A few nights later, Nomura stretched out in her hiding place in the theatre attic. She groaned, unable to find a comfortable spot tonight.
The whispers of "impure" uttered in secret by those thinking no one heard them stuck in her head. The New Trollmarket denizens feared Jim, Claire, or Blinky catching them saying the forbidden word – that was all it was, just a word. And a stupid one at that.
So why did it aggravate her so much?
The girl sang on stage, but her song failed to soothe Nomura's mind this time. The young woman's voice was so dissonant Nomura covered her ears.
Why was the human suddenly so bad at singing?
"AAAAARHHHHHH!" the girl shouted to the empty theatre. "Don't call me 'nigger'!"
Nomura darted to the peephole.
The girl's face contorted with rage as she fell to her knees and slammed angry fists into the wooden floor. Tears streamed from her eyes. A string of unrepeatable curses flew from her lips, and then she sobbed, "I'm not a freak – or a thug – or a – a – I'm not… I'm not…"
The girl's foul language struck Nomura, but she pushed away the urge to march downstairs and scold her. Pain followed on the heels of the young woman's anger as she clutched her knees to her chest and cried.
Nomura stared. She couldn't show herself. Her presence would only serve to frighten.
Voice shaking, the girl began "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore" from Tosca.
It sounded awful.
The girl sobbed and stumbled over the words. She hit not a single note. Then, Nomura heard it – a desperate attempt to escape pain. The girl grasped at the words and reached for notes she couldn't hit, longing to sink into her dreams.
Spent, the girl curled up on the floor. Her crying stilled as she fell asleep.
Nomura's instincts screamed at her to walk away. But even though there was nothing she could do, she couldn't leave.
Nomura crawled out onto the ceiling beams and descended the wall, coming to stand right in front of the sleeping young woman. She approached, gazing down at the girl's tear-stained face. On silent hooves, Nomura whisked backstage and returned, draping a blanket over the girl. She retreated into the shadows and sat, watching over the young woman as she slept.
Before first light, the girl woke. She eyed the blanket, her confusion growing as she spied a folded note lying nearby. She hesitated, and then took the paper and flipped it open. She gave a startled blink as she read the short message. "Stay true to yourself, then who cares what others think?"
With a frown, the girl looked around the theatre. She stood; the blanket fell to the floor.
If she'd looked a little further to her right, into the darkness, she would have seen the pair of glowing green eyes, still observing her.
Editted by dtill359