Sometimes, when you look in a mirror, you see yourself. These times, when you look and see yourself, you see exactly what you wanted. But you gotta think about these things. Sometimes, when you look in these mirrors, and you don't see what you wanna see, it makes you unhappy. It's like you knew what you wanted to be there before you looked, but instead you're seeing what's really there. You don't see that damn smiling stupid face staring back at you, like nothing's ever happened and nothing ever will. Or maybe you do. Damn that face either way. Sometimes, though, you don't see it, and you see something else, something you don't wanna see. But it's there and it stares back at you, it, and no matter what it's there. And it's not you, it's not the reflection of yourself that a mirror usually spits back at you like some rotten insult from an angry orphan, it's a reflection of something else. A reflection of the parts of yourself that make you whole, make you the person you are. And sometimes... sometimes, when you stare into this mirror and stare past your reflection at the face behind the face, you see a part of you that could have been, the part that's hidden, the part that makes you hold on to yourself even tighter, because then, when you stare past yourself and into the parts farthest away from you, you see how horrible you could really be.
I don't like mirrors much.
-Duo Maxwell
With a look of distaste on his face, the tall, blonde haired man surveyed his surroundings. He stood on a neat, well cared for river boat, facing a lush, green forest. He could see, or thought he could see, the shape of a large house vaguely between the forest trees. He stepped lightly from the boat to the shore and kept a critical eye on the forest. He heard his clumsier guards stepping noisily from the boat and his glowering expression deepened. He turned and snapped at them to hurry up. Sometimes, just sometimes, he wondered why he was sent on these missions. King and country, he reminded himself, and tucked his black walking stick under his arm. Sighing he realized that he had not prepared to go out. He turned back to the boat and whistled. His guards seemed surprised, and clumsily began to apologize for not holding it themselves.
"Shut up..." he muttered and tossed the stick to a servant emerging from the boat's cabin.
Quickly, he stripped his scarlet jacket of most of the gold trimmings and fancy lining. He snarled scornfully at a guard, who rushed to his side to take off his boots. The servant threw down rough, well worn leather boots to replace his shined black ones, and he quickly pulled them on. There was nothing he could do about his other garments at the moment, so he left them as they were. It wasn't as if even the most dense of the peasant folk would fail to notice his nobility.
He had been told as his life, as a little boy, to a grown man. 'Your eyes, Milliardo, your fine face, your hair...no one would mistake you for anything less than what you are.'
For a moment, his face cleared of the displeased frown and haughty disdain it usually held. He shook himself and stood up straight, shrugging away the memory.
He turned to his guard, "Go ahead and keep out of sight. We've already scouted; they should be out today. I want you to watch and see what you can find."
The guard nodded and started away. Before the guard had gotten even a few feet away, the nobleman remembered the dull look on his face. He reached out and grabbed the guard roughly, pulling him back.
"And remember what we're looking for. There are high standards to be watched for. I will not be the one to cover for your mistakes."
Now the guard nodded, the fearful look on his face a good enough confirmation of his understanding. He snarled. It wasn't enough that he had to wander among the uneducated, he had to have idiots to watch over while he did it.
He sighed and shut his eyes, 'No one, Milliardo...no one...'
Again he snapped from his memories. It was not the time for remembering, it was the time for duty.
_________
Duo ran through the woods, listening to the shouting the laughter behind him. It was wash day, and it was a good thing. For all the work he'd done in the week, he figured there was at least two layers of dirt and grime on him. He saw some of the others run ahead of him and felt the almost inescapable mischievous grin spread across his face. He gripped his bundle of clothes more tightly and turned back to the troupe behind him.
He took a deep breath, "Come on you Laggards! Try and keep up!"
There were bursts of laughter as his voice reached the troupe of traveling orphans. He saw some of the more adventurous start to run his way and cracked a grin that would've shamed Hermes. He raised his voice like a wild thing and ran through the brush and branches towards the Forest Lake. The other orphans would never keep up. None were fast enough. They saw the black shadow disappear into the forest, a chestnut tail bobbing behind it.
________
"I see you have a good...selection, as it were, at this place, my Lady."
"Yes, my Lord, many have left their children for us to care for."
Madame Yourna quickly nodded to the noble, trying not to stare. He smiled a patient smile to her. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked down, wringing her hands,
"I suppose, it is well known we take good care of them."
He waited a practiced moment, then nodded to her, maintaining his smile. Quickly, she turned and began to pull out the papers from her desk that had the names of all her children on them. The two were enclosed in a small, wooden office. He frowned to himself as he ran his fingers over the edge of the wooden chair in front of him. Madame Yourna had told him the children had made it, and so many of the other things in the office, for her a long time ago. Everything seemed to be made of wood, he thought, minutely disgusted, event he woman's ratty brown shawl. It was sensible, though, he thought, since the orphanage was placed in the middle of a forest. He tried to maintain his smile for the sake of the woman. She was stacking and straightening the list of names into a neat pile. Her time-worn shawl seemed to match the office enough to make her blend in. Briefly, he wondered why she even bothered working here. She was not old enough to have given up on raising her own children, and, if she took a second to straighten herself up, she would be an attractive bride for a peasant townsman. She straightened up and looked up at him, a bright smile on his face. He quickly resumed his own smile, and wondered what she would look like in green, rather than brown.
"Here you are, my lord, the list of names of my children." She bowed her head as he took them from her graciously.
"I will see."
She stepped away and kept her face down, staring at him through her eyelashes like a bashful child. She was the picture of contained excitement. It wasn't often that anyone came interested in her children, and it was even less often that one had the chance to be adopted by a noble. She looked up again. She noticed that he was tall, and he dressed in a scarlet red that screamed of wealth, but the rest of his clothing was more simple, even travel worn. She tried to hold in her hope that he would be a kind parent to on of the children. He looked enough like it, certainly. He had sleek, intensely blonde hair that ran down his back, and she could envision the icy color of his eyes...
"Lady," he said shortly.
She broke from her revery and stepped forward, "Yes, My Lord?"
He was looking over the lists with a critical eye, and his smile was gone, but she hardly noticed.
"I think I should like to see them before I choose."
"Yes My Lord," she bowed, but suddenly frowned, remembering where the children were. "I-I'm sorry, my Lord, I remember now that they have all gone to lake to wash."
She was crestfallen, what if chose to leave? What if he didn't take one of the children with him? Had she ruined their chance? "But, my Lord, if you'll be patient, I'm, I'm sure that they'll be back at any moment..."
He looked into her desperate face and nodded, "I will wait until they return then, my Lady."
He finally managed another smile, and watched her eyes begin to sparkle with delight.He turned to his guard and whispered once she had turned her back. The guard nodded,
"Done already, my Lord."
___________
The fastest of the troupe reached the lake first. Duo heard the screams and laughs as some jumped straight into the chill water of lake. He laughs as one of his friends tried to bypass him,
"Duo! Come on! I'll bet I'll make a bigger splash than you!"
Duo laughed at the larger boy and tackled him, taking him straight to the dirt. The other boy was bigger, but Duo was faster. He sprang up and laughed, and the boy tackled him back, "Come on, you're not even trying!"
Duo grinned as the boy held him, pinned to the ground, "Oh yeah?"
He obviously heard the cocky tone in Duo's voice, because his face fell almost immediately. His opponent off guard, Duo pulled his foot up and put it on the other boy's chest. With a mighty heave he flipped him over backwards, and the boy somersaulted into the Lake. He heard the laughter from some of the watching children. One of them, a girl with black hair, shouted, "Hey Duo! Wanna play chicken in the lake? I'll bet you can't pull those same tricks!"
Duo grinned and brushed himself off, "Naw, I'm gonna clean up."
She shouted something else by way of a mocking reply to him, but Duo had turned away. More of the kids were arriving, and he could hear the splashes as they were, pushed, pulled, and dumped into the cool waters. He laughed to himself, and held his bundle of clothes over his shoulder. His arms were tired still. He felt someone touch his arm and turned quickly.
"Rohan!"
"Duo. Aren't you gonna come to the lake?"
Duo shrugged, "I've got dirt in places I can't imagine. I'm gonna go to the falls."
Rohan nodded. He stayed a few feet away, as if afraid that Duo would shout at him. Rohan had always been shy and withdrawn. It was no wonder, Duo thought to himself, he had been abandoned twice and beat up more times than he could count.
Rohan nodded again, "Fine then, I'll make sure it's clear."
Rohan winked and disappeared, a definite trait from Duo. Duo laughed to himself. Rohan may have had a tough time, but all it did was make him tougher. Not a single one of the orphans ever dared cross him, much like Duo himself. He slung his bundle of clothes back over his shoulder and continued to walk.
He could hear the others splashing and playing in the lake as he ran up the rock to the little waterfall. He checked to make sure no one was already here before he emerged. He watched the water fall gently from the jagged rocks above, to the smooth rocks below and smiled.
"C'mon, Duo! You stink!."
"Yeah, hurry up already!"
He remembered his friends' comments and grinned. They would stink too if they had been made to work this week. He threw off his clothes and ran to waterfall. The water was cold, more frigid than the lake, and it fell slowly. He shivered and started to wash. None of his friends had to work yet, they were not old enough, but Duo... He was getting older. In another year or so he would be released, for better or worse, to make his own place in the world. No one had ever adopted him. He sighed and scrubbed his face. Working in horse dung was not his idea of fun. He shivered again, but this time it wasn't from the cold of the water. He couldn't help but look around for a moment. He shrugged and kept scrubbing.
The shiver was well judged, for someone was watching them, all of them, with careful, meticulous, judgement.
__________
Duo and the others headed back to the orphanage through the yard. One of Duo's favorite attendants fussed over them, "Sakes! I wonder if you don't come back dirtier than when you go!"
Duo laughed and pushed at one of his friends, "she's talking about you, eh?"
The smaller child revealed a semi-toothless frin and pushed back. Few of them noticed the man walking with Madame Yourna out to the yard. The Nobleman looked over the papers again and nodded to Madame Yourna, "Aye, My Lord, they've come back."
He looked up and nodded. The children were all playing, roughhousing mostly, while the caretakers fussed over them. He immediately filtered out those that were too young on his own. That seemed to leave few for the choice. They stopped as he surveyed. Quietly, a guard came up behind him and interrupted, whispering something in his ear. He bent to listen, and the guard pointed. He nodded and rested his hand over his mouth.
"My Lady," he spoke suddenly.
She nodded, "Yes, My Lord?"
He pointed, "What is his name?"
The woman looked, and then squinted. She finally took a step forward and nodded, "I know every child here, and that one is...Duo Maxwell." She smiled, obviously reliving some pleasantly amusing memory. The noble's cold blue eyes followed him perfectly.
He nodded, "He will do."
________________
"Heero!"
Heero Yuy looked down at the book in his lap, startled. He looked up to see if whoever had called his name was already in the great library. He saw no one.
"Heero!"
He heard them call again. He recognized the voice. Quickly, he slapped the book shut and tried to think of what to do with it. It was a novel, pure fantasy, and he wasn't supposed to be reading it. He couldn't think of what to do, and if Lady Po found out he was...
"Heero."
She stared down at him. Her tone was condescending, and he felt his face grow hot, not for the first time. He realized he was already standing as she started to walk over.
"Heero Yuy, what are you doing in here? You heard me call?"
She had the irritating habit of making statements into questions. He failed to come up with a proper response, so he simply kept his face down. It was embarrassing for a man to blush, but Heero could never cotrol himself properly for as long as he could remember. She made a sympathetic noise in her throat and straightened his hair with uncanny motherliness. What did it matter about motherliness anyway? He never had a mother.
"Come now, you're needed downstairs."
He nodded and managed to mumble an affirmative response. She clucked and turned. He finally raised his face to watch her go and remembered the book in his hand. His heart quickened. Why hadn't she said anything about it? Did she even notice he had a book? Didn't she see...
With a start he realized that she had most definitely not seen. The book was clasped in his hands behind his back, and automatic gesture when he stood to greet people. She hadn't even noticed he held it anymore than he had noticed the gesture of hiding it. He felt himself shiver and carefully, without taking it from behind his back, he dropped it on one of the library shelves. He didn't like the idea of hiding things.
___________
In the last part of the kingdom, it was raining. The door to the inn pushed open, seemingly of it's own accord. Bedraggled and wet, a boy stumbled inside, dragging with him another. The innkeeper could not see if it was another boy or a girl. The tattered boy struggled to catch his breath as cold drops of water fell from his hair to a quickly forming puddle beneath him.
"Please sir, do you have a room?"
The innkeeper frowned, and relied on his judgement, "No. I have no room to let."
The boy seemed unsurprised, if disappointed, by his response.
"Please, then, sir, have you a blanket, or some food?"
The innkeeper began to shake his head, but the boy turned away, alerted by some unknown signal. The one he carried made no noise, but the boy quickly let him down and kicked the door shut behind him. He ran to the innkeeper's counter and looked up at him with desperation in his single visible eye.
"Please, sir, I beg of you, anything will do, he is sick, and I cannot take him farther into the wood in the rain. I will do anything."
The innkeeper grumbled, fumbling for some way to foist them off. He began to mumble an excuse looking towards the ceiling rather than to the soaked body, laying breathless on the ground.
The traveler interrupted before he began, "Please! I will work!"
The innkeeper grunted, "What can you do?"
A look of settled determination was on the boy's face now,
"Anything."
His excuses running out, the innkeeper began to tell them to leave. He tried to look at the ragged boy's face. As the thundering outside ceased, and the great, clanging drops of rain created a din inside the tiny inn; he could hear the heavy, desperate breaths coming from the figure on the floor with strangled effort. He risked a glance at the lumped form on his floor. Other than muddied and soaked clothing and cloth, he could see nothing of the figure except for the labored rising and falling of its chest. He looked back at the boy, who knew he had won.
-----------
End of Part one
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Oi! What's this all about! I thought I had fixed this...*sigh* oh well...it's fixed now. Maybe that's why it was so confusing...that and the typos *sheepish grin*. Anyway, I hope this is a little better...maybe I get some reviews for it *grin* Thanks for stopping by, spirits!
Kitten
I don't like mirrors much.
-Duo Maxwell
With a look of distaste on his face, the tall, blonde haired man surveyed his surroundings. He stood on a neat, well cared for river boat, facing a lush, green forest. He could see, or thought he could see, the shape of a large house vaguely between the forest trees. He stepped lightly from the boat to the shore and kept a critical eye on the forest. He heard his clumsier guards stepping noisily from the boat and his glowering expression deepened. He turned and snapped at them to hurry up. Sometimes, just sometimes, he wondered why he was sent on these missions. King and country, he reminded himself, and tucked his black walking stick under his arm. Sighing he realized that he had not prepared to go out. He turned back to the boat and whistled. His guards seemed surprised, and clumsily began to apologize for not holding it themselves.
"Shut up..." he muttered and tossed the stick to a servant emerging from the boat's cabin.
Quickly, he stripped his scarlet jacket of most of the gold trimmings and fancy lining. He snarled scornfully at a guard, who rushed to his side to take off his boots. The servant threw down rough, well worn leather boots to replace his shined black ones, and he quickly pulled them on. There was nothing he could do about his other garments at the moment, so he left them as they were. It wasn't as if even the most dense of the peasant folk would fail to notice his nobility.
He had been told as his life, as a little boy, to a grown man. 'Your eyes, Milliardo, your fine face, your hair...no one would mistake you for anything less than what you are.'
For a moment, his face cleared of the displeased frown and haughty disdain it usually held. He shook himself and stood up straight, shrugging away the memory.
He turned to his guard, "Go ahead and keep out of sight. We've already scouted; they should be out today. I want you to watch and see what you can find."
The guard nodded and started away. Before the guard had gotten even a few feet away, the nobleman remembered the dull look on his face. He reached out and grabbed the guard roughly, pulling him back.
"And remember what we're looking for. There are high standards to be watched for. I will not be the one to cover for your mistakes."
Now the guard nodded, the fearful look on his face a good enough confirmation of his understanding. He snarled. It wasn't enough that he had to wander among the uneducated, he had to have idiots to watch over while he did it.
He sighed and shut his eyes, 'No one, Milliardo...no one...'
Again he snapped from his memories. It was not the time for remembering, it was the time for duty.
_________
Duo ran through the woods, listening to the shouting the laughter behind him. It was wash day, and it was a good thing. For all the work he'd done in the week, he figured there was at least two layers of dirt and grime on him. He saw some of the others run ahead of him and felt the almost inescapable mischievous grin spread across his face. He gripped his bundle of clothes more tightly and turned back to the troupe behind him.
He took a deep breath, "Come on you Laggards! Try and keep up!"
There were bursts of laughter as his voice reached the troupe of traveling orphans. He saw some of the more adventurous start to run his way and cracked a grin that would've shamed Hermes. He raised his voice like a wild thing and ran through the brush and branches towards the Forest Lake. The other orphans would never keep up. None were fast enough. They saw the black shadow disappear into the forest, a chestnut tail bobbing behind it.
________
"I see you have a good...selection, as it were, at this place, my Lady."
"Yes, my Lord, many have left their children for us to care for."
Madame Yourna quickly nodded to the noble, trying not to stare. He smiled a patient smile to her. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked down, wringing her hands,
"I suppose, it is well known we take good care of them."
He waited a practiced moment, then nodded to her, maintaining his smile. Quickly, she turned and began to pull out the papers from her desk that had the names of all her children on them. The two were enclosed in a small, wooden office. He frowned to himself as he ran his fingers over the edge of the wooden chair in front of him. Madame Yourna had told him the children had made it, and so many of the other things in the office, for her a long time ago. Everything seemed to be made of wood, he thought, minutely disgusted, event he woman's ratty brown shawl. It was sensible, though, he thought, since the orphanage was placed in the middle of a forest. He tried to maintain his smile for the sake of the woman. She was stacking and straightening the list of names into a neat pile. Her time-worn shawl seemed to match the office enough to make her blend in. Briefly, he wondered why she even bothered working here. She was not old enough to have given up on raising her own children, and, if she took a second to straighten herself up, she would be an attractive bride for a peasant townsman. She straightened up and looked up at him, a bright smile on his face. He quickly resumed his own smile, and wondered what she would look like in green, rather than brown.
"Here you are, my lord, the list of names of my children." She bowed her head as he took them from her graciously.
"I will see."
She stepped away and kept her face down, staring at him through her eyelashes like a bashful child. She was the picture of contained excitement. It wasn't often that anyone came interested in her children, and it was even less often that one had the chance to be adopted by a noble. She looked up again. She noticed that he was tall, and he dressed in a scarlet red that screamed of wealth, but the rest of his clothing was more simple, even travel worn. She tried to hold in her hope that he would be a kind parent to on of the children. He looked enough like it, certainly. He had sleek, intensely blonde hair that ran down his back, and she could envision the icy color of his eyes...
"Lady," he said shortly.
She broke from her revery and stepped forward, "Yes, My Lord?"
He was looking over the lists with a critical eye, and his smile was gone, but she hardly noticed.
"I think I should like to see them before I choose."
"Yes My Lord," she bowed, but suddenly frowned, remembering where the children were. "I-I'm sorry, my Lord, I remember now that they have all gone to lake to wash."
She was crestfallen, what if chose to leave? What if he didn't take one of the children with him? Had she ruined their chance? "But, my Lord, if you'll be patient, I'm, I'm sure that they'll be back at any moment..."
He looked into her desperate face and nodded, "I will wait until they return then, my Lady."
He finally managed another smile, and watched her eyes begin to sparkle with delight.He turned to his guard and whispered once she had turned her back. The guard nodded,
"Done already, my Lord."
___________
The fastest of the troupe reached the lake first. Duo heard the screams and laughs as some jumped straight into the chill water of lake. He laughs as one of his friends tried to bypass him,
"Duo! Come on! I'll bet I'll make a bigger splash than you!"
Duo laughed at the larger boy and tackled him, taking him straight to the dirt. The other boy was bigger, but Duo was faster. He sprang up and laughed, and the boy tackled him back, "Come on, you're not even trying!"
Duo grinned as the boy held him, pinned to the ground, "Oh yeah?"
He obviously heard the cocky tone in Duo's voice, because his face fell almost immediately. His opponent off guard, Duo pulled his foot up and put it on the other boy's chest. With a mighty heave he flipped him over backwards, and the boy somersaulted into the Lake. He heard the laughter from some of the watching children. One of them, a girl with black hair, shouted, "Hey Duo! Wanna play chicken in the lake? I'll bet you can't pull those same tricks!"
Duo grinned and brushed himself off, "Naw, I'm gonna clean up."
She shouted something else by way of a mocking reply to him, but Duo had turned away. More of the kids were arriving, and he could hear the splashes as they were, pushed, pulled, and dumped into the cool waters. He laughed to himself, and held his bundle of clothes over his shoulder. His arms were tired still. He felt someone touch his arm and turned quickly.
"Rohan!"
"Duo. Aren't you gonna come to the lake?"
Duo shrugged, "I've got dirt in places I can't imagine. I'm gonna go to the falls."
Rohan nodded. He stayed a few feet away, as if afraid that Duo would shout at him. Rohan had always been shy and withdrawn. It was no wonder, Duo thought to himself, he had been abandoned twice and beat up more times than he could count.
Rohan nodded again, "Fine then, I'll make sure it's clear."
Rohan winked and disappeared, a definite trait from Duo. Duo laughed to himself. Rohan may have had a tough time, but all it did was make him tougher. Not a single one of the orphans ever dared cross him, much like Duo himself. He slung his bundle of clothes back over his shoulder and continued to walk.
He could hear the others splashing and playing in the lake as he ran up the rock to the little waterfall. He checked to make sure no one was already here before he emerged. He watched the water fall gently from the jagged rocks above, to the smooth rocks below and smiled.
"C'mon, Duo! You stink!."
"Yeah, hurry up already!"
He remembered his friends' comments and grinned. They would stink too if they had been made to work this week. He threw off his clothes and ran to waterfall. The water was cold, more frigid than the lake, and it fell slowly. He shivered and started to wash. None of his friends had to work yet, they were not old enough, but Duo... He was getting older. In another year or so he would be released, for better or worse, to make his own place in the world. No one had ever adopted him. He sighed and scrubbed his face. Working in horse dung was not his idea of fun. He shivered again, but this time it wasn't from the cold of the water. He couldn't help but look around for a moment. He shrugged and kept scrubbing.
The shiver was well judged, for someone was watching them, all of them, with careful, meticulous, judgement.
__________
Duo and the others headed back to the orphanage through the yard. One of Duo's favorite attendants fussed over them, "Sakes! I wonder if you don't come back dirtier than when you go!"
Duo laughed and pushed at one of his friends, "she's talking about you, eh?"
The smaller child revealed a semi-toothless frin and pushed back. Few of them noticed the man walking with Madame Yourna out to the yard. The Nobleman looked over the papers again and nodded to Madame Yourna, "Aye, My Lord, they've come back."
He looked up and nodded. The children were all playing, roughhousing mostly, while the caretakers fussed over them. He immediately filtered out those that were too young on his own. That seemed to leave few for the choice. They stopped as he surveyed. Quietly, a guard came up behind him and interrupted, whispering something in his ear. He bent to listen, and the guard pointed. He nodded and rested his hand over his mouth.
"My Lady," he spoke suddenly.
She nodded, "Yes, My Lord?"
He pointed, "What is his name?"
The woman looked, and then squinted. She finally took a step forward and nodded, "I know every child here, and that one is...Duo Maxwell." She smiled, obviously reliving some pleasantly amusing memory. The noble's cold blue eyes followed him perfectly.
He nodded, "He will do."
________________
"Heero!"
Heero Yuy looked down at the book in his lap, startled. He looked up to see if whoever had called his name was already in the great library. He saw no one.
"Heero!"
He heard them call again. He recognized the voice. Quickly, he slapped the book shut and tried to think of what to do with it. It was a novel, pure fantasy, and he wasn't supposed to be reading it. He couldn't think of what to do, and if Lady Po found out he was...
"Heero."
She stared down at him. Her tone was condescending, and he felt his face grow hot, not for the first time. He realized he was already standing as she started to walk over.
"Heero Yuy, what are you doing in here? You heard me call?"
She had the irritating habit of making statements into questions. He failed to come up with a proper response, so he simply kept his face down. It was embarrassing for a man to blush, but Heero could never cotrol himself properly for as long as he could remember. She made a sympathetic noise in her throat and straightened his hair with uncanny motherliness. What did it matter about motherliness anyway? He never had a mother.
"Come now, you're needed downstairs."
He nodded and managed to mumble an affirmative response. She clucked and turned. He finally raised his face to watch her go and remembered the book in his hand. His heart quickened. Why hadn't she said anything about it? Did she even notice he had a book? Didn't she see...
With a start he realized that she had most definitely not seen. The book was clasped in his hands behind his back, and automatic gesture when he stood to greet people. She hadn't even noticed he held it anymore than he had noticed the gesture of hiding it. He felt himself shiver and carefully, without taking it from behind his back, he dropped it on one of the library shelves. He didn't like the idea of hiding things.
___________
In the last part of the kingdom, it was raining. The door to the inn pushed open, seemingly of it's own accord. Bedraggled and wet, a boy stumbled inside, dragging with him another. The innkeeper could not see if it was another boy or a girl. The tattered boy struggled to catch his breath as cold drops of water fell from his hair to a quickly forming puddle beneath him.
"Please sir, do you have a room?"
The innkeeper frowned, and relied on his judgement, "No. I have no room to let."
The boy seemed unsurprised, if disappointed, by his response.
"Please, then, sir, have you a blanket, or some food?"
The innkeeper began to shake his head, but the boy turned away, alerted by some unknown signal. The one he carried made no noise, but the boy quickly let him down and kicked the door shut behind him. He ran to the innkeeper's counter and looked up at him with desperation in his single visible eye.
"Please, sir, I beg of you, anything will do, he is sick, and I cannot take him farther into the wood in the rain. I will do anything."
The innkeeper grumbled, fumbling for some way to foist them off. He began to mumble an excuse looking towards the ceiling rather than to the soaked body, laying breathless on the ground.
The traveler interrupted before he began, "Please! I will work!"
The innkeeper grunted, "What can you do?"
A look of settled determination was on the boy's face now,
"Anything."
His excuses running out, the innkeeper began to tell them to leave. He tried to look at the ragged boy's face. As the thundering outside ceased, and the great, clanging drops of rain created a din inside the tiny inn; he could hear the heavy, desperate breaths coming from the figure on the floor with strangled effort. He risked a glance at the lumped form on his floor. Other than muddied and soaked clothing and cloth, he could see nothing of the figure except for the labored rising and falling of its chest. He looked back at the boy, who knew he had won.
-----------
End of Part one
-----------
Oi! What's this all about! I thought I had fixed this...*sigh* oh well...it's fixed now. Maybe that's why it was so confusing...that and the typos *sheepish grin*. Anyway, I hope this is a little better...maybe I get some reviews for it *grin* Thanks for stopping by, spirits!
Kitten