Sera squeezed her eyes tight before letting them relax again. She breathed deeply in through her nose and out again as her eyes fluttered open, briefly. Slowly her mind began to crawl, leaving behind the unconsciousness of sleep. Suddenly her eyes flew open. She gasped as she immediately sat up in her bed.

Sunlight filled her small room through the window a short distance across from her bed. Tangled in her bedsheets, she stumbled hurriedly over to it. Fumbling with the latch, she threw the window open and the warm air of near-noon washed over her.

In the street below her, the town of Rivera was already alive as people busied on with their day to day lives. She overslept, Sera should have been up and starting her morning chores hours ago.

She quickly untangled herself from her twisted sheets, threw them on her bed and immediately started shedding her bed clothes. She pulled on a fresh pair of knickers, wrapped her breasts, crawled into her dress and hurriedly made her way downstairs, awkwardly juggling with her shoes and the laces on either side of her waist. Simon stepped out in front of her as she came out of the stairwell.

“Slow down kiddo.” He said to her, “You’re gonna break your neck.”

He was holding a glass mug and a drying towel. Sera groaned, she should have had those mugs cleaned two hours ago.

“Daddy, I’m so sorry. I don’t know-.”

Simon tucked the cloth inside of the glass he had been drying and held up his hand to cut her off with a shake of his head.

“Relax, Sweetheart. You’re not in trouble.” He said assurantly. “I got my part of the chores done, I’m already almost finished with yours. Don’t worry about it.”

He cocked his head toward the kitchen. “Breakfast is waiting for you. After you’re done with that, I want you to take the day off.”

“But I-”

“I won’t hear it.” And then he sighed. “After last night… just take a day to relax for once, please?”

That stopped her cold. The events of the previous night played out in her mind in a whirl. She shuddered as she could still almost feel that man’s hands molesting her.

And now he is dead. She thought to herself. I killed him.

She recalled the conversation between her father and the two Asunese rangers who had trespassed into the office that night. Ridiculous claims of magic and mythical events of days long past replayed in her head. And then there was the revelation of her adoption.

Simon put his hand on her shoulder and guided her to the kitchen where a plate of breakfast sat on a small table meant to seat three. Toast, scrambled eggs with a grilled chicken breast and some chopped, seasoned potatoes were portioned out on the porcelain. The aroma was enough to set Sera’s mind at ease a little, it's amazing how good such a simple selection of food could smell. It was one of her father’s many surprising traits, he was an excellent cook.

“Eat.” Her father instructed. “I still have to get this place ready for tonight, but you are taking the day off. No ‘if’s’. No ‘buts’ Day off. You hear me?”

Sera smiled helplessly at the plate of food.

“Yes, Daddy.”

----------------------------------------

It was a warm spring day. The sun shone high in the clear blue sky without a single cloud to stand in its way, the humidity making Sera’s dress cling to her in places as she walked. It wasn’t enough to count as unbearable, just enough that she was thankful for every breeze that blew gently by.

Sera wandered aimlessly down the streets of Rivera. People around her did as they always had. Mother’s ran errands, dragging reluctant children behind them. Bored housewives gossiped on the corner. Sera even heard snippets of rumors of a girl who killed some pervert the night before.

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Sera lowered her head and pressed on, desperately trying to push those memories from her mind. She didn’t want to remember anything from that night. Assault, death, her mysterious origins, she wanted so badly for it all to be just a bad dream. Even such things as destiny and magic. It was all just so ridiculous. These were the things that would be illustrated in the pages of childrens’ stories. Things of fantasy. These were things that anyone else in the world would dream of. These were things that anyone else did dream of. Not her.

To anyone else, such things would carry the promise of adventure, power, fame. To her the very idea felt as an enormous weight bearing down on her. What if it was true? What if she, of all people, somehow carried the powers of some mythical hero destined to rid the world of evil? If this was in fact reality, it was a cruel reality. It was a shackle around her wrist, pulling her far from where she wanted to be. Away from her town, away from her friends and everyone she loved and cared for. Away from her father.

Her father.

He had instructed her to take the day off, but how exactly could he expect her to do that? Since she was old enough to walk, Sera had always been finding ways of helping the people around her. Taking time to herself? She didn’t even think she knew how! In her mind, time to herself would be the same as being locked up inside of a cell.

Sera shook her head as tears threatened to well up in her eyes, again. It was a feeling she had been experiencing far too often lately.

Around her unchaperoned children ran blissfully through the streets. Young lovers walked hand in hand visiting shops that they had likely been to a thousand times before. Merchants showed off various foods, clothing, or other wares that they specialized in. But it was all noise to Sera as her mind churned with thoughts and emotions that just made her want to collapse to the ground and scream.

She was so lost in the chaos swirling in her mind that she didn’t even hear the footsteps that pounded behind her. A firm hand grabbed her shoulder.

In a flash, Sera felt the merc’s hot breath wash over her neck, she felt his hands pawing at her body. She reacted completely on instinct as she spun around to meet her attacker. That’s when she saw it.

Barely visible in the noon’s brightness, there was the faintest flash of light as a sort of pulse emitted from her hand. Tristan Feller laid on his back about five feet away from her looking dazed, but otherwise unharmed.

“Geez,” He said, picking himself up and brushing off his rear. “Y’know if you don’t want to see me, you could just tell me.”

Sera exhaled sharply as she stood shaking. He didn’t see it.

What is happening to me?

“Man,” The boy laughed as he approached her. “You really knocked me on my ass pretty good, there. I know you’re strong for a girl but…”

Sera didn’t let him finish. She spun around and bolted as fast as her legs could take her.

She was really beginning to hate hearing that.

People stared as she ran, but Sera didn’t care. She needed to get away from it all. The people, the noise, everything. She had so much on her mind right now and it all just served to amplify her anxiety ten-fold.

And what was that, back there? Her heart pounded as her feet struck the cobblestone, carrying her in no particular direction. She was certain she didn’t imagine what she saw. It was faint, but it was there. A flash of light.

Magic.

Sera finally allowed herself to slow to a stop when she reached the middle of a bridge. Which bridge she had run to, she had no idea. She didn’t know what street she was on or on what side of town she was and she didn’t care. She slumped over the stone railing, drawing curious looks from the passers-by as she gasped for breath.

Looking over the edge at the river running below, she could see fish swimming just below its dark, shimmering surface. Catching her breath, Sera turned and continued to the other side before rounding the end and carefully making her way down the bank to the river’s edge.

Here it was quiet. Here it was peaceful.

Beneath the cool shadow of the bridge, she sat on an old branch that had long since washed up along the stone archway that supported the structure above. Sera buried her face in her hands and sat against the stone, her silvery blonde hair catching against its rough surface. In the coolness of the shade, her heart still pounded, but she could feel herself beginning to calm down.

After a long while, Sera dropped her hands from her face and stared into the shallow water near her feet. A small brown fish sat at the water’s edge, obliviously sucking pebbles into its mouth and spitting them back out again.

“What’s it like, sitting in there all day without a care in the world?” Sera asked.

She envied the creature. Surrounded by threats all its life yet paying them no regard, finding contentment in sucking up pebbles hoping for just just the tiniest little bit of algae to feed on.

After a while, the fish swam off somewhere downstream. As she watched it go, Sera stood, hunched beneath the stone archway and began to follow the river’s flow, and continued along the water’s edge.

Up the bank of the river, the tall backs of the buildings loomed over her. Towering trees soon took their place as the river led her further away from town. Away from the noise. Away from her worries. Away from everything.

Sera didn’t give any thought to her surroundings as she continued. All she focused on was the silence and the peace that it gave her.