Fanfare

Escape Attempts

When they get home, their mother is sitting in the lounge, calmly folding laundry. It might be one of her good days, Trenna thinks hopefully as she walks over to her, leans over and presses a kiss to her cheek.

Kina has gone out to find Joss, to hopefully tell him how she feels, how she really feels. Trenna hopes she does it now; it's starting to become irritating, their sweet and sour moods. She knows they'd be so much happier together.

"Where's Kina?" her mother asks, eyes not moving from the blanket she is folding.

"She's out with Joss," Trenna says, happiness beginning to unfold inside of her. She shouldn't get so excited so quickly, but she can't help it, the hope that stirs inside of her at the lucidness, the calm nature of her mother, almost just like she used to be.

She frowns, puts the blanket on a pile of already folded ones and picks up another. "Are they fighting again?" she asks.

Trenna almost laughs in relief. Because she remembers. "Yeah," she says, trying to hide her giddiness. "But, hopefully they'll be better now. I think she's going to tell him she loves him and stop all the stupid fights about other girls."

Her mother frowns. "Other girls?" she says, sounding disapproving, her forehead creased in concentration as she folds the blanket perfectly in half.

Trenna rolls her eyes and picks up a towel, beginning to fold it. "Um, yeah. You know how Joss is. All the girls are falling all over him."

"Joss? The last time I saw him, he was covered in flour, helping Kina try to bake and using up all the milk. Far from irresistible, though he'll be quite handsome when he's older." She puts the blanket down and picks up a skirt of Kina's. "Where are they, by the way? They're only seven. They shouldn't be out this late. Go find them, will you, dear? Be careful, though. I don't want you getting lost. Bring a torch." Trenna feels her heart sink in her chest before trying to throw itself up her throat, crawl out and hide in a dark corner where no one will ever find it. Maybe it will keep her mother company, wherever she's fled to. 

But she looks down at her mother's hopeful eyes and puts the towel down, swallows the lump in her throat and nods, forcing a smile. "Sure. I'll find them. I'll find Kina." If her mother heard the hiccup in her voice, she shows no sign of noticing. She nods with a smile and looks back down at the skirt, folding it efficiently and starting on the towel Trenna just put down.

"Good girl," she says, as Trenna turns and walks out the front door, grabbing the torch on the way out. Like she'd ever need it, in a city surrounded by flames.

When Trenna goes looking for Kina, she can't find her anywhere, in any of her usual spots. She feels empty inside. So she goes to the next best place, apart from home, and ends up at Joss's door. Joss has always been her brother, her rock, and when she knocks on the door, no Kina in sight, and he opens it, he looks at her face and pulls her inside, shutting the door behind her. Kina is clearly hiding somewhere, probably at one of her other hideouts. Joss lives alone, his parents long gone, caring for himself since he was twelve. Trenna and her sister helped him through that where they could, though he was still partly looking after them, after the pain of losing both a father and most of their mother. It felt like both of them were gone for a long while. Still did, most of the time.

Joss leans against the door after closing it, arms crossed over his chest, an eyebrow raised. Trenna takes in the clinical neatness of the house, odd for a boy but typical for Joss, before her eyes will stay on him, and even then she has to force them to stay still, not slide to the floor. The familiarity of him is comforting; his short, dark hair, the familiar half-smile, waiting to become bigger, the warm eyes and the familiar tall, broad-shouldered strength of him. He is always reliable, always, even when fighting with Kina, though his eyes are a little sad about it, she can tell.