"HA-HA, FISH-EYES!" a boy taunted her, twelve years later. He ran by her and pushed her down, causing her spectacles to fall from her face and into the dirt. Blessed with poor vision that the Bishops of Talking Island could not cure with their magic, Sharmin was forced to wear a new device called 'spectacles', made from the lenses of the giant Monster Eyes of the mainland. She could see clearer, but the result on her physical image made her eyes seem larger than normal. Sharmin pulled her knees up and buried her face in them, trying not to let the boy see her cry as he continued to taunt her.
"Leave my sister be!" a little voice shouted. Sharmin looked up with bleary eyes as her seven year-old sister, Komugi, came running out of their home. She stood protectively in front of Sharmin with her arms spread, her tiny face skewed in anger.
"Ohhh noooooooo" the boy, whose name was Ryonai, said dramatically, feigning fear, "Fish-Eyes' little sister is going to hurt me, oooh noooooo."
"Dun call her that!" Komugi shouted, running at him with fists raised. Ryonai laughed and took off, sticking his tongue out at her. Sharmin pulled herself to her feet, sniffling as Komugi continued to shout after the boy.
"Komugi, stop it." Sharmin said sullenly, wiping her nose on her arm. Komugi stopped instantly, as if someone turned a switch off inside of her, and turned to latch onto her sister's waist.
"Big sissy ok now?" she asked, looking up at her with big eyes. Sharmin shrugged and looked away from her. Komugi was perfectly capable of speaking like a proper seven year old, but chose to speak in a babyish tone because it got her more attention. Komugi's eyes began welling up with large crocodile tears and she let loose with a wail loud enough to make the townspeople milling through the streets stop and stare.
"Komugi, stop it!" Sharmin yelled back at her. "If you're gonna stick up for me and then start crying, I don't want you to do it anymore!" Komugi only wailed louder. Much to Sharmin's dismay, this caused their mother to emerge from their house, wiping her hands on her apron.
"What on earth is going on out here?" she asked.
"Min is mean to 'Mugi!" Komugi wailed, running to her mother and latching onto her. "Mugi jus wan-ned to help! 'Min is mean!"
"Sharmin!" their mother said in a scolding tone, hugging Komugi close. "How many days must we go through this? Can't you be nice to your sister for once?"
"But I'm not..." Sharmin began. Her mother turned away, taking Komugi into the house.
"I don't want to hear it! Go wash up, dinner is ready." she said, waving Sharmin off. Komugi stopped crying long enough to look over her shoulder and stick her tongue out and pull her lower eyelid down at Sharmin, before bursting into a fresh set of 'tears'. Sharmin's fists balled at her sides and her shoulders shook as she tried to suppress her temper. She spun on her heel and walked towards the rain bucket at the side of their house.
Sharmin didn't always live on Talking Island. Her parents farmed in the Neutral Zone, but had moved back to her father's hometown when her mother became pregnant with Komugi. Sharmin grumbled in annoyance at the memory, the way they had acted seemed like they'd never had a kid before. She thought they were just fine in the Neutral Zone, why couldn't they have stayed there? Sharmin had a pony there, and her own little garden. Here, she was lucky if she even got to have a flowerpot. The village was a poor one, and since her father could no longer farm to earn their money, he was at the mercy of finding work to do. Times were hard if you weren't an adventurer or a merchant.
Sharmin had no real talents, and she was quite comfortable with that. Her sister had already shown a latent gift to heal, and her parents excitedly enrolled her in Einhovant's School of Magic's elementary classes. Sharmin herself just studied average things, destined to live her life as a common village girl.
Mousy was the best way to describe Sharmin's appearance. Other than her spectacles, she had long, mud-brown hair that she kept pulled back into a ponytail at all times. Long bangs dangled in her face, giving her an unkempt look, and she wore long blue dresses that were almost always smudged with dirt from the teasing the boys gave her.
"Boat from the mainland coming in!" a man shouted to the guards as he ran in the South Gates. "Someone alert Cedric, there are new students onboard!"
"Great Einhasad." one guard murmured to his companion, "MORE mouths to feed. There's perfectly good Sword masters in Gludin and Gludio, why do they keep coming here? Do they LIKE keeping our villagers hungry and poor?" He shook his head bitterly. Curiosity getting the better of her, Sharmin attempted to dart out behind one of the guards, but an armored hand shot out and caught her.
"Oh no you don't, Sharmin." the guard named Chiperan said, shaking his head at her. "You know better than to go out without an adult. There are Orcs out there who like eating little girls like you for dinner!" He gently pushed her back. "Speaking of, I can smell your mom's cooking from here; better get in before your sister eats it all." With that he turned away from her to speak to his companion some more as Sharmin glared at the back of his head. The man who had just run through the gates came back through them now, leading a horse and cart full of crates back towards the harbor. Sharmin quickly jumped on board and hid behind a stack of crates as the man passed the guards, who didn't notice her.
"Get off." a boy's voice came from under her. Sharmin looked down to find herself half sprawled on a boy with chestnut brown hair. She yelped in surprise and jumped backwards, hitting some crates and causing them to wobble.
"Ok Sharmin, Ryonai. If you're going to stow away, I'd recommend doing it quietly, or I'm going to have to tattle on you." the man said, not looking over his shoulder at them. His voice was amused, but Sharmin and Ryonai ducked down like scared kittens anyway.
"What are you doing here, Fish Face?" Ryonai asked in an annoyed whisper.
"I could ask you the same thing horse mouth." she whispered back.
"Get off, this is my cart." he whispered louder, pushing her towards the open end.
"Who said so? Stop it or you'll get us both in trouble!" she whispered angrily, pushing him back. He responded with a rougher pushing that almost sent her flying off the back of the cart. Angry, she whipped out at him with her foot, her heel catching him in the most sensitive area a boy could ever be kicked in. His groan caused the man to stop and come around to the back and stare at them with hands on his hips. Sharmin looked up at him with a guilty expression, her foot still poised in the kick she just landed. The man tsked and shook his head.
"Ryonai, off." he stated, pointing.
"What? Why me! I was here first!" Ryonai said in a raspy voice, holding himself. "She kicked me, she should get off!"
"Didn't I say to be quiet? Haven't heard a peep from anyone else but you, so off." Ryonai grumbled but complied, limping back to town and past a confused Chiperan. The man winked at Sharmin and walked back to the front, starting the horse up again.
"Won't your mother be worried?" he asked, twenty minutes later. "It's ok, we're far enough from town, no one can hear you if you talk." he chuckled, when she didn't answer. Sharmin popped her head up from around the crate like a curious prairie dog before scurrying to the front of the cart, near the man.
"She might be, but when I come home with my father she'll be ok." she said excitedly, watching the landscape. Her father worked at the Harbor, but she rarely saw anything but right outside of the village gates. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to a strange rock formation to the right of the road as they crossed a rickety wooden bridge over a river.
"That's what the scholars call a "Henge" he answered. "It's been there since before humans ever lived on this island, no one knows who built it or why. There's some all over the mainland as well." Another stretch of time passed in silence, Sharmin watching the green landscape with wide eyes. Only when she heard Orcs grunting in the forest beyond the path did she duck back down behind the crates with large eyes. The man chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, the only Orcs that come near the road are usually too stupid to identify us as enemies, so unless we attack them, they'll leave us be."
As they neared the Harbor, Sharmin peeked up again, hearing the chiming of the bell that signaled the arrival of a boat.
"Looks like we got here in time." the man said, stopping the cart. "You'd better get off here. I don't mind giving you a ride, but if you're going to get in trouble, I'd rather not get in trouble too." he said good-naturedly. Sharmin hopped off and waited until after he'd entered the Harbor before dashing in and latching onto her father who was carrying bags of grain to return on the boat.
"Sharmin! Wha..." he laughed, trying not to drop the bag. Sharmin beamed up at her father as he set the bag down. "What are you doing here, Sunbeam?" he asked, ruffling her hair.
"I came to see you!" she lied. She knew if she buttered up her father, she wouldn't be in as much trouble with her mother when she arrived back in town.
"I'll bet." he chuckled, detaching her. "I've still got some work to do before the days over. You can look around, but stay out of everyone's way until I'm finished, ok?" he said, smiling at her. Sharmin grinned and waved as he walked back to the cargo the men were stacking for the return ship to the mainland.
After the boat docked, Sharmin sat on an empty box and watched the passengers file past her, weary from the journey. She was a little disappointed, as there was only one Dwarf among them, the rest were human. She had not yet seen an elf of any sort in her lifetime, and wanted to see if they were as pretty as her father said they were.
It was at this time of quiet pouting that two passengers stood out to her. One was a shorthaired man with sheathed dual swords upon his back, whom seemed uninterested in his surroundings, while the other was a teen, perhaps not much older than herself with blonde hair that covered one eye. He had his eyes downcast, and his face was unreadable. He walked as if there were a heavy weight upon him, and this intrigued Sharmin. How could someone who was just arriving to study swordplay already look so affected by the world? He lifted his head once and glanced at her without really seeing her, only to look away and focus on his surroundings. She hopped off the crate and ran to the fence surrounding the Harbor, watching him as he began the long trek to Cedric's Training Hall.
"I'm all done Sunbeam, shall we get going?" her father said, coming up behind her, rotating his sore shoulder. Sharmin glanced at him before pointing to the boy.
"Do you know who that is?" she asked, looking over her head at him, her glasses slipping down her nose.
"It's not polite to point, Sharmin. Remember your manners." he said, gently lowering her arm. "And no, I'm not sure who that is. There was talk on the ship that he was the son of a wealthy merchant from the mainland, but that's most likely just a rumor." he said, walking with her out of the harbor.
"Why just a rumor?" she asked, trying to peer through the crowd ahead of her to see the boy again.
"Well...because if you're in a wealthy merchant family, you don't throw that away and become a poor swordsman, that's why Sunbeam." her father said, patting her head.
"That's not fair." she stated, matter-of-fact. "They should be allowed to do whatever they want."
And that was all she had to say on the subject.