Daybreak

Thirteen - Ai

Ai opened her eyes to the sky which glowed a deep purple.

"Pst." Someone nudged her.

Ai groaned for not being given due time to process her awakening. She felt irritated, floating on her back in the lake and prickling with cold. She rolled her eyes and forced herself to engage in human interaction.

"What is it, Ri?" Ai tried to smile even as murky water splashed onto her face in her attempt to face her comrade. After four years trapped under the curse of a crane, she didn't even care if the freshwater went down her throat.

Ri waded in the water, upright and with a tight expression. She indicated with her head. "It's the wizard," she whispered loudly.

Ai immediately swung her head in the direction that Ri was eye-balling. The other girls who were either on the grass or wading alongside Ai had given a wide berth to one directional spot.

In the dark, a large bird shifted, then grew. The smile Ai had forced for her friend transformed into a scowl at the ginger haired man in a tailored, black suit. Rothbart stood tall and proud like the tyrant he was. He'd come to see them every night. Like a silent hawk, he was creepy and undignified.

"What do you want?" Ai demanded with clenched jaws which failed to keep her teeth from chattering. Ai told herself that it was the cold freshwater that sent a chill down her spine and not the wizard. Acknowledging fear was like accepting it.

The wizard didn't immediately reply and instead snapped his fingers. Seven, identical cotton gowns of different colors flew into view at once.

"Don't be so hostile," the wizard spoke like a businessman. "I've only come to provide the usual, basic necessities," Rothbart nodded at the simple, but elegant robes dangling midair.

The girls were already wearing gowns given to them by the wizard which Ai had to admit were not only beautiful and strange, but comfortable. However, with the way the wizard color-coded the girls with these gowns, Ai felt she and the girls were like a herd of cattle.

Ai folded her arms, trying not to shiver in the night's cold air. "You're here earlier than usual."

Rothbart again, did not immediately say something in return. However, when he spoke, it surprised Ai as it was simple and she believed him when he said, "There are pressing matters at hand."

Ri and the other girls were looking at Ai for permission to accept the new batch of clothes. The wizard was already waving his hand to manipulate a thick, white sheet for a makeshift dressing room.

Ai waded to the shore and pushed herself out of the water. She took her own colored gown with wet hands and silently strode into the dressing room. The others followed.

The makeshift dressing room was a collection of bedsheets suspended like a ghostly cylinder in the night. Each girl disposed of their previous dress which was soaked from the lake's water, then slipped their new gown over their head.

Soon Rothbart had retreated into the shadows with a basket full of the girls' soiled clothes and each girl emerged dry and clean. Sakura in pink, Ri in yellow, Mako in blue, Momo in lilac, Nana in green, and Kaori sauntered from within the dressing room wearing a robe the color of persimmon.

When all the girls had gathered, they went to perch on a rock or to settle on a dry patch of land. Ai went on her way to climb a great oak tree in her new crimson robe.

Ai hated her given color. She despised the color of her dress. It felt like a target on her back. Her dress, like the others', was cotton and felt like silk. It was red like a ripe apple in autumn, but also looked like Rothbart might have dyed it by dipping it in fresh blood. The skirts tangled in the tree's branches and Ai's heart sang at the idea that she was so quickly ruining the evil man's gift. A small joy.