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His jaw dropped, and I blew hiirls"
"Larkspur, nice to see you," the oldest of the three, Persimmon, Simmy to her friends, pattedCoal again"
I shrugged "Nothing new" The other two gals hurried ahead of us and Si my walk
"That boy, he needs a firh with him, you can never be a doormat He won’t respect you, Princess"
"Respect" I spit the word out, the taste of it like dung on my lips "How can he respect me when I’m of so little use? When h for the planting fields?"
Sierously "You think you’re too good for the planting fields?"
"No" I softened my tone "No, that’s just it I’ive a hand Most of the ten-year-olds are beyond ed iant redwood "Your mom wouldn’t like to hear you talk about yourself that way She always said you would be one of our best one day And she would know She had the sight so"
"Doesn’t matter what she would or wouldn’t like, Persiht to stay alive And I’d thank you to not remind me that she’s dead" The words came out harsher than I intended and Simmy pulled away from me
Shaking her head, she backed away "You don’t have so many friends, Lark, that you can treat them poorly Perhaps you’d best think on that as you work today"
Spinning on her heel, she walked away, hunched a bit as if expecting a bloatched her go, waiting for her to be far enough ahead that s wouldn’t eat up the distance between us Shauilt The forest would have been better off ifburrowers, and I’d died in her place
"I didn’t rabbed at a fiddlehead, broke it off, and popped it into h, about the ‘friends’ part As the weakest member of our entire family, I was looked on with a lot of pity, and even est, I should have been living in the Spiral Should have been helping our fa weeds, and ood as could be expected Without even the er friendship of Simmy, I worked alone, ate alone, and took ood thing The dreaht with Coal, and the flare of irritation every tilimpse of the Spiral until I was flushed with emotion more than exertion
At the end of the day, I’d planted lots of seeds, but not erht away Not oddess that they wouldn’t rot The fields, set in a patch where the redwoods didn’t hide the sun, emptied as the sun dipped lower, and I stood alone, my feet partially buried in the soft soil Every day I stayed when the others left And every day I hoped so would be different for led my toes, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and reached for that part of me that was connected to the earth
Insideball of flickering green warers into it It beckoned me closer I lifted my hand, as if to touch it
A flash of pale pink rushed acrossand dancing, followed closely by a shock of pain scoring along my skin, so sharp it made my heart stutter I dropped tointo the bare skin
Gasping for air, I loweredI could give the seedlings There were no words I could say that would change the fact I was retarded in uardians of the earth, one of the chosen A useful part of society
Footsteps broughtacross the way from me Dark blond hair closely shorn into a spiky mess, and eyes the color of liquid honey watched me with no little amount of scorn
He shifted his feet, crossed his ar a sound as he moved Our Enders wore a leather vest and leather pants, and were the only members of our family ore heavy boots The boots were a syly touch their natural abilities when sent to kill sooddess’s sacred poas taboo
Weapons hung froer strapped to each of his thighs so they wouldn’t swing and e handled sword His ar the wrist and foreare of his biceps
He didn’t say anything, only watchedhad he been there? Could he sense er ability with the earth? The thought galled ht have seen hoeak I was for himself, and added onto that, I was more than aware how much dirt I wore fro’s daughter should "What do you want, Ash?"