Sinking Ships

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Sometimes I think about color. Reds and orange roaring, creating the bright blaze of fire, leaving destruction it its wake. Or about blue, blue water, blue ice, white clouds against an azure sky. 

Blending, perfect, a masterpiece in the end. As I look at the decrepit cruel landscape in front of me, I'm wondering why I don't devote more of my thinking to colors. Why do I avoid them? What did they do? Sure I wear them.. but I don't get feeling from them, not like I used to.  I used to see people as colors, before.. well. Before Ma. A lot of people question my use of speech since I'm so young, like the idea of a beggar brat being more well spoken than their toff children was impossible. Life had been bleak for years after the accident, and all the people of the small village ignored me as much as they could. 

I don't blame them, it was my fault. 

"Sevyn." I jumped at the sound of my name, I looking behind me and saw an older teen and his lady following me. I looked at him closer and saw it was the person who's shoes I polished this morning. He was wearing an expensive looking brown waistcoat, brown pants, and a brown hat, nothing else. The girl was wearing a red uniform, like that of a sailor, or a soldier. Either way, she looked like my mother. She had the same weary look in her eyes, but was still bright and had a graceful tilt to her steps, the leaves barely crunching underfoot. Her golden gaze was fixed on mine, and I flushed as I tried to focus on something else. "Sir?" 

"Oh cut it, I know you don't want to call me that anymore than I want you to." I scratched the back of my head thoughtfully and walked towards him. "Then what am I supposed to call you then? It's not like you gave me your name earlier." He narrowed his eyes in mock anger and looked at the girl. She rolled her eyes and crouched down so she could reach my height. I eyed her obvious discomfort as she kneeled in front of me and before she could open her rosebud mouth I exclaimed, "You know, it's your own fault. I'm not that short. You could've sat us down instead of insulting my height like that." I delivered it with a smile just to twist the knife deeper. She shrugged and grabbed his hand as she plopped down in front of me. I blinked at her, as he scoffed and turned his nose up in the air. "My name is Everline, but you can call me what you wish." I almost said Ma before I stopped myself. Everline nudged the boy next to her and -which I'm sure she thought she was whispering- under her breath, "Why didn't you tell him your name?" He kept his strange blue eyes on me the whole time they were whispering. "It's not up to me who I tell my name to now. That's entirely up to you." 

That sparked my interest, but before my thoughts could race for ideas, Everline pinched him and he yelped. "I know your just being cocky right now!" He huffed at her and flicked her nose. My brow arched as I looked at them. They were acting even younger than me, and I'm thirteen! "My name is Cat." 

"Cat?" I tilted my head in annoyance. 

He leaned back into the autumn grass with his arms behind his head, "That's my name, don't wear it out." 

I scowled, "Cat is the title of a species, not a name!"

Everline poked him when he didn't answer immediately. He acquiesced and arched his brow upward.  "Sevyn is a number." 

"Seven is a number. Not Sevyn." 

"Potato patahto." 

A clearing of a throat and we both looked at Everline. "Join us." 

Cat's eyes widened in alarm at her request. "Please no- I'll do anything-"

I didn't listen to the rest of their conversation as I got up and walked farther away pondering her question. Join them? Where? To what?  It's not like the villagers would miss me, and I don't have any friends here. The hovel where me and my mother had lived was destroyed in the accident. 

There was nothing left for me here. Just endless loneliness and gray skies. 

I lifted my head up and walked back slowly, watching for a little while as they bickered back and forth. 

I softly whispered the word "yes", but not too soft for them to hear. They stopped arguing and she looked at me, as if searching my eyes for any traces of doubt. "This could be dangerous." The warning tone in her voice didn't defer me. I nodded, letting her know that I understand. She and Cat exchanged a look, as if communicating with each other through a glance, then he nodded at her. She grasped my hand in hers and brought it to her mouth, and blew on my palm. A cold needle-like sensation spread through my hand and fingers as a shiny sinew glove covered my hand. 

"This is a - I honestly don't know. But it felt like something I should do. Your.. uh.. your welcome." 

Cat grabbed my hand after she placed it down in front of us. He eyed her as he stroked his finger along the sinewy strands. "Byyrd saliva. Byyrd's only get it once a year. It keeps one doused in a protective charm that wards off most spells. I didn't know you were unlocking your abilities." Her cheeks flushed and she looked away. "I didn't know either." 

But then I realized what that meant. 

My eyes widened and I slapped my hand to my cheek, "Did you just spit on me??"