Disclaimer: Cassie's mine. Nuktia's mine. The plot's mine. Everything else belongs to Tamara Pierce, not me.
Thanks to all my reviewers. The chapters just seem to be short, and destined to be that way. I just end them whenever they decide to end themselves. It's like I'm only serving as something to write their stories down, and I can only write what they tell me. Sorry if it bugs you.
Chapter Five
Cassie sat in the window seat of her room, thinking hard. She could not fall asleep. Her mind was just too preoccupied going over the events of the day. She liked Discipline, so far at least, even with all their weirdness and magic stuff. The meditation that they did this evening was eluding her grasp, to say the least, and in the morrow, the mysterious and oft-mentioned Niko would come. This Niko would decide her fate- this she was sure about. Everyone seemed to take it for granted that he would see her and decide. The other kids seemed nice for all that they were at least a year or two older than her, as did the woman called Lark. Rosethorn, who she had met, seemed more like she was ready to bite anyone's nose off and Cassie hoped the next one wouldn't be hers. They had such funny names here- Staghorn, Moonstream, Rosethorn, Lark. It must be a Temple philosophy- choosing new names when entering a new life. Her mind was in such turmoil, taking on this new place that she, finally, accepted temptation and hopped out the window. The night was lonely, and beautiful in its loneliness. It wrapped her in its soft darkness and the stars winked at her like laughing eyes. The soft breeze caressed her skin and her dark clothes fluttered in it. She could never be alone in the night. She couldn't understand for the life of her why some people feared it. What did they fear? Was it the darkness itself, or the bad things that were reputed to come in it? Was it not being able to see? She had never met any of the creatures that supposedly used the night to prey on the innocent. Cassie stared at the cottage, hesitating. She was nervous climbing to the roof, nervous that someone would hear her and kick her off, but she was driven by an otherworldly necessity to be higher, higher in to the night.
Cassie planted her bare feet against the side of one of the little side-buildings and climbed, scaling the wall with the ease of one who had done so her entire life. She skipped lightly over the roof, carefully avoiding the windows and staying in the shadows. Years of avoiding people had taught her little tricks, like most people didn't see as well at night and in the shadows. But Cassie could see clearly and easily made her way onto the roof, where she lay out in full relaxation. It was amazing how swiftly her anxious thoughts, fears, and problems disappeared. She felt that, enveloped in the cloak of the night, she was safe, that nothing could harm her, and that nothing could go wrong.
She made a sound, a soft hoo in the midnight air and the caressing breeze carried it far. Soon, overhead, a small winged shape came down and Nuktia rested on her arm. The owl clumsily made her way up Cassie's arm to her shoulder and buried herself in Cassie's hair, all the whole making soft cooing noises. Cassie reached up her other arm and stroked her head and soft breast feathers, relaxing enough to fall asleep on the rooftop in the warm spring breeze.