Emalia stared at the flyer with her mouth hanging open. She honestly didn't think the day could have gotten any worse, but it just did.
"Have You Seen Me? Gone from home around three weeks ago, Emalia Haverland still hasn't returned. She is around 5'7" with very long brown hair and is usually dressed in white. She is of a rather pale complexion, slender, and has brown eyes. If seen, please tell her that her mother is seeking her desperately. If this is Emalia, please, come home!"
Now that she focused her eyes, she could see hundreds of the papers on the sides of stalls, buildings, even littering the ground. The calm coming from her now nearly dropped her to her knees with weariness. She didn't really know what was inside her that made her this way, it just was and always was. If she was worried, anxious, angry, fearful, she suddenly found herself calm, and after it subsided, she tried her best to hide the fact that she was just exhausted. There was no one to ask except her father, and she couldn't seek him out. She was just too afraid, and too proud. Now this.
Emalia took a deep breath, collecting herself enough to rip the flyer from the wall. She went along the street, gathering all the flyers she could, hoping no one in her clan had seen them, no one that she knew had seen them, no one had seen them. Her hands were full when she reached a busier part of Market Square. "Hey, you Emalia?"
"Yes?" "Your mom is looking for you." "Ah, yes. Many thanks." "Hey, aren't you that girl?" "Yes... I know. Many thanks." "Oh! You know your mom is looking for you, judging from the pile of papers in your hands." "Yes, Many thanks."
If there was a better way of mortification, Emalia didn't know of it. She had given up reading the tomes of Cyric - luckily Hellstrom had explained to her the danger of the Cyrinishad before she had actually gotten to it. She hated to think that she would have been lost to her entire Guardian family and it shamed her deeply to think of how close she came. Then she ran into some man with a whip who spoke of shadows, slavery, Shar, and high blood - accusing her of being weak and weak minded for choosing not to endure whatever trials he thought testament to strength. Then there was Colin, who not only scared her with his enormity, but scared her more with his casual joking bride comment - which she really didn't see as much of a joke as she saw him quite a bit more frequently.
All this in one day...
Emalia collected all the parchments she could find as she took a last look up and down the streets of Westbridge. She hoped that everything was found and in her possession when she vanished to her room. The parchments rained down as Emalia threw them to the floor. She threw herself on the bed and for the first time she had known herself to - she cried. She at long last fell asleep, hoping this might be the last time she had to feel confusion, and that no one would ever know she had.
