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 Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:20 pm
Ash stood silent vigil next to the little memorial she and Fauve had set up for their parents at the shoreline in front of where the boat sank. The houseboat hadn't been in the best condition, but it had always been enough until that unseasonably strong storm came up four nights ago. She still didn't know how the boat had come free of the moorings while they were all sleep, or what had actually caused the damage to the hull that made it sink so fast...
When the boat listed to the side Fauve had been trapped in her bunk, and their father had come in and dragged Ash out. She tried to stay and help, but she couldn't fight her father's strong arms. He'd dumped her ashore and told her to hold on to the end of the rope he handed her so she could help haul Fauve in when he and mom got her free... She knew that was important, especially with how choppy the water was. She and Fauve could swim well enough, but there was no way either of them could have fought the stormy water.
Finally she felt the signal yanks and pulled on the rope as hard as she could. She and Fauve had fought that storm harder than anything else they'd ever had to do, and they were both exhausted by the time they were both safely ashore. They'd huddled under a tree, waiting for their parents to reappear, not that it offered much protection. Between the darkness of night, the darkness of the storm, and the wildly tossing water it was impossible to see what was going on, and somehow they'd fallen asleep there, waiting. Someone had found them in the morning to tell them that their parents never came back to shore again that night... and that they couldn't even get the bodies out of the wreckage without tearing the boat, and them, apart.
So now all they had was this little marker... they didn't have any other living relatives, and the friends their parents had weren't close enough to the family to bother taking them in or even helping them to hold a proper memorial service. Didn't seem much of a point to buy a grave plot for a poor family when there weren't even going to be any bodies to bury, or something.
Ash and Fauve had been dodging people who wanted to take them to an orphanage. They'd met more than one or two or even three sets of siblings that had to go to an orphanage and had wound up getting adopted... by different sets of parents. Some of them hadn't even gotten to see their siblings again until they were much older. Ash refused to let that happen to the two of them. They'd find a way... somehow... they had to.
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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 12:10 am
Fauve didn't remember much of what happened, she had been asleep in her bed and the next thing she knew she had a pain in her leg. The little girl had been tossed out of bed when the boat had listed to the side, and trapped between it and the wall as things in her room had gone sliding. Terror had gripped her, and she screamed so loud her voice was still a little hoarse, even four days later. Water had rushed in, and cold, it was so cold. Both of her parents had fought to get her out, her father pulled the bed away from her and her mother had pulled her out from behind it.
The last time she saw them, they were tying the rope around her waist and telling her that everything would be alright. Everything wasn't alright, because she and Ashy were alone now.
She hadn't understood at first what anyone had meant when they said Mommy and Daddy weren't coming back. They had to come back, they could do anything. Days later, little Fauve understood.
The blond girl snaked her hand out and took Ash's in her own, Fauve hadn't really spoken since it happened. She'd been horrified when people had tried to take her away from Ashirha, to put her in an orphanage, her sister had explained that meant they wouldn't be together anymore.
She let out a huge sniff and she looked up. "What do we do now?" Her voice was quiet, and it had the slight tremble of someone who had been crying for quite some time. Neither one had eaten for awhile, but they had found a nice little nook that just the two of them fit in on the underside of one of the bridges in town. Fauve rubbed the back of her opposite hand under her nose and got some dirt on her face, but the little girl didn't care in the least.
Ashy would know what to do, she always did.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 6:50 pm
Ash had been thinking hard ever since the second day, when she figured out that they weren't going to be getting any real help. People tried to say that the orphanage wouldn't separate them, blah blah... maybe that was true of other orphanages, but she knew what would happen at the one they would be sent to. They'd be shipped off to the poorest orphanage in the city since no one was willing to put up any sort of boarding fee for them and they no longer had any possessions to hold in trust or sell. And that orphanage would view them as nothing more than extra mouths to feed and get rid of them both as fast as they could, together or no. That... was not happening.
"Well..." she started, and then her stomach rumbled. "First thing... we gotta find something to eat. Then we need to find some way to get some better clothes than our nighties and some blankets..." She ticked off other things they could use. Like maybe bowls and spoons, and some little books. Their parents had been poor but they'd taught both of them to read as well as they were able. Maybe if they could get some books they could learn more on their own. There was a lot more future for people who could read and figure. And she was the oldest... even if only by a year. So she had to look after Fauve. "Lets head into town and see if we can find something to eat. Maybe one of the vendors will have some old fruit to get rid of..."
The weather hadn't really started to get cold yet, but Ash knew fall was on the way, followed by winter. They had to find better shelter, or at least make what they'd found more livable before then. All the walking they'd have to do around town to get anything done might help a bit... but it wouldn't for too long. As it was all the walking was almost making her light headed from all the hunger and exertion. She hated to think of Fauve feeling the same way.
It seems luck was with them that day. An old woman had some pies cooling on her window sill, and when she picked one up the other toppled over. It landed right side up but the impact caused some of it to splatter out, enough so that the pie would have been ruined for a dinner party. But not for a pair of starving girls. And it was blueberry, like Grandma made before she died a couple of years ago. Ash could barely remember that, so she wasn't sure if Fauve would or not... "C'mon, Fauve. There's still plenty of good pie there!"
She darted over and grabbed it and then took Fauve off to a secluded corner where they could eat in relative peace. She'd take the pie tin back when they were done... the old woman didn't look like she had much, so Ash wasn't going to take one of the few good things she had.
Her eyes roved around constantly while she waited for Fauve to eat before having what was left, and she spotted a young man racing out of alleyway after a dog. The dog darted right between the legs of a well-to-do merchant Ash recognized as one that refused to let them have even a piece of fruit from his stall that had fallen and broken open. The young man bumped into him in his haste to catch the dog and... apologized profusely before resuming his chase. But... had his hand darted toward the merchant's belt?
Ash waited, half an idea forming in her mind. About halfway between his run in with the young man and where the two girls had half-hidden themselves the merchant seemed to realize his belt-purse was missing. He turned around, roaring for a guard or a constable or someone to go find that thief... but no one had any idea where he'd gone. Except... she saw where he went. Could they find him? She certainly wasn't about to turn him over... but she wanted very much to know how he'd managed to take the mean merchant's coin without him noticing.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:15 pm
Fauve heard Ashy's stomach rumble, and she realized how empty her own felt right now. The friends of her parents had given them a little while they had been passing the girls around for the last four days, but Fauve couldn't remember the last real meal they'd had. It almost felt like her stomach was turning inside out, but she didn't dare tell her sister that. Ashy could be reckless sometimes, and Fauve didn't want her to disappear like their parents had.
The nook they had found under the bridge was actually quite spacious for two young girls, and it was sheltered from most of the horrors of nature. Rain would make it muddier then it already was, but it wasn't so bad on a dry day. At the mention of blankets though, Fauve felt like she was going to start crying again. She wanted to go home so badly, she wanted to lay in her bed again and have her mother and father hold her tightly in their arms like it used to be.
But there was no warm blanket, there was no more comforting arms. Ashy and Fauve would have to survive. They wandered away from the docks, and the little tiny memorial they had built with things they found on the shore. Everything of theirs that had actually washed up, had been totally destroyed.
The smell of pie had pulled them along the streets, and Fauve had been a little worried when Ashy had grabbed the one that fell on the ground. Darting around the corner so they wouldn't get caught the young blond girl couldn't help herself. She lifted up the pie and ate until she almost felt sick. Almost a half a pie, before the sweetness of it made her push it to her sister.
Fauve didn't notice the boy with the dog, she was to busy trying to lick the last of the pie off her arms and fingers. she honestly didn't seem to notice how gritty it was.
Funny what hunger will do to you.
The little girl looked up at her big sister and she followed her eyes to the man screaming about the thief. "Wos going on?" Fauve asked as she crawled up to her knees, pulling the nightgown out from under her so she could scoot forward to watch too. He was very upset, and Fauve could tell by the blotchy complexion that he had worked himself into a state.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:55 pm
"He's that guy that wouldn't let us even have the fruit he was about to throw out the other day... see? Someone just took his money right out of his pocket and ran off with it before he even noticed..." Ash realized that Fauve had left the rest of the pie to her and hunger took over. Soon she was digging in just as messily as Fauve had done, and even managed to finish it. The thoughtful expression on her face remained the whole time, though.
She trotted over to put the pie tin back in the window and noticed the old woman looking at them. She shrugged and grabbed Fauve and started down the street with her before the lady could get it into her head to ask them any questions. Questions could cause them a lot of trouble at this point if anyone was still looking for them to try and get them into the orphanage.
She indicated with a finger to the lips for Fauve to be quiet while they made their way nonchalantly down the street past the merchant. He was now raving at a resident on the other side of the street with the little tightly packed houses trying to force the man to tell him about the thief when he hadn't even come outside until after the merchant had started making a commotion. What a jerk... she was tempted to pull his pants down around his ankles, but then they'd really be in trouble.
They reached the alley entrance she thought she'd seen the young man disappear into and started down it, going slowly and carefully until they came to a cross-street. Or... cross-alley, rather. Just when she was about to suggest they turn back she thought she heard a dog bark off to the left and she started down that way. Softly she told Fauve exactly what she'd seen, and that she thought if they found this thief maybe he could help them. It's not like they had anything to steal, so the worst that could happen would be for him to turn them down. They... simply didn't have anything to lose.
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