Minnow
A SILENT DROP OF OCEAN

Stroking her tail had always worked to calm Minnow down any time she was upset or angry with a cousin or sibling. If she was frustrated at a punishment for acting out, she had spent most of the time fiddling with it until the time was up and everything was back to normal. Whether it was the sensation in her tail, or simply giving her hands something to do or her mind something to focus on, she didn’t know, but Minnow’s heart rate dropped and her breathing slowed. When she glanced back up at the other ker, the burning anger at her people was less pressing. She wasn’t happy about the civilization comment, but the swamp girl realized she hadn’t exactly been acting civilized when she’d spat at the other woman.

“I’m-“ she started, but stopped at the sounds of hoofbeats. The emotions were like a tide washing over, first hope and joy that Pyre was here too and had found her, but ebbing when the aja turned out to be dark lightning. As he joined the pair and was introduced, Minnow gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Nice to meet you, Buddy.” Her voice shook and she glanced away from him, back to Cal, and kept her eyes fixed there.

It was difficult, even with Cal speaking, to keep from looking back at Buddy, as though he might spontaneously become Pyre, but Minnow knew that didn’t happen, even in a world where ker magically appeared and turned into fairies. Anyway, Pyre probably needed sanctuary more than Minnow had. Falling off a dock was a shock but it wasn’t dangerous, even with the battle going on. The mention of the war and Cal trailing off reminded Minnow that her whole family was in danger, as much as anyone else in Xara was. She scowled, more at the injustice than at the volcano ker.

“We didn’t even ask for the war; we wanted to stay out of it. You just showed up and now everything’s ruined and I’m stuck in this awful place away from my family.” She grumbled at no one in particular, before glancing back at Buddy. “They took my aja away,” she said, before clarifying. “Your volcano army or force or whatever you call yourselves took Pyre.”

For all of Minnow’s earlier bravado and pride, the longer she spent in this world, on this island, the weaker and more powerless she felt. She was so tired. “I just want to go home,” she said, responding to whether she had somewhere to stay. Then, it dawned on her, “I don’t even know if my home is there anymore…”