She was starting to wonder if living in a home would be such a bad thing. If it was better than this, it couldn't be too bad. It was evening, and they'd already fed her twice. Twice! In one day! She could hear the guards in the other room, still talking about her.
"The techeuns on Amethyst need more apprentices. I bet they'd be glad to have her. She'd do well there."
Suddenly, a memory from long ago resurfaced in her mind, from before her parents had gone away. She must have been very young, even younger than she was now. She was up to her knees in clear water, a mixture of gravel and pebbles, trying to catch minnows with her bare hands. Pinar was there, and she was younger too, and happier-looking, watching as she giggled and splashed about.
"They're too fast!" Petra squealed, as the tiny fish zipped between her chubby fingers.
Pinar laughed. It was a real laugh, not one of her fake laughs. She had forgotten what that sounded like. "You could if you were a techeun."
"How?"
"You could move them with your mind," she said, raising her eyebrows dramatically, "And make them go into your hand. I'd like to be a techeun."
"Then you could have a pet fishy!"
"I suppose I could." she smiled.
"Why are we here again?"
"I wanted to see Mom's ship come in. You were bored, and so I let you come with me."
"Oh. Well, I am not bored now. Can we come here again sometime, to play with the fishies?"
She smiled again. "Sure."
Petra didn't care about fish anymore. Pinar had broken too many promises for that. But she wanted to be a techeun. Maybe they could all go eat two meals a day and be happy again. "Excuse me," she whispered. Then, louder: "Excuse me?"
The woman turned. "Hungry again?"
"If you're going to help me," she asked carefully, "would you please help my sisters also?"