Sam & Penny Short-Stories *English*

ORPHANS - Enlightenment

"Shall I make us some tea?" Sam said quietly when Penny had calmed down enough that at least her tears had dried up for now. She just nodded as he led her to the sofa and she followed his silent invitation to sit down.

She looked at him and noticed that he too was deeply affected by what he had just experienced. He may not have been a fan of her approach, but he had made it abundantly clear that he would stick by her and support her, come what may. She also noticed how much he enjoyed spending yesterday evening and today with the children. He hadn't cried like she had, but she hadn't missed the fact that he had been holding back a tear or two since the children had left. He may have suffered silently and invisibly, but he suffered just as much as she did. But how were the children doing?

"Pen?" She looked up as he brought her out of her thoughts and saw him holding out a cup of tea, which she now took from him with a tired smile that hopefully showed him that she was grateful for his care as he sat next to her "Why did you say that you were probably their aunt?" he asked her after a moment of silence while they sipped their tea. She closed her eyes for a second and took a breath. Would he believe her if she told him she felt that way? She knew too well how much Sam would wrinkle his nose when Bronwyn got a little too esoteric.

"I don't know. I wanted to buy more time so I could continue searching," she answered him instead.

"You seemed pretty convinced...or at least you were pretty convincing," he corrected himself again and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. "And that even though you're actually such a bad liar," he then stated and it also conjured up a smile on her lips, even if only briefly. Only Sam could manage something like that, no matter how dark the mood was, and only he knew her so well to assess the situation correctly. "Is your sister the part of your family that you no longer have contact with?" he then asked her the question that she had been a little afraid of the whole time since they found the children last night - ever since she had confessed to him that something was bothering her.

It had just burst out of her without meaning to. She never talked about worries and problems. With no one. Not even with Sam. These were her problems and she didn't want to burden anyone with them. But she also realized that it was time to tell Sam what had happened. He had stood by her and supported her even though she had acted improperly. An explanation was the least she owed him.

"Her name is Arwen. She was always special. While my brother Gavin and I were rather quiet, she was the rebel in our family," she began with a sad smile, remembering her sister and what a troublamaker she had been. She really hadn't been a child of sadness and had been involved in all sorts of mischief. Annie already had it under her belt many times, but her sister had topped it all off again. "She was barely 18 when she was pregnant and told us about her true love. I couldn't understand it. She was still in the middle of the training and talked about how she really wanted to marry him. She wanted to give up the training, which she did. We didn't even know him. She hadn't introduced him to us and after that evening we didn't get to get to knew him anymore," Penny remembered the evening when she last saw her sister.

"What's so hard to believe that he could have been her true love?" Sam now objected when Penny remained silent. After all, it could have been that way and the two children showed today that it really was like that, right?

"It was just hard to believe her every time. She brought in a different guy every few weeks and whispered something about great love," she simply replied to him and she could clearly see in Sam's face that he now understood her. Her sister had so longed for attention and love that she had naively thrown herself into every arms that had promised it to her - no matter how short it lasted.

"Strange that you are so different," Sam said thoughtfully after a moment of silence and she looked up at him from her tea, confused.

"What does that mean?" she asked him skeptically and the fact that he flinched made it clear to her that he had probably just thought out loud and wasn't really aware of it.