Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was one of those days, the kind with that weight baring down on you. The sky was clear, and everything was going well. However when she awoke she had known that something was going to happen, the calm before the storm or the peace before a battle, were how her father would describe it. The maiden Saniya had woven jewel toned ribbons and died feathers into her long seafoam hair, for the spring festival that would start that evening and continue for the entire week. She was wearing her favorite summer dress, even though it wasn't quite warm enough for it, a gentle blue with a flowing navy scarf knotted at her waist.

The entire town was out, throwing decorations on anything that was immobile and something's that weren't, it was splendid. Then it was as though the clouds rolled in, she could hear something like thunder, then there was a ail of arrows, no running from it, and she felt the slicing tug, it was cold, then ached. Saniya found a safe hiding place behind a rain barrel, and as the pain sank in she gradually grew numb, and cold losing consciousness, as the world faded to black, then white, she knew no more.

******

The maidens eyes snapped open and a scream was torn from her throat, as the arrow was shoved all the way through her shoulder, and her eyes locked on him.

She knew him by reputation alone, they said that he was the one who stood by and watched her brother die, a coward and traitor. But Saniya had also heard the words mercenary and turncoat, tossed around like hero had been when she was a child, not hat she rememberd much. He had been a friend once. But why was he helping her?

He removed the arrow and cleaned the wound, "Don't be afraid love, but I'm sorry it doesn't look like you have a home anymore."

She blinked her aquamarine eyes still in a daze, "What are you doing here?"

He laughed, "you take an arrow in the shoulder, and the fist thing you ask an old family friend, is what am I doing here?"

Pulling away she met his gaze, which was serious behind all the bluff, just like always. "Dominic, your dodging the question."

He sighed, "we're at war, what I'm doing here isn't important, but now that you're an orphan, I'm taking you somewhere safe until it blows over."

"Why not just leave me the way you did Ken?"

Dominic froze, "I didn't leave your brother, he was my friend, and his death was none of my doing or responsibility." Wrapping her shoulder in gauze, he lifted her up and started away from the only home she had ever known, cradling her like the child he remembered.

Saniya began to get teary, but didn't fight leaving, it was for the best that she not stay there, even if Dominic was a turncoat, he had been a hero once and she was safer with him, than on her own.

I don't know how it happened,
I was looking at the water,
and then I felt the shock,
It was cold and fast,
The world ended with Its embrace.

I don't even remember how it felt
when I lost the air on my face
The world was dark around me,
the light shone from above me.

Suddenly my senses all were sharpened
I had become the intruder,
Witnesses stood seeming only to mock
It was the calm and contrast
The coolness of the lake and the way my heart raced.

I was starting not to care
It was fading, I was no-where.
By myself, or hugged by friends.
Why did my life have to end?

As I sank lower I saw them,
like a rainbow between me and heaven,
The water had become a prism
between me and the air,
Or was it between me and no-where?

It was her third day aboard ship, and she didn't know how much longer her stay would be, not that she really wanted to ask anyone. Gazing down on the tumultuous wake of the warship the maidens grief stricken mind couldn't bring itself to level on any sort of defined path, and it was that internal chaos that chafed most. Not the secrecy of the crewman, the silence of her new guardian, or the monotony of life at sea.

A presence that had once soothed her, could do nothing to comfort her pain ravished mind. The ocean once so beautiful and poetic, had turned inky and muddled, the wind tore into her tangled sea foam locks and the festive ribbons whipped at her face. A warm cloak was suddenly lowered about her shoulders and she stiffened in surprise, turning into the wind to view the sympathetic party. Him.

Giving a tight nod, concealing her shiver, she gave him her back, attempting to ignore his presence at the rail beside her. Hating him for the comfort. Hating the ship for not killing all of them. Hating the weather for not being hostile. Hating herself for being helpless. Just hating, and being miserable for her efforts.

"Well Saniya, we're about halfway to our destination, aren't you in the least bit curious about your new residence?"

Dominic's voice was warm and gentle, and she hated him for his sympathy. "I had assumed that you were going to keep me." Her voice was quiet and musical, graceful in its own way, even given her bitterness.

He smiled gently, looking down at the ships wake. "Oh, I do. But I can't keep you with me, while I'm at sea. I couldn't dream of raising a pretty young lady at sea, surrounded by men. I'd end up killing myself to keep them away from you in a few years."

She suppressed the urge to round on him in surprise, reining in her emotions, she posed the gentle question, "Then what do you plan on doing with me?"

Straightening away, he started back towards his post at the helm, "I plan on giving a Convent a sizable sum, to have them care after you and see to your education."

*****

The sun was setting, she would be locked in the First mates quarters soon, but Saniya didn't care. Her hands were deftly untying the tattered feathers and blood soaked ribbons from her hair, dropping them into the ships wake, and watching the disappear like so much refuse. One after the other, each one carrying a memory, her parents, her brother, her friends, and the tears started to fall. Trying to hold them back they came faster in defiance, until she was curled up on the deck sobbing her grief.