Lost

Hello, Fellow People Who Have Also Been Abducted

After breakfast, we are led to a small sitting room by a woman who wears a midnight-blue, long, sweeping dress. While pretty impractical, I like the color.

The woman in the dress leaves, and we all sit on the long white couch that is very plain. Katje whispers in my ear, but I'm not sure what she says.

"What?"I ask.

"Cavelle wants to sit next to you and me, so can she sit in between us?" Katje repeats quietly.

I nod, smiling at Cavelle. I know she's younger, and yet she seems like she's seen more than she should have in her years.

Cavelle climbs over Katje's lap and plops herself down in between us. She lays her small head on my shoulder, and smiles at me.

"Hey, Cavy," I smile at her.

"Hi, Maren."

No one else is in the room except us, so I decide we need an icebreaker.

"Everybody shut up," I yowl.

They do, and look at me with a frown.

"So. I know some of you, which means most of us don't know one another. We need to chat and get to know each other, okay?" I start.

"Really? We're not two years old, Marnie," Heather pounces on a chance to attack me.

"The name's Maren. Lady Maren to you." I retort. "So I'm going to start an icebreaker, and if you want to go sulk in a corner that's fine with me. But we're going to start now. Anyone who wants to do this, raise your hand."

Cavelle and Katje instantly raise their hands, with Sovanna and Evalie after.

Zoe stares at Heather, rolls her eyes, smiles at me, and tentatively raises her hand. Addison follows. Seeing the rest of us, Heather and Lilian go off to a corner. They'll probably chat about how idiotic I am. Katje's attitude is catching on, though, and I don't really care.

But I do care. I care so much it hurts.

"So my seven friends. What shall we do?" Katje swiftly jumps in to give me a break. She can somehow tell that I'm upset that Heather and Lilian left.

"How about a simple name-game? I did it with my theater friend, who's in Apricity. I was going to join her, but, well, you know," Evalie suggests. We all like the idea, so she explains how to do it.

"It'll be easy-ish with only the seven of us, but we can still do it. So we sit in a circle, and one at a time say our name and a fun fact about us. Then the next person repeats what the first person said and gives info about them. Then at the very end anyone can try to say all of them," Evalie explains, her face lighting up as she talks.

"Okay. Why don't we say our former name- like with our sept too- and why we left our old sept?" I decide.

"I like that. Can I start?" Cavelle asks shyly. We nod, and she starts to talk.

"I'm Cavelle Gaberlunzie. I left because I didn't want to live on the streets anymore," Cavelle tells us. "I like Solander much better."

"You're Cavelle Gaberlunzie, and you didn't like the streets. I'm Katje Jumbuck, and I left because who doesn't want an adventure?" Katje laughs.

"You're Cavelle.. Gaberlunzeye? And you hated the streets? Then you're Katje.. Jumbuck and you wanted an adventure. I'm Sovanna Clepsydra, and I left because I want to know how to do what that woman did."

"You're Cavelle Gaberlunzie. Hated the road. Katje Jumbuck, wanted adventure. Sovanna Clepsydra, wanted to learn. I'm Evalie Quandorum, and I don't know why I came. I really don't. But I like it here."