Darin scowled, but didn’t argue when Ridahne mentioned not covering up her Seed-Chained mark completely. This was just going to have to be one of those things that Darin let go of. She didn’t like that. She didn’t like it one little bit. She supposed that she could force the issue to resolve her way because she was The Seed-Bearer, but Darin had already basically bullied Ridahne into creating a new Ojih mark. The human didn’t want to abuse her power, especially in regard to her friend. That didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. Because she wasn’t. Still she would let it be and not bring it up again.

Instead she continued to scowl as she pulled the stack of papers towards her. Darin had vague ideas of what a quill was. That didn’t mean she knew how to use one. When learning to write the elder that taught the children her age had created sticks by missing charcoal and tallow and then wrapping the shaped sticks in fabric and twine. Darin had never advanced to quills. It hurt to hold the thin sticks for too long and her page always wound up covered in black marks and her face was the same. Looking back that may have been the first time then elders decided that she was going to be difficult. Darin grew morose as she thought about it. She had really tried to get it right. She tried as hard as she could. She had wanted to impress her teachers. She hadn’t and while that wasn’t the last time, she tried to impress the elders it was certainly the last time she tried that hard.

Apprehensively Darin watched Ridhane and her long graceful fingers to see how it was done. Then, hesitantly, Darin copied the movements. She knew that this was going to be a disaster the moment she picked up the quill. It was even thinner than the charcoal sticks that she was used to. Her hand already hurt. She gritted her teeth as she dipped the quill into the inkwell before moving it towards the page. A heavy droplet of ink fell on the page to create a stark black blot. Darin wouldn’t let that defeat her. She placed the quill tip on the page to draw out a line, only to press to hard and tear the page. Okay, this was not going well. Darin carefully put the ruin page to the side before moving to redip the quill. Only she moved to fast and her arm bumped the inkwell and sent it toppling over. Letting out a shout of panic she lunged for the inkwell and set it upright to prevent more ink from spilling. Then, seeing where the ink was heaing, Darin let out another shout and quickly dive for the book that was in peril. The blank pages went flying. The inkwell landed on the ground, and Darin’s shirt wound up covered in ink. The books were all safe though.

Darin quickly began to stutter, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry.”

Unbidden a thought came to her mind. [i]”You know the elders say Martian Left cause of something Talia did. I bet they’re wrong. I bet it’s you fault. I beat her couldn’t stand having a clumsy daughter that can’t even dance without stepping on toes or walk without tripping.”[/i]

There she had gone again, being a clumsy fool, knocking over inkwells, falling off cliffs, tripping over things that weren’t there. It was made worse by the fact that the ink had to be ruining the table and the floor. At least the books weren’t hurt. Darin carefully book the book with the traitors’ mark in it to the side as she got gone to the floor to try and contain the damage. Tears pricked at her eyes and she tried to blink them away. She wasn’t going to cry in front of Ridahne. She wanted the Elf to like her, to be impressed with her, to think she was worth something, anything. She didn’t want the Elf to leave. Not like him. Her apologies had yet to falter.