Yourself

The way back home

Liberio Year 845

They were nothing more than four boys, the ones that  were energetically greeting  their families who remained on the pier of the port of Marley.
Nothing more than four twelve-year-olds, still too young, who would never have had to carry the weight of their mission on their shoulders.

The crowd greeted them back, enthusiastic and cheering with choruses of encouragement for those young warriors ready to face a terrible mission.  Someone was crying, probably their closest family members, holding handkerchiefs to their eyes to dry their cheeks contracted and deformed by crying, someone was looking at them with an expression of poorly concealed intolerance, betraying a sinister hope of not having to return to welcome them soon.

A little girl had climbed onto the pallets stacked next to the bollards on the platform to ensure a better view: she didn't smile or join in the crowd's shouts of greeting, she simply stared at the group of her peers who were moving away, trying to engrave  in her mind the faces of each of them.
It was for just a second, her gaze seemed to attract that of the boy on board the ship.

Perhaps their eyes met, neither of them was sure that the other was looking directly in their direction, but a shy smile curled their lips;
the blond boy hesitantly raised his arm, the little girl did the same  in return.
Their greeting was just that.

Years of children's games, confidences and innocent secrets enclosed in a light wave of a hand.

That shy smile curling their young, innocent lips,  didn't reach the eyes of either of them.

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Leda Krause shuffled down the dirt road that separated the dock from the internment quarter. The cramped stone houses on either side seemed to give an icy stare as she passed by, as if ready to call out at the slightest slip-up in her behavior to punish her for any small mistakes.
The constricted, narrow road seemed to go on forever, as the girl walked along. The buildings around her grew taller and closer together, until they began to resemble a labyrinth of brick. Every corner contained some new alleyway or backstreet to wander down, their many shadows making the area seem darker than it was. Though the sun was still up in the sky, a general gloom hung over everything, as if the city itself was weighed down by some invisible, oppressive force.
Her steps had become heavy and slow, every effort seemingly taking twice as much energy as it had before. It was as if the last two weeks had slapped her in the face repeatedly, though it was since the chosen cadets had inherited their Titans two years earlier that she found herself constantly in conflict with everyone.

Her grandmother had told her it was just a "phase," a "head full of problems  that came with being a young girl".
Leda knew that there was something different about it, though -- she was constantly seething, her blood boiling with anger. It wasn't her childhood that was giving way to adolescence, or the disappointment of not being up to par. It was something completely different.

As she walked, lost in thoughts, she kicked a small stone, ignoring the disdainful looks the marleans reserved for her.

"You should be careful: you will get in trouble if you hit someone"
Upon snapping back to the reality, a female voice alerted her back to the scene. She jumped in fear and swiftly looked at the person who had spoken. To her surprise, she saw Pieck Finger, a fellow cadet in the Marleyan army and the Cart Titan's owner.
"Pieck !" Leda squeaked, unable to mask her fear and surprise in her voice, "You nearly gave me a heart attack !"