\u201cGods, Kali! What happened?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kali shook her head but said nothing. Ameiko could see she had been crying: her eyes were puffy and red, and there were smears of dirt on her face where she had been wiping away tears.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re bleeding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kali nodded twice, but still stared silently at the ground. Ameiko, concerned, sat down beside her to get a closer look at the cut on her left cheek. It was still weeping, but for the most part it looked like it had clotted.<\/span><\/p>\n In a whisper, so soft Ameiko almost couldn\u2019t hear it, Kali said to her, \u201cI can\u2019t go home like this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll walk with you to the cathedral. What\u2019s left\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>NO!<\/span><\/i>\u201d she yelled out suddenly, startling Ameiko. \u201cI am <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> going there again.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ameiko thought about this for a moment, remembering how that had gone the last time, then said, \u201cYeah, OK. Niska then. Or Koya.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kali was silent for a while but eventually nodded her head and stood up. They would ask questions, too, but they wouldn\u2019t try to get involved.<\/span><\/p>\n Ameiko got up with her and they walked slowly into town.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cKali?\u201d she asked tentatively after they had been walking for a couple of minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTell me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They were laying in wait for her as she rounded the corner of the tannery on her way to the bridge. Marlena and Ianca stepped out from behind the building and blocked her path.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere are you going, Kaaalllli?\u201d Marlena drew her name out in a patronizing tone.<\/span><\/p>\n Kali turned to run, but found Dimir was just a few paces behind her. She hadn\u2019t even known he was back there. She spun back around looking for another way to get out of this: the tannery was to her right, the ridge to the boneyard at her left\u2026and then she realized there were more than three of them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHey! I asked you where you were going!\u201d Marlena said sharply, shoving Kali\u2019s shoulders. She stumbled back a couple of steps, and someone\u2014she assumed Dimir\u2014shoved her forward again. One of the Theern twins was on her left now, and she caught sight of two more girls to her right. They had her trapped in a circle.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Where. Are. You. Going?’\u201d Marlena shoved her a second time, only much harder, and Kali staggered backwards. Then she was roughly shoved again, sending her across to someone else, and then again and again until she lost count. Then she lost her balance, and felt the impact of something hard to her cheek when she fell.<\/span><\/p>\n Kali looked up to see Marlena looming over her. She was saying something, but Kali wasn\u2019t listening: the space that Marlena left in the circle had Kali\u2019s complete attention. Marlena pivoted around to address her chorus; Kali\u2019s fingers closed around sand and gravel. When Marlena turned back, the handful of shot was already on its way to her face.<\/span><\/p>\n Before Marlena\u2019s shock could turn to rage, Kali leapt to her feet and bolted through the gap. No one even tried to stop her. They just stood there, dumbfounded.<\/span><\/p>\n It took less than half an hour. Koya\u2019s spells not only healed Kali\u2019s cut and scrapes, but also mended the tears in her clothes. When Koya was done, and Kali had cleaned up, there was not even a hint as to what had happened.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou should tell your parents, child. I know you won\u2019t, but you should.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d Kali said quietly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt will just make it worse,\u201d Ameiko added.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey need to know. And you should trust them,\u201d came Koya\u2019s reply, but she didn\u2019t press it further.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ameiko walked Kali home. They made the journey in silence and it wasn\u2019t until her house was in sight that Kali finally spoke.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ameiko stopped them both and gave Kali a hug. \u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d she replied. As they pulled apart, Ameiko looked at Kali, her expression very serious. \u201cWhat you did\u2026Marlena\u2026she\u2019s going to make you pay for that. You know that, right?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kali nodded solemnly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can help.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summer, 4702 \u201cGods, Kali! What happened?\u201d Kali shook her head but said nothing. Ameiko could see she had been crying: her eyes were puffy and red, and there were smears of dirt on her face where she had been wiping away tears. \u201cYou\u2019re bleeding.\u201d Kali nodded twice, but still stared silently at the ground. Ameiko, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vignettes","tag-kali"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1904"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5680,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions\/5680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\n