The sky was turning pink as Kaja crept up the long staircase towards home. She winced at each hoofstrike and how it echoed across the Drag. She reached out for the doorknob, but the door swung quietly open before her fingers touched iron.
Kaja had seen Agra's angry face many times, but this was beyond that. Way beyond it.
She stooped her head guiltily and walked inside.
"Where have you been, young lady?" Each word was carefully enunciated.
"We were up on the summit..." she started to say.
"You were outside the city?" Agra shrieked. "Do you realize there have been three centaur raids in as many weeks?"
"We were nowhere near the valley! Centaurs never go up on the summit! They'd practically have to go through Orgrimmar to get there!" If any of the neighbors had still been sleeping, they were probably up now.
"That's no excuse! There's no end of danger you kids are exposed to out there. Bears... mountain lions..."
"We were perfectly safe, Mom! Some of the boys brought swords, just in..." she slapped her hands over her mouth.
The sound Agra made went right through Kaja's head. "Boys? You were out until dawn with boys?"
"Nothing happened, Mom!" Kaja's eyes filled with tears and she turned to leave.
"You're not going anywhere, Missy!" Agra screamed at her back. "You're grounded... for the rest of your life!"
"I knew you'd never understand," she cried, but she was already off running down the stairs at breakneck speed.
"Come back here!" Agra chased after her for a while, her bathrobe waving behind her. She stopped and screamed at the fleeing girl's back, "You better run!"
It was the sort of phrase you regret forever; words spoken harshly on a late summer morning. It was the kind you wish you could take back once you said it... anything to stop it from playing over and over inside your head.
# # #
Fall had been short and winter came early. A fire crackled in the hearth, but it did little warm the mood.
The family was dressed in their nicest clothes; Gorrum in his uniform and the girls in their dresses.
After being admonished multiple times not to get herself dirty, Grima was spinning in place.
Kaja sat in a chair and her mother tortured her with a hairbrush.
"Ow! You're hurting me!"
"I'm not doing it on purpose!" said Agra. "I'm trying to get the tangle out. Is this motor oil? Tar?"
"You're pulling out all of my hair."
"Could we please not fight?" Gorrum asked.
Kaja leapt to her feet, knocking the chair to the ground. She was out the door again, without grabbing her jacket or pulling the door shut.
"Let her go," Gorrum said, putting a hand on Agra's shoulder.
"Why am I always the villain?" Agra cried.
Gorrum embraced her closely.
When no one spoke, Grima tugged on Gorrum's jacket. "Are we still going to see the old man? He's nice."
Gorrum looked to Agra and then back to his daughter. "Of course," he said, putting a hand on Grima's head.
"Kaja knows where the funeral is being held. She can meet us there, if she'd like."