TBD Chapter Nine

~Nine~


When Osodia awoke the following morning, there was the sound of a great many shuffling feet outside her bedroom door. She put on some new clothes and combed her hair as fast as she could before slipping out the door into the hallway of the White Gull.
         She had been informed by Neal that there would be other children on the ship, but she hadn’t expected as many as were trudging down the hall that day, some adults among them. Overwhelmed by the vast crowd, Osodia sought a familiar face; perhaps Aginia, Neal, or Perry and Mr. Verill, though she probably wouldn’t recognize the last two.
         Osodia tried to fight the flow of the crowd, but soon found that an impossible feat and figured she should just follow the rest of the children to wherever it was they were going and hope to run into Neal along the way. The crowd jostled, pulled and pushed until they finally reached a pair of oak doors. Four by four, they marched through the doors. Osodia stepped inside as well. She was in a fairly large dining hall, five rows of long tables spread out across the room, wooden chairs surrounding them. No one paid her much attention; mostly, they chatted with their friends, pulling up seats and sitting down by the large tables. Osodia was thankful for this. Right now, she had to find Neal.
         She found him near one of the tables on the far right corner of the vast dining hall. He was immersed in deep conversation with Aginia. When she approached him, he looked agitated and told her to go find a seat, he was busy at the moment.
         Osodia walked down the aisles of tables, looking for an empty spot. Finally, she came upon a table in the far left corner. It was deserted, save for one brown-haired girl. She had pale blue eyes, tan skin, and was skinny and a little frail looking. She had long eyelashes and small lips, that were at the moment pulled into a steady frown. The roundness of her eyes and face gave of the impression of childish youth and innocence.   
She was staring wistfully at someone sitting at the table opposite them.
         “Can I sit here?” Osodia asked shyly. The girl nodded absentmindedly. Osodia took her seat on the girls right and glanced at her own reflection in the silver bowl laid out before her. A few moments silence followed. Clearing her throat, Osodia asked, “What’s your name?”
         “Hm? Oh… Yeah.” The girl glanced briefly over at Osodia, then returned to staring at the opposite table.
         A boy slid into the seat beside the other girl. He looked to be around eleven years old. Like the girl beside him, he had a round face and equally round eyes under his glasses. He had short brown hair that fell into his eyes. Osodia smiled at him. He smiled in return, but before Osodia could engage him in further conversation he pulled out book, propped it on the table, and began reading.
         A group of servants bustled into the dining hall and ladled porridge into everyones bowl and water into their cups. Not feeling very hungry, Osodia stirred the porridge boredly with her spoon. Once or twice, she glanced over at her companions, but the girl was still staring at the opposite table, only breaking her gaze to spoon some porridge in her mouth, and the boy was still flipping through pages in his book.
         Osodia pushed away her food and turned to the boy.
         “Good book?” she asked, desperate for some conversation.
         He looked up at her and smiled.
         “Yeah.”
         “What is it about?”
         He titled the cover of the book towards her. She craned her neck to see the title. The First Fifty Spells Every Rider Should Know. Osodia raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.
         “What’s your name?” the boy asked.
         “Osodia Daroline. You?”
         “Perry Consiglio.”
         Osodia flushed a little. Hoping he hadn’t noticed, she looked at her glass of water as if suddenly very interested in it. Just last night she had been eavesdropping on his conversation with Neal, Aginia and Mr. Verill. Osodia glanced at the girl. Perry rolled his eyes.
         “Adelina, are you going to introduce yourself or not?”
         The girl, Adelina, turned to him. Two red spots appeared on her cheeks. Her eyes lingered on Osodia and widened, as if she hadn’t know Osodia had been there before. Adelina stared down into her porridge.
         “Adelina Buell,” she mumbled, the two red spots growing brighter.
         “Osodia Daroline.”
         Adelina lifted her gaze to Osodia. Their eyes met and they both smiled.
         They were interrupted by a group of kids pushing back their chairs with a loud squelch, signaling the end of breakfast. Adelina got up hurriedly and rushed out of the door. Perry watched her go for a second, then got up himself. Osodia followed him. He turned to her.
         “I haven’t seen you here before. What room are you in?”
         “Eh…”
         “Adelina and I are going to meet in her room to study. Do you want to come?”
         “Sure, I guess.”
         Perry cocked his head sideways and smiled at her, before turning to the doors again and calling, “Adelina, wait!”
         Adelina paused just a few feet outside the door. Perry and Osodia caught up with her.
         “What is it?” she asked, looking slightly irritated and searching the crowd.
         “Studying, remember?”
         “Oh. Yes. Well, let’s go then.”

When she awoke two hours later, Osodia spent the rest of the day in her room, fingering the opal rock and the journal, the only items she had to remind her of the town she came from, staring at the ceiling and thinking. She didn’t feel much like eating, and no one came to get her for lunch or supper. Every once and awhile, someone scurried down the hall and she could hear voices of other children, but the only interesting thing happened late that night. The door to the room next to her opened and closed, and she could hear two voices, though the wall muffled them to the point where Osodia couldn’t make out what they were saying.          
         With a feeling of déjà vu, Osodia leaned down next to the wall and pressed her ear against it. She recognized the two voices at once: Neal and Perry.
         “-Oakmere. I think she could make a very good Rider. She looked strong and smart enough, and we need more Riders anyway-”
         “But she’s from Oakmere, Perry.”
         “I know that,” Perry replied, sounding agitated, “I just don’t see why we have to keep it a secret from her.”
         “The Naivere left because they didn’t want themselves or their children to have anything to do with the war. We have to respect her ancestors wishes.”
         “But she’s just one girl.”
         “We’ve got to respect the Naivere’s wishes. We promised them we wouldn’t force them or their descendants to fight-”
         “But it won’t be forcing her. We’ll only tell her and if she wants to help she can.”
         “No, Perry. We’re just going to drop all the children off at the Training Center and then take her back to Olsvera on our way back.”
         “If she wanted to be in Olsvera, she wouldn’t have been on that boat. From what I heard, she was alone.”
         Osodia heard Neal sigh.
         “Go to sleep, Perry. We’ll talk about this more in the morning. For now, just don’t mention anything about it to her.”

When Osodia entered the dining hall again, she did not sit with Adelina and Perry, but went immediately to Neal. He was again in deep conversation with Aginia, but Osodia still demanded that she speak to him. He cast a glance at Aginia then turned to Osodia with a frown on his face.
         “What is it?”
         Osodia struggled to find a way she could sentence her question without letting him know she had been eavesdropping. Finally, she said, “Where will I go now?” She looked up at him, a look in her eyes, she hoped, that demanded an honest answer for her questions. Neal smiled.
         “I’ll take you back to Olsvera, of course.”
         “But I have nowhere to go,” she said, her voice shaking a little. She clenched her fists, “My home town was raided. All my family and friends died.  I was among five survivors who escaped.  They probably raided other towns too. I have nowhere to go.”
         Osodia fought back tears. She knew she would never get her questions answered if she started crying. Neal frowned and shot Aginia a ‘What do I do now?’ look.
         “Where do I go now?”
         Neal put his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll figure something out.”