A/N: Once again, I apologize, but I don't have enough time to respond- so I'll just say, thanks for reviewing! Also, I'll be leaving for around a week and almost definitely won't have access to a computer, so don't expect any updates.
A/N2: Now, on to the chapter. This one's a bit bizarre- doesn't make much sense, even to me, how the emotions are, but I have to leave soon, so I don't really have time to edit, unfortunately(sp?). It is longer, though!
Dig. Dig. Throw the dirt away. Keep digging.
She shoveled away at the edge of the ancient building. They'd been scraping black-brown dirt and ash away from the Ancients' dwellings for hours, but no one else had taken a break, so she didn't either. Her pride wouldn't allow it.
Thump. Thump. Thump. The sounds of her steel hovel hitting the packed dirt were repetitive and monotonous- they'd been the same for the whole time they'd been there. Thump. Thump. Thump. Seconds spent -or wasted- digging at the covered ruins quickly turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours into half a day used up- and still she kept on going.
Thump. Thump. Thump. She wondered if there was even anything beneath the pile. Her hands were red and blistered, but she kept on digging. It didn't matter.
Thump. Thump. Thump-thump.Her hands were bleeding now- and still she ignored them. There'd be time enough to bandage them later. She dropped the shovel by accident, and when she picked it back up, her hands -sticky with half-dried blood-were in agony, having come in contact with the dirty, wooden handle.
Thump. Thump .Thump-Clang! She didn't hear the difference at first, as her mind was wandering far away, to a time when she'd been a drudge- though even then, the work hadn't been quite so physically grueling. Clang! She jumped and looked down- and saw that her efforts, the whole day spent there, had paid off.
She'd uncovered the wall of the ancient building!