A day like any other. Nothing special. Everything was routine just like Aria Crawford liked it.

She had gotten ready in silence, and walked to school. Wandered the halls to different classes whilst listening to others talk about what they had been doing in the weekend.

Sometimes she wondered if she was invisible, with how easily she avoided the attention from her fellow students and classmates. Untouched, she walked past everybody. Some would glance at her here and there, but she was easily dismissed as the 'weird girl with paint on her sleeves and the daughter of the resident alcoholic'.

It did not matter to her. She liked immersing herself in art, she liked being able to think for herself with her headphones on and classical music calming her frantic mind.

If Aria were to be honest with herself, she would admit that people scared her. Since she was a kid, she had never been able to understand anybody. No matter how hard she tried, she could never tell if people were appeasing her or if they truly liked her.

People were a conundrum to her. If she ever happened to have a conversation with somebody it would leave her mind reeling for days. Going over every movement and word said but she could not tell if it had been a successful interaction.

So yes, Aria had made routines to keep focused and being social was not part of it, so walking unseen in the halls of the school never bothered her.

But today, Aria could not calm her mind. She felt restless and was desperate to breathe in fresh air, so she did what she had never done before. She skipped school.

She walked to the beach closest to the school and sat down. As always, she had art supplies and novels in her bag so she knew she would not get bored. There was nothing to go back to at home except her bed, so today she was going to let the chill of the sea air seep into her mind and blow away all the thoughts flying around.

Her short, brown hair did nothing to cover her ears from the relentless wind but fortunately she was otherwise dressed in a turtleneck, sweater vest, jeans and her headphones covered her ears somewhat.

It was calming to be there and she soon spotted someone else seeming to try and find a calm in the sea before them.

Aria was not sure if she had seen her before, but she looked vaguely familiar. She was beautiful. Her dark hair cut into a shaggy bob, her russet skin warm and inviting. Her features were sharp yet soft, her body toned. Despite only wearing cut off shorts and a tank top it did not look as if she was freezing.

And so Aria decided to draw her. The way she gazed beyond the sea, as if longing for something to come to her, was hard to capture but she tried her hardest.

She drew her newfound muse for hours, until she got up and disappeared into the woods. By that time, Aria had several different sketches of the girl, woman, whoever she was. She huffed, feeling a bit chuffed that she lost her model and now did not know what to draw.

Tapping her pencil on her sketchbook, she held her head up with her hand, wondering what to do next.

"You're good," a voice said from behind her. It was soft, yet husky as if it had not been used for a while, yet also smooth and calming at the same time. Aria jumped in surprise, not expecting anybody to actually talk to her.

And then her muse sat down beside her, examining her latest sketch of her. Aria had no idea what to do, her heart was racing, her breathing becoming a bit unstable. What was she supposed to say? Was there a proper way to respond to such a comment in this situation?

"You got my brooding expression right," she continued, as if prompting Aria to say something in return.

Her muse laughed, mumbling something akin to 'and they say I am quiet'. Then she nudged Aria with her shoulder. She was warm, even through her thick turtleneck, the heat radiated from her muse and she fought the urge to shuffle closer to obtain some of it.

"Do you have a name?" she asked. Aria glanced around nervously, before settling on staring at her hands that had settled on her sketchbook.

"Aria," she whispered, so low she wondered if it was even possible for the human ear to hear. A hum of recognition came from her muse.

"Crawford, right? You live close to Sam Uley. Shouldn't you be in school?" she further inquired. Aria did not know that her name was known by others, it was often only her last name that made people recognise who she was and it certainly was not in combination of where she lived but rather the parent she lived with.

"Shouldn't you?" Aria asked back, instantly regretting it. Was that impolite? She thought her words might have come out too aggressive but instead of anger, her muse simply chuckled.

"Nah, I work for Uley around the rez," her muse answered. Something about the way she said Uley made Aria think of how her mother said her name. As if it was a nuisance. There was hatred behind it.

But Aria had heard about the band of teenagers working for Sam around the rez, doing neighborhood patrols, helping with building and fixing things for everybody. It was a job Aria could admire.

"What… What's your name?" Aria dared to ask, when they had sat in silence for a short time. It was hard not to look at her muse, but somehow she felt so small next to her. Insignificant. What would she see in the eyes of her muse? Would she even be able to read them at all?

"Leah. Leah Clearwater," her muse answered and now it was Aria's turn to hum in recognition. She knew Leah had lost her father a while ago, leaving behind her wife and two kids. A heart attack. But she also recognised the last name as belonging to Seth, Leah's younger brother. He had suddenly dropped out of school too, to help around the rez with Sam and his group.

If she remembered correctly, there was also a time where they had been unaccounted for, for quite some time. But Aria did not keep up with the gossip in town so she had no idea what was currently going on.

"Seth was a year below me," Aria muttered, not sure if that tidbit of information would even be interesting to Leah. Maybe it also made Aria sound like a child, despite being 17 years. She knew that Leah was in her early twenties, so she would have no reason to want to hang out with Aria.

"You're in your senior year then, right?" Leah asked. Aria could not remember ever having such a normal conversation with anybody, yet Leah did not seem to care about her shifty and nervous nature.

"Yeah… I, uh… I am done with high school in August," Aria answered, her voice trembling slightly as her gears were turning, trying to find the right words.

"I don't envy you, nothing worse than hormonal guys and the stress of homework," Leah chuckled, making Aria smile. She would not know about the guys, as she had not spoken with any of them. But the homework was definitely something Aria struggled to get done in between her reading and drawing.

Then a howl ripped through the air, making Aria shiver. It sounded close by and despite wolves being the natural protectors of the reservation in all of their legends, it still made her feel less than. What was she to do in the face of a wolf?

Leah sighed and stood up, brushing sand off her shorts.

"I have to go. Nice talking with you, Aria. I come here most days to brood if you want to use me as your inspiration again," Leah said and before Aria could think up an answer, the woman was gone.

She allowed a small smile to spread on her lips. Despite not knowing social etiquette, Aria was pretty sure that that was an open invitation to talk with the older female again.

Now she just had to get home and through another day of school, before she could see her muse again, hopefully.