Chapter one
“You will go through many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.”
~C.S. Lewis
“Gah!!!” Kate cautioned, cursing under her breath, as she almost falls out of her window three stories above the ground. She grabs her window ledge, still a little shaky. Sneaking out of the Yojuri is usually easy for her, and making a mistake while doing it is just another sign that something isn’t right.
Slowly, she continues to make her way down the stone wall of the Yojuri pronounced (YO-JR-E) which is pretty much the equivalent to a palace or the white house, really just a fancy building where the current leader lives. She makes it to the bottom and gently lowers herself to the ground. She runs, quickly and quietly through the Yojuri gardens, darting across the black sky, her hair flowing behind her, a cape billowing out.
After she makes it off Youri grounds, she scales a building and then proceeds to hop from one roof to the other until she reaches her destination, and places herself atop the dome covering the little round building elevated by four pillars that she had made her hideaway. Rugs that she had woven for hours hung down from the ceiling, providing her with privacy when she wants it. It is messy inside, a bed against one side with a little bookshelf placed next to it, overflowing with books. She has a bag filled with clothes that she knows she isn’t allowed to wear. Fabric of all colors was thrown messily into a pile on the far left side, and endless sketches of dress designs were hung with paper clips onto the rug acting as her wall. As she sits atop her secret haven, she looks at the city she called home. Brunler. The name an ancestor of hers had given the city generations ago. She looks up at the stars,
“I love you mom.” She says quietly, her voice almost a whisper, bowing her head in prayer. She honors her mom every year on this day, at this very time, For this is the anniversary of her mothers passing. Five minutes go by and she sits there, legs crossed, head bowed, peacefully. Another three minutes go by before she is disturbed by the sound of crashing and then her best friend's voice.
“So sorry ma'am, so sorry! Here let me help you pick them up,......” . Katelyn rolls her eyes, her friend Griffin, despite his kind eyes, thoughtful voice and magnetic personality, was a bit of a clutz. He is always tripping over, dropping, or bumping into something, half the time he is doing all three!
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
She hopps down from the roof and swings down into her hideout before hopping gracefully across three buildings and then stood waiting. A minute passes and Katelyn looks down at her tiny little wrist watch, clicking her tongue in disapproval as she was not one of much patience. Katelyn is just about to go looking for him before she hears a bang and then mumbling followed by grunts. She looked over the side of the building to see her friend Griffin desperately trying to get up the wall, with two arrows and a dozen warm dumplings wrapped up in a blanket tucked under his arm. Katelyn had to stifle a laugh at the sight of her friend. He continued to grunt and fall determined to get up.
“Hey, were you planning on joining me up here?” Kate asked with a little side smile pulling at her lips,
“oh, Kate! Thank goodness! I thought I would have to spend the whole night down here! A merchant at the market sold me these, saying they could scale any building and had done it before, he even gave me a deal, “only 25 lass!” he said!” Katelyn sighed at her friend's innocence and drowned out the rest of what he was saying, knowing that the merchant was most likely low on cash and trying to sell anything he could, even two beat up old arrows. Katelyn grabbed their old ladder and threw it over the side providing Griffin with a way up. Griffin began to ascend the ladder and handed Kate the dumplings. “Courtesy of my mom, She says hi.”
“mm” katelyn said sniffing the warm bundle, “tell her thank you!” a minute passed before Griffin finally approached the topic they were both thinking
“How are you doing?” he asked
“I'm fine, why do you ask?”
“So we're going to play that game.” he sighed sarcastically, and then on a more serious note
“Hey, I'm here.” and that was all it took. Katelyn dropped the dumplings and ran to him as he pulled her into a tight embrace.
“i-I just miss her so much! S-she always knew what to say, a-and she was always so nice, and i--i love her.” tears streaming down her face she continued still wrapped in griffins arms, a warm blanket keeping her safe. “A-and now dad's terrible, and it's like I've lost them both.” she pulled away for a second to look him in the eye. “You remember, don't you? You remember when he was nice. Kind.” she stared at him begging with her eyes, Griffin knew the answer she needed and put voice to it.
“Yes Kate. I remember. It's ok, I remember. It's ok Kate, we have each other.” Kate leaned in to griffin, gently pressing herself against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his shoulder. Katelyn was very emotional on this day and it was one of the hardest days for her. Nine years ago, her mom had died of cancer, her last words
“I love you Katelyn, I love you always.” and that was how she’d left the world, holding Kate in her arms until she went limp, into eternal sleep. Dead.