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Day 2

Dad doesn't understand anything. It's not fair. He says I gotta be nice to Tannia. Oh yeah, Dad says I got to make sure to write who everyone is, too.

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Turan paused here, snatching a sideways glance at Tannia hesitantly. He was responded to with a vicious smile from her. "Go on, Turan."

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Tannia is a stupid little girl.

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He had to stop again as Tannia went into a fit of laughter. He looked longingly, almost apologetically at her. But he may as well had been making faces at a wall.

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I said that to Dad, and he got mad at me and said that was very mean. That's why he doesn't understand. Tannia likes to watch me and Dad spar outside, but I want her to go away. She should go play with other girls and do Dress-Up or whatever dumb games girls play.

***

Tannia was still in peals of laughter, falling back to lay on the bed as she did so, her legs hanging over the side. She looked up at Turan. He had stopped, and she saw him looking uncomfortably over the rest of the page.

She nodded at him encouragingly. "Don't worry, I won't get mad at you." She said with a smile. "It was ten seasons ago, and-" Suddenly her green, amber-flecked eyes widened as realization dawned on her face. "Wait.. was.. was... my father still there?"

Turan only looked sympathetically at Tannia before looking back at his journal and continuing to read aloud. But this time he finished it off without stopping.

***

Tannia's dad is bad though, because that's what Dad says. Dad doesn't like Tannia's dad I know because I hear them arguing a lot. Tannia always cries and runs away into the orchard when her dad yells. She's such a baby. That's why I don't like girls. They don't understand anything either. I won't be nice to her, I don't care what Dad says. Older people always saying we gotta be nice to each other. Yah well, I bet they were mean and fought when they were kids, too.

Anyways, I got other friends, and we played today. We got a club, and no girls are allowed. My friends are all boys, because girls can't be friends. My friends say if I play with a girl I won't get to be a warrior, because warriors don't play with girls. I asked about my mum and dad and how my dad is the warrior. They said because they're married, and that's different. They're right. I like my friends.

***

Now he stopped and looked slowly to Tannia where she lay beside him. Her expression was difficult to read. She looked both amused and disturbed at the same time. He sincerely regretted allowing Tannia to hear what was in his journal.

She only lay for a few silent minutes, staring at the ceiling. These were the kind of memories she had been trying to forget. But she realized now.. that perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing to remember. Yes, true, her childhood was not the best. But now.. being able to compare her life now to when she was younger. It was so wonderful!

With this resolved in her mind she said, still looking towards the ceiling, now with a small smile. "Yes... it's good to remember these things. I always loved to watch you and your father spar. It was always a secret hope of mine that I could have what you have.. that talent and skill. Watching you learn, even if I couldn't myself.. was a way to somehow get around that hope. But even now," she said with a larger smile as she flicked her gaze to Turan, who was already watching her. "I still love to watch you duel."

Turan gave a half smile, glancing away quickly. Tannia smiled, recognizing the action. He had averted his gaze in slight embarrassment from the way she had spoken. She recognized it so well, because she had used the same motion countless times before when Turan had been flattering her.

Before he looked back at her, he shut the journal. "Let's go back outside and get some fresh air.. out of this dust for a bit."

Tannia sat up quickly, placing her paw on his wrist to keep him from standing. "No! Keep reading." She insisted, with a begging look in her eyes.

"Please?"

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A/N- Okay.. so should I continue? Any suggestions? Is this too hard to follow, or are you keeping up? Can't do anything about it unless you tell me! =)