~ Desires ~

The Awakening Sky

There were flashes of memory, as the sky outside lightened and night became dawn, unwelcome and unbearable.

No, Sophia thought, as she drifted in and out of sleep, as dreams became thoughts became memories. Not unbearable. And I'm not unconscious. I'm awake, and I'm breathing, and I'm...

I'm rescued.

Sophia felt different than she'd ever felt in her life. There was shock, of course, and a deep heavy feeling of horror and fear, and pain from the cuts on her arms, and exhilaration. Along with the impossibly dark, awful feelings there were also unbelievably light, amazing feelings, and she hung bound between them, floating, falling, flying, suspended between the unendurable depths of darkest despair and the dizzying heights of intoxicating elation.

She found she couldn't see properly, or rather she could see too well; eyes, were what she saw, everything else was a jumbled mess but she found her focus in the eyes of those around her. Simple grey eyes that stared without interest; wolfish amber eyes that only glanced, never lingered; cold bright eyes that saw everything; dark sad eyes that had perhaps seen too much; angry brown eyes that defied the world. And the man, Fin—Sophia clung to his name as something solid—with sparkling blue eyes that seemed to hold all the answers in the world, even to those questions you'd never think to ask. But his eyes weren't here. Why not?

Sophia held tight to this question as something to keep her grounded. Why wasn't Fin, her rescuer, here? It took Sophia quite a while to realise the answer; because this is a carriage, because I'm inside the carriage, because he is, in fact, driving the carriage.

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This mystery solved, this question answered, Sophia's thoughts turned to her parents. They have no idea that any of this has happened to me. But then they never really had any idea about anything that happened to me. And they think I'm off on my 'see the world and find my purpose' trip. Which ... which this could be. Alicia didn't work out as well as I'd expected, but these eyes—no, these people saved me without even knowing who I am, from dozens of shadowy monster men. They must be brave and strong and good. I'm sure I'll be safe with them. And we're travelling. This is a carriage, and it's moving, it's—

Wait, no it's not. And when did it get dark? And where did all those eyes go?

Aware suddenly that she was awake—properly awake this time—Sophia sat up, her mind racing and her mouth dry, an awful hunger deep in her gut. She blinked, then blinked again, then pushed herself away from the window of the carriage, and she blinked once more, and she was about to attempt standing up when the door to the carriage opened, and her saviour appeared.

"Ah, good," said Fin. He smiled at Sophia. "I was hoping you'd be awake. This must all be rather disorientating."

"You saved me," Sophia said, or at least tried to, she got the first two syllables out before her voice cracked and she started coughing, and then she couldn't stop, and then Fin was patting her on the back and offering her water, which she gratefully accepted, and after a few minutes of this she'd managed to recover enough to try again:

"You saved me," she said.

"It wasn't just me, in truth I barely did anything. But let's set that aside for the moment and talk of more pressing matters. I'm afraid we're rather a distance from Unity just now, unavoidable really, circumstances beyond my control, but nevertheless a problem. If you like, we can drop you off at the next village or town we come to, and you can buy passage home—"

"I haven't any money," Sophia said. "But never mind that, why did you save me? Who are you?"

"Well, certainly not the sort of man who could ignore the scream of a young lady. How are your arms?"

"Hm? Oh, these? They hurt. But forget that. You're travelling. With these other ... girls." Sophia thought for a moment. All girls. Yes. "Where are you travelling to?"

"Presently? Pyre. It's rather a long story."

"Pyre," Sophia repeated, as if tasting the word. "Why are you going there?"

"As I said, it's a long story—"

Sophia stopped Fin with a look.

"I have time," she said.