Don't you dare look out your window,
darling everything's on fire
_______________________________
Tate grew up as a Seraphite. She never questioned her faith, well not out loud anyways. She did her duty and expected to die in the middle of a warzon...
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"Hold still Lily." I say as I'm braiding Lily's hair. Her mom asked me to do it before we had to go to the prayer room. I finished Yara's quickly, but Lily always makes a fuss about her hair.
"I'm trying Isabella. You just keep pulling so hard." Lily moves her head again while I'm trying to keep her hair in between my fingertips.
"Well it has to be tight. Both our moms want us to go to one of the prayer rooms in the taller buildings before we meet everyone at the church. The wind is going to be heavier up there." I tell her. She huffs, but stops complaining and moving. After a few moments I finish the crown braid on her head, "Thank you. Now can you quickly do mine, so we can meet up with the others?" Lily nods as I sit down so she can easily braid my hair. I'm quite a bit taller than her so Lily stays standing.
"Isabella?"
"Yeah Lily?"
"Do you ever just feel... different?"
"Different how?"
"Like you're not supposed to be the way you are."
I don't really know how to respond to this, "What do you mean?"
"Like a different name... different... sex."
"Like a male?"
"Yeah." Lily's always acted off about her duties, but this? What is she talking about?
"No. I feel like I should be this... do you feel like you should be this?" Lily doesn't reply and she finishes my braid. I turn to her with my eyebrows furrowed, "Lily do you feel like that?" I ask again.
"Yeah. Just everything about me feels... off. Like I should be different."
"We're born like this Lily."
"But what if it was wrong?"
"It can't be. The prophet does not make mistakes. We have to free our body of sins not create them."
"But what if-"
"No Lily. You can't think like that. If anyone were to hear you say that... if your mom heard you say that they will kill you." Lily doesn't say anything.
"What if I wasn't a Lily?"
"Then what are you?"
She pauses, "I like Lev. Lev feels more right."
"You have to be Lily. You were born Lily."
"But-"
"But nothing. Come on we have to go to church." Lily sighs and I feel bad. Lily is like a little sister to me- I can't have anything bad happen to her, or Yara, and if someone hears her talk like this then she's done... I have to protect her from her own mind. I have my own sinful thoughts, and they can not be spoken out loud.
