Completed Child's Play

[Tsaba]

77th Summer, 513AV Tsaba figured that she should stay away from personal magic for a little while. The problem was that there weren't too many things she could do that didn't tempt her to use it. Even her job, copying out damaged library books, could only hold her attention for a limited amount of time. She needed something else to occupy herself. What did Zeltivans do? Read Shop? Fish? She headed for the marketplace, little blonde pigtails bouncing against her frail child's back. Her resolute strides might have looked strange on an eight-year-old child, but she didn't care. One thing she hadn't considered when taking a child's body was how it would affect how people reacted to her. Most notably, others tended to ignore her. People in the market who might otherwise mutter a polite 'excuse me' when bumping into her instead gave her an annoyed glare, like she was an urchin running underfoot just to bother them. Merchants tended to ignore her too, unless they were selling fruit or honey or something else a child might like. The other children did not ignore her. There was a rough tug, and Tsaba's cloak was pulled back off her shoulders. She spun to see a boy, looking about ten, run away with the cloak flung over his shoulder. He was laughing. She sprinted after him. "Hey! Give that back!"

[Tsaba]

It had been about seventy-five years since Tsaba had been some brat sleeping at a healer's hearth in Sunberth who had to deal with such nonsense, but some old reflexes didn't die. She immediately took off after the kid. Logically, she should've lost him quickly, but he wasn't trying to keep out of sight; he was teasing her. Well. He was in for a surprise. The kid looked about ten. She chased him. He ran, ducked under stalls, squeezed between people. She chased him. She knew what he was doing; he was trying to make her frustrated and angry, and tire her out. And why wouldn't she tire first? She was a smaller, weaker kid, and a girl-child at that. But of course, he didn't know what she knew. He didn't know that Tsaba didn't tire. He didn't know that she couldn't be out of breath, because she didn't need to breathe. The first ten chimes or so were just teasing. The second ten chimes were a challenge he couldn't drop; he'd started the race, and now he had to prove that he was faster and stronger. After ten more, he had tired to the point that she could catch up with him easily. Tsaba pulled the cloak out of his hands and pinned it on, grinning. Somebody cackled from in the crowd. "She got you, Macky." A boy about Tsaba's apparent age pushed through to meet them. "Beaten by a little girl." "Yeah, like she wouldn't have had you in ten minutes," 'Macky' grumbled. "I'm Tsaba," Tsaba introduced herself politely. "That's a weird name," the kid said. "I'm Neal, this is Mack... um, Michael." She inclined her head, still grinning. "Little street thieves, huh?" "Snobby rich girl, huh?" Michael shot back. Tsaba laughed. "I've never been rich." She frowned. "Are you guys okay?" "He's just grumpy that you beat him," Neal shrugged. "You wanna go play on the docks?" Tsaba glanced about, taking in the crowd of annoyed adults, the sun high in the sky, and the two little street urchins. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I do."

[Vanari]

Tsaba

Running

+1 XP

Lores :

• The Price of Youth
• Having the Upperhand
• New Playmates: Macky and Neal

Notes :

That was a fun little read I know technically Tsaba didn't exactly break a sweat chasing after the boy, but I figured 30 chimes of nonstop running should account for something.

Cheers!

I'm a newbie and will make mistakes, so please don't hesitate to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns! Also, please remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as "graded."