Innocent

Three

Three

She shared her quarters with several other people, mainly those who were a type of dog. Daciana sat on her bed, her feet hanging off the end as she sung quietly to herself, biting the pencil in her mouth as she did so. Her eyes wandered over to the sketch pad in her left hand. The page was filled with creatures of different kinds, many that she'd just made up and didn't actually exist.

"Do you wish you were something else?" A person that sat to her right asked. Looking over to her. Daciana examined the girl. She was thin and had dark hair. Finally, Daciana nodded.

"A bird, maybe. Or a big cat. I want to be free. But I guess anything would be better than being put into a zoo or killed for the pelt you wore."

At that, the mood in the plain room dimmed and it stayed that way for a few minutes. Everyone was silent for a moment, before the girl beside her spoke again, this time much more quietly.

"Do you think that this war will end?"

"This war will, but the small acts of violence on the streets—no. Someone will always disagree..." Daciana sighed and shook her head. "Can we talk about something different? Maybe um..." She wasn't sure of what to talk about. She could be a little bad when it came to picking different topics. Thankfully, a girl with fiery red hair grinned at them.

"Boys. I mean come on, we have to talk about them, how can we not?"

Daciana groaned internally. Boys weren’t her strong suit either. "No."

"But—"

"No."

"You like someone, don't you? That's why you're so..." she didn't finish the sentence, and Daciana scowled at her a moment. She just grinned and exclaimed happily, "Daciana likes someone!"

With a sigh, Daciana climbed to her feet and moved towards the girl, slamming into her roughly and watching her fall. Told you I didn't want to talk about it, she thought. "No, I do not. Please do not get on my nerves any further."

The redhead sat up and rubbed her right arm. "Sorry."

"No, Ariel, sorry won't cut it." The girl was getting to her now, and she wasn't really sure why. It was the topic—she knew it. "Just don't talk about boys when I'm around." Daciana huffed and stormed out of the room.

She sat in a small, unused room, happy to be alone. Books were scattered everywhere and she was seated in a small armchair in the corner. It was old and showed signs of over use. Bits of foam popped up from everywhere, but to her surprise, these features just made it feel comfier to sit on. Daciana had a book in her hands, one from before the war, and was flicking through it at a quick pace. It was one in the series Lord of the Rings, and it was one of her old favourites.

"Frodo, watch out... Sméagol is evil!" she yelled. Her emotions were really getting to her, and the fact that Frodo decided to trust Sméagol, even though Gandalf had told him in the first book that Bilbo had stolen the ring from Sméagol and he'd do anything to get it back. She looked up from the book when she heard a creaking noise and watched the door which, to her surprise, opened slowly. She was in the old library; only she knew about it and where it was. No one really thought about reading anymore, just war.

"Is everything alright in here? I heard yelling." The first thing she saw was the white hair, which was easy to recognize, and Daciana couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips.

"I'm reading. Sorry, Raynard. I was getting into it. First time I've read it," she gave a sheepish smile and shrugged.

Raynard laughed and came closer, sitting on the arm of the rocking chair. "It was a good book." He nodded. "I enjoyed it, but I thought that soldiers were just hired, uneducated muscle."