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It was a hot day as the girl walked up Honeydew Avenue, feeling very pleased with her bounty. Not bad for it not being a market day... she thought to herself. She felt the weight of it all in her knapsack, with the pineapple at the bottom sticking into the small of her back, and smiled at the thought of little Jan's expression when he sees that particular prize, his favourite. They were hard to get.

Her name was Selene. She walked fast, ignoring the mother who quickly pulled her son closer towards her as she approached them. She was used to being treated as an outcast, not only in this town, which she had chosen as her home, but on the entire island. Thief. Nuisance. Alley-cat. She didn't mind what labels they gave her. All she cared about was her family - the young and helpless boys and girls she'd slowly found herself caring for these last two years.

She lived with them here, in Salheim, in a large abandoned house in the Sombre District, where no one who mattered cared. They were left alone, which suited Selene just fine.

She was still twenty minutes away at least, though, so she picked up her pace. It was getting dark and the others were expecting her back.

She was crossing the bridge over to the South Side, thinking about her life here... How quiet it had become... She had the kids, who she would never abandon, but she had recently thought more than once about whether she shouldn't seek out some new adventure... Her thoughts were interrupted though when she heard a noise. Laughter, and then a cry that sounded quickly stifled. She slowed, eyes narrowing, and skin prickling as it always did before something was about to happen.

Oh c'mon, she thought Today was a good day. I got a pineapple! Can't I just end the day on a good note, just this once?

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But Selene could never ignore what she had come to think of as the call ... That sense of foreboding, deep within her, that somehow she was needed. It took her now, each step guided by it, as she neared the side of the bridge. Then suddenly again, a different voice, this time in pain, and the first voice shouting "Help me!" and Selene, in a flash, dropped the knapsack and volted over the stone railing, falling at least three meters and twisting round before landing nimbly on her feet, knees bent, ready for anything.

"Aahh hell, Gaillen, it's only that gutter rat from the Sombre District!" a boy shouted. There were four of them under the bridge, a few meters away; three big ones obviously bullying on the smaller, younger one, who had a split lip. The one who had spoken was holding him in a vice grip, his left hand bleeding.

"Shut it, Korb!" said the biggest of the three bullies, "She's a rat alrigh', but this rat can bite."

Selene straightened up and started walking towards them slowly. "Gaillen, hi! 'Back at your old tricks so soon? And who are these two new goons you have with you now? They look even dumber than the last lot."

"I'm warning ya, Sel, these two are much better at spittin' than those idiots - just leave off and we won't hurt ya." His voice betrayed his outward bravado.

"Hmm... Yes, I can see, they managed to overpower this one small boy - I can just imagine how good they must be." Selene continued her slow, cat-like pace towards them.

"Gaillen, what are you doing just standing there?" the third boy said, "Grab her and we'll shake 'em both!"

But she knew Gaillen knew better. This rat had taken out both Pete and Flynn before they'd even had time to swing their fists, and she had then proceeded to break his nose before disappearing over the rooftops of the Eel District. She knew he wasn't going to take any chances.

And sure enough...: "Korb, let that brat go," Gaillen said.

"Are ya bouncin'? No way after he bit-"

"Do it! Do it now, and both of you come stand next to me. This rat and I go way back - I can't beat her alone."

Korb suddenly looked at Selene again, frowning. He loosened his grip on the boy, who immediately shook himself loose and bolted.

^{Image source - I searched long and hard for an image to represent Selene here. At last, through all the overly sexy, under-dressed medieval women on the net, I found this. Thank you, artist!}

A Suun district rich kid... Selene thought. A thank you was too much to expect, I guess.

As soon as he was out of sight, she made her move. Feinting as though she was going to run around them to the left, she suddenly shifted downwards and swung her foot around, tripping the third boy as he lunged in the wrong direction. Her next move was clear in her mind - spring back up and upper cut Gaillen's jaw while he was off-guard looking down at her.

Only, something was suddenly wrong. Very wrong.

Her skin tingled as always with foreboding, but now a hundred times worse, as she found that she couldn't move. She could feel her leg muscles struggling against... against something, but it was no use. She crouched there, and then tipped backwards, unable to do anything but flail in the sand of the dry river bed. Her arms still obeyed her, but her legs were useless.

Gaillen was confused but wasn't about to waste this opportunity. "Grab her!"

And they did. Each of his goons grabbed an arm, while Gaillen got right on top of her, pinning her down on her back. He sat down heavily on her stomach, pushing the air out of her. She tried to keep an outward calm as she had always trained herself to do in dangerous situations, but in her mind, she was panicking. She didn't understand. What the hell, what the hell, what the hell??

Gaillen sneered but was curious enough to ask, "What in the name of the Bleeding Saint is wrong with you, Sel?"

A silent, fury-filled stare was all he got in reply.

"Suit yourself. Whatever it is, you know what happens now, yes? You've embarrassed me one too many times, Sel. This is only fair..." And then he whipped his hand across her cheek, the slap echoing under the bridge. "In fact," he continued, as he smacked her face from the other direction, "I believe if I killed you now," his voice got louder and angrier, "it would still not make up for all the hurt you've done me!" Seven, eight, nine hard smacks across her face. Selene's ears were ringing, her vision blurred, her mind still trying to understand, in vain. "What'ye boys think? Should I kill her?"

Korb and the other one looked at each other uncertainly. Gaillen snorted, "Gah, it's because they don't know, do they Sel? They don't know your mischief. I think..." His hands moved slowly over her breasts, upwards towards her throat, "... if I just try it a little, might be that I like the feeling... Let's... See..." And his fingers curled around the back of her neck, his thumbs locking down over her windpipe.

How, how, why, how, what? Selene's mind was in a swirl. It just didn't make sense! No sense! And as he squeezed, she started seeing bright flecks darting in and out of her blurred vision. Her mind raced and suddenly she was back, ten years ago, playing with this very same boy in the sandy yard of their school. Then, years later and there her parents were, bleeding out on the street. Years more, herself fighting to survive on her own, wandering from town to town.

And then suddenly, the pineapple. She became suddenly conscious of the slight, small, dull pain in the small of her back left by it. And then, little Jan's face, who never gets to have his pineapple. Never sees her again. Jan, Kara, Waylin, Lyz!

And all at once, something inside her burst.

She watched as if in slow motion as Gaillen blasted upward, his stupid face a medley of surprise and confusion. He crunched against the ceiling of the bridge, landed beside her, and remained there, motionless. The other two were thrown backwards, both somersaulting several times over rocks and sand before coming to a halt, one in some grass, the other against the bridge wall.

Selene found herself floating a few inches off the ground, her legs in the same crouching stance as they hand been, though now she was in full control of her muscles again.

Not questioning anything, her mind followed the trail of mana that she was now so very aware of. She now didn't understand how she had been so blind to it before. It was disappearing fast but not before it led her gaze towards the silhouette of two men in the forest, watching her. She willed herself forward, still floating, up and back to her knapsack on the bridge, all the time watching the two men.

So, new adventures it is... she thought, as she landed back down on her feet, took the knapsack, and headed home. And you two... I'll be seeing you two again.

~•~

The two men stood in the failing sunlight long after Selene had disappeared from sight. The light glinted off of their scaly skin, their pointed ears the only indication that they were still part Elvenkind.

"Master, that was a dangerous gamble."

"Yes it was, Terryn. Dangerous but necessary."

I was right! Master Aygos thought to himself. She had all the signs in her! Who would have thought, on this island, the only place were humans were unaffected by the manarift mutations, that I'd find one such as her!

"Come, Terryn... We have a journey ahead of us. The others need to know."

Elated as he was, he was still aware of the warning thought she'd transmitted as she had gazed their way before walking off. For a brief moment, he shuddered.

~•~

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