~**~
Ch. 2 New Students
~**~

You watch as a tall man in a robe walked into the magistrate's office. Ha looks as if he is there for a purpose.

~**~
POV Change
~**~

Snake sat in the corner of the cell that contained the recently captured gang. She was a small girl with plain brown hair and unremarkable features. All except for her eyes, those were a beautiful violet color. She was also miserable. This was the third time she had been caught, now the only choice she had was the convent or the Servants House. Neither choice was good; the convent turned you into a walking zombie, the servant house you were... well a servant. That was a fate worse than death, for sure.
Thinking about her fate she began to hum a lullaby her mother had sung when she was little. Unnoticed by her the other people in the cell and the guards began to fall asleep. Several hours went by with her still humming. The next shift of guards came to the front of her cell, "Hey girlie, I want quiet outta you. And what the hell's with these two, they're fast asleep!" Snake stopped humming and the guards woke up.
~**~
"Scuttlebug, Leech, Worm, Ape, Snake," called the judge, "Convent... docks... mines... mines... servants hall. NEXT!" Lakik must be playing tricks on her ears; snake coulda sworn she heard Servants Hall form the judge. She noticed a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair and mustache as he walked up to the judge, "Honored judge Fairchoice, a moment of your time please?"
"Make it quick, I have more trials to preside over today," snapped the judge.
"This girl-child would be of use at the Winding Circle Temple in Emelan. I am on my way there presently, I would be pleased to bring her along as well," The man said in a clipped, well cultured voice.
"As you wish, Master Niklaren," Sighed the judge, "Well girl, what is your choice; life as a servant or the temple until you are fit company for society?" Snake looked at the man judging. This was no ordinary Bag she sensed. He looked at her with such concern and kindness in his eyes that she had no choice but to look away. She hadn't seen eyes such as those since her mother had died from consumption when snake was ten.
"I'll go with you to the temple, 'snot much of a choice," she replied.
"I can't make out papers for a Snake. That's worse than 'Roach,'" Whined the clerk.
The corners of the man's mouth twitched like they wanted to rise, "well, this is your chance to make a new life for yourself. You can be anyone you want to be."
She thought back to when her mother was still alive. They had lived in a little cabin with rose gardens and a bird feeder that hung from the limb of an apple tree. She thought of the lovely song that always woke her in the morning, "what're those dusty brown birds with the really sad song?"
Now the man smiled, "Mourning doves," he replied instantly.
"That's my name then. Mourning Dove," she said with equal certainty.

~**~
Author's comments:
~**~

Well how did you like the beginning? I probably coulda done better but I don't wanna. If you hadn't gotten it from the context Mourning Dove is from the same place as Briar. Is this a hit of the future? I don't know, my typing fingers have a mind of their own.

Sorry for the delay in posting, my friends had a DDR party yesterday and I didn't have a chance to work on it. Also I'm going back to school in 2 days (NOOOOOOOOO!) so the posting will take me a bit longer.

The pronunciation of the storyteller's name is: "Seh- goul- lai- chi." It means 'Storyteller' in Gaelic. That's all for now, Bye!
~**~