"Found you, found you!" The little silver-haired girl chanted, pointing triumphantly with her stubby pink finger at her crouching friend, hidden in the shadows of a tree. It had been difficult finding her; she'd looked everywhere, and everywhere, when referring to her and her mother Serenity's home, meant a lot of places.
"Finally! What took ya so long? My knees are really hurting from hiding there," Arwain complained, tossing her thin golden hair over her shoulder and then bending down to rub on the sore areas of her legs.
"Well I didn't tell you where duh hide." Usagi defended, she hadn't wanted to play the game from the start, if it had been up to her, she would've been sitting in her mamma's lap eating chocolate chip cookies and sipping cool milk.
"Yeah, but you took AGES!" Arwain replied now adjusting the back of her pink dress.
"Well I found you dint I?" Usagi retorted, frowning slightly, the annoyance at her closest friend was evident.
Seeing such a look on Usagi's round face, Arwain knew there might be trouble, "Never mind" she said lightly, brushing the potential incident off, "You found me, but now ya have ta catch me!" Her eyes glinted mischievously before speeding away into the open garden, leaving the much chubbier and shorter girl staring, lost in utter confusion at what she had just said.
"Wena! Waaaaait!" Usagi wailed in the highest pitched voice she could muster once Arwain's words had sunk into her brain, chasing reluctantly, she slowed down to a walking pace, showing she wasn't interested in playing and just wanted to talk.
Arwain rolled her eyes at her friend's whining but complied. She stopped and turned around to face Usagi, putting her hand on her six year old hips to illustrate her annoyance, a habit she copied from her mother. "What?"
"Well..." Usagi began as she came steadily closer, "It's just that..." originally she had just wanted to tell Arwain that she wanted to play a different game, but now she was getting within 'tagging' range and it was just too tempting to resist, a smile slowly spread across her face with the thought of out-smarting Arwain, "Um...I wanted to do something else..." was all that she could manage to say, the thought of finally catching Arwain pushing all coherent thought out of her little five year old brain.
The sun caught in Arwain's amber eyes as she watched her friend approach, causing her to squint and furrow her brow, her delicately thin blond eyebrows scrunched together in the middle of her forehead, "Like what? We've already played with your dolls and we can't play stuck-in-the-mud 'coz we don't have enough people."
"Let's do...something...um like we can play skip or leap frog...or Captain Piwates-"
"Captain Pirates?" interrupted Arwain, "That's a boy's game!"
"Well then..." Usagi trailed off, no longer trying to think about what she was saying, she was getting closer, Arwain was dropping her guard and it was only a little farther until... "Tag!" Usagi shouted just grazing Arwain's pink summer dress as she lunged forward to counter Wena's step back, she had been so close she could even feel the soft threads of the embroidered white daisies on the hem of Arwain's skirt brush the tips of her fingers.
"That doesn't count! We were on pause!" Arwain shouted indignantly.
"But I never said paws!" answered Usagi.
"It doesn't matter! It's still a pause!"
"No it isn't!" but as she said it, putting as much effort to whine as squeakily as she could to show her determination, Usagi swiped again for Arwain, this time missing her completely.
Arwain had been ready and dodged easily, giggling and running off again as fast as her legs would take her, her eyes shining with glee as she sang out, "You can't catch me, you can't catch me!"
"Aw, come on Awain! You know you're too fast, I'll never catch you and then I won't never be able to be the hiding person!" Usagi moaned, she crossed her arms and plopped herself onto the soft grass unwilling to chase her friend any farther, she squinted her eyes to mean slits and stuck out her tongue, immediately retracting it as Arwain turned around.
Arwain stopped again disappointed and slightly aggravated; running away from the seeker was the best part of the game! She tried to bribe Usagi into following her, "Come on Usa! If you catch me then you can hide twice!"
"No!" Usagi shouted back sounding more like a high pitched mouse than a child, crossing her arms again to emphasise the pout on her plump face, her minute pink lips squeezed together in a pout, all in all she looked like she'd just swallowed a very sour lemon.
Arwain was getting irritated, she wanted to run and running was not half as much fun if you didn't have someone to chase you or failing that, someone to race against. And besides, her mother had allowed her to take off her shoes, which meant nothing could restrict her tiny feet from pitter- pattering as fast as they could.
"I'm not moving until we play a diffwent game!" Continued Usagi, "and with no wunning!" she added as an afterthought.
"But Usagi, all the other games are boring!" Arwain shouted back.
"Huh?" was the reply, "I can't hear you, come closer!" It was a ploy, a very obvious one at that, but Usagi was out of ideas.
"Yeah right Usa, I'm not gonna fall for that one again...Oriana!" Arwain suddenly exclaimed, looking beyond Usagi, far into the distance. Emerging from the glass doors that lead onto the patio of the marble house, Arwain could make out the figure of a tall woman with long dark hair, with her was another lady and two girls.
As Usagi turned to look, she beamed, the lack of a top front tooth making it uneven and absolutely adorable. Oriana's mother was easily recognisable; she kept her hair longer than most Handornians, falling just above her knees, its almost violet hue was a rarity and today, unlike her daughter's whose was tucked in a white sun hat, it was left untied and fell in loose waves that shook with every step she made. At the call of her name, the small girl looked towards the garden, it was really nothing more than a field, though it was a large one, about five hundred acres and surrounded by high hedges which separated it from the rest of the rough beauty that was Panegune Forest. Spotted here and there were a few shady trees, all filled out for the summer with birds hidden in the branches, chirping away, and at the very bottom was a wide but calm and shallow stream that flowed from one side of the field to the other, other than that it was nothing but short green grass with the occasional small woodland creature sprinting as fast as it could across the wide expanse of the garden, it was an ideal place for children to play.
She easily recognised Arwain; the silly red bow she insisted on wearing was practically bigger that her, she used it to tie up her hair so it only fell to the small of her back rather than the top of her thighs, and she figured the white little blob sitting on the ground was probably Usagi. She let go of her mother's hand and spoke to the auburn haired girl next to her, "Just give me a minute; I'll go get Usa and Arwain so they can meet you."
The slightly taller girl said nothing, but stood there unmoving, her dark green emerald eyes avoiding Oriana's while she clutched a plate with a cover over it.
Faced with the awkward silence Oriana simply mumbled "I'll be right back," and trotted off to get her friends, leaving the nervous girl to stand there all on her own. The two women had already sat down at the wrought-iron table with Serenity and another woman. As they made themselves comfortable an old serving lady approached the glass covered table and set down a large tray of coffee and small desserts, she served all who wanted and then disappeared again through the one of the large French doors that made up the wall of the ground floor.
One of the new arrivals turned in the high-backed iron chair, painted white to match the table, in order to face her daughter, her dark brown eyes complementing the curls of her chocolate hair that surrounded a delicate, long face with a defined chin, her dark eyelashes floated up in down as she blinked, her lips had a natural pout and her skin glowed a healthy golden tan. A dark eyebrow in the shape of a fine arch raised itself questioningly at the young girl who had still not moved from her original spot, clutching the plate so hard her knuckles were white. She smiled slightly, amused that her normally brash and loud daughter had become so quiet. "Persephone dear, where are your manners? Come here and show what you've helped make for Aunty Serenity and Usagi."
Persephone did as her mother asked and brought the plate over to the patio table where a group of Handornian women were sitting. She placed the plate carefully on the table and removed the lid revealing a thick, dark chocolate cake.
"Oh my! Why Persephone, this looks positively delicious!" proclaimed Serenity from her seat, "I'm sure Usa and the other girls will love this. Thank you very much."
"It-it's-it's alright...cook did most of the work," came the soft reply, her eyes briefly flashing Serenity's before shooting down again to concentrate at picking imaginary lint off of her yellow top.
"Well I'm sure you helped a lot," encouraged the woman sitting left of Serenity, she had dark blonde hair that was pulled back tightly into an intricate braid, her thin, sharp nose and high cheekbones gave her a regal, almost haughty air, but her bright sapphire eyes and full smiling lips gave way to an inner friendliness, "Now where has my daughter gotten to? Honestly, you'd think that girl was put in a cage when she's at home by the way she runs around here. Persephone, why don't you run along down the garden and see if the girls want some of this delicious cake."
"Um, I think Oriana has already gone to do that." Responded Persephone, her gaze still cast down on the floor, her left hand gripping the side of her white skirt in nervousness.
"Well then, why don't you come sit by me until they arrive?" she asked, her delicate pale hand patting the empty seat next to her, Persephone looked at her mother for approval, when she received a obliging nod, she slid herself onto the chair, making sure to cross her feet at the ankles and laying her hands on her lap like a lady. She remained quiet not really listening to what the women were saying to each other, but watching the blur of children out in the distance. As Oriana approached, Usagi and Arwain ran to meet her halfway, Arwain managing to reach the new arrival just after Usagi, despite the extra distance she had to sprint. Without stopping, both girls jumped on Oriana, knocking her to the ground, her pretty white sun hat flying off her head to reveal short, glossy black hair and deep amethyst eyes that were almost too large for her face.
"Oriana! You're here! You're here!"
"Get off Usagi! You're gonna kill me!" Oriana cried out, both girls were on top of her; Arwain's elbow was digging into her stomach, but it was Usagi's vice-like grip around her neck that was stopping her from breathing. With a heavy push she finally managed to create some distance between herself and the two other girls, however that didn't stop them from trying to hug her again, realising her danger, Oriana got up and dashed away as fast as she could. Arwain easily caught up and toppled her, while Usagi, being rather more conscientious, went to go pick up Oriana's fallen hat.
"Who's the girl over there Owin?" she asked as she handed over the sunhat.
"She's Persephone, she lives near me, her mamma is Aunty Calista."
"Aunty Calista's here?" Arwain's momentary shock gave Oriana enough time to push free herself from the blonde's grasp.
"Yeah, that's her, see?" Oriana pointed, none to helpfully, in the general direction of the patio table.
"Which one? I can't see her, it's too far," Said Usagi, squinting her eyes and trying to follow the line of Orin's unsteady hand.
"Ooh I see her!" shouted Arwain; she waved her hand vigorously, receiving a signal to come back to the patio in reply. "Come on! Let's go, they're calling us." She told the other two as she sped off.
Oriana grabbed Usagi's hand and followed, "Hurry up Usa, Persephone has cake!" she coaxed when she felt Usagi dragging her down.
Usagi's eyes lit up, "Cake! Why didn't you say so before?" With that, she let go of Oriana's hand and started running as fast as her legs would take her, the tiny silver buckles of her white sandals jingling every time she stomped on the grass. Orin simply rolled her eyes, amused at her friend's antics.
Arwain could feel someone approaching her from behind, she took a quick peek back to see who it was and laughed in delight as she saw Usagi coming up fast. So she wanted to race? Well, she'd get a race. She turned her head to face forward with a steely determination in her golden eyes she put all the force she could into her scrawny muscles.
As she ran she soon started to forget everything, Usagi and Oriana were far behind her, she was going to win and she knew it. The mansion in the distance was blurred out by the tears in her eyes caused by the wind blowing into them; her hair flowed freely behind her, hopelessly getting itself tangled, and her dress swished against her ankles. She closed her eyes to enjoy the moment but regretted it immediately,
"Whoa-"she tripped on her dress and at the speed she was going she flew into the air, Arwain scrunched her eyes tight as she tried to brace herself, waiting for the collision against the earth and the inevitable spray of dislodged grass to fly into her nose and mouth, but instead she felt a completely different sensation, she was being lifted, a force was sweeping under her carrying her up, she opened her eyes and screamed in terror. "MOMMY!!" Aurelia saw her daughter trip, as did all the women who sat around the patio table, and yet despite the fact she knew Arwain would not be hurt - she would probably just lift herself up and continue on as if nothing happened - her body automatically tensed, her sapphire eyes darkening, it was a mother's reaction. However what happened next caused her to shoot up and knock her chair over.
"MOMMY! MOMMY HELP! PLEASE!" Arwain screamed in fear as she flew higher and higher up into the air, the solitary oak tree that Usagi had hid under sinking past her with a resounding swish. She clawed at nothing, looking like a wild animal hoping vainly she could reach the grass below and pull herself down, her movements had the opposite effect however and she simply elevated further into the sky. Directly below her Usagi and Oriana were hopelessly trying to reach her, jumping as high as they could and stretching out their pale arms, Persephone ran from the table and joined them as best she could, hopping along with them but their pathetic attempts were futile, Arwain was now floating higher than the five-story white mansion. Arwain screamed and screamed, the only effect it had was to take her up faster, her mother, aunty Serenity, aunty Suki with her violet hair, they were all shrinking and becoming blurred, the only figure she could still see was aunty Calista who was trying to catch up to her, but even she was gradually losing distance.
"I can't reach her, she's too high and my power will not let me rise any further!" Calista shouted down to Serenity from her place in the air, Aurelia needed no more, closing her dark blue eyes to concentrate she used her voice to calm her daughter and try and bring her down, a difficult and draining task, but she had no choice "Arwain...Wena my dear, can you hear me?"
Arwain heard her mother but all she could see was a small dot that was getting smaller. "Mommy!" she cried, tiny streams of salty tears streaming down her face, "Mommy get me down! I wanna get down!" with this outcry came another burst of wind which carried her further up, but at the sound of Aurelia's voice the rising pace slowed again, "Calm down little one, I can't come get you, you need to try and do it by yourself, you can do it, I want you to try as hard as you can. Come down."
Arwain ignored her mother's advice in her blind panic, "Come get me mommy! I wanna come down!" Every word that came out of the wretched child's mouth only took her higher, she could no longer make out any fine details below and the wind was getting very, very cold.
"Arwain, listen to me..." but the voice was becoming was becoming softer, turning into barely into a whisper "Wena..." "Arwain, listen to me, calm down. Concentrate... Wena?" Aurelia opened her eyes when she realised the link she had use to try to control her daughter failed, beads of sweat lightly coated the darker strands of blond hair at her temples, "Serenity she's too high, I don't have the strength to reach her." with that she collapsed on the grass, her legs being unable to support her weight.
Serenity nodded, understanding what her friend was asking, she clasped her hands together as if in prayer, mesmerised at what she was doing her bright silver eyes were open wide and unblinking, slowly her hands came apart and in between them was a little ball of white light, as she separated her hands further the ball grew.
Usagi had stopped crying for her friend the moment she saw the light, she never had had the chance to see her mother concentrate so hard, normally her mother's magic came quickly but the amount of power Serenity put into this was nothing she had seen before, she stared, enchanted by the beauty of her mother's magic. "Mommy..." Arwain asked the air fearfully as she drifted up, there was no reply except for the echo of her own voice, she was alone and scared and her once-pink toes were now blue, as were her lips. Shivering, she realised that she had never felt so very alone, there was nothing there but the whips of cloud barley blocking the view of down below and the thick white clouds above, she started to wail, the panic of isolation causing her fear to double and as a result she flew higher. Once the ball of light was about the size of Persephone herself Serenity relaxed her arms and they fell to her sides, letting the white energy fly directly up into the sky. Calista sometimes told stories about Serenity and her beautiful energy, but it had been impossible for Persephone's child- mind to imagine it to be so pretty, she followed it with her emerald eyes as it soared higher into the air like a comet, so enthralled was she in the magnificent white ball that, unlike Suki and Usagi, she did not see Serenity stumble from dizziness ever so slightly. The air was becoming colder as she was pushed up, her breaths became quicker and deeper and the pain it caused her lungs were like cold blades stabbing into her chest, but no matter what, she didn't feel like she could take in enough air, she had stopped crying because she no longer had the energy to keep it up and the cold pricked at her whole body, she shook from it, her baby teeth snapping noisily against each other in quick repetitive chattering and her head began to swim, the fear was overpowering her, chocking her with despair, the panic washing over her wave after wave...and then she saw it. The white comet zoomed higher into the air, constantly shrinking in size as it lost energy from travelling at such speed, white smoke fuming off of it forming a residual tail. At first she couldn't make out what it was, it approached her, or rather, she approached it, its white light calling her from the distance, her confused mind, numb from cold and lack of air didn't know what to make of it, but she was sure of one thing, she wanted it, she wanted it with all her heart. The ball of energy sped higher and higher, close to its destination, it was a luring energy, created as a guide to be followed to wherever Serenity had instructed it to take people but because of the sheer distance and speed it needed to travel it was losing energy and therefore its hypnotic ability to draw its subject into following it, fast. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her short life: a gleaming city made of crystal and light stood amidst an ocean, or was it the sky? But it was so far away, it twinkled to her, tantalising her, teasing her, calling her name. The silhouettes of birds added to the complete perfection that was the image before the child's eyes. There was nothing she could do to reach it and the extra effort she put into her body as she tried only made her weaker. As she became colder and received less air, her eyes gave way and she fainted in the sky, her last memory being the brief one of the beautiful, far away city...her home.
Arwain fell, her mind, shut off, no longer subconsciously controlled the air that lifted her up, her blond hair, as if in rebellion, flew up in flaying strands as her red bow slipped from its duty and spiralled away, Arwain was plummeting head first, gathering speed as she did, completely unaware of her danger, just before she reached the bottom layer of the clouds, the luring comet found her, it flew up until it was almost a foot in front of her and then suddenly changed direction to downwards, bringing the child back to land as it had been commanded.
Arwain and the ball of energy fell through the clouds, parting the thin wisps like blowing onto smoke curling away and resembling an inverted fool's crown. "Serenity, they're coming down to fast!" Cried Suki, her lilac eyes shining with fear for her friend's child, she felt helpless at this moment, what power she had was unsuitable for this kind of situation, all she could do was stand transfixed at the falling Arwain.
Serenity sat down on the grass, realising that the energy she needed would drain her even quicker than before. In a cross-legged position she outstretched her arms into the direction of the falling comet and commanded it to reverse its direction, it tried to do so but at the speed it was travelling, with its lack of energy plus the speed Arwain was falling at, the only thing it was managing to do was to slow down ever so little, Serenity put as much force as she could into the ball, it was working, but they were still going too fast.
Aurelia stood and tried to use her voice again, "Arwain, Wena stop, slow down Wena, slow down. Slow down child!" She continued on, a migraine setting in quickly and causing her head to pound, but she ignored it, calling to her little girl as hard as she could. Oriana saw what Aurelia was doing and attempted to do the same, "Slow down Wena, come on slow down." She whispered staring intently, Usagi joined in along with Persephone, neither realising that no matter how much they chanted and tried to will it, only Orin's was able to have some kind of effect, but her voice was still very weak and it never even managed to reach Arwain.
Calista saw her chance, she flew a little to her left, Arwain was coming down fast, there was no guarantee she could help brake the fall but she did her best anyway. She caught Arwain, the force jolting the child awake and throwing Calista off balance. Now she was plummeting too, her back facing the ground and ready to take on the brunt of the collision. She put as much power as she could into flying upwards, their speed was decreasing quickly but it was still dangerously fast, Calista closed her eyes, just as Suki did so from the ground to pray, and concentrated. The stream at the bottom of the garden suddenly changed course, it no longer flowed along the pre-cut lines of its banks, instead the flow of water made a sharp right and travelled over the grass directly to the area under Calista and Arwain, leaving a now moist muddy path in its wake, once it had reached its destination it began swirling and building itself in size to act as a cushion, an unfortunate little silver fish found itself trapped and confused in the barrier set up by a woman who had only just arrived to the home of Serenity with her child. When no servants received her at the door she had gone straight to the garden, confused and a little worried, where she found that everyone was staring up into the sky.
The silver eyes of Veda were flashing blue as she tried to control the swirling water, taking as much from the stream as she could, young Nerissa could only stand by her mother and watch in fascination and horror as her beloved aunt Calista hit the water barrier with an almighty splash, drenching everyone in the nearby vicinity. Veda, Suki and Aurelia wasted no time in running to Calista and Arwain, Suki, feeling how cold the child was activated her heat, though only warming her very slowly to avoid shock. Veda went immediately to check on Calista who was still lying on the grass, arms spread wide, her long and simple olive green dress now soaked and plastered against her body hinting at long, shapely legs. Her breathing was heavy with exhaustion and her head was in severe pain, but other than that she couldn't feel anything.
"Are you alright? Can you move? Do you feel pain anywhere?" At the calm tone of Veda, Calista smiled, trust her to be on the ball, and where had she come from anyway? Trying as best she could, she sat up, but as she tried to stand Veda stopped her. Calista didn't struggle but instead pulled the slight woman into a tight embrace, "Thank-you." Veda smiled despite being pressed against the cold wet body, she simply sighed in relief, not even noticing her silk blue dress was being ruined. Persephone ran to her mother and interlocked herself between the two women, crying with happiness that her mother was safe.
When Arwain was sufficiently warmed, Suki let her go. Aurelia grabbed her in a hug, Usagi, Oriana and Nerissa with blue eyes her mother only possessed at certain times and cropped blue hair to match her father's, waited patiently for their turn to squeeze the life out of their friend. Arwain simply clung onto her mother's neck as long as possible while Serenity did a scan of the child, finding her healthy she stepped back and took the children into the house to give Aurelia and her daughter some space. Suki moved over to help Veda balance Calista, "That was quite a fall you had there," she said lighted-heartedly, her jovial personality kicking in to counter all the tension she had felt. "Really? What makes you say that? Was it the sight of me- oh never mind, I'm too tired for a smart comeback." Calista announced half-heartedly, Veda and Suki giggled lightly and helped her through the French doors and onto a large cream couch just opposite the table where the children and Serenity were sitting. Suki immediately began to work, slowly drying off Calista's dress.