The Girl Born of Smoke (4 page)

“How do you like it?” Roxanne asked.

“It's wonderful, Roxanne,” she said,
mesmerized.

Roxanne snickered. “You don't have to lie,
kid. But hey, it's a room, right? Anyway, mine and Kirian’s room is
right next to yours. So don't be too loud or anything,
alright?”

Nodding, Aurora looked back at her. “Don't
worry, I'll be quiet.”

“I know you will,” Roxanne laughed.
“Alright, well if you need anything, we'll be around.” She left the
room, closing the door behind her. Sliding off her sandals, Aurora
hoisted herself up onto the desk to open the window. It slid open
reluctantly, creaking and moving in spurts. The cool night air
immediately flowed into the room, smelling of the ocean.

She smiled and clambered down from the desk,
noticing for the first time that there were narrow doors on the
other side of the room. Pulling them open, she found a small, empty
closet. Her smile growing, she flopped down onto the bed, putting
her hands behind her head.

It had been several weeks since she had
slept in a real bed and months since she had slept in one this
comfortable. Closing her eyes, she listened to the low mumble of
Roxanne and Kirian's voices coming from another part of the house,
highlighted often by Roxanne's laugh. With a sigh, she felt herself
relaxing into sleep.

The next morning, she awoke with a sneeze.
Rubbing her nose with the palm of her hand, she ungracefully rolled
out of bed and stumbled over to the window. She saw the sun was
already high in the sky and daylight streamed through the city,
between the houses and trees.

A few people strolled along the street in
front of their house, greeting each other as they passed. Two of
the passers-by stopped to talk and Aurora saw one of them gesture
in her direction as they both glanced over. Awkwardly ducking out
of sight, she ran a hand through her tangled hair and walked out of
her bedroom, heading toward the kitchen.

Her feet softly plodded on the wood floor.
She turned around the corner into the kitchen and was instantly
buffeted with the smell of warm, sweet bread and fresh fruit.
Inhaling deeply, she found Roxanne with her back to Aurora, cutting
up the fruit into a bowl. Without turning, she gestured toward the
bread sitting on the stove. “About time you got up. You can have
some if you want,” she said offhandedly. “Kirian bought it at the
market this morning.”

Licking her lips, Aurora snatched a thick
slice of the bread and leaned against the wall, chewing on it
slowly, savoring the warm stickiness.

“You should probably go shopping yourself,”
Roxanne continued between bites of fruit.

“What for?” Aurora cocked her head.

Roxanne made a face. “Some new clothes, for
starters.” She looked disparagingly at Aurora. “Those rags aren't
going to hold up for much longer.”

“Oh.”

Roxanne set down the bowl of fruit and
reached into her own pocket as Aurora gulped down the last of her
bread, licking her fingers clean. “Here,” Roxanne said, tossing her
a handful of coins, “buy yourself some new clothes.” Aurora managed
to catch one of the coins while the others flew past her and
clinked to the floor. As she scurried to scoop them up, Roxanne
gave her directions toward the market. “Got it?” she asked.

“I think so.” Aurora nodded hesitantly.
“What should I get?”

Heading out of the kitchen toward the front
door, Roxanne shrugged. “Whatever you need. Wish me luck, I'm off
to try and get my job back. Kirian’s already out working again in
the fields.” She grinned and stepped out the door.

“Oh, good luck then,” Aurora called after
her. She stuffed the coins into the pocket of her tattered pants
and followed Roxanne out the door, heading into town. The gently
sloping road carried her up into town, where she spotted brightly
colored banners hung high up across the street, fastened to the
buildings on either side.

As she grew closer to the market, she saw
more and more people lining the streets, chattering with each
other. She noticed one old man sitting on a short wall in front of
a building surrounded with nearly a dozen scrawny brown and gray
cats. He was picking off pieces of a hunk of meat and feeding them
to the cats, who hungrily butted each other out of the way. The
crowd grew even thicker and she saw stalls lining the street.

She felt out of place among all the other
shoppers and slunk around the edge of the market, looking at the
stalls. The smell was overpowering. She saw breads dripping with
melted butter and sugar, vegetables glistening with water, and
other foods she had never seen before, but no clothes.

She began to wonder if she was in the wrong
area. As she craned her neck to try and see around the throng of
shoppers, she caught sight of a group of four kids off to the side,
eating pears in the shade of a tall brick building. She smiled
timidly at them. One, a tall girl with short brown hair, noticed
her and smiled back. She nudged the red-headed boy standing next to
her and nodded toward Aurora. The four of them approached her,
looking curious.

“Hey, what's your name?” the girl asked
her.

“Aurora,” she replied nervously. She shifted
her glance between the four: two boys and two girls. They were all
slightly taller than her and appeared to be a year or two
older.

The boy who had been nudged earlier cocked
his head at her reply. His short hair was the color of fire – full
of reds and golds. “Are you from around here?” he asked. “I don't
think I've seen you before.”

Aurora shook her head. “I just got here last
night.”

“Oh yeah? Where are you staying at?” the
other girl questioned.

“With these two people I ran into - Kirian
and Roxanne,” Aurora said, noticing the others' faces light up.

“Kirian and Roxanne are back in town?” the
boy asked her excitedly. “Oh man, they've been gone for half the
year now, I think.”

The other three looked just as enthusiastic.
“Roxanne is awesome,” one of the girls assured her. “She used to
work over at that bar by the cliffs.”

“Yeah, if there weren't any other customers
around, she'd give us a few drinks,” the other girl said, grinning.
“You are so lucky.”

There was an awkward pause, then Aurora
shrugged. “Oh,” she said suddenly, “do you know where I can buy
some clothes? Roxanne sent me out to buy something for myself.”

The red-haired boy snickered and looked
Aurora up and down. “Looks like you could use it,” he said.

The girls glared at him and the other boy,
who had been silent throughout the conversation, rolled his eyes.
“Oh shut up, Kalib,” he muttered. He tossed his pear core over his
shoulder and grinned crookedly at Aurora. He had darker skin than
the others and black curly hair that hung around his face. He
brushed it back impatiently. “Don't mind Kalib. He's an idiot,” he
said to Aurora. “I can show you where they sell some clothes, if
you like.”

Kalib pretended to look hurt and threw away
his pear as well, his freckled chin wet from the juice. “You're the
idiot,” he grumbled. Putting his arms around the two girls, who
looked up at him and giggled, he continued, “Well, the girls and I
are going to the beach. You two have fun. I'll see you around,
Aurora.” They headed off, talking and laughing.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to take you away from
your friends,” Aurora said to the boy.

He laughed. “Don't worry about it. My name's
Djerr, by the way. Aurora, right?”

“Deh-yair?” She sounded it out slowly.

Djerr grimaced. “I know, I know, it's a
weird name. My mom was from one of the islands and she wanted to
name me after her father or something. I’ve lived in Kain all my
life, though. You’re not from around here, are you?”

She shook her head. “I met Roxanne and
Kirian pretty far away and I wanted to find somewhere new to live,
so they offered to let me stay with them.”

“Wow.” Djerr raised an eyebrow. “Roxanne’s
pretty easy-going, but Kirian kind of freaks me out. You’re
brave.”

Laughing, she grinned at him. “He’s a little
scary, but he’s not so bad. Thanks so much for showing me around,
by the way. This city’s so big. Everyone seems really friendly,
though.” She stayed close to him as they flitted through the
crowd.

“No problem.” Djerr darted between two large
women, glancing back to make sure she was keeping up. The
marketplace went whirring by, and the two soon came to a halt.
“Alright, you should be able to find everything you need here,” he
explained. “I'll probably hang out here for awhile, so maybe I'll
catch up with you later, alright?”

“Oh, okay.” Aurora nodded and looked around
at the stalls with bewilderment. There were more clothes in more
colors and more sizes than she ever imagined possible. With a wave,
Djerr turned and was swept away in the crowd. Biting her lower lip,
she turned to the nearest stall and began her shopping trip, buying
the brightest, most colorful clothes she could find.

Lugging around all the clothes, she finally
spent her last bit of money on a woven bag to hold them all.
Pleased, she turned to head for home. To her relief, the market had
grown emptier, and she found she could actually see where she was
going. Trudging along, bag in tow, she squinted against the glare
of the sun lounging low in the sky. Half-blinded, she felt someone
grab her shoulder and she turned, startled. It was Djerr, breathing
hard.

“Hey there, I almost missed you,” he panted,
grinning. “How'd it go?”

Aurora glanced down at her bag heaping with
clothes. “Oh, it went alright, I guess. I managed to get a lot of
stuff.”

“Cool.” He pulled at one of his thick
strands of curly hair, which sprung back into place when he let go.
“So you probably haven't seen much of town yet, have you?”

Aurora shook her head. “No, not yet.”

“Well then, would you like a little
tour?”

Glancing down at her bag again, Aurora made
a face. “Well, could we stop by my house first, or something? I
don't really want to lug this around everywhere.”

Djerr laughed. “Sure, that's fine.” His face
lit up. “Oh, how about you drop it off at my house? It's really
nearby.”

“Oh, alright.” She nodded. As they left the
market, they walked past a man standing on the corner, passing out
scraps of paper to everyone who passed within reach. He gravely
handed Aurora a paper as she looked at him curiously.

It read:

Don't be taken Advantage of.

Stand up for your Beliefs.

Join the Wizard's Army.

Djerr glanced over at the paper and made a
face. “You should probably throw that away,” he warned.

Confused, Aurora looked over at him. “What
do you mean? What is this?”

He raised an eyebrow. “That guy's there
every week. He's just some advocate for the Wizard's Army, always
passing out those fliers. Most everyone just ignores him though. We
don't want to get involved in some stupid war.”

“That's right,” Aurora remembered suddenly,
“Kirian and Roxanne mentioned something about a war.” She noticed
Djerr was staring at her. “What?” she protested.

“Just where have you been living all these
years?

She shrugged. “Why?”

“Are you telling me you're only now hearing
about the war?”

“I guess. Why? Is it really that important?”
She looked away from his stare.

Djerr smiled at her. “I guess not. I was
just surprised, that's all.”

Wordlessly, Aurora followed Djerr down the
street a short ways, before turning off onto a wide dirt road. It
was dry and they kicked up dirt with every step, creating a small
cloud of dust behind them. The road was lined with trees, which
rustled slightly in the breeze, sending sunbeams dancing across the
road.

“So what's it like living with Roxanne and
Kirian?” Djerr asked suddenly.

Aurora glanced over at him. “I don't know.
They argue sometimes, but they’re mostly pretty nice.”

Shrugging, Djerr put his hands behind his
head as he walked. “I don't know, I could just never imagine them
living with a kid, you know? I mean, it's not like they really have
to take care of you or anything, it's just that Roxanne doesn't
seem to be very into the whole responsibility thing and Kirian
would always get annoyed whenever any of us would tag along with
Roxanne anywhere. You know what I mean?”

“I know what you mean.” Aurora giggled.
“It's interesting, living with them. I don't think Kirian really
wants me around all that much and it seems like Roxanne’s mostly
going to let me do whatever I want, but it's not really all that
bad. It works out.”

Djerr smiled back at her. “Alright then. But
if they ever start driving you crazy, you can always come hang out
with me instead.” He slowed to a stop and pointed at the small
house, set back into the trees. “Well, this is it.” He walked up to
the door and paused. “Try to stay a little quiet. My dad's probably
still asleep.”

Blinking, Aurora cocked her head. “Still
asleep? Does your dad work at night?”

“Nah, he just sleeps late.” Djerr waved a
hand dismissively and opened the door. “He can sleep through a lot
though,” he said quietly.

It was dark inside the house and it took
Aurora's eyes a moment to adjust. The air was dusty and the windows
were slightly tinted with the brownish color of grime. One of the
windows had a large crack in it, which let in a small splinter of
bright sunlight. The house was surprisingly empty of much furniture
or belongings, so a small potted plant on the counter caught
Aurora's eye. It was brown and withered, long dead. Djerr seemed
not to notice Aurora's unease.

“You can just set your stuff down anywhere.”
He leaned against the wall by the door and waited. After quietly
plopping her bag down on the floor, they headed back outside into
the sunlight to walk around town. “So what else would you like to
see?” Djerr asked, pausing in the shade under one of the giant
trees lining the road.