Fanfare

Broken

Everything is frozen. It's as if time itself has stopped completely in the face of Kina's anguish as she stares, stricken, at her mother. Hearing that they're not enough can do that to a person, he thinks.

And then: copper hair and wide green-gold-blue eyes, small and thin and weaving through people without touching them. When he sees her, he freezes, his eyes locking onto her as she skids to a stop, staring back. Kina hasn't seen her, and neither has their mother; the two of them are too busy staring at one another. And he is too stunned to tell them. With a small, strangled sound coming from his throat he runs to her and lifts her off her feet, burying his face in her hair. She hugs him back just as tightly.

"Trenna," he says, not able to say anything but her name. There are no words for the relief that he is feeling. Finally, he pulls back, setting her on her feet. She looks up at him, opening her mouth to speak. The words are crushed out of her as Kina picks her up in much the same manner as he did moments ago, swearing profusely into her sister's hair in a thankful way, hiccupping through her tears. 

Joss turns his attention to the tall youth who followed Trenna; his eyes are latched onto her and her sister, but they quickly flicker to Joss, as if he can feel his eyes on him. He is lean and sandy-haired, his eyes a sharp ice blue. Joss gets the same feeling from him as he gets from Trenna, Kina and their mother, magnified by the market.

He narrows his eyes at him, crossing his arms over his chest. "Who're you?" He looks familiar, but Joss can't put a finger on who he reminds him of.

The boy shifts slightly, and Joss tenses; he is threatening by simply standing, and Joss feels unease trickle down his spine like droplets of frozen water. "Don't remember me?" the boy asks, his mouth quirking slightly.

Joss frowns, thinking. He watches as Trenna hesitantly embraces her mother before going back to Kina, whispering furiously to her. When he looks back at the boy, he sees that his eyes are on her, too. He remembers those eyes, following a younger Trenna wherever she went, attentive and watchful. "Pierce," he says, and the boy looks at him, a slight smile quirking his lips again.

"Joss," he says, nodding. "You're taller."

"You're not dead," Joss says bluntly.

Pierce raises an eyebrow. Joss isn't a violent person but, right then, he feels like hitting him. "Clearly." 

Finally, Trenna turns away from Kina. "Pierce, leave him alone." Joss watches through narrowed eyes as Trenna takes Pierce's hand and the boy winds their fingers together. It's odd, seeing this boy who he knew to be so sarcastic and pessimistic, always frowning bitterly, holding someone's hand. Most of all Trenna's. Trenna catches his eye and shoots him a warning look, and he swallows his words.

"Where were you?" Kina asks, a question he'd also like to know the answer to.

Instead of answering, she turns away from her sister. "I had a dream," she says, glaring with barely withheld hostility at her mother. She says nothing else, and the end of her sentence hovers in the air, a flickering question waiting to be answered. Her mother shifts uncomfortably, not answering. "You're from here," Trenna says, in the same soft voice. Still no answer. Her mother looks down at her feet, fine strands of pale hair shielding her face. ”Look at me!" she shouts. The people around them take no notice, continue whirling and running with the same fervour Trenna and Kina's mother had entertained not long ago.

"Josephine," Pierce says softly, and the woman jerks as if she's been slapped. "You're not one of them."

She looks up, then. "Oh, but I am." She smiles, and it's chilling. Joss doesn't know what they're talking about, or what is going on, but he does know that her smile is frightening. And her eyes are as bright as sapphires, gleaming like chips of broken glass.