and the stars in their orbits shone pale through the lightof the brighter, colder moon

The sun was slowly rising, its rays kissing her skin and spreading warmth through her body. Like any true feline she delighted basking in the sun. Her stomach was settling now from the bread she was consuming. Nadya had no mind to being stalked, her attention on the entertainment of the thickening crowd. The young boys scent was carried on the breeze but mixed with all the others and held no importance to pick out from the mass. A witch child started to throw a tantrum, shouting and crying as she tried to yank away from her mother's grasp. Blue wisps of electricity sparked from the young girls fingers, causing the onlookers to both part and draw near in an undulating curious fashion. The scene caused a distraction for Nadya so as to not notice the boy standing behind her, inching ever closer.



It was odd, being poked, something you would expect from a child who wanted your attention. Nonetheless it startled her, causing her to jump slightly and tense, expecting it to be the vendor having finally discovered that he was missing some merchandise. She remained perched on her seat, only twisting about to look at who had noticed her. Her chocolate orbs took in the boy, having to look up a bit due to his height. Even if she had been standing she knew he would be far taller than she. His single word "sister", caused a brief flash of the young boy's face in her dreams, and for a moment she felt like the air had escaped from her lungs as if she had been punched.



"What?"



But, no, more careful inspection of his features didn't match the ones of the face in her dreams. Of course they had been children then and puberty would have changed a lot but the underlying feature of a person never changed. It also didn't feel right, something in her told her that if it had been her brother there would have been some connection, some pull, telling her so. He did seem just as confused by the looks and sounds of it. His behavior also made Nadya nervous, a feral time of movement, broken and skittish. She was afraid that if she moved too quickly that he would take it the wrong way. His behavior continued, exclaiming and pointing in one direction and of course Nadya looked. She thought he had meant the witch child, perhaps she had taken out some vendors cart in her tantrum. Again she was startled when the bread was snatched from her hand. Her memory was sketchy at best when it came to her childhood. It wasn't really brainwashing on her rescuers part so much as a defense mechanism. A child's brain is capable of repressing and misrepresenting information in order to get through a traumatic event. Why would Nadya have questioned or suspected her dreams when there were obviously two people who called themselves her parents for as long as she could remember? However, the boy's actions acted like a key to the secret compartment that her brain had filed away those memories.



There had been a boy her age that had followed Aiden around. She could remember sometimes sneaking away from her home to follow Aiden, as any pesky little sister would. Once she had had a lollipop when she came upon the duo and while the boy had been much smaller then, the same antics had succeeded in snatching it from her. "Tobias, no." Her brother's tone had been soft but reproachful, though he didn't take the lollipop from the younger boy. She had run back home in tears to tattle to her parents but after that they only made her to give food to Aiden to take to the wild boy.



"..Tobias.."



The name felt foreign still but it was a connection to her past. One she had never had before and that strange feeling of exhilaration the moment she first learned she was adopted returned. So many questions flew through her mind, wanting to know everything that had happened since that night. Did he know where her brother was would be the most important. The look of the little boy turned young man caused Nadya's smile to faulter. He obviously hadn't faired as well as she had when her pack had been killed. Instead she returned to her backpack, her fingers wrapping around the apple to present the sweet treat to Tobias. It would be much tastier than the morsel of bread he had snagged.



"Where have you been?"