~ Amber ~
Early in the morning after her arrival at Opuntia’s Sanctuary, Amber was lounging around on her bed, her hand to her head in an attempt to quell the headache that she was dealing with from being unable to sleep the previous night. It had all happened so quickly after the twins arrived that she was only just now beginning to catch up with it all.
Opuntia seemed welcoming enough when she brought them inside, and none of the children seemed particularly unhappy, but Amber was preoccupied at the time with thoughts of the woman’s bizarre demeanor. They quickly were shoved aside, though, when Opuntia introduced them to Ginger, an eleven-year-old girl who seemed to be the most outgoing of the other orphans.
The three of them walked into what appeared to be a large common area, with couches spreading around the room and a bookshelf standing up against the wall with several books pulled out. Several children were lounging on the couches, making little noise. Some were reading, others were sleeping, others still were looking out of the giant windows that lined the walls.
“Excuse me, Ginger?” Opuntia sweetly asked, causing one girl’s head to snap up in an instant.
“What do you need, Oppie?” Ginger asked, forcing a smile onto her face.
“We have some new members of the family,” the caretaker explained, “Would you mind showing them around and introducing them to everybody?”
The fake smile Ginger had on her face immediately gave way to a genuine one as she bounded over to the twins.
“Hi! I’m Ginger!” she offered a hand, “I’m eleven! It’s nice to meet you!”
After that, Ginger had taken them around the orphanage and explained the layout and introduced them to a variety of her friends. With how many there were, Amber was having trouble remembering them all.
There was Cloud, a boy Ginger’s age who was clearly chock full of energy. He was clearly the battery of the entire group, and Amber wondered how on Earth she was going to put up with his antics for any extended period of time.
Next was Prun, a girl the same age as her. She was almost the polar opposite, being frank and mature. In some ways, the girl reminded Amber of a younger Jasper, but she lacked some of the kindness that her brother had always showed them, instead opting to be the ‘lead by example’ type to the rest of the children.
There were two other siblings there, as well. They were brother and sister, and their names were Rubus and Ribes. Rubus was eleven, and Ribes nine, making them two years apart. Just seeing them together caused a bit of nostalgic pain in Amber’s heart due to the unknown fate of her brother, but they seemed rather nice, if a bit skittish compared to other members of the group.
The one who left the biggest impact, however, was Mullein, a thirteen-year-old boy who, according to Ginger, was considered the orphans’ leader. Like Prun, he exuded maturity and responsibility, immediately proving to Amber that he held the position of leader for a reason. However, from their conversations he seemed incredibly self-assured, which was sometimes a red flag for someone his age.
However, while the group as a whole seemed outwardly welcoming, she and Ruby both agreed that the others seemed to be keeping their distance to an extent, as if they didn’t completely trust the twins. Of course, Amber completely understood their hesitations; after all, they were relatively new here and were outsiders on top of that. In addition, they were supposedly former child slaves that were freed by the local guard under Trifo’s supervision. Anyone who had to go through an experience like that for any longer than the twins did would have trouble trusting anyone ever again.
Unfortunately, that left Amber and Ruby in the unfortunate position of needing to win the trust of the other residents. As for how they planned to go about doing that, it wasn’t clear what they needed to do. Ginger was nice enough, of course, and Amber got the impression that she always enjoyed meeting new people, but the same could not be said for the others. If they wanted any hope of becoming full members of the group, they would need to find a way to break down the barriers created by the other children.
“Hey, Amber?” Ruby whispered, indicating she was also awake.
Amber turned her head over to the opposite bed, where she saw her sister looking her in the eye. She almost spoke out loud, but Ruby put a finger to her lips to keep Amber from waking up the other children. Amber nodded, then put her hand to her ear to signal her attentiveness.
“What should we do in the morning? You know, to get to know them?” her sister whispered.
“I don’t know,” Amber whispered quietly, “Maybe we should just talk to them?”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” returned Ruby, “One mistake and we end up ostracized for good.”
Amber shrugged her shoulders and closed her eyes, attempting to get a little more sleep before the morning bell rang. Sure enough, she managed to get a little sleep after talking to Ruby, and before she knew it the bell was ringing to signify the presence of morning.
All around the room, the children began getting out of their beds and walking toward the stairs. Amber and Ruby followed in the back, being careful not to get in anyone’s way. Whether or not they went on the offensive when they reached the breakfast table, it was a good idea to avoid getting off on the wrong foot this early on.
Once they reached the dining room, each of the twins took seats opposite each other on the far end of the dinner table, which was designed for roughly twelve. Despite only meeting a few of the other children on the previous day, the chairs were completely full, with Opuntia included at the end along with the chef.
So that makes ten of us total, then? Amber thought to herself, That means we didn’t quite meet everyone.
Among the familiar faces at the table, Amber spotted a boy around the same age as Rubus and Cloud, as well as a girl who seemed to be the youngest of the group by a considerable margin, looking no older than a second grader. However, rather than focus on getting to know the names she didn’t know, it would be more prudent to attempt to get to know one of the more approachable members and create a bond there.
Looking around, she considered Ginger, who had been the nicest of everyone up to this point, but she hesitated at the prospect. It seemed like Ginger was nice to pretty much everyone, and that would ironically make it more difficult to become real friends with her.
“Excuse me?” a timid voice whispered from her right.
Amber turned her head in surprise to see Rubus looking at her. Realizing what situation she was in, she quickly put on a smile.
“What do you need?” Amber asked cheerfully.
“It’s just,” Rubus started, but didn’t finish.
Amber was confused and tilted her head.
“It’s just, what?”
Rubus gulped in fear, but eventually finished his sentence.
“Do you want to be friends?”
Amber blinked. Here she was this entire time wondering how she would find herself a friend in this group that wasn’t her sister, and this boy came out and did the hard work for her. Not dropping her smile, Amber nodded.
“Sure, that would be great,” she accepted, “It’s always nice making new friends.”
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Immediately upon her response, Rubus’ shoulders dropped in relief, and a breath he was holding was released. While he had initially seemed incredibly pent up and anxious, now he seemed relatively relaxed. His slump had given way, showing Amber that he was actually slightly taller than her.
“Thank you,” Rubus said, “It’s just, you seemed really nice when I met you yesterday, and considering how Ribes and I are treated around here, I thought it would be good for someone we can really call friends.”
“What do you mean?” Amber replied, “Are you not treated well?”
Rubus shook his head with sadness in his eyes.
“Until you came, we were always the newest. They weren’t very nice to us most of the time, and Yarrow really liked bullying Ribes and me.”
“Who’s Yarrow?”
Rubus pointed at the boy Amber had noticed earlier.
“He’s not very nice. He likes to play mean pranks on people and then laugh at them for falling for it. Cloud gets in trouble because of him a lot.”
“He did seem like he could easily get himself in trouble with a little push,” Amber agreed, referring to Cloud.
Ribes, who was sitting next to Rubus, leaned over to whisper something in his ear. The two were discussing something important, as the look on Ribes’ face was incredibly anxious, and Rubus was clearly trying to calm her down. After about a minute of back and forth, Ribes stood up and walked around to Amber’s side.
“Rubus says you’re a good person,” she began, “I don’t know if he’s right, but it’s nice to meet you again.”
Amber smiled at her.
“Likewise. Hey, it seems like my sister is kinda lonely over there. You want to go talk to her?”
She pointed at Ruby, who looked away somewhat embarrassed.
“Amber, you didn’t need to do that,” she protested.
“Come on, Ruby,” Amber asserted, “I’m not the only one here who needs to make friends, right?”
Ruby gave her sister a hard look, before shrugging and allowing Ribes to walk over to Ruby’s side. While the seat next to Ruby was taken by Prun, upon request she gladly gave up her seat to the young girl. Within minutes the two were engrossed in their own conversation, causing both Amber and Rubus to smile.
“It’s been a long time since Ribes has taken to someone so quickly,” her brother commented, “Maybe things won’t be so bad now that you’re here.”
“Of course,” Amber agreed, “Ruby’s not really the talking type either, so it’s great to see her opening up for once.”
“She seems to talk to you just fine,” Rubus commented.
“Well, that’s because I’m her sister. The only other person I’ve seen her open up to that much was our older brother, Jasper.”
“You have a brother?”
Amber looked down. She still hadn’t figured out what to make of the events on the ship, and the more she was reminded the more pain she felt about it.
“I did,” she stated sadly.
“I’m sorry,” Rubus apologized, leaning back a bit, “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
“No, it’s okay,” Amber reassured him, “The memories aren’t the problem; in fact, they’re my most precious possessions.”
“Really?” Rubus asked, “Could you tell me what he was like?”
At this, Amber went into an in-depth explanation about Jasper. She explained all of the kindnesses he had given the two of them in their parents’ absence, and how if it weren’t for an escape attempt gone wrong, he would have been here with them. Upon completion of her story, Rubus hung his head.
“I can’t imagine your pain. Ribes and I were both kidnapped, as well, but to imagine losing each other on the way to our freedom, it’s just too hard for me.”
“Well,” Amber slowly continued, “I can’t say it’s completely sunk in yet for me at this point. But you should be happy that you have each other. I know I’m happy for you.”
“But doesn’t it hurt to see us together like this?”
Amber paused before answering. After all, he was right. The first time she had seen the two of them, all she could think about was how much she missed her brother. The pain wasn’t something that went away just because she wanted it to. She knew it was selfish of her to miss Jasper like this, but she couldn’t help it. There was never a point in her life that Jasper wasn’t her fearless leader. There wasn’t a point in her life where Jasper wasn’t one of her most important people. And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to answer his question honestly.
“Of course, it doesn’t,” she lied, “It brings back happy memories, not sad ones.”
Rubus looked at her for a minute, seemingly unconvinced. Amber fought off the urge to gulp in terror.
“Well, that’s good. I don’t want to hurt my newest friend, after all,” Rubus smiled.
Amber was going to respond, but she heard a tiny voice begin to echo through the room.
“Ribby, Ribby! Good morning!”
All of a sudden, the young girl from earlier who was quietly sitting at the table a couple seats down from Ruby was in Ribes’ lap, her arms wrapped around the other young girl.
“Ouch,” Ribes complained, “Good morning to you too, Lily.”
The girl, now known as Lily, had a giant smile on her face, as if she had just met her idol. Then, upon seeing Ruby, she gasped and pointed.
“Hey, Ribby, who’s that?”
Amber laughed as Ruby, who was somewhat taken aback by the whole display, began to introduce herself. Her name, of course, caused a fit of laughter in the young girl.
“Ruby and Ribby! That’s really funny!” she laughed.
“And that,” Ruby continued, pointing across the table, “Is my sister, Amber.”
Lily gasped, and looked over to Amber, who giggled at the display.
“Nice to meet you, Amber! I’m Lily, and I’m seven years old!”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Lily,” Amber replied sweetly.
Now that the energy had stopped being a surprise, Amber was beginning to notice how simply adorable the girl was. Her energy was immeasurable, but unlike Cloud’s, which came across as somewhat destructive, hers was incredibly rejuvenating. She could feel it filling her soul just by being around her, and the sadness that had come with thoughts of her brother began to dissipate for the first time since they had lost him.
“Excuse me, everyone!” The voice of Opuntia called from the kitchen, “Breakfast is ready! Please come and get your serving!”
Immediately all the children stood up and made their way into the kitchen. Amber and Ruby hesitated, giving each other a look of worry. Their first impressions of this woman were far from strong, and if Ginger’s reaction the prior day was anything to go by, there was something of a facility-wide fear of this caretaker.
“Worried?” Rubus’ voice came from behind Amber, “I understand. Oppie is a little eccentric, and definitely gets mad easily, but she doesn’t poison our food.”
Amber nodded, knowing that she would need to face the music at some point anyway. She followed Rubus into the kitchen to receive her food. That morning, it seemed like some variety of egg dish was being served.
“The eggs in here are fresh from the farms outside of Sage Port,” Opuntia announced, “Please show your gratitude by eating all of what was brought.”
After the rest of the children had finished collecting their servings, the twins stepped up to the counter for their breakfast. Opuntia was still in the kitchen, making sure everyone took their dish as intended.
“How are you two doing so far? Is everything good?” Opuntia asked in that same faux-kind tone that Amber had grown used to.
“It’s going good, thank you,” Amber responded.
“Not too bad,” Ruby quietly answered from behind her.
Opuntia took a look at Ruby without breaking her smile.
“Dear me, we’ll need to work on your manners a bit. But we can save that for another time. Please enjoy your eggs!”
Once the girls returned to the dining room, the other children had already begun eating their food. Amber and Ruby quickly sat back in their previous seats and began tasting the eggs.
Amber’s first impression was how bland they were. While she wasn’t particularly fond of eggs to begin with, even she could tell that these particular eggs were worse than the ones she was used to back home. It could have been that Jasper was using more ingredients, like extra spices or condiments, or that the chickens in America were healthier than the ones in Aurem, or any other reason. Heck, for all she knew, these weren’t even chicken eggs to begin with.
It seemed like she wasn’t the only one who shared that idea, as Yarrow eventually started coughing after eating too many eggs.
“Yarrow, dear, are you all right?” Opuntia’s voice echoed.
Yarrow nodded, but immediately pushed his half-eaten plate toward the center of the table, gesturing his conclusion of the meal. Opuntia, however, was not amused.
“Didn’t I tell you before that it would be rude to the farmers who provided this food for you if you didn’t finish?”
“Well, yeah,” the boy stated matter-of-factly, “But I can’t eat these eggs. They suck.”
Opuntia’s eyes widened for a moment, before resuming her traditional smile.
“Young man, I would recommend you eat those eggs. It’s not good for you to go hungry in the morning.”
“It’s also no good for me to barf up everything I ate,” he muttered quietly.
Opuntia sighed, her smile falling off her face.
“Yarrow, dear, would you please come with me? I think we need to have a little chat.”
As Yarrow stood up, ready to follow, Opuntia continued speaking.
“Oh, and bring your eggs with you, please. We wouldn’t want to waste them, would we?”
Yarrow’s eyes immediately widened in horror, as if he had seen a ghost. Amber couldn’t help but shudder at his reaction. Whatever the caretaker wanted from him, it must have been pretty serious to demand such a reaction from someone who seemed as arrogant as Yarrow.
“Please, Oppie,” he pleaded, but she shook her head.
“No buts, young man. Come with me.”
His head completely down, he picked up his breakfast and began to follow the lady. Until they left the room, it was completely silent, and Amber was beginning to feel unnerved as the silence continued beyond their departure. Then, finally, Rubus spoke up.
“I think we should finish our breakfasts before she gets back.”
Everyone voiced their agreement, and began eating their breakfast as fast as possible without puking from the poor taste.
“You know,” Amber heard Rubus speaking to her, “I’d recommend cleaning your plate at every meal. When you don’t, well, I don’t want to talk about it, but you saw what happened back there.”
Amber nodded nervously.
“Has it happened to you? I mean, not finishing your meal?” she asked.
Rubus nodded.
“I think it’s happened to all of us at least once. Some, like Yarrow, deal with it more often than others. But it’s not worth it. It hurts too much to be worth it.”
Amber cringed at his reference to pain. Wanting to look anywhere other than the direction that the pain was coming from, she made eye contact with her sister, who was even more petrified than she was. Upon recognizing the contact, both sisters gulped simultaneously.
Just what had they gotten themselves into?