"And..." Rurik roared. "As long as you're in this Hold you'll obey my rules!!!! Got that?"
Ronan glared up at the older man. He was barely nine turns, but already knew that he hated this man. His mother and father had dropped him off here at Inobi Hold just a seven-day ago. They claimed that they loved him and that they wanted him to grow up with people who had the time to care for him. Tears welled up in the child's eyes as he nodded and ran outside.
From the stairwell Thirza watched and shuddered. The eight-turn old girl knew what it was like to be yelled at by Rurik. Her own parents left her here as a baby. She felt sorry for this new fosterling and went upstairs to her room. It was the middle of winter and the boy had ran outside in the cold without any winter clothing on. She grabbed her sleeping furs and hurried downstairs.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rurik demanded of her.
Her plan fell apart under his gaze. "Well, that new boy ran out in the cold and I thought...."
"Go to your room." Rurik didn't yell, but his voice carried a threatning tone. Thirza obeyed quickly.
In her room she flung open the windows and saw Ronan sitting in the snow, shivering. She felt sorry for him, but what could she do?
She sighed and flopped down on her furs, hoping the new kid didn't freeze to death in the snow.
Ronan sighed and shivered. He was getting used to the cold. This was the third time this week that he'd stormed out of the Hold without and coat. He figured maybe he'd stop storming out until summer came. He flopped down beside a tree, one of the few near the Hold, and shivered.
Thirza watched Ronan storm out again. She heard someone mutter, "He's going to catch cold and die, if he doesn't stop doing that." She made up her mind. She was going to help. She headed up towards her room and grabbed all the sleeping furs. She went back down the stairs, waiting for Rurik's reprimand.
She wasn't disappointed. "Where are you going?"
She turned with a defiant look in her eyes. "Ronan's probably cold."
Rurik glared at her. "Good."
She simply turned and kept walking towards the door.
"Hey! Get back here!" Rurik demanded. Thirza kept walking.
Ronan heard footsteps and huddled down closer to the ground. He was freezing, but he wasn't going to let anyone know. He looked up, expecting to see the cook or healer or someone to bring him back inside. Instead he saw Thirza, huddled in her sleeping furs.
Thirza blushed. "Hi."
Ronan looked at her curiously. "Hi."
An uncomfortable silence descended upon the two. Thirza tried to break it. "I'm Thirza."
"Ronan." The silence fell again. This time Ronan broke it. "Why are you here?"
Most of Thirza's confidence had left her by that time and she shrugged lightly. "I just thought you looked..."
"What?" Ronan interupted bitterly. "Pathetic? Stupid? Silly?"
He was surprised as Tirza plopped down beside him with a smile. She spread the cloaks over both of them and the two fosterlings huddled together to keep warm. "Cold." Thirza replied.
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