Minnow
A SILENT DROP OF OCEAN

Minnow stood there, very aware of her own breathing as she watched the other ker process what had just occurred. It was as strange for the Swamp girl to see another like herself as it was for the volcano woman, but it was stranger still to see her dressing in what Minnow could only imagine were fairy clothes. This woman looked far more uniform with the men around her than she did with the volcano ker who had been dwelling in the Swamp with her family for the past few weeks.

She seemed to have picked up their language too, Minnow noted as the woman spoke in the fairies’ language. Although she understood the gist of what was said, Minnow had no idea what a keg was, or why someone would pay for anything another person got. Still, whatever the woman had meant cleared the crowd from around them enough that Minnow felt comfortable enough to step back as the woman before her rose. Confident as the girl saw herself being, this other woman had a whole army at her back, and had years of experience on Minnow.

However, as the woman spoke in Xaran, Minnow straightened her back and clenched her fists. She’d certainly heard enough of the jokes and names the refugees had used, despite whose homes they had intruded upon and who it was feeding them, and her mom or her aunts or a cousin or a sibling had always been around to make sure everyone bit their tongues and kept their comments to themselves, but Minnow was alone and she was angry and she was sick of mainlanders as a whole thinking they were better than anyone in the swamp.

“We’re plenty civilized,” the ker said, bristling and taking a bold step forward with her chest puffed out and tail flicking. Her bravado faded as she was grabbed by the arm and dragged away from the crowd however, and the rest of her thought was mumbled her breath: “more civilized that the stupid rocks or stupid volcano anyway.”

Regardless of the other ker’s change in breathing or anger at being spat at or whatever else, Minnow’s heartache didn’t ease. She was mad at the fairy man for not telling her she was stuck on this Gwythr forsaken world with a stupid volcano ker who was trying to fit in here instead of finding a way back to Xara. They clearly didn’t value company or others, particularly family in the volcano, Minnow mused. That much was obvious. However, it wasn’t until the calmer voice, which held at least some hint of concern that Minnow noticed that this woman also didn’t have her aja here, and Minnow began to wonder if perhaps it had been stolen by the armies as well.

The girl glanced at the ground and took her tail in her hands, stroking the split ends in an effort to regulate some of the emotions and stop being quite so angry. After all, this wasn’t the warrior or soldier who had taken Pyre. She shrugged then. “I didn’t try to come here… I just woke up and was in this cold awful white place and I tried to get home but I can’t and I can’t get back to help.” One deep and shaking breath ended the sentence so she could respond to the introduction. And then a few more deep breaths to get the shaking out of her voice and ker-up. “Minnow.”