[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami sat up in the galley with a pot of hot tea. She couldn't tear from her mind the receding image of Daisy as she sped towards the prison upon Bird's back. Daisy had looked even smaller and younger than when Cami had seen her before.

Except for Rose and herself, the others on the ship had never been in such a prison. You never knew from one moment to the next which guard would lash out in anger, or what unreasonable command would fall on your head. Cami kept remembering the day they'd demanded she choose one child to die. She couldn't bring herself to do that, so there'd been two small bodies lying in the sand. And, as hard as she tried, she could never totally put that image out of her mind.

Rose came over to the galley and sat near Cami, pouring herself a cup of tea. The young hobbit whispered, "I did alright, and you were afraid for me. She'll do alright too."

Cami looked up with haunted eyes, "But you followed me by choice. Perhaps it was a foolish choice, but it was your own. I'm the one who suggested sending Daisy. I'm the one responsible for her being there. Back home, we would never have someone so young face a danger like this."

Rose shook her head, and answered with a quiet wisdom older than her years. "But this isn't home. And Daisy had a choice. She could have said 'yes' or 'no'. You know how Mithadan is. If Daisy had even blinked once, the whole plan would have been scrapped. But she didn't. She wanted to go and do this. You did the best you could, and that's what Daisy's doing too."

Then Rose made Cami finish her tea and directed her back to the cabin with strict orders to get some sleep.

[ October 05, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]