~Memories~

By Ola

~*~*~

A/N~ thank you for the advice. I'm not that good at making paragraphs. When I begin writing, I kind of simply type without looking how it all looks, but I guess that for the reader, long paragraphs can be hard to follow.

That's what I'm looking for in reviews, although I love all of them! *hint hint* =)

Ok, enjoy!...

~*~*~

Part 2~

The carriage finally came to a lurching halt in front of a large brick town house right smack in the middle of Ashkelon. The village itself could almost be called a town, as it had its own temple and school house. Uncle Bethal's house was one of a few that bordered the town square, all similar in their style and size. In fact, wherever she looked, Micolanea could see a likeness that was quickly becoming monotonous. All those bricks and the brown dust of the road made it seem as if mud had been splattered on everything, just so that it would all match. The house into which they were herded by a stern looking woman did not have a yard, and for that matter, Mico could not see a single tree in its vicinity. Oh, that's just great! She thought with sarcasm.

As soon as she stepped into the house, she realized just how many guests had been invited. The house, even if much bigger than her own, was still cramped with so many people that it was hard to move around. Trying to at least be present for the welcome, Mica schooled her expression into a semblance of calm and coolness, but the moment she tried to edge away from the press of people, she felt her mother's hand clamp on her arm like a vice. She tried not to wince, as much in pain as in annoyance. Great. This is just great. Now I will just have to be herded like a mindless doe. Does she expect me to act like one too? Or do I have to bate my eyes at every male older than 15 and younger than 65? She thought with anger, trying in vain to escape from her mother's constraint, and praying to avoid meeting any mindless suitors. But the gods didn't answer her; perhaps because they did not deem this matter of enough importance, or they were enjoying themselves too much in their own weird way by sending her a who-knew-how-many-times removed uncle with his two sons, Ted and Woltar, and those two came as stupid as they get. She scowled, but her mother's grip tightened so much she feared her arm would fall off.

She made herself look at the people in front of her, trying to put as much repugnance and aggression in her stance as possible. Maybe if they think I'm some kind of wild thing they will just go away…she hoped with all her heart. She personally knew both of them, and her stomach did double flips just at the idea of being alone with either one of them. Not that she couldn't defend herself against one of them if she had weapons. But "if" was the key word here, because for now, the only object that could possibly do some serious bodily harm was the pin that held her hair. Just as she thought about it, she remembered that her hair was now as short as a boy's, and that the pin in question couldn't have held anything except if it was glued to it.

She stopped her swear in mid word, wondering if her mother would go as far as cuffing her in front of the other guests, but not really wanting to find out. Then, with an inward chuckle, she thought about what those same guests would think if she slapped her now, and coolly went out the door. As a matter of strength, her mother would have no chance against Mico.

She was shocked out of her little daydream by hearing her name, and once again began paying attention to what her mother was saying. But then she wished she hadn't. Or rather, she was happy to hear, but not about the "it." As happy as someone would be upon hearing his death sentence, content on hearing it before hand so as to plan accordingly for a hasty escape. In Micolanea's case, it wasn't exactly a death sentence, but a forced marriage to either of those two louts was probably even worse than death. And nobody had even asked me about my opinion! She tensed with anger, which only contributed to her mother's nails digging deeper into her arm in warning.

How could she! She doesn't even know what those two do for fun! Micolanea remembered too clearly another such family meeting about two years ago. She had been sitting on a stiff and hard chair, and she recalled with a smile at having been squirming on it the whole evening. Fortunately, she had been able to look out the window. But what she had seen there had been very unsettling. Ted and Woltar had been torturing a little dog. There was no other word that could be used to describe it. She had turned her eyes quickly away as Woltar had hit it again, the force of the impact throwing it against the wall, where it laid, unmoving. And that hadn't been the only time she had seen them do such things, although she really tried not to get herself involved in those games, since those "incidents" did include people as often as not. Anything that could feel pain was fair game for them.

That had been one of the reasons why she had begun practicing archery and hand combat with Buggle. Buggle wasn't his true name, but he had said that it was good enough. She had first met him many years ago, when she had still been a little girl. That day, she had been at the market with her mother, and she had wondered off by herself to look at pretty yellow flowers. Being six, small in size, and alone in a place full of strange people was not a good combination. But at that age, she didn't exactly care, and now, when she looked back at that moment, Mico felt extremely lucky. Not only had she met a young boy who had shown her the hidden wonders of the market and then found her mother, she had also made a wonderful friend. It didn't matter that he was a lowly street-rat; he was at most times better company than all her family combined.

But that was not here nor there. At the present time, she was still stuck in her uncle's house, with a rather dangerous problem regarding her near future. Maybe I can simply tell mother what I think about it, and explain what I saw them doing. Maybe she will change her mind…there was not much hope in that, but it was still worth trying before doing something drastic.

~*~*~

A/N~ So? Comments? Advices? Good? Bad? Terrible?

~Ola~