Routine

Kyra's mother was standing outside shaking out the rugs. Kyra took one look at her upset face and snuck around to the back window. The curtains blew in the morning breeze, pushing against Kyra as she scrambled into the warm room. A loud thump sounded through out the house when she hit the small wooden planks covering the dirt floor. She blew her hair out of her face and stood up. Her room wasn't much it was small with one larger pad in one corner which her and her younger brother, Arthur, shared. The pad was covered in a bundle of brown blankets, at the foot of the bed lay the pile of clothes, they mainly consisted of browns, greys and whites, the few green peices belonged to Kyra, those she had made herself. One of her favorite corners though, was the one cluttered in books. Large volumes left open or stacked one on top of the other. Her father had given them to her to study in case she became a warrior, normal housewives didn't need to be educated, now those books would just lie in that corner, gathering dust until one day Arthur would read them, he was twelve he could be apprenticed next leaf fall. Kyra could hear her mother scolding Arthur outside and she sucked in her breath, gathered her courage and opened the door to face her. Min stood in the kitchen, Arthur in front of her face down. She noticed Kyra's entering footsteps almost and once and spun around to face her. Arthur looked up grinning, he wouldn't be scolded any more today, it was Kyra's turn. Arthur shot out the open door as quick as he could, the dog barked and began following him as he ran off. Min's face showed she was disgusted, disapointed and annoyed. She always displayed her emotions clearly, when Min was younger she was a girl with dreams, just like Kyra. She used to tell Kyra how dreams were wasted, her name was Mayrenne than, it meant fair like the sea. She was beautiful with long silky blond hair, Kyra had neither Min's hair or her fathers reddish-brown hair, which Arthur inherited. Sometimes Kyra wondered where her brown hair came from, when she was younger she used to believe she had inherited it from the earth and her eyes from the treetops, she used to pretend she was the forest and the forest was her. But those were also foolish dreams. When it came time for Min to change her name on the day of her wedding when she would pass from young women to adult she wanted something simple and plain, she was just a housewife afterall, and Min became her name. Kyra remembered how her name used to be Kee until she was eight leaf falls old.
Min stared hard at Kyra for a while, she opened her mouth once than decided better of scolding her and pointed to the metal tub on the floor, filled to the rim with water. Kyra sighed and pushed past her mother to do the dishes. Min was out of the room by the time Kyra started on the first dish and Kyra hated her life more than ever. Why should KioNish get to decide your destiny? It was a question Kyra asked herself everyday of her life for the next year, soon preparations for leaf fall were there once more. Kyra wore only brown clothes now, her beautiful forest green ones lay crumple in the corner. Arthur was especially excited this year, he was hoping to be chosen. Kyra just smiled at his excitment and pushed the memory of the year before from her mind. It had become a routine for her now, to wake up past sunrise, wash the dishes cook breakfast clean the house, take care of Arthur, fix lunch and dinner. In Kyra's free time she would lay outside the house in the grass her layers of brown skirt flowing out around her, staring at the clouds. Leaf fall was to be the next day and Min tried to encourage Kyra to wear something pretty, but she refused again and again. When leaf fall came Kyra went to the ceromony wearing a simple longsleeved brown and white layered dress, her white apron tied around her waist. The dress was long unlike the ones she used to wear, it nearly touched the ground, the tips of her brown boots barely showing through. Kyra had let Min cut her hair just above her shoulders, she cut it quite nice and Kyra always kept it brushed. The campfire glowed bright on all the eager faces as KioNish came out, four young warriors at his sides. Kyra could see Aaron, Fey and others she used to play with hiding in the shadows behind their leader. Arthur's name was called first, instead of rejoicing for him, Kyra shrunk farther away, hiding her face. As she saw her friends and heard the names being called she couldn't stop the memories from flooding back in. There were vivid in her brain and they hurt terribly. After the ceromony was like a nightmare, Kyra's father was holding Arthur and congragulating him, both his and Min's faces were glowing with pride for their son. They paid no heed to Kyra, except for when Min asked Kyra to go fetch water from the stream.
Kyra's feet dragged along as she carried the heavy metal bucket at her side. In her other hand she held a lantern, something she had never carried at night before. She was nearly to the stream when she saw him. A black figure stood leaning against a tree, another jumped out of the tree landing in a crouch. The bucket fell to the ground and rolled away on the dark ground. Kyra did not try to pick it up, she only kept her eyes fixed on the two hooded figures that were now staring at her and walking forward. A night so long ago played back in Kyra's mind. The cold hand at her throat, the emerald green cloak. These cloaks weren't emerald green, though, they were a deep blue, the color of the man who had tried to kill her that one night, now they were here again, only this time there were two of them, trained and ready, and there was only one of her and no figure dressed in emerald green to save her.