The storm had died down a little. The fresh morning breeze was not as chilly as it could have been, and the whole world had been painted over with a layer of white.
My seat was a little damp, but that was my fault. I had been too lazy to bring a chair from inside the house, and had instead just brushed off the snow and sat down.
The world wasn't that quiet. Voices lingered from inside. People talking down the street told me that work was being done. Smoke from chimneys littered the sky, and every so often birds flew by while chirping at each other.
It's only been a few days since we arrived, and I already wanted to leave... but I knew I couldn't.
Lomi was having far too much fun for me to tear her away just yet.
Her laughter, which I could just barely make out from inside the house, was why I sat out here on the balcony.
I was not so cruel as to hate such happy joy, but honestly it was too much for me.
Plus it was good for her to spend some time with fellow women.
Lughes had left to meet a client. I had offered to join him, but he had said my cloudy expression would sully the art.
"The fact he was so serious almost makes it hurt more," I said to myself.
Amber, Crane and the new-blood were occupying Lomi. They had been in the kitchen, but now it sounded like they were a floor higher. In a bedroom maybe?
A dog barked from a few streets over, and a baby cried elsewhere. Closing my eyes, I took in the random, yet very normal sounds of the city around me.
The air was thick with the smell of burning wood. Every so often a light breeze blew by, and I got a breath of fresh air. I liked to hear the people talking, as well. Even during the cold, and with the layer of snow, they were still out and about. Shopping. Working. Earlier a couple had been walking by, just walking, and enjoying the day.
The Sleepy Artist would survive awhile longer, by what I could hear and see.
When there was peace, if was usually safer for those in the society. Humans became complacent. They began to lose their situational awareness around themselves. They stopped looking at their neighbors as strangers, and instead as family... in a way.
Yet, the moment war or chaos sewed their seeds that all changed.
Suddenly your neighbors were your enemies. Suddenly you began to notice the strange. The out of place.
Like how a woman's neck was a little longer than it should be. Like how a man's beard was strangely thick.
"Enough," I told myself, and forced the thoughts away.
This balcony was meant to be a place to relax. A place to rest. It was on the third floor, and facing the back street. There were no other buildings this high here, and no other balconies. Here one could sit and not be bothered, and not noticed. Even Lomi could sit here, without her hat, and be safe. Safe enough, at least.
Yet here I was, brooding as if I were a king with a whole kingdom of worries.
"That's a troubled face."
I blinked, and looked to my left. The door was open, and a gentle smile was greeting me.
"What is it?" I asked, since I noticed Renn was alone. I could smell Lomi upon her, but didn't see anyone else.
"Can I sit with you? Though if you don't mind I'd like to get that chair instead," Renn asked, pointing to a small wooden stool not too far from the door. One of the ones I should have grabbed myself, earlier.
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The Non-Human Society
الخيال (فانتازيا)The Non-Human Society is a shell of its former self. Its members are scattered, lost, and alone... and few if any have the will to fight any longer. Renn joins the Society for a singular purpose. To no longer be alone. Yet her membership comes at a...
