Interface

Mara

When my fellow treason plotters come back, I am stunned at Leona's transformation from gladiator to carer.
We are sent to our mats by some guards, and as we lay on the roughly woven mats, I start to think.
What if none of this happened?
If none of this had happened then right now I would be sitting in my 'room' back in the now-burned city- hiding from my mother and counting what I had stolen from those who were stupid enough to keep their pockets unguarded in the streets. Would that be a bad thing or a good thing?
As stupid as it sounds, I kinda miss my mother.
Sure she was cruel, but she was all I had in this world- at least until I met Mila. Mother had some good moments early on.. Like when she told me that I was smart.
What would've happened to me if I had spent my life in the slums?
There's nothing there except death and pain. The skies are always opaque with pollution, and raw sewage runs through the cracks in the roads. There is a daily chorus of suffering that rings through the allies.
Since I escaped, there's no ache in my lungs any more. It doesn't hurt to breathe deeply like it did in the slums.
Is it wrong for me to like being here? It is the center of a war between two nations, and we are technically part of our host's enemies.
I can hear the howling of dogs in the streets, and I shiver at how foreign it sounds.
They sound so different from the ones back home.
Leona rolls onto me, and I can feel her heartbeat thumping away in her chest.
The brand on her chest feels warmer than the rest of her skin, and I feel awful for not being able to prevent this for her.
Gwyn rolls over on my other side, and I'm suddenly squished between them.
I can only hope that Mila doesn't roll on me as well.
Gwyn and Leona actually smell nice, though I'll never say that to them.
Another weight pressing on me alert me that- contrary to my hopes, Mila has indeed rolled over on me. Great.
Since I can't move without disturbing anyone, I start to think more about what the lives of my... what should I call these three? They are more than simple allies, and we've been through a bit too much to refer to each other as simple companions in a plot to overthrow the most dangerous empire I've ever heard of.
I guess these three are my friends now.
I close my eyes and try to sleep, but all I see behind my eyelids is the fire of my former home burning to a crisp, of the forest that nearly killed both Mila and myself.
I turn towards Leona and try to ignore the screams of the dying that echo in my ears.
Maybe if I keep my eyes open, the memories won't catch me as easily.
Leona sits up suddenly,  breathing hard. Her movement displaces Gwyn and Mila, and they both slowly wake up.
I look up at Leona, and try to figure out what has her spooked.
The moonlight that's coming through the open door illuminates Leona, and I try not to shiver at how much she looks like my mother.
They both have the same midnight eyes that show more emotion than a face ever could, and they are about the same height.. Is it possible that Mother and Leona are related somehow? No, this can't be true. If it was then I wouldn't be alive, or if I was born, I wouldn't be me.
I shake the thoughts from my head and sit up.
" Leona?" Mila whispers.
Leona turns to face us, her eyes wide. Gwyn crawls closer to her and rests against Leona.
Leona relaxes, her shoulders dropping.
" I will be alright.. I just had a nightmare."
Mila crawls close to me.
" do you mind telling us what the nightmare was about?" she asks.
Leona looks down at Gwyn before turning her gaze to us.
" alright, since you are so insistent."
Mila leans closer when Leona begins.
" the nightmare was more like a memory.. It starts when I was a little girl in the East, just starting to realize that the world is nothing more than a glorified prison.
The slavers who had me... they gagged me. Took away my voice so I couldn't scream for mercy. My father was killed when he resisted them.
When they took me to this city, they tied pieces of wood to my ankles with rough cords, so every step was painful. They took away my mother-" at this point Leona breaks down and grabs us all in a hug. Based on the noise Gwyn makes, she was expecting it even less than I was.
" I was left behind...." Leona murmurs, and I feel sympathy for her.
Mila looks towards the door and shivers, as though she thinks the slavers are coming for her.
I want to tell her that it will be alright, but words won't leave my mouth.
Gwyn sighs and sweeps some of her hair behind her ear.
" It was a nightmare. Nothing more." she growls, though I can't figure out who she's trying to convince.
We reassemble into our little pile and try to fall asleep, but we can't seem to shut our eyes.
Gwyn sits up a few times over the rest of the night- each time breathing like she's running, but Leona keeps her on the ground for the most part, but every time she sits up my heart starts racing again.
I finally drift off, but it isn't for quite some time.
My dreams are haunted by a phantom smell of alcohol and the words my mother screamed at me when I didn't do 'enough' to support us both.
I wake up screaming for mercy more than once that night, covered in cold sweat.
When that happens, I curl into a ball and pray that my sobs don't wake the others.
If I did wake them, no one commented on it, and for that, I'm grateful.
The sun is barely peeking over the horizon when we are shaken from sleep by a few guards.
One of them kicks me in the ribs, the other prods at Leona and Gwyn, who are a bit slower to wake than Mila and I are.
" get dressed." the kicking guard says.
" Lord Albus wants to have you in the room when he's addressing the Wraith-slayer."
I sigh and hurry to my feet, not wanting to be on the business end of his boot again.
It looks like we're going to spend another day as slaves to the enemy.