Celeste Is The Color of Affinity

Chapter 3

Lavinia clutched her aching hand close to her chest as she ran down the alley. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute. She was utterly terrified. She hadn’t expected the guy to follow her out. Punching him had been purely instinctual. She ran until she felt safe and then she stopped, leaning against the alley wall. She wiped at the sweat on her brow, slowly flexing her fingers. She unwrapped the thick piece of cloth from her knuckle. Thick metal plated rings adorned each finger on her right hand, her knuckles underneath were swollen and slightly red.

She shook her hand lightly, wincing at the familiar pain. She hated this, absolutely hated it. But she was good at it and always had been. She was small but she packed a punch in her little hands, she had strategy and the steel plated rings were her secret weapon. Sparring wasn’t something she enjoyed but it paid well to win and win she did. The pain in her hand was nothing compared to being hungry or watching her siblings grow thinner with lack of nourishment.

Sparring was all she excelled at, she had no education and her lack of funds made sure that she never would. All the money she made went straight to making sure her siblings were well fed and taken care of.

That’s the way it had been for years. And she was convinced that it was the way it was always going to be. They were all the family she had left, and she would take care of them until she could no more.

She pushed herself off the wall and sighed deeply, pulling the black over-cloak tighter against her body. No one was to know that she was a woman. The minute anyone found out she'd be kicked out of every fight club and gambling hall within miles of here and never allowed in again. Not to mention all of the bruised egos of men she fought in past matches. She shuddered to think of what drunk, angry and embarrassed men would do to her at finding out a woman had knocked them out cold. She’d be beaten. And not to mention that she had been pretending to be a boy. She frowned at the thought.

It’s not like she wanted to pretend to be a boy. She most certainly did not enjoy it. She had her reasons, and the last thing she cared about was social ruin. She tsked, that was the least of her problems, she didn’t care what other people thought about her anyway.

She made her way down the alley, moving quickly, nearly sprinting as she took the same path she travelled down everyday. She squeezed through the old barrels lined up against the rickety brown fence. She hefted herself up on one of the barrels before jumping over the fence, landing on her feet on the other side. Once there she sighed in relief, happy to be home. She made a beeline for the old, slightly leaning house that she had grown up in, pulling off the hood of the cloak and quickly running inside.

“You’re back!” Her younger sister, Aphra, proclaimed as she ran toward her, her hair seemingly stuffed in a high puff, tied by a blue, shimmer ribbon.

Aphra ran into her toward her, hugging Lavinia with a tight embrace. “What took you so long?”

Lavinia laughed, unable to help herself. She ran a hand down her sister’s back, rubbing her sister’s head lovingly. “I got a little side tracked that’s all.”

“You mean it?”

“Yes, I mean it. You know I’ll always come back.” Lavinia said with gentle authority.

Aphra grinned up at her before pulling away and running toward one of the two bedrooms the old house had. Suddenly a loud crying sound was heard and then she heard her younger brother screech, “Leave me alone!”

Lavinia couldn’t help the grin that laced her face as she pulled her cloak off, untying it and lying down, moving toward the back room.

Andreas, her younger brother, was rubbing at his sleep filled eyes, glaring at Aphra. “You’ve been sleep all day!”

“You bloody idiot! I’m sleepy!”

“So, what?”

Lavinia stepped in, her arms crossed. “That’s enough. No fighting.”

Andreas noticed her and his face lit up. He ran toward her, hugging her waist, his face buried in her stomach. She rubbed his head, her hand grazing over the kinky thickness of his sleep matted hair.

“Where were you?” Andreas asked, his voice still filled with sleep. Worry spread down Lavinia’s spine. He had been sleeping a lot lately. So much so that she was beginning to fret over him. She ran a hand down his baby soft brown cheeks, noticing how warm his skin was.

“I was working. You’re warm, another fever?”

Andreas stayed silent, continuing to hug her. She sighed, the anxiety bubbling up inside her was growing every day. Ever since they were young Andreas had been sickly. He was prone to fevers and night sweats. At one point he couldn’t even hold food down. She remembered those days with terror, not knowing what to do and being denied help for lack of funds. Her resolved had strengthened those days and she swore to never be powerless again.

Aphra answered for him, her childlike voice soft, “He had a fever all noon. I checked on, I promise I did. He was sweatin’ somethin’ fierce.”

Andreas turned to look at his sister, a frown on his face, “Shut up, Aphra!”

“You shut up!”

“No, you!”

“You!”

“Hey!” Lavinia said over them, breaking their spat. They both looked at her, faces slightly flushed. “Enough. I’m going to make dinner, who wants to help me?”

They both grinned before saying in unison, “Me!”