The Core

Dinner taunted her. Cornbread sat in piles on the table. Taylon glanced over to her occasionally; he noticed something off about her expression but couldn’t find out why. Finally, he followed her gaze as it rested on the cornbread. His deep laugh broke through the common sounds of forks and knives scraping the ceramic. “Some fabulous cornbread you made, Lark,” he commented with a big bite. When Lark met his stare with a glare, he winked playfully at her.

The others watched the two, switching their view constantly between them. Lark stopped glaring when she realized it wasn’t affecting his good mood. She returned to poking at the food with her fork and attempting to eat the tough meat. She hadn’t taken cornbread and refused to until she learned the proper way to make it.

Taylon cleared his throat and all eyes turned in his direction – everyone’s but Tyrion, who was busy shoving as much food as possible into his mouth. “So, Lark saw the city from a distance today and she says she wants to go,” he began.

Helena was the first to speak. “Impossible. It just won’t happen.” Her head shook violently and Lark almost thought it was going to fall off.

The boy’s eyebrows collided above his eyes and his head turned to the side so slightly it was hardly noticeable. “And why not? We dress her up like us; we’ll give her a scarf to cover her neck and something with a hood. She’ll be fine.”

“Taylon, it’s not that simple. We don’t have many people that don’t know each other, especially in the town. They’ll talk and that will draw attention no matter how much she covers up.” It was Rhiana that spoke this time.

“Mom, she’s never been to a town before though!” Taylon shouted.

Rhiana gave a quick glance toward Lark; it was a mix between disbelief and shock. The Advisor had never once been to a town. The older women both found that difficult to believe.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she spat. “I may keep secrets, but I’m not a liar.”

Andor had, for once, been silent when it came to matters on Lark. His face scrunched up at her comment and he couldn’t contain himself much longer. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far because I doubt that but I don’t think it would hurt. Worst that could happen is that she would be taken care of by them and we wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

“Why do you detest me so?” Lark asked, barely containing the hostility in her voice. Her grip on the fork tightened. Her knuckles were white by the time she realized and released the utensil.

Andor shrugged nonchalantly, “Perhaps it’s that you don’t belong here and for all we know this ‘Cork’ of yours is coming to destroy us now and you led them here.”

Ignoring his ignorance to the fact that she came from The Core not a piece of foam, Lark just stared at him for a moment. “Oh yes, because I have targeted you in specific? Why is the world out to get you, Andor?” she questioned snidely.

The boy stood from the table, slamming the chair back. “Did I ever say you were targeting me? Maybe you were targeting Rhiana because she’s pregnant!”

Her voice was surprisingly calm for the amount of anger she was feeling. It even surprised her at how even it was when she spoke. "Yes because I'm the heartless one here. I have targeted, ridiculed, judged and been downright rude. That was me, wasn't it?"

“You’ve invaded our home! Demanded things from us! You’ve tried to gain our trust so we feel safe and you can destroy us from the inside!” Andor was screaming now. The rest of the room was silent. “You somehow convinced Taylon that you’re not out to get us, yet you want to go to our town! That’s suspicious! Why would you care how we hunt?”

The rest of Andor’s words fell flat as a large shadow fell across the room. All eyes moved from the previously screaming boy to the man casting the shadow. His face was set in a firm way. “Can I ask why it is that you are pointing accusing fingers at our guest?”

Lark unable to resist, stood from her chair and spoke directly toward Andor. “I am such a conniving villian. Thank you for informing me, I fooled myself.” She left the table after that not waiting around for a response. She pushed past Lyrius in the door way and made her way to her chest in the bedroom. There she pulled a heavy coat from the mass of cloth and tugged it on over her hunting clothes.

The door slammed behind her as she pushed out into the snow. She didn’t know where she was going or why she was going anywhere but she couldn’t stand to be in the same house as any of them at the moment. Although as she realized just how lonely the dense snow was, she wished that Taylon had followed her like he normally would.

The nerve that it took for that boy to accuse her, an Advisor of all people, of wanting to hurt them was beyond her understanding and therefore made her more furious than the rest of what he said. For him to think that she was so heartless as to target a pregnant woman. The nerve! Why should she, the most important of the Advisors, worry about such petty humans?

Maybe Zorac had been right about the place. It was a desolate wasteland that would be better off as a slew of brokenness than a functioning town. She had walked far enough away she decided and sat in the snow. She didn’t care anymore.

She realized that she did care. She cared about a lot of things. She had just been with Taylon, someone she was beginning to care about and speaking of things that made her care. Her hope and dream was to interact with people in the town at this point. She wanted that and she cared whether or not she got it.

It was dark when she had finally decided to return to the house. The sun had fallen long ago though; she was just too enraptured by her thoughts to take much notice. She had wondered in the same direction for about a mile and even though it was dark, she found her way back easily. It was a straight shot. No way to get lost.

Inside the house, the fire still burned in the large fireplace as usual. It flicked and danced casting odd shadows around the room. On the couch, she smiled seeing Taylon; his head was resting on his arms and his eyes were closed. He didn’t even move when the door closed. Undoubtedly, he was waiting for her and had fallen asleep.

Figuring she should tell him so he didn’t worry when he woke up later, she shoved his shoulder. “Taylon,” she whispered in his ear. He didn’t seem to respond at all. “Taylon, I’m home,” she repeated a little louder, shaking him again.

He raised his hand and waved her away. “Go away or give me a kiss. I do not believe you’re here until I get a kiss though,” he mumbled; he kept his eyes closed.

“I guess I’m not here then,” she said, brushing away a stray tendril. She started to walk away but Taylon’s rough calloused hand wrapped around her wrist.

“Don’t go, not just yet,” he said softly. “Just come sit with me by the fire for a few minutes.” He looked at her innocently from his green eyes.

For a moment, she just stared at him. After a minute though, she sighed and took a seat next to him. Instead of staying where he was, Taylon moved over and wrapped his arm around her. She was freezing from the snow but his body heat and the fire made it bearable. “So, tomorrow we’re going hunting again?” she ventured.

“Yes, if that’s what you want, I suppose we can do that.”

“Well, I want to go to the town instead of hunting, but I’m assuming that’s out of the question.” Her tone was dejected and calm at the same time. Taylon sighed beside her, fully awake now.

He took a deep breath before beginning, “After you left, Andor yelled some more, said some pretty nasty things about you and ‘the people like you’ and Dad just let him. My dad thinks he has a point, but my mother started crying. He made her cry because of everything he was saying about you. The argument was promptly stopped short.”

Her face was blank. Then as she realized the things that he was saying, it twisted into confusion, “What was he saying that was so horrible? And why did your mother get so upset?”

Taylon just shrugged, muttering something about not wanting to relive the things that happened while she was away.

The fact that a secret was being kept from her made her angry. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much, but she knew that nothing was going to bother her more at that moment. “Well, I want to know. Don’t keep secrets from me.”

His laugh was quiet and subdued to be courteous to the other in the house. “You’re keeping more secrets than I am, Lark. The Advisor of Secrets.”

“It won’t hurt my feelings if that’s what you’re worried about,” she said, brushing the thought off with a delicate wave. “I’m a big girl and can handle myself.”

“Lark, you don’t need to know. You’ll be fine without just one secret this time.”

The unfamiliarity of something being hidden from her drove her crazy. It wasn’t the way things work. People found her trust worthy and comforting and easy to confide in. Why was Taylon, a human of all things, keeping a secret from her?

She voiced her inner conflict, surprising Taylon. “Why don’t you tell me things? Don’t you feel comfortable enough around me to tell me your secrets? Everyone else does.”

“Everyone else is The Core, Lark. They are compelled to tell you, I’m assuming. They feel that they should or need to,” he explained quietly.

“Well they should,” she said defensively. “It’s my job. It’s what I do. I am Secrets.”

Taylon ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated with her statements. “No, you’re not Secrets. You were secrets. Now though, you’re Lark.”

“Oh, really? And you think you know so much about me and who I am because?” she prompted, looking up at him from under her lashes.

“Secrets can wield knives, but Lark knows how to hunt. She is the beautiful stunning girl that is sitting in front of me who braved the snow because she didn’t want to fight any longer. Secrets is the girl who sits in front of Zorac and shares her knowledge, but Lark ran away here to save us,” he said quietly. “I know so much about you because you and Secrets are two completely different people.”

She shook her head, standing up abruptly. “You don’t know anything.” With that, she disappeared into the bedroom, closing the door quietly and leaving Taylon alone with only the sound of the crackling fire.