Thanks so much for reading, Mynie xxx
Chapter 2: Don't be afraid now, beautiful girl
As dusk was coming closer and Cinnya was falling asleep under the evening's stars, a mixture of heavy and dainty footsteps could be heard as well as light tapping, metel on metel, and the swish of fabric.
None of these stirred the sleeping Cinnya for the noises were coming from, although not from deep in the forest, the forest, and the trees and Cinnya's pot were protecting her from the noise.
The source of the disruption was a group of people, all wearing green, carrying haversacks and talking profusely. Most of the men were putting up tents, the rest helping the women to cook, surrounding a large fire. Not because they were sexist, but because everyone knew their strongpoints and to use them makes a fair society.
Slightly off from the group, arms round each other, were a couple of about thirty looking out at the setting sun, a river winding and sloshing through a grassy plane between them and the gorgeous horizon.
The woman sighed and looked up at her husband's face. He looked down at her and smiled, his eyes wrinkling into their usual position of kindness.
'This is the start of our new life, Jen!' he said.
'I know hun, I just wish...I...,'
'You just wish we could share it. I do too, you know that, and we're going to share our work with the world!' he swept his arm across the sky dramatically.
'You know what I mean: we can never share our life with a child, and it's all my fault.' Jen folded her arms and shrugged away from his embrace.
'Oh love, it's not your fault in anyway! Now we're finally here, it's a brand new life for us, you never know what might change. Now look-' he started to move in front of her, hands on shoulders but she interrupted.
'Hush, George!'
'No Jen, you need to listen to me, I-'
'No really, hush! Look over there, what do you think it is? We didn't see any human civilisation nearby, maybe there is a colony over the river!' Jen was pointing to a terracotta-coloured pot over the river, partly hid by grass.
It took George a while to find it but then took a small intake of breath, and strode nearer to get a better look, with Jen stumbling behind him, Calling out for him to slow down.
They reached the edge of the river, and looked up and down for a way across, but found none. George started to turn away, saying, 'Ah well, we'll come back tomorrow, come on.' and tugging on Jen's hand but she pulled away quickly.
'No! I am not leaving this! I have this...feeling, and I'm not just walking away! I have to do this.' she said sharply, with more force than was intended.
George was surprised by her outwardness and did not know what to say but was brought back to action when she started wading into the river and gasped at the coldness.
He called out for her to stop, that it was dangerous, but she kept on going, as she could feel that the current was not strong and the water only flowed up to her mid- thigh. George had only just started to come after her when she reached the other bank.
She dragged herself out of the water, weighted down by her wet travelling clothes but managed to heave herself towards her target anyway. She reached the terracotta shape and recognised it as a pot, peaked inside and gasped at what she saw.
A little girl was curled up asleep inside, oblivious to any outside disruptions. Jen looked quickly around but there was no one near by. By this time her husband had caught up with her and he too looked inside the pot and gasped as a look of confusion flew across his face.
'But that's a...who would...what should we do?'
'She's a little girl who has no family; we're a family with no child, what do you think we're going to do? We'll have to go out looking for her family of course, but I just know we won't find any, so we're going to have our full family at last!' Jen said excitedly, her eyes glinting in the moonlight.
George knew it would entail a bit more hard work than that, but was ready for the task and happy that he and his wife finally had what they wanted. He smiled down at the sleeping child and at Jen, and knew that his life was just starting again.
The little girl started to move and the muscles in her face contorted as she stretched off her tiredness but she did not open her eyes.
Eventually she stood up and faced them, shaking her curls slightly. Jen was getting slightly unnerved by her awareness but she forced a weak smile and said 'Hush, no need to be afraid, beautiful girl! We will take care of you,' Jen said kindly, but the little girl did not speak English and incomprehension spread across her face.
George quickly glanced at Jen with a worried look on his face but masked it with calmness before asking the girl, 'What is your name, young one?'. she seemed to understand the more simple question and her face relaxed but suddenly opened her eyes and both Jen and George stepped back and gasped automatically.
Light so bright it was white shone out like the sun from her eyes, one tear fell down as she seemed to be staring at the moon; Jen thought she was crying at it's beauty but George thought it was more like immense sadness. Her mouth opened and her arms crossed her chest as if trying to keep herself together. She whispered one word but faultered half-way through saying it.
She had answered George's question but it had taken all of her strength and collapsed back into the pot, still breathing heavily. The little girl had whispered, 'Cassio...'.
Author's note:
the o of her name isn't pronounced like the o of toe, but more like top. Since I'm not going to carry on writing this, I might as well say that her full name is actually Cassiopeia, the star, because she is half star half human. Xxx
