Tierra watched in near fear as the man never stopped to answer her question – at least not verbally. No, he answered in a way that could only cause a sinking terror in Tie's chaperone. The look on her face, the stiffness of her body as Ms Sonja was pulled into the man's embrace unwillingly. He leaned forward and whispered something into the older lady's ear. It sent visible shivers down the girl's body at the very thought of what he told her. As quickly though as he whispered he was gone. The look of terror that quickly replaced the look of fear and worry cause Tierra to shrink on instinct as the chaperone approached rather quickly.
It took Tie only ticks to realize she had nothing to fear but that man's unheard threats, whatever he said to the woman put a thorn in the lady and she wanted Tierra to be completely obedient, to do as she was told and to do the best she could... Better than anything else she has ever done before. Right now anything better than being abused or falling from a window isn't going to be too awfully hard. Tierra thought, it was almost an afterthought though, all she could do physically was nod though, the orphan was unwilling to speak in case she spoke something out of place or worse Tierra was afraid she would unleash even an ounce of the fear she felt in a torrent of words that she couldn't take back. Luckily for Tierra though the look of fear was quickly replaced with a look of protection only a mother would have – it was briefly seen by Tierra but she saw it nonetheless.
The next fired set of words were directed to the young girl, still clearly scared of the man that had left. Treat Tierra like she was an honored apprentice. Whatever that means... Then there was silence. Pure unadulterated silence. It hung there, palatable and heavy until the guard coughed and resumed his duties. It startled the young orphan, a bit of a shriek broke free from her lips. She managed to gulp it down as the man behind the desk finally spoke.
Unlike the man that just left, this one did not scare Tierra as much. Briefly Tie assumed it was just a part of his job, to put people at ease she thought. It was the first time Tierra though could recall hearing him speak and she did as was commanded. She followed him through one of the two doors that were in the back of the office. A mental note to remember for later was that the door was unlocked. Does it always remain that way? What she walked into though, it was a treasure trove of information! Rows upon rows of books, like a library. In a way though, it was. As she looked at each book she could read the names on the spines, they were real names, not story titles.
“What is with the ones that have multiple names on them?” She reached up and pulled the Julia-Claretta-Shamara book from the shelf, almost without thinking or asking. Her body was stuck in place with the book in hand, she didn't want to forget where it was placed. The leather felt cold in her hands, as if it hasn't been held in some time. This room was surely not cold though, but the book was certainly chilled. Looking up at the man her hands absentmindedly went to flip open the book, only her conscious thought brought the book snapped back shut and she slide it back into place.
No. I am a copyist. Not a snoop. Tierra noted her duties, “In the morning I am to help you... Out there at the desk?” She pointed at the door they passed through just ticks ago, there on the other side of the barrier was the desk and the young redhead girl Tierra wondered curiously if she was still frozen in fear. “Then after lunch I am here... Among the... Dossiers...” She spoke the word 'dossier' with a whispering of awe, not sure what the word truly meant but she mentally penciled that in to ask what the word meant later. Maybe Sayana would know.
Following him up the stairs to the above floor Tierra came to see the room the task she was given. It was grunt work, a monumental task that she felt doomed to deal with. “So I am being tasked with taking this... Mess and turning it into...” The orphan girl pointed down the stairs in the direction fo the shelves of books, “Those?” There was no immediate answer, it was obvious he just wanted to plow through his task of explaining everything to Tierra so he could get back to his duties and she could do... Well, whatever was necessary to start. “Every citizen... Documentation and information? What kind of information?” She questioned, it was the start of a flood of questions, yet when the younger of the two managed to get to the bottom of the steps Tawny had already disappeared into the shelves.
She felt odd to be just left hanging out there at the bottom of the stairs that acted as the bridge between the old and new systems of data entry for the city Tierra called home. What he returned with was something that the girl never would've thought to have seen in a million years. A thin leather bound book with a single word stenciled into the spine – her name.
If what she was just told by the man holding that book was true, inside that might have more questions than answers... It might hold secrets even Tierra was not aware of about herself. As he held it out to her the girl took it slowly, a mixture of curiosity and confusion ran across her face, it was hard to comprehend everything that was going on just then.
As her fingers took hold of the edge of the book she lifted the cover, revealing neatly written lettering. Crisp and clear. Inside it was her track selection, her adoption that slid into soul crushing abuse, and her eventual return. Tierra has to pause and re-read several of the pages again, to ensure she was reading what little was there accurately. They have been watching me... All this time. Flipping past the the empty pages though it felt heavier in the back of the book then the rest. Instead of just flipping all the way through it she flipped the back completely over, now holding the closed book in reverse and with her right hand the orphan lifted up the back cover.
There revealed the last 'note' on Tierra... A map of the city, the buildings were shown as squares, circles, or trianges. Nothing too elaborate. And a series of numbers. Four,five, five, three, four, two, four... Wait.. There are small dashes between then... Four dash five, five dash three. I am going to need to figure out a way to remember these.
And it seemed as if her answer was given to her just then. Fresh book, supplies are downstairs... Where the copying needs to be done. Standardized format, simple enough it seemed. Once again, the comment of total silence on her tasks here or death was imminent... Tierra had a feeling that is wasn't going to be her death. Jill... That was the young redhead lady manning the desk right now. And then he was gone. Tierra stood there, her hands clasping the book on herself. The map and the odd combination of number pairings were calling to her. Begging the girl's inquisitive mind to search out the answers.
With book in hand she ran down the stairs in a hurry, the supplies she sought out was easy enough to find. A massive table before her and with it a quill suspended in an inkwell. She grabbed the quill and yanked up her sleeve. In the crook of her elbow Tierra wrote down a handful of the number pairings '5-4, 5-3, 4-2' she yanked up her other sleeve and with her opposite hand the orphan wrote down the other set of pairings from the smaller line, '4-1, 6-5'. Without much thought after that she waved her arms about, the air quickly drying the ink so it wouldn't rub when she yanked her sleeves back down. Sitting down at a nearby stool she lifted her legs up and yanked down the knee high socks down her shins.
With fresh ink dripping from the quill the orphan scribbled the pairings: 1-8, 2-7, and 6-8 onto her left leg just on the middle of her shin and allowed it to dry before she yanked the sock back over it, hiding it. On her right shin Tierra scratched down the last set:1-7, 5-7, and 5-3. Once that one was dried she pulled her sock back up and replaced the quill back in its inkwell.
It was just then that Tierra realized she was breathing heavily. The idea of doing something that deliberately went against what she was just told was exhilarating. Finally closing the book Tierra reminded herself to grab a map of the city. Like the ones they might give new citizens... Her eyes drifted back up to the floor above her. Grabbing the book from the table she stepped back up the stairs slowly, going back through the shelves the girl hoped to find where the location of her book went.
After some time though the orphan just gave up and placed her book on a nearby table that could be easily seen. She had no idea where it went and figured the man or Jill would come back around and assist in returning the books to their rightful locations.
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