Tao of the Broken

Chapter Three

Three

            Sorrel didn’t feel like watching Batur when she woke.  She lay in her bed, looking up at the stone ceiling and thought about Eiji.  She found herself thinking about him a lot recently.  Since he had stood on her porch and told her she could tell him anything.  She thought maybe that was what it felt like to have a friend.  She decided she wanted to have a friend.

            She pulled herself up and looked toward her desk and the mirror with a sheet over it.  She didn’t like to look at her face but Eiji didn’t seem to mind.  She caught him looking at her a lot.  Usually that bothered her, but he didn’t have the same expression as everyone else that saw her.  She didn’t know why he looked at her differently.  She decided that she really didn’t know a lot about anything and staying in bed wouldn’t change that.

            She dressed and climbed the stairs.  After breakfast she would do something.  She would train like Batur, or go for a run.  Maybe she could get Ako to go with her to the river that flowed behind the eastern properties.  She didn’t like going through the center of the houses, she preferred to go along the fence line at the rear of everyone else’s yards.  She didn’t see many people that way and she could let the wind blow her hair without wondering what people thought of her.  Ako wasn’t like everyone in the neighborhood, he was a dog and he liked her because she petted him.  He was simple, she understood simple.

            Sorrel left bread warming over a low fire.  She wasn’t hungry and as long as the coffee was ready for her mother when she woke Aster could fend for herself.  The morning was still dark but it was clear and crisp out.  Sorrel could see her breath when she stepped out onto the front porch.  Her gaze flitted to the Hibiki home, she couldn’t help it.  From this distance it seemed like everyone was probably asleep, she wondered if Ako would follow her or if he would catch grief for leaving the chickens unattended.

            Sorrel had brought a long blue scarf out with her, wondering whether she would need it.  She decided it would probably be helpful and wrapped it twice around her neck before bringing it across her nose and draped the remainder down her back.  She stepped off the porch barefoot, feeling the dirt sink beneath her feet slightly.

            It had been a few days since the last rain and the ground was mostly dry, especially today since there hadn’t been any early fog.  She loved the feel of the earth beneath her feet.  She turned east, toward the Hibiki’s, the river was behind their other neighbor’s property.  She loved that trees lined almost every fence between her and the houses.  She felt safer, more comfortable without anyone around.

            When she got closer she could see that the chickens were still tucked safely away in their coop and Ako was no where to be seen.  She followed the Hibiki’s rear fence until she reached a large group of oak trees whose branches were mostly bare.  She decided to skirt their northern edge rather than go through them.  That would give her more time alone and she was less likely to surprise any animals that made the little forest their home.

            The dirt by the water was more sandy than muddy and it felt rough against Sorrel’s toes.  If it wasn’t so cold she would cross to the eastern shore where the bank and water’s edge were covered in smooth round stones.  The morning was brightening around her and she closed her eyes, pulling the scarf away from her face to breath in the scent of the early winter air.  She loved this season the most.  When late autumn met early winter her desire to cover her scars was less noticeable.  She could blend in with the crowd at market.  She liked blending in, another sheep in the herd.

            When she opened her eyes Sorrel felt refreshed.  She was glad she had decided to come, and she was ready to train like her father.  He was always so confident, so sure of himself.  She wished she could have just a sliver of that power.  She wished she was sure of herself.  Sometimes when she was alone she could build herself up in her mind enough to think she was stronger.  She would feel good about herself until she saw her father, or Eiji or another neighbor.  She would feel her hair brush across her face before she would even realize she was hiding.  She was mostly instinct.