Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for a while. I've had a bad case of writers block. Anyway, read and review please!
Oh, and I don't own any original characters or anything.
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A little girl sat on a swing. Around her children played, jumping rope and playing ball, but all this passed her by, unnoticed. She sat there; eyes slanted slightly downward, her long black hair falling over her forehead, as if gazing at something interesting on the ground by her feet. Shouts and cries of happiness flew passed her, emanating from the children on the playground who were oblivious to this silent cry. Cry of What? That was the question people should have been asking, but they didn't. Instead, they labeled "queer", and teased. But this girl didn't seem to notice the shouts and jeers coming from the other children either. She continued to stare at her shoe.
She didn't talk to the other children, she never had. In truth, she talked little anywhere. The teachers didn't know what to think of her. Most children were more outgoing in kindergarten, but not her. She never had been. They had seen her behavior with the other children. They had tried to get her to mix and play among them, but their attempts had failed. There seemed to be a strange sadness in the way she sat alone, letting everything wash over her. Maybe they would never understand this.
"Tara, honey? Are you all right?"… "Don't you want to go play dear?" These words entered her ears, but she made no notion to respond. Perhaps she didn't want to? Perhaps she just did not understand them. Maybe it was the same for the teasing… "Tara the queer!"… "Your such a weirdo, Tara!"… But no one would ever know. Neither did she smile, the teachers noticed. Not to the world at least. Who knew what she smiled about in her mind, if she did at all.
But she did smile. A smile, rare and brilliant and trusting, but the teachers did not see it, or the cause of it: Her brother Benjamin.
"Tara!" Benjamin called across the playground, having come to pick her up. It had been the last day of School for Ben. Summer break was there, and it was a wonderful day for a swim. He wondered if dad would take them swimming that afternoon, as he walked across the playground to Tara, his younger sister.
He had recognized, when he was younger, that Tara was different from other children. She had a depth to her, unlike her peers. This fact did not weaken his feelings for his sister, if anything it strengthened his protective feeling over her. He now gazed at her, taking in how her long, straight black hair fell forward, covering half of her face. She looked so fragile, he thought. She looked so small, in her dark blue jeans, and yellow blouse. He looked fondly at her a moment longer before saying anything.
"Tara, ready to go?" he asked gently, approaching her on the swing set. For it, he was rewarded by one of her rare, brilliant smiles.
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The sun was setting over Lyra's Oxford, and mothers all over were calling their children in for dinner. Not this particular mother, though. Instead, Lyra was sitting, head in hands, in the chair opposite of the master of Jordan College. She had told him her story of Ali, and her feeling of Ali's sure danger, three times over, and he was now sitting quietly, his mind working swiftly and efficiently under his shroud of wrinkles. His bushy eyebrows creased lower over his eyes as he studied the smooth surface of his mahogany desk, wondering exactly what to say to Lyra.
"Lyra," he said at last, focusing his attention once more, "are you sure of this feeling, this feeling that Ali will not just return late?"
"Absolutely!" she said for the millionth time, no longer trying to hide her exasperation in her voice.
"Then we, obviously, must find young Ali,"
"How?" said Lyra, more curiosity in her tone now than anything else.
"Well, we shall have to contact your witch friend, Serrafina Pekkala, and any other help we might find, then we must look for her."
"Yes," she said, her voice set, "yes we shall,"
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Will stood in the shadow of a large loading crate by the dock, Kirjava at his heel. He was taking a second look at this girl, now that they were in private.
"So," he said, "Who are you?"
Ali was also taking a second measure of this man. Nothing about him seemed dishonest, so she went out on an edge. She figured that, since they lived in different worlds, it couldn't hurt to tell him her real name. "I'm Ali Silvertongue," she said after a moment, "and you are…?"
She was telling him the truth, but she was forcing herself to, thought Will. He decided that if she was going to honest, then so would he. "I'm Will Parry," he said this calmly, though his heart had skipped a beat at the hearing of Lyra's last name. He couldn't help himself, so he said, "Are you related to Lyra Silvertongue?
He knew mom! Ali and Sid both thought. How could he know mom. Well, he knew about the different worlds, and he had a daemon, so it shouldn't be surprising that he might know Lyra, but still…
"Yes, I am, in fact," she said warily, "Do you know her?"
"Yes," he said, "I know her," Then he added, "How are you two related?"
"She's my mother," said Ali getting more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. "How do you know her?" She asked.
"I met her in passing…" he said vaguely, yet making sure to end his sentence with a note of ending to it.
"How could" Ali began, but he cut her off. Will, for the first time looking up, realized how late it was. The loading crate's shadow, which they were shaded by, had grown quite long, and looking up he found that only a sliver of sun was still showing over the horizon.
"Listen," he said, "I gotta go," he paused. He wanted to question this girl farther, much farther. If this truly was Lyra's daughter, then he had a million and one questions he needed to ask. "I want to talk later though. Can you meet me here at the same time tomorrow?" It was about 6:00 o' clock now, he thought. He would have about a half an hour after work before he needed to be home tomorrow, and he could talk to her then. He was about to ask her if she needed a place to stay but she interrupted.
"Okay," she said, "I'll meet you here then," Ali also wanted to ask this man, Will, further questions, but she wanted to consult the aleithiometer first. She could tell the man was about to say something else, but she knew what it would be. Ali just wanted to be alone right now to talk with Sid and the aleithiometer, so before he could say anything, she walked away. She walked around the loading crate and out of site. She walked a few crates down the shore, then down a long hallway in between the lines of crates. She was looking for one that was open. She found one that's door was partly open fairly quickly, and stepped inside.
It was dark, but dry and roomy, about the size of largish storage shed. It's metal walls, which were cool to the touch, felt good under her fingers. After her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that in the corner was a stack of empty boxes.
With nothing better to do, and her eyelids feeling heavier and heavier, she made her way to a wall and sank down to the floor. Soon she was asleep.
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Will sighed. She had done exactly what he himself had done. She had walked away before he could say anything at all. Well, Angela would be wondering where he was, and dinner would be ready soon. He turned around and began walking home.
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So, how was it?
Lulu Fae: thank you very much!
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