The Silent Flower

Chapter Four: Breakable Things

Chapter 4: Breakable Things

Zip knew she was in for a rough night. She spent too much time tossing and turning and panicking over the new arrivals. It wasn't so much because they were strangers, but more due to what they were looking for.

"They can't be looking for me," she thought. "It's not possible. Not anymore."

She whispered those words multiple times for comfort, but they never seemed to work.

"The necklace. The name. It has to be some type of coincidence. Still though, it that's who they're looking for..."

In that moment of quiet, she let herself explore the feelings she'd work so hard to banish. Hope. Want. Belonging.

"Family," she whispered into the night.

It was such a foreign term to her lips, an idea she forced herself to let go of a long while ago, and yet as she whispered it, the feelings of wanting to know who her family was, the feelings of wanting to really belong, came flooding back as if they'd never left her heart at all. Now, in this very inn, were people who may have clues to what she had secretly been yearning for.

"Please. Grow up. You know better than to believe."

She didn't want to. More than that, she was afraid to.

Deciding to pursue those ideas no longer, she rolled over and forced her mind to quiet. Still, even when she eventually fell asleep, she couldn't relax. Her dreams wouldn't let her. Instead of a peaceful sleep, she dreamt she was standing behind the Brass Inn bar, dressed in Glimmer's clothes as Camilla shoved cup after cup into her hands, yelling at her to balance. Then, as if hit by something, the walls around her broke, and she found herself falling into a dark pit. She woke up ever so briefly in a deep sweat, but when she woke up fully the next morning, she couldn't remember the dream at all. She felt tired though, and that was more than enough to make her grumpy. That's why, when she heard the crash of glass upon the floor, she instantly went off on the perpetrator.

"No! That was my cup!"

"I'm sorry!" Bow said quickly, his regret instant. "I thought the design was amazing, so I wanted to get a closer look. I didn't mean to drop it!"

Zip poked at the scattered broken pieces, her frustrated gaze still hidden behind the same metal mask she wore yesterday. She still wasn't ready for her looks to be exposed.

"Of course it was amazing, you idiot. It was made from sea glass!"

"It was just an accident, Zip," Cal told her calmly. He had slipped beside the child with his broom and dustpan and began sweeping it up. "He didn't mean to."

"Whether he meant to or not doesn't change the fact that it's broken. This is the second thing of mine they've broken since arriving. Jeeze. This was my first find on a scavenge with the Guild!"

"Speaking of the guild," Cal cut in, a bit more loudly this time. "They've returned. You should be good to bring your friends by."

"They are not my friends!" The flustered Zip was half ready to pull her hair out. She didn't want to be around the crew in the slightest.

"Let's just go already," she grumbled. "The faster we do this, the faster I can be rid of you. Don't be slow either. I'm not afraid to leave anyone behind."

With a grimace she was glad no one could see, she led the group out of the bar and towards the Guild Hall, a building located on the other end of the city.

"So, Cal was telling us about the Hunter's Guild again this morning," Glimmer chimed in, obviously trying to keep conversation friendly. Zip did not appreciate it. "They're the only ones who to the surface?"