Frost in Autumn

All was still in the Autumnian forest. The Feni river was gurgling in the distance, and if you could get high enough you could see the Rania Plains and even catch a glimpse of Winter.

Red, orange, and yellow leaves drifted to the ground, dancing lazily in the crisp breeze. Birds chirped overhead, and a fat rabbit hopped along a dirt trail, pausing occasionally to inspect a bush.

Crunch!

The rabbit spun around, its brown ears twitching. It tensed up and began running away from the trail, into the safety of the trees-

Thwack!

In a mere second, a slim figure had jumped out from the branches of a nearby tree. Her clothes were patches of brown, red, and orange, and even had a few leaves and twigs sewn in for camouflage. The girl smirked as she approached the now dead rabbit, and her old chakram, now a few inches deep into a maple tree. Her steps echoed as her leather boots crushed fallen leaves as she went to retrieve her prize.

"The perfect dinner," Kita said quietly as she pulled her chakram from the tree.

"You're a big one," she commented as she put the rabbit in a sack on her back. "And you almost got away- these stupid leaves."

With that, she climbed up a nearby oak tree, her limbs moving as nimble as a squirrel, and set off for her camp.

~~~~~~~~

Her shelter was one of the best she'd found yet. A thick maple tree, its trunk nearly three feet in diameter, with a small space in front of it for a fire and a wall of bramble bushes surrounding it. Should an enemy approach, she would have time to scurry up the tree while they struggled through the brambles.

Kita sat with her legs tucked under her, working on preparing the rabbit for dinner. Her callused hands worked quickly with a small dagger, trying to keep her outfit as clean as possible. She had only one spare, tucked away in a sack in the tree above her, but it was much too baggy. She preferred having tight-fitting clothes, like the camouflage that she wore with a maroon headscarf that kept her brown hair tucked away.

Twenty minutes later, Kita was sitting up in a branch of the maple tree, one of her legs dangling down, happily eating her meal. She hadn't felt so full in days, and some of the healthy glow seemed to be returning to her brown skin.

Living as an orphan had taken its toll- Kita was only fourteen, but she felt like she could be twenty four. The idea of living for possibly fifty more years seemed terrible to her. Her days were spent travelling around, always searching for her next meal and new shelter. Paranoia kept her from growing close to people and seeing if she could find a family to take her in- why risk being rejecting and starting from phase one?

Instead Kita kept silent. She never asked for help and rarely talked to other Autumnians. She stayed to herself and liked when other people didn't prod. She had grown used to being lonely.

So when she heard the voices coming from the path where she had killed the rabbit, she wasn't quite sure what made her get up and jump through tree branches to go see the people.

"Where are we going, Sir?" a young female voice asked.

"A small village called Patch," replied a gruffy male voice. "To resupply and head back to camp. We could use some more food, and you two could use fresh clothes."

Kita finally reached the path where the group was walking. She crouched down in the branch she hid in, blending in with the leaves. There were four people about fifty feet away and walking towards her. An older, rough-looking man led the way, followed by two teenagers, a boy and a girl, walking next to each other, and a woman brought up the rear. Kita's brown eyes narrowed. Their skin was as white as- snow.

Are those Winterians? she wondered, eyes widening. Every Autumnian knew about the Winterians. When Angra came through and destroyed their kingdom, many of the subjects were put into labor camps. But a small handful of Winterians had escaped, and lived as refugees. But Kita had never actually seen any before, and she wished she hadn't.

They looked tired. So very, very tired. As she looked at each person's sapphire eyes- yes, they had to be Winterians, she could see some white hair poking out from the group's headwraps- Kita felt a sudden wave of empathy that she had never felt before.

They lived their lives in fear. Their kingdom was in ruins. Their people were enslaved. Their queen was dead.

How could Kita have thought she had it bad? She had meals every few days and while she was afraid of getting close to people, she didn't have the king of Spring looking out to destroy her entire race.

She looked down at her hand, which clutched a cloth holding the rest of the cooked rabbit. She hadn't even realized she brought it with her. Kita looked back down at the Winterians- only ten feet away now- and sighed.

Suddenly, the group stopped. The leader, who must be "Sir", held his arm out to stop the teenagers behind him. Now that they were closer, Kita realized that they were her age. Her glaze flickered towards the girl- her beautiful pale skin was practically glowing compared to the reds and browns of the forest. Her sapphire eyes were stunning- or, they would have been, if Kita hadn't noticed the dark circles around them.

Kita bit her lip as Sir looked around. How could she have been thinking so selfishly only a few minutes before? She thought she had it bad? She thought she was miserable?

"We don't want to cause any trouble," Sir said, peering in Kita's direction, looking around the trees. Kita realized he must have heard her sigh. "Please come out."

After a split second's hesitation, Kita pushed aside the branches that concealed her. Some leaves fell to the ground and she swung her legs over the branch and dropped ten feet, her landing causing dust to fly up off the trail. Sir raised an eyebrow as he looked over her camouflaged outfit.

"I'm sorry," Kita said. "I didn't mean to spy. I live- er, well, stay here. I wanted to see who was talking."

The teenage girl peered over Sir's shoulders with wide eyes.

"We're just passing through," Sir explained. He began to say more, but Kita cut him off.

"Do you want some food?"

She surprised herself- she never offered anything to anyone. She had always felt that she needed it more. But now, looking at the thin Winterians, she wasn't sure about that any more.

"I-I have some cooked rabbit," Kita continued, holding out the cloth. "And some berries," she added, pulling a small handful from a pouch on her belt.

The woman in the back walked up to the front of the group, closer to Kita.

"Are you sure, dear?" she asked. Her eyes were motherly and about as warm as a Winterian's gaze could be.

"Mm-hm," Kita nodded, handing her the food. "I-I've never seen Winterians before. I know it doesn't really help much, but I want to tell you that I hope you all can find a way to reclaim your home."

All of the Winterians looked shocked for a moment, then they gave Kita small smiles- all except Sir, whose eyes lightened a bit, but otherwise remained stoic.

"Thank you very much," Sir said. "We need to be going now."

With a nod, the group headed off again. As the two teenagers passed her, they paused for a moment.

"Thanks," the boy said with a smile before moving along.

But the girl stopped walking and stood in front of Kita.

They were the same height, close to the same build. They both had tiredness in their eyes for different reasons, but now Kita's gaze was ablaze with strong empathy.

"Thanks," the girl said, holding out her hand. "I'm Meira. I like your chakram."

Kita smiled and shook Meira's hand.

"Thanks, I like yours too. I'm Kita."

And with that, Meira turned and hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.

Kita stood in the fallen leaves for a few minutes, enjoying the crisp breeze and scenery of her kingdom like she never had before.