Solo The Lost Daughter [Pt III]

[Firenze]

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Summer 37, 515 AV

Sighing Fire moved her way onto the street and down the block. The sun was beating onto her already browning skin. Sweat caused the thin fabric of her dress to stick as well as the hair on her forehead to her face. It was not the best day out to be looking for the young girl but a promise was a promise.

Somedays she felt as though she might’ve bit off way more than she could chew. Others she felt grateful to have something to keep her busy, rather than sitting at home and stewing in emotion that she’d rather not be dealing with right now.

Thoughts of Sunberth had begun to plague her in her sleep, although most days were better than others now that she had distance from everything that had happened, yet she still had nightmares. Waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat was starting to become familiar. It was not something that she wanted, but unfortunately had to deal with.

A trickle of sweat ran down her brow. The back of her hand came up and wiped it away as she stared off the nearby dock out into the ever ending water. She had to squint against the reflection of Syna’s light reflecting off the surface. A shadow on the far horizon gave a faint shape of a ship either arriving or departing with goods. It was hard to tell which direction it was moving.

Approaching a woman near one of the smaller buildings on the strip of the dock she asked for what seemed like the millionth time that day, “Excuse me, I’m looking for a lost young girl, have you seen any children about?” The woman coughed and shook her head, indicating yet another person who couldn’t help.

Today felt like it was going to be one of the days when it was a bit more frustrating and that the girl that Melody and Misha spoke of was nothing but a ghost. There had to be something they were leaving out or that she was missing. It was such little information. Why did she get rid of her daughter? Why look for her now after so many years?

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

[Firenze]

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Water lapped at the dock, the gulls screeched and screamed above her head. A stray cat pounced it’s way alongside a building and turned the corner. She looked up and could see Melody walking down the street. Determination was in her eyes but Fire could tell she was struggling with the constant shyness as she approached a person.

Fire crossed the street and made her way toward Melody. Calling out, “Hey, any progress?” A soft shake of the woman’s head confirmed that they were still in the same position that they’d been in hours earlier… and it was quite hot and grim. They weren’t making any kind of progress, it was almost as though the girl were a ghost and they were chasing a shadow from the past.

“Do you want to get a drink and sit in the shade somewhere? It’s boiling hot out here,” another trickle of sweat beaded up and rolled down the side of Firenze’s face. Melody’s had a red flush and appeared as though the heat might’ve started getting to her, her face pale under the tinge of red from the sun pounding down on them. Melody didn’t speak but nodded her head in agreement.

Fire’s golden eyes watched her as she turned and fell into step next to the woman as they made their way along the path toward where Melody and Misha were staying. “A cold drink sounds good,” it was a few ticks after they’d started walking that Melody had made the comment. Fire wondered for a moment if she was going to be okay, hoping that she’d make it to a chair in some shade so they could cool off. It had been a bad idea to go out and try to finish up looking around the town but Melody hadn’t wanted to stop.

Her heart went out to the woman, Fire couldn’t even fathom what it might feel like so she kept her mouth closed and just used her presence as a means to hopefully comfort the woman in some way.

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

[Firenze]

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Once they’re arrived at the inn they made their way toward Melody and Misha’s room. It was small and a little bit stuffy for Firenze, but there were two people staying in the cramped quarters. A small table was in one of the corners, she moved toward it, greeting Misha who was sitting on one of the beds, a piece of paper and what looked like a pencil in one hand.

“So I suppose you think this is your place now?” Misha made the comment, her head not coming up from her work, the pencil scratching across the surface of the paper. Fire’s rear had just touched the surface of the chair, Melody was already in the other chair slightly slouched. Glancing over toward Melody and back to Misha, “No this isn’t, we were just coming in to get out of the heat.” She couldn’t tell if the older woman was jesting with her or if she was serious. Her eyes slightly widened she glanced slowly back and forth between the two others to see how she should react.

It was a few ticks later that Fire noticed the corner of Misha’s mouth turn up just slightly. A sigh of relief, she slumped back against the chair, the corner of her own mouth tipping up. From what she could tell the old woman had been kidding her. It was an unusual feeling for Firenze, to have someone try to prod at her with jokes sarcastically, she was unsure if she liked it or not. Decided to just let it rest for now and wait to see how the feeling of the room was going to settle, so far it seemed somewhat light and and slightly playful.

“How did the hunt go?” Eyes never left the paper as Misha spoke again. “It is waaay too hot outside to be doing much of anything...” Melody spoke up before Fire could say anything, “I think I got pretty much everything done on my sections of town, my portion of the letters you wrote were delivered, have you heard anything back?”

Standing, Fire moved to get a couple of cups and pour some of the water from the pitcher into them. “Nothin. Not a thing. Where could that driver have taken her?” it was then that she had stopped and looked up from what she’d been working on, a furrow in her brow and frustration on her face. Fire sat the cups of water onto the table. Melody grabbed for hers and took a large swill. They all felt as frustrated as Misha looked. It wasn’t really any issue of Firenze’s other than she felt invested now. She’d gotten to know the women over the course of the last couple months, growing closer to them and almost looking up to them. Every once in awhile catching herself wishing that they were her family.

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

[Firenze]

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Not wanting to say it, but knowing what everyone was thinking, Firenze blurted out, “Maybe she isn’t in this city?” A sip from her cup, she looked out the window of the room and hoped that that wasn’t the case. Every day began to feel as though that might be the case when they weren’t getting any information or making any kind of progress.

The only thing Fire had gotten was from a drunk man who’d stumbled in one day. It wasn’t someone she’d recognized and asked him if he knew anything. It was rather difficult to decipher between the slurring but all he’d said was that he was a worker for a caravan that had indeed “shuffled a tot or two” in the last few years. He vaguely remembered a baby a few years ago, but he didn’t know how old it was, if it was a boy or girl or what it even looked like. He didn’t work with that particular caravan anymore and hadn’t seen anyone from it since.

Her hopes had risen in that moment and then fallen just as fast. She hadn’t told Melody or Misha yet because she hadn’t wanted to crush their hopes and it didn’t really seem like there would’ve been much they could have gone off of.

Now that it was nearing the end of the search and it was still just as bleak as when they started Fire decided it might be better to just tell them, that way they still had some glimmer of hope, instead of the slowly growing defeated look. Taking another sip of her water, she divulged what little bit of information she had, “Well, I don’t know if it would help…” rubbing her hands together, “I met a guy in the Kelp Bar the other day, I didn’t really think it was much, but…” both sets of eyes were looking over to her now.

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

[Firenze]

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“Well, spit it out young lady!” Misha, hand on hip, head tilted, was pressing for the information. “Just that his caravan used to move children every once in awhile, he doesn’t work for them anymore though, “ Fire crossed one leg over the other and leaned against the table, her mug in her hand. “He’d said that their main routes were Syliras, Zeltiva and Sunberth. So… what if she wasn’t left here? Thea over at the Orphanage didn’t seem to remember anything, right? So maybe the caravan took her to Sunberth? You guys had come from Sylrias, so she wouldn’t be there and she doesn’t appear to be here…”

All the women began looking back and forth at each other. Firenze felt like they’d been chasing their own tails all over town. She hadn’t thought about what the guy had said, or that it might be relevant. At the time it was possible that a caravan like his had dropped the girl off here. Now it seemed as though that might not be so true and that she may have gone on to Sunberth.

She didn’t want to go to back to Sunberth. Finally getting used to living in Zeltiva and making it her home. On the other hand she’d begun to grow close to the two women in the time that they’d been searching. They’d had a few dinners together, simple meals, but it was heartwarming none the less. Not wanting to lose the friendship of the two women so quickly she tried to come up with a plan… an idea… something.

Nothing came to her. The truth stared them in the face more and more as they came back empty handed everyday. Melody shook her head, “Why would they have taken her there? You told them to bring her here didn’t you mother?” Her golden eyes tipped up to look at her mother’s deep brown ones, Fire noticed the tears threatening.

“Yes, I told them to take her straight here, no where else. Why would they have taken her to Sunberth? I only paid for them to bring her here…” Misha chewed on her lip as Fire tried to ponder over where else they could look or what other information they could dig up. Could they find the drunkard at the tavern again? Possibly see if he might have any more information or if he was actually telling the truth? It could be a start.

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

[Firenze]

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“What if we tried to find the guy from the bar? See if he might know anything else? Maybe remember someone else’s name that he’d worked with or… anything really…” she finished off her cup of water. The temperature wasn’t much better than outside but she’d finally started to feel a little better than she had earlier. Glancing over she noticed that the color had come back into Melody’s face a little bit.

She watched the women contemplating over what she’d said, waiting to see what they thought of her idea. A few ticks passed before anyone said anything, Melody broke the silence with a heavy sigh. “Perhaps we should, it’s all we’ve got to go off of right now… if not…” a pause and another softer sigh she continued, “...then I suppose we may need to try going to Sunberth.” Misha had glanced down at the paper that she’d been working on, Fire was curious as to what she might be thinking, a saddened look crossed briefly before maintaining her composure.

Fire didn’t like seeing the other women in the room sad, she’d gone through a long year of wonder and heartache when she was at the orphanage because of her lost family. If she’d had even a small glimpse of the love that these two women showed for the daughter and granddaughter that they had only a brief time to get to know, then she would have pushed herself to search harder. After a that year of being told that no one was coming she’d finally resigned to the fact that, indeed no one had wanted a girl like her… a Kelvic. It was the biggest reason that she gave pause to telling anyone who she truly was.

Misha moved off the bed and stood, stretching out her legs, “Fire you and Melody can stay here, I’ll go see if he’s at the bar since you both have been out in that scorching sun for half the day.” Making a move to get up, half way out of her chair, she plopped back down into it again. “Are you sure?”

“I’ll go with you mother, I want to help… I need to help. I can’t sit here not doing anything,” Melody got up and slipped her shoes on.

“I can go too if you guys want?” Misha waved at her to sit.

“Sit down, we won’t be long, it’s not that far. Why don’t you try fixing up something for us to eat while we’re out and we can figure out what to do over a nice meal, “ it wasn’t a question but more of a statement.

Firenze felt a tinge of regret because she did want to stay and relax for a moment after being on her feet in the heat all day, but she didn’t want them to go out and not help. She still moved to get up, stretching out her own legs languishly and moved over to the cupboards to see what she could put together for a meal.

“I can do that, don’t stay out too long though okay?” Pulling a bag of almonds from the cupboard she looked over to see them closing the door and wondered if they’d heard what she’d said. Her eyes softened and glance down to the floor briefly, a fleck of worry dancing in them.

Others | Firenze | Thoughts

[Dove Brown]

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Firenze

Skills

• Investigation 1
• Socialisation 4
• Logic 1
• Endurance1

Lores

• Melody: shy but determined
• Socialisation: friendly teasing
• Caravans that move children?

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