"Refused to tell you? Well that seems ridiculous. I mean you had just been given the Seed and named the future Gardener, and they wouldn't tell you? Disrespectful if you ask me." It occurred to Ridahne then that she had not been entirely forthcoming with information herself, though she had never once deceived her. She merely...kept some things quiet. Still, it wasn't like she'd asked and Ridahne refused to answer. She felt like those people, who had always known Darin, now owed her some transparency at least. Unless they had been told specifically not to...hm... Darin asked the question Ridahne had been dreading to hear (though thankfully and notably she didn't specifically ask what she'd done to get herself nearly executed and then sent away). She grimaced and gave another uncomfortable sound like when Darin had asked about the Ojih, though this was much less uncertain. This was not something just taboo that was difficult to talk about. This was outright uncomfortable. Personal. She debated answering at all for a long time. -- [I]"Oh. It's [b]Hadian[/b]. I thought it smelled like fish. Ugh." The older boy sneered at Hadian and his little sister. He was from a merchant family and therefore far better off than the Torzinei family, and he wanted everyone to know it. This boy, Jirakh, was old enough to have his first ojih mark, a swirling black line form his earlobe to his chin. When he didn't receive a response from Hadian, he stepped forward menacingly, though both the Torzinei siblings were as tall as he was. "Hey. I was talking to you. Look at me when I talk to you, Torzinei." "Go home, Jirakh. Don't you have better things to do than bother me? We have work to do." Hadian made to leave, motioning for a young Ridahne to follow him, but Jirahk stepped in front of them both, blocking their path. "That's right, you poor folk always have to work don't you? Especially now." Both siblings' heads snapped up, eyes lit suddenly with anger. "Did you have to sell all her things?" Jirahk continued. "Or is your father holding onto her things in the hopes that your mangy sister might have a husband someday? Tell him to sell them and buy you some half decent clothes, Hadian. This one will never marry anyway...not without her mother to--" Hadian was already cringing by the time Ridahne let out a feral snarl and leapt at the older boy, throwing her balled fist into his eye. He'd hoped Ridahne wouldn't lose her temper...but he supposed that was too much to ask for. Not that Jirakh didn't deserve it, but now there would be trouble. He didn't even see the rest of the fight unfold, just saw a cloud of red dust as the two went down into the sand, scrabbling at each other and swinging fists. Jirakh was heavier than Ridahne and tried to make use of that, but he wasn't prepared for the fight she had in her, and somehow she ended up on top of him, beating her fist into his stomach as Hadian began to grab her and try to pry her off. She slapped him away, wriggling out of his grip only to be caught in the grip of someone else. Ridahne froze, looking up to find a tall woman with a complex ojih and a curved sword slung across her back looming over her. Both Hadian and Jirakh were backing away slowly, ready to run if they had to. The woman studied Ridahne for a moment, lifting the girl up to her feet by her arms but not yet letting go. Ridahne swallowed. "We'll go home. Right away. Promise." The woman's voice was cool. Icy. "You did a lot of damage to that boy...Torzinei," she said, inspecting the earring in her right lobe. "You can get in a lot of trouble for that." "Won't happen again, Eija, I promise. We will go home. I promise..." It was perhaps not the most truthful thing she had ever said, but in that moment she believed that she would never fight again--after all, how could she stand defiant while being stared down by an Eija...? The woman smiled, and neither Hadian nor Ridahne knew what to make of that. "Do you fight often?" "I...yes." the answer came as a breathed whisper like it had been squeezed out of her. "Do you win?" Ridahne blinked, looking first from the woman, then to Hadian, and then Jirakh, who now had a bloody nose. "I uh...y-yeah? Sometimes? But I--" The woman's smile widened and she let go of Ridahne. "You've got fire, kid. But an uncontrolled fire can burn things it was never meant to. It can cause a lot of damage. It must be tempered with stone. I can give you stone. Tell me, have you given thought to your calling?" Ridahne stammered, "I'm a Torzinei...we...fish." "But not you, I think," the woman said, her voice thoughtful. "Go home. I will speak to the scouts of you, and when you have come of age I think they will find you and see if you're meant for something more than fishing."[/I] -- Ridahne took in a deep breath and began, "My family are traditionally fishers. I was expected to follow that path and I thought I would, but...I never really wanted to. I just didn't know what else was in store for me. What else I could be. At a young age I was approached by some scouts--people who try to find young Azurei who have talent for certain callings. The idea is that you train them early and they become better at whatever it is that they do. I um...I was scouted out for being an Eija. And at the time I thought it was wonderful. I liked that someone saw something more in me than just a life of saltwater and fish. When I was old enough I jumped at the opportunity to become an Eija..." She fell silent again. How to go about this...? "I told you that Taja means 'arm'. They are men who protect and serve the Sol. Eija...it means 'hand'. They carry out the will of the Sol. Whatever she asks, we do. You could call us soldiers, except 'soldier' implies 'war', and there's not any. You could call us constables..maybe...but we were more than that. Too dangerous to be servants exactly, too far-roaming to be guards really." There was something else she was leaving out and it was painfully obvious, but she didn't seem keen on forking over the information so easily. "There was a time I was honored to be one of their number. I took pride in it. I met the only man I ever loved because of it. I trained and I learned and I owe who I am to being an Eija. I'm just...not so sure that I'm proud of what that has made me anymore. Maybe under a different Sol, things would have been...well just different. But." She cut off with all the hard abruptness of stone, then added, "I don't want to talk about it anymore."