The Ashes Wake

Chapter 6: Trifica

TRIFICA

"There is only one lineage considered almost as lowly as the Infirmaturs-the Kalieds. Since species are valued by their abilities, there is little the Kalieds can do. Infirmaturs, who possess no skills, vary from the Kalieds slightly, whose eyes change color depending upon their emotions."

Excerpt from Creature Cultural Studies by Historian Terafin Gray
Published 785 Year, Majira Season

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The night was a palette that only contained the colors of blended blues and blacks, stretching like thin veins across the sky. A slight breeze blew by, tossing Trifica's dark hair into her face and making her sneeze.

"Hush, will you?" Raiden snapped.

She wanted to toss a remark back at him, but bit her tongue. After being threatened by him minutes ago she wasn't keen on encouraging her sharp remarks.

Once they'd slipped out of the pub and into the night, he had grabbed her hand and pulled her down a dimly lit blackstone street that seemed to drag on horribly. Trifica thought she was familiar with every path in their village-Canterly was hardly big-but as they walked, the shrubs on the side of the road and the houses in the distance she knew she'd never seen. If something happened, it would've been her fault for getting entranced by a little adventure.

When Trifica noticed all four moons were already planted in the sky, she ripped her hand from his. "We're plenty far from the pub. Whatever you need to say you can say it here."

Raiden sighed and his thick brows wrinkled. His hair hardly looked blue any more under the black blanket of night, and it had lost some of its spike in the wind.

"I don't think you understand the situation," he said. Before she could open her mouth to refute, he added, "Fine. At least get out of the street."

He made a move to reach for her hand again, but she put it behind her back. Shrugging, he walked to the side of the road, where a narrow alleyway stood between two drab-looking buildings that seemed to materialize from the dark.

Trifica walked into the alleyway, despite every cell in her body screaming danger. It was a rule of hers to never find herself in a secluded area with only one way out. But she needed to hear what Raiden had to say. She craved something interesting to happen in her life.

Her mother once told her she was a troublesome girl-creature.

"You've got a soul that can't be satisfied," her mother had said when Trifica once came back far past curfew with twigs in her hair and her eyes the crazed color of orange-excitement. She'd been running through the woods, chasing a pixie or a gnome, she couldn't remember.

"You won't ever be content," she'd continued. "Once a spirit recognizes its craving for adventure, it sticks with you forever. One day you'll leave, far from the colony and chasing dreams, but you won't ever be satisfied." Her mother's eyes had been blue that day, and she only wore the expression of pity and sadness.

Trifica pushed the memory away and focused on Raiden's face-well, his lips. They were full and pink and soft. And that energy she'd felt earlier was there too. She had a strange urge to touch them, just to see what they were like. Then his lips started moving, forming and shaping words.

"Larkin? Trifica? Are you even listening to me?" He shook her shoulder lightly.

She averted her eyes. "Sorry," was all she could offer. That and a slight blush.