N is for New People
Title: N is for New People
Fandom: Original Fiction
Series: Original Fiction Alphabet Soup
Characters: Mia Armank, Captain Rahn Shay, Abram Han, Seline Bene
Rating: Gen
Word Count; 632
Warnings: None
Orientation: Gen
Prompt: Alphabet Soup prompt: Letter “N” for origficalphabet
“New people,” Mia Armank whispered as she looked down through the leaves at three strangers below. Strangers so rarely came to Calrazen that the occurrence was always marked by a celebration. Mia smiled, anticipating sweet pastries at the feast. Clambering over the branches, she shimmied down the trunk and landed with a quiet ‘thunk’ behind the New People.
“Greetings!” Her voice started two of the strangers; they jumped and spun around to stare at her. The third turned slowly, giving her an appraising look that took in her toes to her head. Mia gasped as she saw his eyes, eyes the color of the sky on a day with no clouds. She had never, in all her twenty four summers, seen eyes that shade. His hair, cropped shorter than Mia had ever seen on a person not afflicted with a dread sickness, seemed almost the shade of mown hay. This was a stranger, indeed.
The woman, with normal brown eyes and normal brown hair stepped forward and spoke haltingly, “Hello. We were travelers. We come from the land where sun goes down, from the far mud.”
Mia tilted her head and smiled. The last New People, Eleene, Geo and Tomi had come from the west as well, and the accent the woman spoke with was familiar, quite like Eleene’s. “I believe the word you mean to say was land, you came from a far land, not a far mud. I am Mia Armank, welcome to Calrazen by the Lake.” She inclined her head and dipped her knees in formal greeting.
“Why you in tree?” The man with hair like the sun asked, looking up at the tree with open curiosity and pointing.
She tugged the satchel riding her hip around and held it open that they might see into it. “Farva fruit. It is best when picked before it fully ripens, the sweetness is richer.” She reached up and grasped a branch, tugging it down and plucking off three ripe fruits, which she offered to the New People. “I like to bake them into pies, but they taste good just as the goddess provided them to us.”
The woman took a farva and smiled and nodded her thanks. The third of the New People tentatively selected one of the fruits in her outstretched palm, brushed it off on his shirt sleeve and then took a bite. The juice ran down his chin and he began to laugh as he wiped at it. “Delicious. Thank you, Mia. I am Abram Han, this is Seline Bene, and that scowling fellow is Captain Rahn Shay.” Abram’s grasp of the mother tongue was apparently the best of the three.
Feeling brave, Mia approached the scowling man, holding the last fruit up between her fingers. “Will you taste, Captain Rahn Shay?”
“Just Rahn,” he said quietly. She thought he might refuse, but then he bent his head down and bit into the yellow farva skin, sending a stream of sticky juice down her fingers and hand. A shiver went down her spine as she stared up into those sky-color eyes. A new feeling curled in the pit of her belly, one she had never felt before.
Mia shook off the feeling. “You should come with me, the village elders will wish to meet you. It is not often we get New People, this is a good day.” She gestured in the direction of the village and set off down the path. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Rahn watching her. She shivered again, enjoying the new tingling feeling that looking at him and being looked at by him gave her.
When they broke through the trees and came within sight of the village, others saw and the cry went up, all around the words, “New People.”
Fandom: Original Fiction
Series: Original Fiction Alphabet Soup
Characters: Mia Armank, Captain Rahn Shay, Abram Han, Seline Bene
Rating: Gen
Word Count; 632
Warnings: None
Orientation: Gen
Prompt: Alphabet Soup prompt: Letter “N” for origficalphabet
“New people,” Mia Armank whispered as she looked down through the leaves at three strangers below. Strangers so rarely came to Calrazen that the occurrence was always marked by a celebration. Mia smiled, anticipating sweet pastries at the feast. Clambering over the branches, she shimmied down the trunk and landed with a quiet ‘thunk’ behind the New People.
“Greetings!” Her voice started two of the strangers; they jumped and spun around to stare at her. The third turned slowly, giving her an appraising look that took in her toes to her head. Mia gasped as she saw his eyes, eyes the color of the sky on a day with no clouds. She had never, in all her twenty four summers, seen eyes that shade. His hair, cropped shorter than Mia had ever seen on a person not afflicted with a dread sickness, seemed almost the shade of mown hay. This was a stranger, indeed.
The woman, with normal brown eyes and normal brown hair stepped forward and spoke haltingly, “Hello. We were travelers. We come from the land where sun goes down, from the far mud.”
Mia tilted her head and smiled. The last New People, Eleene, Geo and Tomi had come from the west as well, and the accent the woman spoke with was familiar, quite like Eleene’s. “I believe the word you mean to say was land, you came from a far land, not a far mud. I am Mia Armank, welcome to Calrazen by the Lake.” She inclined her head and dipped her knees in formal greeting.
“Why you in tree?” The man with hair like the sun asked, looking up at the tree with open curiosity and pointing.
She tugged the satchel riding her hip around and held it open that they might see into it. “Farva fruit. It is best when picked before it fully ripens, the sweetness is richer.” She reached up and grasped a branch, tugging it down and plucking off three ripe fruits, which she offered to the New People. “I like to bake them into pies, but they taste good just as the goddess provided them to us.”
The woman took a farva and smiled and nodded her thanks. The third of the New People tentatively selected one of the fruits in her outstretched palm, brushed it off on his shirt sleeve and then took a bite. The juice ran down his chin and he began to laugh as he wiped at it. “Delicious. Thank you, Mia. I am Abram Han, this is Seline Bene, and that scowling fellow is Captain Rahn Shay.” Abram’s grasp of the mother tongue was apparently the best of the three.
Feeling brave, Mia approached the scowling man, holding the last fruit up between her fingers. “Will you taste, Captain Rahn Shay?”
“Just Rahn,” he said quietly. She thought he might refuse, but then he bent his head down and bit into the yellow farva skin, sending a stream of sticky juice down her fingers and hand. A shiver went down her spine as she stared up into those sky-color eyes. A new feeling curled in the pit of her belly, one she had never felt before.
Mia shook off the feeling. “You should come with me, the village elders will wish to meet you. It is not often we get New People, this is a good day.” She gestured in the direction of the village and set off down the path. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Rahn watching her. She shivered again, enjoying the new tingling feeling that looking at him and being looked at by him gave her.
When they broke through the trees and came within sight of the village, others saw and the cry went up, all around the words, “New People.”