[center][h3][color=8dc73f]Kryss[/color][/h3]
[@liferusher] [@Silver Carrot][/center]

[color=8dc73f]"Sweet kanava potatoes glazed in sugar... Onna noodles... saffron... blood oranges..."[/color]

A young girl with far too much hair hanging in front of her eyes walked slowly through Orth. She was likewise carrying far too much food in several bags, the weight a strain on her small body. She muttered to herself as​ she tried to mind her feet and not trip over her long green dress. One by one she named each item of food, making sure she had everything on her mental checklist. 

[color=8dc73f]"...shredded mixed meats... fish bits... onions. Lots of onions. Lots of.. heavy onions..."[/color]

In watching her steps and focusing on the food that was slowing her down the girl had been paying too little attention to where she was going. She was actually well off her normal route by the time she noticed. With a start she realized she was very close to the edge of the Abyss. There was a gated fence she had almost walked right into but a quick scan of the surrounding area revealed no one was nearby. As the surprise faded she also realized she was too tired to continue on without resting. At least that was the excuse she fabricated as she carefully set her bags down near the wooden fence. 

Her heart was beating faster and sweat threatened to drip into her eyes as she leaned against the fence and looked down into the incredible, beautiful, terrible pit famously known as the Abyss. It had been a long time since she had been this close; normally she just stared at the Abyss from her window which never seemed to be completely free of dust no matter how much it was cleaned. Her feelings about this place were rather conflicted, but in spite of her anxiety she found herself leaning farther over in an attempt to look straight down. The great hole in the world was undeniably alluring and many answered its siren call on a daily basis.

Unfortunately for her the more she looked the more bad memories began to rise to the surface of her thoughts.

A sudden rustling very nearby startled her out of the mental descent that was coming on. Looking down where the noise was coming from and watched in horror as one of the sacks of food tipped over and the precious goods started rolling out and falling over the edge. [color=8dc73f]"No! Nonononooo!"[/color] She could not move fast enough and several items dropped downward bouncing against rocks on the way before she could right the bag and start chasing after what was still within reach.

One onion was chased and barely caught as it started to fall, but this put her in the awkward position of being halfway over the edge herself. She managed to brace herself easily enough but her shoulder bag was not so lucky; that slipped almost completely off her arm. In a terrible stroke of luck the contents of the shoulder bag slipped out at the mercy of gravity and the winds. A strangled cry of utter distress escaped her throat as she watched her papers float away. Sketches, short stories, notes, little games she was working on, all were now lost to the Abyss along with the some of the food for her guardian.

Gone forever.

It wasn't as if she couldn't climb down and retrieve what hadn't fallen all the way out of sight, but she stayed where she was anyway. She wasn't allowed to go into the Abyss, she shouldn't even be as close as she was now. And she had promised to not break the rules. Not ever again. She felt like crying having so foolishly lost important things but she stood up and dusted herself off instead.

[color=8dc73f]"My papers... scattered everywhere... M-maybe the animals will tear them up to use for nesting before anyone sees them. I guess I can just make it up from memory, it's not like they were irreplaceable, right? But Teacher's food! What am I going to do about that? Oh! Maybe if I hurry I'll have enough time to go back to the market and replace it all. Yes, yes that's right! There's a shortcut that goes past the orphanage!"[/color]

She normally didn't pass by the orphanage. Most of those kids were learning to be delvers and some even had whistles already. They looked like they were all having so much fun and Kryss had a lot of mixed feelings when she saw them. She had avoided going by there for a while but this was an emergency. It was afternoon already and Teacher would be waking up soon...

She set off at a run after gathering up the heavy bags, only one of which was a little lighter now. It was not long before she was tired out and forced to settle on a brisk walk.

Not ten minutes later she found herself walking near another pair of children sitting on a large rock. Passing by she overheard the two talking, and something they said caught her full attention. She stopped abruptly and stared at them, mouth agape, wondering if she had in fact heard what she thought she heard. She hoped she had not but part of her already knew that hope was pointless and would remain unfulfilled. She found herself approaching the two nervously. She took notice of the fact that they​ were both girls that looked younger than she was and felt a little more at ease.

[color=8dc73f]"E-excuse me? I didn't mean to eavesdrop but... are there kids that got lost in the Abyss?"[/color]