The rest of the evening was silent, or as silent as an orphanage full of children can be; come to think of it, it’s mostly boys here. Weird; is there a war coming on? I think one of the merchants that use the valley as a shortcut told me that if there’s a lotta boys around that means a war’s on the horizon, but Daffa told me that ‘we are in a war against evil itself’ which honestly sounds a little lofty.

Daffa’s a little lofty so it fits I suppose.

One of the younger priests escorted me to the church where I and four other children were dressed in robes that might have been white at one point and shoes with fuzzy pom-poms on them. While we were waiting for the ‘star of the show’ and the reason behind Daffa’s ever-present smile when he mentions the restoration of the church kitchen I squatted down to mess with the pom-poms, batting them or picking them up so they would drop lightly back onto my shoe. Borrowed shoe. I think I saw Chad and his goons carrying a shovel a little while ago so I think ‘unearth the shoe’, the most popular game in the orphanage is about to experience a new season. 

Speaking of experiences, I need to get one over on Chad. Reciprocal action is always a positive trait to have. The question is, how do I convince that dumbass to leave me alone forever without having to deal with another corpse? The last few were really heavy and I’m not up to moving even more dead weight.

I’m stretching the pom-pom to its greatest height, its zenith so that when I drop it, it’ll bounce. I finally got the tension just right and was set to release it when the church door slammed open. A goddamn crowd comes marching in, maids literally rolling out a reddish-brown carpet so that a pompous-looking duo can strut about looking at the church and all inside under their noses.

This isn’t going to be a good day huh? 

Despite their incredibly ostentatious clothing, both the adult and child had forgettable faces. So forgettable that despite the fact that I’m currently looking at them in mild shock I can’t properly describe them. The younger one walked over to the surprised-looking Daffa and looked up at him as his expression grew ever more impatient.

“Well?” He snapped, “Are we standing around for our health or shall this ceremony take place?” To punctuate this sentiment he clapped and the servants lined up neatly behind him moved forward and began to hustle about, taking items that were being hung up or placed by the other priests. Daffa blinked and replied “Pardon?”

The nameless brat furrowed his brow more and said “The Ritugam. It’s today. Are you stupid?” which caused Daffa to blink once again and then a genial smile spread on his face.

“Of course, we’ll get started right after I write down the children attending.” The boy rolled his eyes and scoffed. “My name is Simon Kensington and I-” “Simon? Spelled as it sounds yes? Good, good, now I need to gather the other children and have it in order.” 

Brother Daffa cut off that Simon right as he was gearing up for a monologue and then went around the room asking the other village children their names until he arrived in front of me. I cut to the chase, knowing I was being used as some petty revenge against another five-year-old.

“Sybil.”

“Spelled S-i-b-e-l yes?” Daffa replied, glancing out the corner of his eye at the still-fuming brat. That didn’t sound right so I started to offer to write my own name but the priest was already walking away. Why even ask if you’re not going to listen, dude?

Then I watched as the ceremony started, with Daffa inviting a “Bert” to the front, saying some mumbled lines, pouring a bit of water out of a small basin onto his hands, and leaving the soggy child to stand to the side. Simon’s father ordered his servants to gather us in one place and then whispered something in his son’s ear that made him look a bit calmer. 

“Sybil? Come to the front, please.” And now it’s my turn. A hard nudge on my back had me look at the only other non-soggy child in the church as he hissed at me to hurry up. In fact, it was almost like I was being herded, nudged, and pushed that the other children and adults ignored as I was worked forward. I elbowed the brat right as I paused in front of the much larger-looking basin that Brother Daffodil was holding effortlessly. I heard the water sloshing in front of me as a small part of my brain flinched and caused my legs to drag.

“You know, it’s really not necessary for me- I’m just an average, boring brat brother.” My voice sounds uncomfortable and my back feels it as Simon makes another jab at my kidney, clearly wanting me to stop wasting his oh-so-precious time. Despite all but begging for mercy, Daffa just looked at my pleas, then the child behind me, and smiled again.

“Now, Sybil, it’s required that all children in the kingdom experience their Ritugam, but you can take all the time you need in order to prepare yourself- after all this is a very big moment in your young life.” His placid face looked down at me as I nodded and started to hype myself up. It’s just water Sybil, no need to worry about it, you can’t even drown in that amount. I hear muttering behind me but I just shuffle forward on the top stair as I started to do the deep breathing that Loup showed me after my first storm in the orphanage. It’s fine it’s cool you’ll be-

A mighty shove had me landing face-first on the stone floor as mud flowed onto my hair for the second time in two days. A distant screech. My face throbbed. My shoulders are being grabbed. What? It’s hard to breathe. Why? My hands were scraped too as I shakily got on my knees as the obvious perpetrator was screaming about how his clothes were messed up. My eyes blurred as I touched the warm liquid that dribbled out from my nose.

Blood and mud smeared together.