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The wagon rolled along the dirt road, kicking up dust as it went. It was piled so high with goods, that there was only barely room for the man to sit and drive it. A woman and two children walked beside it, all tired and lagging but one. The smallest girl continually ran around the wagon and the walking figures. She picked flowers and threw them up into the air as she went along, singing a made up nonsense song. Suddenly she stopped and pulled at the woman's clothes.
"Mama? Say a story!"
"Not now, Rin-chan. Quiet. I'm very tired."
"Rin wants a story!"
"Children should learn to hold their tongues when told to do so," the man spoke up.
"Yes, listen to your father and be obedient, like your brother. He's quiet."
"Mama!"
"Be silent for once child, and get out of the way! You've almost been stepped on by the horse three times."
The girl said nothing, but still danced around. Then she spoke again.
"Why are we leaving?"
"To move to a better village, where your father can provide for us."
"Mama? Carry Rin?"
"I'm too tired. Go sleep under the wagon, and when you wake up, I promise I'll tell you a story. If you're quiet."
Rin smiled and caught the bottom of the wagon, swinging herself up onto an underneath plank where she could lie comfortably if she curled up. She was the only one small enough to do so. There were even several holes that she could look out of. For a while, she watched the fields go by, and looked at her older brother, who kept waving in her direction. Rin smiled, and stuck her finger out of a hole, wiggling it and waving. Her mother looked in the direction of the wagon and smiled. And then suddenly screamed. Rin quickly pulled her finger back, and put her eye up to the biggest hole.
There were more screams. From her mother, and even her brother. Her father shouted. The wagon bumped and jumped, suddenly jerking to a halt. Now she could see horses, and men. Her father was on the ground, standing between her mother and the men. He pointed towards the wagon.
"Take it...please...but...." She couldn't hear all of what he said.
One of the men shook his head and suddenly pulled out his sword, slashing her father. And then her mother. And then her brother. Rin's eyes opened wide.
Then there was laughing and exclamations. "No witnesses." And, "Hurry." She felt the wagon shift as one of the men quickly stood over its side and went though it. "Mount up. Someone bring that." Then the thunder of hooves began again, and suddenly the wagon was moving beneath her. Rin didn't want to go with the men. Without thinking, she threw herself off of the board, and hit the road, rolling several times before she came to a stop. She looked at the disappearing men. Not one of them ever looked back to notice the young girl that they had missed.
Her family was behind her. Rin walked over. They were all lying on the ground. Not moving. She approached them. Her mother, her brother, her father. There was blood on them, and their faces were blank and unseeing. She had seen that before. Blood was what happened when someone died. Rin didn't know exactly what 'died' meant, only that the people never came back. Her mother's eyes were closed, and she looked only to be sleeping, her dark clothes making the blood less noticeable. Rin knelt by her mother and put a hand on her.
"Rin-chan...."
"Mama!"
"I'm sorry, child."
"Mama! Don't go!"
Her mother coughed and opened her eyes. "It looks like being silent for once saved you...."
"Rin needs Mama. Rin doesn't want to be alone. Don't go with brother and Papa!"
"Rin, listen to me." Her mother was speaking quickly. "Go to the next village. Find someone you can be of use to and help there. Do whatever you can; it's--it's going to be hard. Always be nice and try to be good." Her mother was crying. Rin started to cry as well. "Someday, you'll find someone else that will be nice to you, that will care about you and hold you, like I did."
"No!"
"Yes. And when you do, hold on to them and don't you ever let them go, understand? Ever, Rin!"
Rin sniffled and hugged her mother.
"That's a good girl...." Her mother closed her eyes, and her head fell back.
"Mamaaaaa!" Rin cried--the last word that she spoke for over two years. She curled up at her mother's side and cried into her chest, her tiny arms hugging her mother's body. That was how the travelers found her the next day.
"Girl, get up." Rin opened her eyes and saw two men staring down at her. She clung to her mother, but quickly jumped back. The touch was hard and cold. That wasn't her mother.
"Those your family?"
Rin nodded.
"It must have been the bandits," the other said.
"Come on girl, we'll take you to the village with us."
Rin fell into step behind the men, looking back until her family was out of sight.
"Where were you headed?" the first man said.
Rin said nothing.
"Got a name, kid?"
Rin said nothing.
"Eh, she'll talk soon enough. Give her some time," the second man said. "Not like it matters."
The men and Rin walked to the village in silence, reaching it by late afternoon. There was a small crowd of people gathered by the edge that turned to face the travelers as they approached.
"Any bandits?" one of the village men greeted them.
"None that we saw, but this girl's family was killed by 'em. We're moving on through tomorrow. Do whatever you want with her." With that, the two travelers disappeared into the inn.
"Rin?" a woman said, suddenly stepping out of the crowd.
"You know her?" the village man said.
"My husband was supposed to meet with her father on business yesterday. We were worried when they didn't arrive. We're moving on as well."
"Why don't you take the girl with you, then? You were acquainted with her parents."
"We knew them in business only! And I've got six of my own to feed!" With that, the woman left and stalked off to find her husband.
The villagers continued debating about the bandits, and all but forgot Rin. She wandered off alone, finally resting against the wall of a barn.
She never left the village after that, for she had nowhere else to go, though the village was nowhere to her as well. Most adults ignored her. Even the village children soon avoided her, because of her odd silence. Some in the village wondered if the girl had ever been able to talk, and others assumed that she had merely stopped because her family was killed when she was at such a young age.
Rin didn't think about not talking. She simply stopped. The day that her family had been killed was twisted and distant in her mind, forever imprinted as seen through a child's eyes. Some things she remembered, and others she forgot. And as the many months went by, she even began to forget what life was like before. What her parents looked like, how they laughed and played and scolded her--everything, slowly faded. She only knew that once she had had a family. But her mother's last words to her she remembered. Not exactly the words that had been said, but what was felt. It floated around in her mind; sometimes she was aware of it, but most of the time she wasn't. However, even in subconscious thought, one idea stood out above the others. Rin was quiet the day that she hadn't been killed.
She lived in the village as best she could, suffering through hunger and cold and teasing and kicking. The village mostly tolerated her, but it was on hard times itself, and few had the resources to feed another mouth. She did chores in exchange for food when someone asked her, but that happened far and in between, and she resorted to stealing when she couldn't pick food that grew freely around the village. She stayed out of everyone's way for the most part, except when she was forced to steal. Which didn't make the villagers any more favorable towards her. As time went on, they became less favorable and friendly, many in fact wondering if they would ever be rid of her. Often wearing on their patience, she was being yelled at and smacked more frequently.
Caught one day stealing eggs, Rin was being chased out of the village by older boys. It happened every now and then, they would chase her out, and she would return later. She ran into the woods to lose them. That was when she found him.
Lying in a clearing in the woods there was a person. He wasn't moving, and looked worse than she did. Her small cuts and tatters didn't compare to his wounds. Rin approached slowly walked all the way around him. He had blood on him and his face was blank, his unseeing eyes even red. She touched him. He was still warm; that meant he wasn't dead. He made no indication that he was aware of her presence or was even awake. Suddenly hearing the boys crashing through the woods, Rin turned and ran, crossing in front of their path and leading them away from the clearing.
At sunset she returned. Something was different this time. She thought she saw him move. She stepped forward, only to have him jump up and snarl at her. She backed up a step, but stood in the clearing a moment longer before going back to the village. Maybe she had surprised him. When she returned again, it was nighttime and the person was lying down once more. She had approached the clearing loudly, giving the person enough time to know that she was there this time, but he seemed asleep again. She turned and left a pipe of water nearby.
No one had ever helped her, but she always tried to be nice. But there was rarely anyone around Rin for her to be nice to. After her first few months, the villagers mostly looked at her with contempt and avoided her, so she was mostly alone. The person in the woods didn't have anyone to help him, either. But she could be nice and help. She could help him.
She returned to the clearing once again in the dark, this time bringing a leaf with fish and mushrooms on it. She had taken it from the back of the inn, and only eaten a little herself. He was awake now, propped up against a tree. She set the food next to the water pipe. He didn't even look at her, so she started to leave.
"Mind your own business. Human food doesn't suit me," he said after her, still not looking in her direction.
Rin walked away, confused. Maybe he didn't want food from the inn, but something fresh. Once back in the village, she went fishing in the stream, standing for hours in the cool water. She was so overjoyed when she finally caught a fish that she didn't notice the angry villagers gathered at the bank. They yelled and hit at her, finally stopping as she tottered off. Her face hurt, and her eye was soon swollen shut, the worst injury that she had had in a while.
The next morning it still hurt, and the villagers kept a close eye on her as she walked around. She went off to the clearing anyway, bringing the person the only food that she could find in the woods. He looked in her direction as she approached, and she presented the leaf to him. He said that he didn't need it. She tried again.
"I told you, I don't need anything."
There was silence. Rin looked down. Why couldn't she help? She was trying so hard to.
"What happened to your face?"
Rin looked at him blankly for a moment. He wanted to talk to her?
"If you don't want to speak to me, that's fine."
The first things spoken to her in almost years that weren't an insult, command, or warning. He glanced at her. Rin looked back at him, and made direct eye contact, holding his gaze for a few seconds. In the village, she had learned to always look at the ground, lest she draw attention to herself, and no one ever looked at her. She smiled. Then she suddenly noticed how different this person was. Golden eyes and silver hair, and markings on his face. She smiled again.
"Why are you so happy? I just asked you what happened."
Rin smiled again, and ran back to the village, making up a skipping game along the way. As she neared her destination, she stopped. There was someone in the little half fallen down hut that she had recently adopted. He scared her at first, but looked to be in a hurry when he suddenly heard a howl in the air. He ran out quickly and Rin watched. Watched as wolves attacked. As he tried to swim across the river only to be dragged back and killed. As the one who did it shrugged it off and left. As the remaining wolves suddenly overran the village, attacking and killing. As one of them spotted her. She ran.
It was chasing her, and now more were following. If she could lose them in the trees, maybe they wouldn't get her. She found herself on the path that she had been using the most the past day, the one that led to the clearing. Maybe if she could get there, he would make the wolves go away. Something told her that he could. But then something hit her foot and she hit the ground. Looking behind, the last thing she saw was leaping fur and fang. A pain hit her, and then it was black.
When she opened her eyes, the wolves were gone and he was over her, kneeling and holding her up with one arm. His eyes widened as she looked up at him. For a moment they stared like that, until his arm shifted and set her upright. Then turning and saying nothing, he walked away. She stood and watched his retreating form. He had been nice to her. He had talked to her, he had made the wolves go away, and he had touched her without it being a slap or a kick. A long repressed command from an almost dead memory suddenly hit Rin, and she realized something. The first person to hold her, in years, was leaving. Ignoring the small chattering thing that stood near her, Rin did the only thing that she knew to do. She followed.