The Rogue Champion (Legend Of Zelda Inspiration)

3. Scorch Marks ~ Adina

7th of Autumn, 328 A.E.

Amaris Border, Hayzian

Her husband was dead. That was Adina's first problem. The second problem was that her son was extremely hungry for a plate of fresh waffles. Her third problem was that she didn't have any access to waffles at the moment. While some might say the first problem was much more pressing than her son's desires, Adina begged to differ, as his lack of a fluffy waffle was causing him to scream, pull her hair, and bang his tiny fists on the floor of a carriage full of fifteen other people.

It was bad enough that passersby stared at her for her blue skin, but she found being glared at for being a bad mother to be so much worse. She couldn't control her cerulean appearance; she was supposedly able to control her own demon of a son. As she watched Morgan's eyebrows turn red with anger and snot drip from both of his nostrils, she thought the former might be more feasible.

"Morgan, please," she begged, but her voice was so broken that she was barely heard over his cries. " I promise- Morgan, don't touch her shoe! I am so sorry- I promise when we get to grandma's house, I will give you a waffle."

"Now!" Morgan griped into the floorboards.

"Two waffles."

One brown eye peaked up from his mess of hair.

"More."

Adina groaned. "If you can show me how many more is, then fine."

Lazily, the three-year-old held up three fingers. Adina was impressed for a moment before she remembered the most common question he was asked was his age. She had walked herself into that one.

"Fine, now get off the ground, or so help me."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but he finally gave in and started getting up when the carriage rolled over a pothole in the road. As everyone was jostled around in their seats, Morgan was promptly slammed into the floor face first. He gave Adina a helpless look before opening his mouth in a silent cry, and then released the loudest scream yet.

Adina wanted to cry right along with him as she hurried to pick him up to where he howled with pain into her shoulder.

"Morgan, please, it's only a little while longer," she tried to soothe, but she was certain her peers were growing just as tired of her voice as they were of Morgan's crying.

His tantrum eventually came to only soft sniffles every now and then, but everyone in the cart was still ignoring her gaze. Even without looking at them she could see their judgmental expressions. She wanted to disappear, to be doing anything else but traveling 150 miles from home. But she didn't have a home anymore. All she carried with her was the dirty clothes on her back, her son, sheet music that had already been in her bag, tip money, and scorch marks.

She wanted Archer with her. This would all be doable if she had her husband at her side, who had always been so much better at comforting Morgan than she was. But he was gone. He was gone, and it was her fault.

"Another survivor from South Kings?" a voice to her left asked gently.

It took her a moment to realize what she'd been asked, and she turned to the speaker. He was a scruffy-looking man with eyes as blue as her own. He had a calm demeanor about him, not a scowl within sight unlike the rest of their companions.

"Forgive me if that's personal," he said after Adina only blinked at him. She noticed the travelers in the cart were all the sudden very interested in her again, although they pretended not to be. "I take this carriage quite often, and I've run into quite a few fleeing from Nirithian now."