering others with something as unimportant as her feelings. Her eyes fell on the closet that was partially hidden by shadows in the corner across from the chest.

She approached the closet slowly, and hesitated before she opened the doors. The child she had been searching for was huddled in the far corner of the closet, with her knees pressed up against her chest as she sobbed into them. Ari'sora guessed that she was about seven arcs old, and her mind began to search for possible memories that this child might be a reflection of. There were an awful lot to choose from.

"What's wrong?" she asked the little girl quietly, not wanting to startle her.

"I was bad." the child confessed as she looked up at Ari'sora reluctantly.

"What did you do that was so bad?"

"I yelled at 'zuri cause she wouldn't tell me what she learned at school totrial."

Anger flared in the child's eyes.

"It's not fair! How come I can't go to school like 'zuri does? I want to learn and be smart, too!" she protested.

Ari'sora remembered this trial. Mi'zuri knew how much she wanted to be able to go to school and learn new things like she did. But to her sister, it was a boring chore that she couldn't get out of. Looking back at it now, she realized that Mi'zuri had been jealous of her. Not for all of the work that she had had to do, or how she was treated, of course. But she was jealous that Ari'sora didn't have to go to school. She had felt that if she didn't have to go to school, then she would have been allowed to play rather than work like Ari'sora did. And it was a combination of that jealously, and boredom with the subjects she had to learn that had goaded her into refusing to teach Ari'sora the things she had learned. She turned her attention back to the child.

"Well...you know how to read, right?"

The child glared at her indignantly as she nodded, and Ari'sora couldn't help but grin at her response. She had been very proud of her ability to read, and any implication that she couldn't, or that she was bad at it was an insult that she couldn't bear lightly.

"Of course I can!"

"And you like to read, right?"

The little girl nodded again.

"I love to read. But...I'm not allowed to read very often, though."

"So why don't you teach yourself, then? When you get the chance to read, pick something that will teach you about something that interests you. That way, you can learn about the things that you want to learn about., and you will get smart that way."

The little girl beamed at her.

"I will! Thank you!"

The little girl hugged her. Ari'sora hugged her back, but froze when the scent of almonds filled the air. She pushed the little girl behind her. She didn't know what would happen if the monsters managed to hurt, or worse, kill one of her past selves...and she didn't want to find out, either.

"Stay behind me, okay?"

Ari'sora felt the little girl nod against her legs more than she saw it happen. She stepped out of the closet to give herself a little more room to maneuver just as the wolf like beast entered the room. When it saw her, it growled fiercely, the fur along its back rising up in a clear threat.

Ari'sora tensed as she drew her bow, and nocked an arrow. There wasn't much room for her to work with. Once the monster began its attack, she would have maybe a few trills to shoot her arrow before it was upon her. Maybe. But if she didn't wait, it would just dodge, so she didn't really have much of a choice. The wolf leaped at her, and she released her arrow. The monster's momentum actually helped in the fact that it caused the arrow to penetrate even deeper into its flesh when it struck. Ari'sora was bowled over by the weight when the wounded monster crashed into her, but her luck held. Rather than shred her the way it had torn Shadow apart, the monster's wound caused it to fade away with a final snarl. The scent of almonds faded away slowly.

For several trills, all Ari'sora could do was star in shock as she processed the fact that she was still alive. Then the child she had helped earlier hugged her again.

"Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.

"That was scary." the child said as she buried herself in Ari'sora's lap.

"Yes, it was. But I'm okay now. What about you?"

"I'm okay." the child said softly.

"Thank you."

The little girl hugged her again before she faded away like the others. In her place was a saw. Once more, Ari'sora wondered what she was supposed to do with the tools that the children left behind when they faded away. It almost looked as if she was supposed to build something. But if so...what? And more importantly...how? She didn't know the first thing about carpentry.

Ari'sora was distracted from her thoughts when she heard another child crying. She stood slowly, and placed the saw with the other tools. Then it was time for her to begin the search once more.

The next room Ari'sora found herself in was clearly a kitchen. Or it had been at one time. Now the metal door on the brick oven was badly rusted, and warped; one side had been torn off of its hinges so that it was impossible to close. The wooden counters were cranked, and rotten. Ari'sora noticed these details absently as she searched for the child she could hear crying somewhere nearby.

She found the child huddled on the stone floor of a tiny larder that was just off of the kitchen. The young girl looked to be about nine arcs old, something about the sound of her cries made Ari'sora think that she was in pain rather than being frightened, or grieving.

And to think there was a time when I couldn't tell the meaning of one cry from another. That was for babies, sure, but the same principle applies here. I've learned a lot while working at Luna's Dream. she mused.

"What's wrong?"

"My back hurts. So does my shoulders." the young girl whimpered softly, as if afraid to say anything for fear of being heard "complaining."

Ari'sora remembered those trials well.

"May I see it? Maybe I can help."

The girl started to ease her way out of the larder, but the scent of almonds made Ari'sora freeze tensely, and her reaction made the frightened child freeze as well. The scent of almonds. Ari'sora was quickly coming to associate the pleasant scent with danger.

"Stay here. There's something bad in the kitchen, and I need to make it go away before I can help you."

The young girl nodded, and drew back into the shadows of the larder while Ari'sora stood, and moved into the kitchen proper. As she did so, she heard the now familiar chilling snarl of a beast. Like the others, it looked much like a wolf. But this one was considerably bigger than the others she had fought. Ari'sora drew her bow, and nocked an arrow.

The creature snarled at her again, and stared at her. Ari'sora stared back, waiting as calmly as she could...which really wasn't all that calm. She was getting used to fighting the monsters, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed it. Her hands shook as she waited.

When the monster leaped at her, she unleashed her arrow. The arrow flew straight and true, biting deep into the chest of the monster wolf. The wolf howled in agony, as it faded away, taking the scent of almonds along with it. Unlike some of the others, it had been alive when it faded away. Ari'sora wasn't sure if that meant that it would survive its injuries or not. But for now, it was gone. Ari'sora waited a few bits, and when nothing else attacked, she figured that it was safe enough to turn her attention back to the child she was trying to help.

The young girl came out when she called for her, and Ari'sora hissed under her breath in sympathy when she saw how red and blistered her back and shoulders were. Ari'sora had suffered many severe sunburns like the one the young girl had while she had had to spend long breaks outside weeding the garden during the worst of Saun's heat.

"I think I know of something that will help." Ari'sora promised.

Aloe was good for burns. She had read as much in one of the books she had been allowed to read as a child. She didn't know how to make the remedy she needed, but with the way the rules seemed to work in this strange place, she wasn't certain that she needed to.

Ari'sora stared at one of the rotten wooden counters, focusing her mind intently on her need for a sunburn remedy. And after a few bits of intense concentration, she had the aloe sunburn remedy she needed to help her younger self. She gently applied the cream to the young girl's back. Her younger self whimpered as she did so, but she didn't protest, or try to pull away. And after a few trills, Ari'sora could see that the remedy had worked because of the way the young girl's back and shoulders relaxed with relief.

"Thank you." the child whispered quietly before she faded away like the others before her.

Ari'sora felt strangely accomplished, as if helping the echo of her past had helped her in some small way. Something that was wound so tightly that it hurt deep inside her eased up just a little. Then she forgot the feeling as she noticed the screwdriver and the bag of tools that the young girl had left behind when she faded away.

Of course. More tools. she mused to herself.

There is definitely a pattern here. I still don't know what I am supposed to do with these tools, though...

Rather than wait until she heard another child crying, Ari'sora gathered up her new tools, and began searching once more. She didn't have to wait long before a child began crying somewhere in the house. As she followed the sound, she realized that she was retracing her own footsteps until she found herself back in the small library where she had started. The room where Shadow had died. She hated that room with a passion.

The child that waited for her there looked to be roughly eleven arcs old, and she wasn't alone. As Ari'sora took in her surroundings, she saw that the child was crying brokenly over the mangled body of a nightpup. Ari'sora's eyes moistened with unshed tears. She knew that nightpup.

"Haru?" she asked softly.

The girl froze, and looked up at her.

"Haru's dead. She's the only friend that I've ever had. Did...did you know her, too?"

Ari'sora nodded. For a long trill, it was all she could do to do even that much. Her eyes were fixed on the too still body of the faithful friend who had saved her life on more than one occasion. She remembered this trial well, and the pain it had caused; pain that was hitting her again just as strongly as it had so many arcs ago.

"She was my friend, too." she said softly.

Her younger self looked at her warily, but didn't question her words. Ari'sora knew that she was supposed to help this child...but how? Time was the only real cure for the pain and grief caused by the loss of a treasured companion. Anything she tried to say or do would be meaningless...and very likely not trusted by the child she had been at that age. By then, she had learned not to trust anyone other than Haru.

A low growl startled Ari'sora from her thoughts, and the scent of almonds filled the air. She whirled around to face the monster that the familiar scent heralded. Ari'sora was really starting to hate the scent of almonds. The monster snarled at her when she drew her bow, and nocked an arrow. But Ari'sora was in no mood for it, and she snarled back. In her head she knew that nothing could hurt Haru now...but logic didn't make her any less determined to protect the first friend she had ever had. She also needed to protect her younger self.

When the wolf like monster attacked, she was ready for it. Using the same strategy that had worked for her in the past, she waited until the wolf was in motion before she loosed her arrow, aiming it for where the monster would be rather than where it was. And it worked. The creature's own momentum worked against it, causing the arrow to do more damage when it struck than it might have done otherwise. It howled in agony as it faded away.

Ari'sora's younger self stared at her with wide, wary eyes.

"You...you saved me." she said softly.

Ari'sora nodded simply. The girl glanced at Haru.

"Haru saved me too. That's why she...why she..."

Ari'sora nodded again.

"I know." she said quietly.

"Haru was a very good friend to you." she added after a trill.

"Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome."

The girl's eyes widened.

"You...you're me, aren't you? You are! You have to be. That's why you look so familiar, and why...why you know Haru..."

"Yes." Ari'sora said simply.

She wasn't certain what else to say. None of her other younger selves had recognized her.

"Are you...does...does it get any better?" the girl asked bleakly.

The tone of her voice made Ari'sora realized that her younger self feared very much that it wouldn't. That was one fear that she could ease. Ari'sora smiled as she nodded.

"It does. It won't happen for arcs yet from where you are...but things will get better. We're...better now."

She hesitated to say that she was "okay" because she wasn't certain if she really was, and she wasn't willing to lie; not even in a dream. But better? That was something she could definitely promise her younger self. Her younger self smiled.

"Thank you." she said again before she faded away, taking Haru's body with her when she went.

This time, her younger self had left a drill behind when she faded away. Ari'sora bent down and picked it up. She stared at the drill for several bits. A drill. A hammer and nails. A screwdriver and some screws. A saw. Each were different, but they all had one thing in common. They were tools that one could use to build something. Or...to fix something. Ari'sora looked at the ruined house she was in. She was starting to get an idea of what she was supposed to do with the tools that her younger self had left behind. She could feel Shadow's presence around her strongly, even if she couldn't see her friend.

"Well, Shadow. It looks like I have work to do."

[Nursia]

You weren't afraid of getting a bit depraved in your descriptions. It served your tone very well, and highlighted the situation clearly.

The scenes of neglect and harm were very much fluid in how you managed to describe it, trawling through the scenario as though appeasing ghosts. I enjoy how Ari'sora didn't fully understand what was happening, but was able to adapt to the expectations of her, from this area. You're a very talented writer, and this read like something I would find out of any bookstore.

Your rewards are deserved, I hope to read more from you.

Ari'Sora

Rewards

Knowledges:
Ranged Combat; Shortbow: arrows can't change direction in midflight
Ranged Combat; Shortbow: careful aim is important
Ranged Combat; Shortbow: arrows fly straight
Caregiving: there are many different kinds of needs; physical, mental, and emotional
Caregiving: a person's mental and emotional needs are often overlooked
Caregiving: a person's mental and emotional needs are just as important as their physical needs
Wealth:
Renown:
EXP:
+10

Feedback

Understand that all criticisms are done in good faith. It would be a greater disrespect to not say anything in the face of problems. Please contact me through this account's inbox if you wish to further communicate on the matter of improvement, or if you feel as though anything is unduly harsh.

Player #2

Rewards

Knowledges:
Wealth:
Renown:
EXP:

Feedback

Understand that all criticisms are done in good faith. It would be a greater disrespect to not say anything in the face of problems. Please contact me through this account's inbox if you wish to further communicate on the matter of improvement, or if you feel as though anything is unduly harsh.

wc: 6879