Thanks for the reviews, Zerrin of the Wind! You are my sole reviewer so far. You're awesome.
Chapter Three
Two girls and a boy looked up at her from the long table inside Discipline cottage. One of the girls was dark-skinned and dark-haired, and she was tall and looked strong. She was also wearing trousers! Cassie yearned for the freedom that breeches meant to her, and hoped that just maybe, they would allow her to wear breeches too. The other two were much more of what she expected. The other girl was short and plump, and wore a comfortable blue cotton dress. Her wild red hair was straining out of its two French braids, and copper-colored spectacles perched on her nose, staring at the book that was in her hands, and completely ignoring the half empty bowl of porridge sitting on the table in front of her. The book fascinated Cassie, as she had never learned to read, but had always wanted to learn how. The stories in them seemed so interesting, with what little she had heard, and they represented a source of information, which Cassie loved, adored, and needed with all her soul. The boy was at the other end of the table from the girls and he was carefully snipping off the tips of a miniature tree. He looked totally engrossed in his work, barely sparing a glance at her as Lark led her in. He looked like any other boy she had seen, tall and skinny, with cropped black hair and a thin-bladed nose. But no other boy she had seen would be caught dead paying attention to a plant.
"Briar, where's Rosethorn?" Lark addressed the boy.
He looked up. "She left a few minutes ago. I dunno where exactly. I think she went over to Crane's. She said she'll be back soon. Who's that?" He asked, motioning towards Cassie. The two girls looked up.
"This is Cassie." Lark said. "She'll be joining us for a little while at least. Cassie, this is Briar, Daja, and Tris." She pointed to each of them in turn as she said her name. "Daja, could you ask-"
"Ahead of you there, Lark. Sandry said it was fine, go ahead. She also said nice to meet you, in a sense." The last remark the black girl made was directed to Cassie, who was a little confused. Who was Sandry, and how could Daja know what she said? Cassie filed that thought away in her mind to think about later.
"Well that settles it then. Sandry's away, but it's okay for you to have her room, she says. When she's back, well, we'll deal with that later. Is that all you brought with you?" At Cassie's affirmative nod, Lark continued, "Okay then, how about I show you the room now and you can get to know everyone later?" Cassie nodded again, and followed Lark into the room.
The room spoke of ownership by someone else, someone with a lot of clothes who did a lot of embroideries. Embroideries hung everywhere, all beautifully done, but Cassie hoped that no one would expect her to do any needlework. The sole person who had tried to make her learn it, gave it up as a lost cause in a matter of days. What there was of it, when she forced Cassie to do it, was positively atrocious. Cassie placed her two bundles on the floor, sighed at the thought of having to deal with so many new strangers, and exited the room.