Spirit of Aspiration (Fan Work) {Starts 9/21/14}

"Perfect," Raina said as she set a red cavalier hat on Aislynn's head and fluffed the white feather.

"I like it!" Aislynn rested her hands on the hat with a smile. Her new outfit matched, based colored creme-white with red accents on the cuffs and hems. The skirt fell to her knees, and her ankle high boots were covered by buckled legwarmers. Her jacket stopped at the waist, but had a bustle that fell in line with the hem of her skirt.

"Well you certainly look like you do." Raina laughed as Aislynn swung her hips back and forth to make her skirt flutter. She had wondered if the hat was a bit much, but if the girl liked it there was no reason to worry.

Aislynn stopped her minor twirling and blushed. Most of her old clothing had been tossed, too worn down to be able to mend. She felt overwhelmed, by the kindness, knowing that it had been a great stroke of luck to end up under the wing of the two siblings.

"T-thank you," she mumbled, bowing with her hands folded over her thighs.

Raina gave her a supportive grin, and rested her hand on the back of her shoulder. It had been a delight to discuss a new outfit for the girl with the local tailor - indeed it was lucky they had found her in a slightly larger town, as any of the others wouldn't have been able to accommodate the need. There was a bit of a clash over color and cut; Zalgus had been more than adamant about the fit being correct. Aislynn never wore clothing tailored to her own body, and so they butted heads a bit - more over the topic of her comfort rather than fashion.

Still, even though Zalgus won in the end by running rings about Aislynn's head with words and rules of etiquette he made up on the spot, the clothing did look very good on her and she seemed to be content with how fitted the tailor had made it. 

It was nearly midday; they were going to leave late due to picking up Aislynn's "proper clothing." She had protested being purchased new clothing at all, but had been summarily shut down.

"Not to sound cruel, but with that outfit, you look like you are our servant," Zalgus had said, his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose as he peered over them. That remark had silenced her, even as Raina clapped a hand to her forehead. "I think we can do a bit better."

The taller man was in a bit of a languished state, "Now we are even more behind schedule," he lamented.

"We had taken into consideration what happened last time," Raina said, cupping her hands to give Aislynn a boost onto her horse, "it's a good thing we left home early. So we are actually still ahead of schedule."

"What happened last time?" Aislynn held tight to the saddle as Raina pulled herself up and settled in front.

Both siblings went quiet for a moment, and all three seemed to become lost in the crowd. People hustled around, carrying heavy loads or rushing about. They had a lot to do and not enough hours in the day to do it in.

"We had received a disturbing report that required a closer investigation," Zalgus finally said, shaking the memories out of the forefront of his mind. "So we had been delayed."

The somber air that had so swiftly come down unnerved Aislynn. Her mother had a fast mood trigger, but it was nowhere near as soft and eloquent as Zalgus and Raina's trigger.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a veritable jackpot! Aislynn had found three whole pages of hand written words in the gutter. The hand was pretty and clear, but at twelve years old and unable to read them, that was all she knew about the pages. She moved down a tight alley, avoided a dog that looked like he wanted to be left alone, and clambered through an open window of a ground floor apartment. There were three rooms; the kitchen, the sitting room, and her mother's bedroom.

Aislynn drooped to the floor of the kitchen and scurried to the corner near the stove were she made her bed. Hidden under a lumpy pillow was a satchel of clumsily stitched together, cast off pieces of leather and twine. Inside were more papers, and a cracked, round pebble of glass. Bundling herself in her patchwork quilt, the young Aislynn looked through her new-found treasures. There were a few words that she could make out from seeing them so often on the streets, or sounds that she often heard and knew what letter went with it. One word caught her attention. She didn't know that word.

"Ec" - eh-kuh. "Lip" - she knew that! "Se" - see?

"Ek-kuh-lip-see?" Saying the word helped to develop the proper pronunciation. For she knew that word from a group of well-dressed people with complicated tubes aimed at the sky that had used her home's roof a few weeks back. "Eclipse!"

Were these notes from those people?

The kitchen door swung open, and a sudden gust of wet air ruffled Aislynn's pigtails. She panicked, rushing to stuff the paper into her satchel and hide it under her pillow. She had just managed to throw her blanket over it when a hand clenched her shoulder in a painfully tight grip. It made the bruise already there twinge, and forced Aislynn to whimper.

"Hullo deerrest," said her mother, an angry smile on her face. She was a woman that many might have thought lovely; high cheek bones and soft blue eyes. Her nose was slightly too small, and her lips too big and wide.

Behind her was a tall, broad shouldered man whose dull eyes were focused on her mother's back. He looked like someone who would take one bite from an apple and then throw the rest away. Judging by the ring on his finger, he could afford to do it. Her mother leaned down further over Aislynn, and the man's eyes dropped lower.

"Hullo mum," Aislynn answered meekly.

"We haft a gueest," her mother said, wrenching her up onto her feet and pushing her toward the man. "Say hullo."

"H-hullo..."

"Hello," the man answered. He leaned over her, and she could smell the sharp punch of alcohol on him. His face was mean, round and used to watching the labor of others.

She flinched and bowed her head, already feeling scared and overwhelmed. Heat started to gather in her eyes.

"You are quite adorable. You will be beautiful just like your mother soon." The ringed hand grabbed her chin and lifted her head. "Perhaps pretty enough for me to take you out of this dirty hole."

Aislynn cowered, but at the same time felt insulted and indignant. She didn't want to be like her mother. She didn't want to be unable to read, unable to better herself, relying solely on the pockets of men and women who didn't care for her. Aislynn's jaw locked tight, and her cheeks flushed.

"Deerrest," her mother cooed, "go un entertain owr gueest."

"Okay..."

As she was lead from the room, Aislynn glanced back. Her mother was rifling through her bed. It didn't take long for her to find the hidden trove, and then toss it into the stove. A few minutes later, out of the kitchen and near the bedroom window that never shut quite right thanks to an odd shaped stone, Aislynn could smell burning leather and the melting glue made from animal fat.

Both of those scents were imprinted in her senses, just as the innate instinct to feel the escape routes from a room before she even entered it.

She would learn how to read. One letter at a time if need be.

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