Nessa

View 2: ignore the [FX] brackets. Those are for me to develope a better word usage.

A young female child twirls about a pile of golden orange and brown leaves. The sun stokes through the clearings above her, highlighting the brown of her skin, it glistens as she twirls. Solely her laughter fills the yard like silence, catching the attention of all those around her; it is but a peaceful day.

The child sweeps up a pile of leaves to her chest, tossing them into the air so that they fall like rain upon her. Extending her arms outward, she begins to twirl in a path along the edge of the yard under trees with heights of a building. As she twirls, she closes her eyes while maintaining a line, her long hair twisting around her body like a baton ribbon. The colors stream from her scalp starting in a medium orange, turning to red grape fruit, until, at its tip, knotted in a fine bow, just above her heels, is a soft tan . The trees, as if part of her performance lean inward slightly, shading the sun, bending forward and backward, parting like the arms of a comb when parted, casting a spotlight on her every movement.

Light purple leaves fall from the branches, floating above the ground at first in spirals till they form into another child, a bit taller, taking the appearance of a young boy. His face smiled as he bowed and held out his hand for a dance with the young girl. She bowed back, folding her arm under her waist before placing it into the hand of the boy. The young child moved with grace and dexterity, and with energy they danced. Soon the base of the hollow trees began to swell and collapse, portraying the sound of a drum. Bum-ta-ta-bum. The branches turned inward to rake themselves along their bark and the flowers, like cages, shook with the seeds; sha-sha-sha as the leaves twirled, slicing the wind with a soft whistle.

As the children danced to the beat, their stood surrounding the courtyard at its edges, women and men in uniform alike. Each had a thin veil across their eyes attached to a white head cover that concealed the back of their neck. Their chest and arms were cloaked in a body suit, laced in stripes of red and white over a black base, curving out and into the center of their chest at a blue sun containing a red moon inside. Each guarded their space of the outer ring of the garden, filled with rectangular ponds mapped into the sun symbol itself from the skyline. With each step, the child danced over the small hand-made rivers and into the small man made valley filled with flowers. North of her, about 100 feet began the shadow of a large castle that sat in the background beside them all. The garden entrance, a twenty step waterfall staircase of stone, was also lined with servants at every two set of steps. At the bottom, a pair of mounted statue pixies sat on each corner. Both had one leg rested on the statue base, the left to the left, the right to the right. Their big toes poured water into the garden, their feet arched as if to graze their foot along the surface of pond. Their cheeks rested against the knee of their other leg, where their eyes and smiles peered into the garden and their stone dresses dangled loosely around the base. As if alive and watching they stared into the center of the garden.

Another young girl stood between them. She was dressed in a chest piece with wide spaghetti straps that stopped just beneath her breasts showing her stomach. From her shoulders down, light blue cloths draped to bangles at her wrist, where they stretched further across the top of her hands, binding to rings on her middle fingers. Her hair, a darker blonde and medium long, rested in a braid atop of her shoulders. From her waist down, a dark blue skirt with slits along the sides to reveal white shorts beneath. Just below her calves are bands of golden stings. A leather flower plate rests atop[F1] the arch of her foot secured by bands that attach to the same pattern beneath. The bands string up from her center and big toe connecting to the same print atop her foot, and then to a ring wrapped around the upper base of the ankle where is buttons together. Her eyes follow the child as she dances about the garden; they are calm and still blue with a golden ring in the center.

In the gardens[F2] center lies a small circular pond that reaches deep into the[F3] breast of the mountain side. The water flows from the ground level pond towards the edge of the garden, emerging through a clearing between the trees, where it cascades off the tip of the mountain edge, streaming down into the vast city below.

Still the child dances with her partner made of leaves across the garden. As they stop in front of the stair steps just before the shadow of the castle, the young child reaches her hand to smoothly caress the boy's cheek, the ground rumbles in the distance. Everyone in the courtyard, even the boy of leaves turned and looked out over the city. The trees below the mountain shook violently; cries filled the city like a breath of air. The harsh level of shaking ricoshade through everything, building its energy till it hit the mountain.

The young child lost her balance and fell backward. Some bases of the trees filled with air collapsed with a boom- crack causing their trunks to fall over. Leaves filled the air, and the water rippled in the circular pond falling in sudden chunks over the edge of the mountain. The boy of leaves dispersed into the wind, and the young girl at the staircase fell into a lunge, catching herself and placing all her weight onto the ground. The servants wobbled and staggered, the sound of falling vases could be heard through the entrance of the garden inside the palace. In the garden, female servants screamed in shock, the men fondled for their swords as they caught their balance. After the intense quake passed, some servants peered over the border of the cliff into the city. Small damage could be visually reported, in the collapse of bridges, some fallen trees and broken objects. The young girl rushed quickly passed the center of the garden to the young child, who lay sprawled out in a star on the ground. The young child's eyes peered into the young girls as she blocked the view of the sun.

The young child smiled, as she placed her arm over her brow to better look at her keeper.

"Locrr, Namitaste, Evellett."The young child said, still lying on the ground.

"Bue nas fistac, Nessa." Evellett responded. "Are you alright?" she asks.

"Yes, I'm fine.

From around the corner of the stone deck at the garden entrance came two young men followed by another younger boy. Each boy was individually different. The young man to the left had orange-red hair like Nessa's, but the tips were a darker brown, and his hair stopped just above his eyes and ears. He scanned the back of the garden from the higher deck view. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he spotted two young girls in the center of the garden[F4] ; he turned the corner of the stairs, sliding his hand along the smooth stone rails, watching his feet as he took each step. He was taller than the younger boy behind him. A metallic earring was cuffed to the arch of his ear, from which a pair of jewel beads streamed down clashing with his neck and shoulder, its tip the same color as his brown hair. His pants were loose with many pockets lining from the exterior down the leg. A thick built in belt compressed against his hips, his loose shirt with a slight v neck flashed his pale white under skin as he came down the stairway. His tennis shoes, a neutral color, had bear claws engraved into its outer sides, and an open tongue replaced by beaded strings which matched his earring.

All the boys had the same tennis shoes, each with an individual engraftment. The other young man's engraftment was a V upside down, representing a mountain. He was a clear few inches taller than the other young boy, and had dark navy blue hair that curled and looped over itself to the left of his face. The streamed beads stemmed from the curls in his hair to the metal bar at the bridge of his ear. His eyes were narrow in a disapproved look. His pants were cuffed up a couple, the right inches higher than the left.

"Nessa!" The youngest boy shouted as he strode out from in between the two boys, his arms wide as if to hug her. Nessa turned at the call of her name, to find herself embraced in a hug by her youngest older brother. He was small for his age and only two years older. Behind him was another set of her siblings, casually walking towards her location. They were tall, and by the time they had reached Evellett and Nessa, their shadows had engulfed them. To the left, with orange red hair was Riem and to his right was Cahst; his attitude was showing coarsely.

Nessa smiled and hugged her brother back before greeting Riem and Cahst with a bow, Evellett watched and awkwardly did the same. Cahst seemed more entertained with evaluating the damage of the garden; he crouched to his knees, sliding his fingers across the cracks in the concrete waterways. At first his face looked sad and worried, but then continued to change between upset and its natural composure. They watched him for a few minutes before Riem broke the silence.

"So...Nessa?" his voiced asked with a questioning look. Nessa looked carefully at him, his arms were crossed and he seemed quite serious.

"Um..yes?"

"Care to explain yourself?" Nessa looked confused, why did she have to explain herself? She grew slightly irritated at the thought this might be some joke for them to display their powers of authority.

"About what?"

"What?" he seemed shocked, then slightly angry. "Why are you in the garden?"

Nessa began to answer immediately, when Evellett suddenly jumped in between her and her brother.

"Because I felt like being out here...Evellett, what are you doing?" Evellett waved her hands in Nessa's face, "Stop, stop it." Nessa took a few steps back to move away, before freezing in place. She looked at Evellet, whose face was screaming at her to shut up, but she started again. "I...I'm..." At first her response was bold, but suddenly Nessa's memory began flooding back to her, and she grew nervous; Riem's irritation grew.

"Ha. I knew it." He shouted. Nessa tilted her head to the ground. "YOU "were" skipping your lessons again." He pushed Evellett out of the way and to the side, she tottered before losing her balance. "Explain to me why? Why can't you just stay with your caretaker for one day without sneaking off?"

Nessa turned to Evellett with tears welling in her eyes; Evellett stood up and tugged on Riem's arm. His anger turned to her, "And you!" Evellett was taken by surprise. "You're her life partner; at least make sure she is doing what she is supposed to." Evellett's face saddened and she let go. Riem looked at them both, their heads were slanted to the ground, and the guilt was on their faces. He peered down on them angrily.

Nessa tried her best to seem sincere about ditching her classes, but in truth, she wasn't. Her eyes peeked up at Riem, who, still angry glared back. She frowned. This was getting harder and harder every time, usually they were out before they got caught. Nessa looked at Evelllett and blamed her for their current situation; she was supposed to be on look out for her siblings, or anyone from the palace. Evelett looked back, and began to cry. Nessa held her gaze, feel it she thought, you're why we're in this mess. Riem could practically see the brain waves as he watched Evellett cry pitifully for a moment before flicking Nessa on the forehead. "Hey, don't glare at her." Nessa rubbed her forehead with her hands and winced. "You should have been in class." Nessa glared at her brother, her tears building before she abruptly began bawling.

"I don't want to take lessons. I want to explore like the rest of you." She cried. Indeed, Nessa was the only one who took lessons out of her eleven siblings, and her only female companion was her life partner and her mother, and her nanny, and the storekeeper over the bridge in the market, her brothers' fiancés who come to visit every so often. Her crying stopped as she thought of all the people she did get to interact with.

"I'm sorry. I'll go to my lesson's." she looked at Riem, who seemed sort of shocked, but she would hold her end of the bargain; and that was, she wouldn't have met half of all those people if she hadn't skipped her lessons in the palace. For sure, she was going to escape to the city next to hang out with the store keeper at the bridge. Nessa plotted her plans, hiding her joy on the inside, turning to Evellett to whisper into her ear, when she realized she was still crying.

Nessa plucked a blue flower from the ground, putting it into Evelllett's hands, before helping her put it into her hair. Evellett stopped crying and quickly rushed over to Cahst, who was now sitting on the ground filling the cracks of stone with dirt. He turned as Evellett tapped his shoulder, she pointed to a flower next to him, and he plucked it and another, placing one in her hand and the other in her hair.

"Your garden... it was beautiful" she said sincerely. Cahst smiled and her face felt red.

"It will just take some time to repair." He looked towards Nessa who was arguing with Riem. "You guys are always welcome in the garden."

Evellett rushed back to Nessa, and put the purple flower in her hair.

"There you see" Nessa shouted to her brother.

"No, you're still here, and what's to say you'll make it there without wandering off on the way."

"I will .You can even check up on us later, let's go, Evellett." Nessa grabbed Evellett's hand and marched off up the entrance steps into the palace; the purple flower falling from her hair onto the steps. Quickly, she turned and stuck her tongue out at her brother, "Bleh. Bluh-bleh, bluh, bleh, bleh, bleh." She mocked, before rushing in and closing the large wooden door.

Once inside, Nessa felt for the flower, it wasn't there. She scanned the marble floor of the palace, and grew sad; nothing. She had dropped it outside. She frowned, "I'm sorry, Evellett. I lost the flower outside." Evelllet smiled,

"It's ok. Your dance earlier was much more stunning." Nessa blushed in embarrassment, but accepted the compliment.

"Next time, I'll dance with you. That way you can dance with one of the best dancer of the Anihiliad."Evellett laughed,

"That would be an honor, my lady."

Nessa danced and twirled her way down the hall, Evellett doing the same, a little slower behind her. They whirled down the hall, till entering a dome clearing filled with greenery and a view of all of the city from atop the palace. A woman sat in a chair along the edge of the dome, sipping from a small gold and pink glass cup. Her dark navy blue dress laid loosely across her folded legs.

In her left hand was a book, worn slightly from age, of which she turned the pages with her forefinger and thumb. Long large dark black curls streamed down from atop her head, and over the chair, resting on the floor. From her chest, beads and embroidery spiraled in toward her center torso, leaving nude everything, in a line, from her sternum to her belly button. The fabric shaped her figure sticking closely to her skin, covering her arms completley. A braid sat across her lower waist as the end of her dress extended in a tail bent around the leg of the chair. Large gems in the shape of an egg covered her ears, connected by a metal band along the back of her head. Three ripples of clear gems flared outward from the crown of her head, attaching at three points along the metal band with clear wire. A star jewel stuck to her forehead, and dangled at the bottom of a diamond support of three bedazzled strings. Her eyes were large and bright green, as they flowed from her book to the entrance of the greenhouse, where two young girls, blonde and orange haired, twirled through.

Nessa stopped suddenly, and with glee, ran to the woman in the chair. The woman's eyes were warm and full of passion, Nessa hugged her around her waist, snuggling her face along the side of her breast. The woman set the book down on the glass table and lowered her hand, teasing her fingers through Nessa's hair. Nessa peeked up at the woman from within her lap, the woman smiled softly.

"Nafitarse, Mother!" said Nessa with giggles.

"It is, indeed, a beautiful day."The woman replied as she pulled Nessa up into her lap and presented a small glass orb from a pocket bag resting on the chair, ""And for your beautiful day, my daughter, a gift to celebrate your birthday."

[F1]Newer, than atop

[F2]Other word to describe garden center

[F3]Other word than breast

[F4]other word for center of garden