Watching you {anzie}
Jan 1, 2016 5:44:29 GMT -5
Post by meerclar on Jan 1, 2016 5:44:29 GMT -5
The morning sunlight danced and sparked merrily on the water as it rolled in and out against the shoreline. The waves swirled around the rocks just in the edge of the water, tugging and dragging and threatening to steal them away.
Stretching away from the water to a sheer cliff on one side and hemmed in by sand on the other, the rocks were a black, ragged jumble of sharp edges and smooth sides that were already warming in the sun. A lone figure sat amid the rocks, dwarfed by the expanse of sea that stretched away and away. The white sails of ships could be seen dotted among the blue, but none of them close enough to see people on board.
Beyond the sand, the trees grew thick. A dark tangle of forest that nobody bothered with. The land was too close to the water and too sandy to build on, and the wood wasn't worth chopping the trees down for. She sat, perched on one of the lower branches and watched the slight figure on the rocks.
She was supposed to be practising her stealth. Choosing a target and trailing them around the district. Don't lose them; don't be seen. She'd chosen this target herself. He'd looked so sad, walking alone towards the beach, and she had wanted to see more. All these people, they made her so curious. It was a failing, she had been told. Curiosity was not a virtue. Obedience was a virtue, concentration was a virtue. She was supposed to be thinking about her training, not sitting here wondering what this boy was writing, sitting alone on those rocks.
She wanted to move closer, but the trees ended and she would be exposed out on the beach with no cover. Her clothes were black and would stand out against the white sand, although if she could reach the rocks without being seen, they would provide cover and camouflage. She would be punished if she went home and reported that she had been spotted, but if her uncle knew that she stayed sitting in the trees all day and didn't attempt to move closer, she might be punished anyway. Either choice held a risk, in that case, and she decided she was free to choose as she wished.
The forbidden curiosity won out and Sophos slipped from her branch, landing almost silently among the damp leaf litter. She lingered at the very edge of the trees, digging in the sand with one booted toe while she scanned the beach to be sure that there was really nobody else along it's length. Satisfied, and watching the boy to make sure his back was still to her, she stepped from the treeline and into the sunlight. She felt the heat immediately through the black cloth of her clothing, and smiled as it drove the chill from her.
She didn't run; quick movements would draw attention. She moved slowly and smoothly across the sand towards the rocks. The sand shifted unfamiliarly under her feet. She made a mental note to return to the beach and practise moving on it until she was confident. It paid to be prepared.
She reached the rocks and crouched down gladly among them, startling a group of crabs who had been pulling at the carcass of a dead sea bird. She moved deeper into the jumble of stones and left them to it. Her attention was now full fixed on the boy not more than twenty metres from her hiding place.
Stretching away from the water to a sheer cliff on one side and hemmed in by sand on the other, the rocks were a black, ragged jumble of sharp edges and smooth sides that were already warming in the sun. A lone figure sat amid the rocks, dwarfed by the expanse of sea that stretched away and away. The white sails of ships could be seen dotted among the blue, but none of them close enough to see people on board.
Beyond the sand, the trees grew thick. A dark tangle of forest that nobody bothered with. The land was too close to the water and too sandy to build on, and the wood wasn't worth chopping the trees down for. She sat, perched on one of the lower branches and watched the slight figure on the rocks.
She was supposed to be practising her stealth. Choosing a target and trailing them around the district. Don't lose them; don't be seen. She'd chosen this target herself. He'd looked so sad, walking alone towards the beach, and she had wanted to see more. All these people, they made her so curious. It was a failing, she had been told. Curiosity was not a virtue. Obedience was a virtue, concentration was a virtue. She was supposed to be thinking about her training, not sitting here wondering what this boy was writing, sitting alone on those rocks.
She wanted to move closer, but the trees ended and she would be exposed out on the beach with no cover. Her clothes were black and would stand out against the white sand, although if she could reach the rocks without being seen, they would provide cover and camouflage. She would be punished if she went home and reported that she had been spotted, but if her uncle knew that she stayed sitting in the trees all day and didn't attempt to move closer, she might be punished anyway. Either choice held a risk, in that case, and she decided she was free to choose as she wished.
The forbidden curiosity won out and Sophos slipped from her branch, landing almost silently among the damp leaf litter. She lingered at the very edge of the trees, digging in the sand with one booted toe while she scanned the beach to be sure that there was really nobody else along it's length. Satisfied, and watching the boy to make sure his back was still to her, she stepped from the treeline and into the sunlight. She felt the heat immediately through the black cloth of her clothing, and smiled as it drove the chill from her.
She didn't run; quick movements would draw attention. She moved slowly and smoothly across the sand towards the rocks. The sand shifted unfamiliarly under her feet. She made a mental note to return to the beach and practise moving on it until she was confident. It paid to be prepared.
She reached the rocks and crouched down gladly among them, startling a group of crabs who had been pulling at the carcass of a dead sea bird. She moved deeper into the jumble of stones and left them to it. Her attention was now full fixed on the boy not more than twenty metres from her hiding place.
