Eowyn
Disclaimer: In this story, only Siani and anyone in the non-Tortall world are owned by me. Everyone and every place else belongs to Tamora Pierce, and I am not trying to offend her in anyway.
Blind, fifteen year old Rae (short for Raegan) worked her way down the stairs, holding tight to the handrail. Positioned at the bottom of the stairs, on the underside of the rail, a small star was carved out of the wood. This gave Rae the knowledge that she had reached the foot of the stairs, and as always, when she felt it under her fingers gave a sigh of relief. No more stumbling down!
Walkng directly across the loungeroom where a path had been cleared for her, Rae bumped into someone.
"Whoa, sorry Rae," a familier voice said, solid hands steadying her. It was Rae's adopted father. You see, Rae was found a couple of years ago, unconsious in a park. She had no identification on her, and no one came forward to claim her as their child. So Rae officially became an orphan, and was sent to a group home. Rae was officially adopted by Aidan and Katrina Williamstwo years ago. It was they who also called her Raegan.
"Where are you going?" asked Aidan and, unknown to Rae, glanced at the cuckoo-clock on the wall. "Its almost eight at night."
"Oh, I was just gonna walk down to Corrie and Meghan's place. Y'know it's just down the road. They've got all these new CDs, and I really, really wanna hear them." replied Rae, pleading.
"Fine, Rae. Just tell those twins you gotta be back by 9:30."
Shivering as she walked down the street, Rae ran her hand along the fence, counting the amount of gates. At gate number four, Rae felt an icy wind blow, almost feeling like it was blowing through her. A hand roughly grabbed her arm and started yanking. With a resounding yell, Rae claimed her arm back, hitting out wildly in the direction of someone's breathing. A pain shot through her fist as it made contact with something hard and bony, Rae had a feeling it was someone's chin. The sound of running footsteps grew fainter, and Rae was by her self again.
Hopelessly lost, Rae pushed back a bit of hair she could feel tickling her face, trying to regain her sense of direction. Normally, Rae's was very, very good, but that was usually not after she'd just fought with someone. She didn't know how long she just stood there, trying to work out what to do, when loud footsteps came up to her.
"Why are you just standing there, Rae? Are you lost?" Rae's best friend, well one of, Meghan had come to rescue her. "Are you OK, Rae? You are covered in dust and your hair is all over the place. One of your knuckles is bleeding too."
"I'm OK, just someone grabbed me, and I hit them, and...and now I'm really lost." To Rae's embarrassment the last few words came out in a sob.
"Well that's good then, we'll be able to tell who it was, by the big bruise." Meghan said, tactfully ignoring the sob. She knew quite well, Rae hated crying, she considered it a weakness. "And as for direction, you are facing down the street towards your house. My house is behind you."
"Thanks, Meggie." Rae said gratefully.
Later, back home safely, Rae pondered the evenings events. Why had someone grabbed her? Should she have hit them? Was it someone she knew, or a stranger? Rae thought about the notion it was someone she knew and they were just trying to be helpful, but dissmissed that quickly. If it was someone she knew why hadn't they said something, and then ran off?
Pushing her questions to the back of her mind to be asked in the morning, Rae drifted off to sleep.
