Warmth in the Cold
Cylus 14 694, Late Night
Location: Dust Quarter
His blanket wasn't enough. He felt cold all over and it wasn't enough, the dreams in which they came... they would come back. They always did when they wanted something from her, from mother when she was busy taking care of her children. Why? What did she have to offer that they wanted? He didn't understand but he knew they hurt her somehow, because afterwards she would always be upset and cry when she were alone. When she thought herself alone anyways, Patrick wasn't so foolish like she believed. He noticed it when she tried to be discreet, when she tried to cry in silence with her back to them. Those people... what did they always want? He was too young to understand or so she'd tell him, and right now he felt too cold to sleep easy thanks to the weather outside.
He felt his brother move with a whimper as he stirred, awakened by the cold even as their fire pit sighed. Their mother Elinora moved out of place to get up, and left the boys to fend for themselves against the cold with naught but the blankets and straw pillows. Eagerly she fed what spare wood was left to get a rise of the fire, to keep her children warm against the overwhelming cold that clung to their ramshackle of a house. Patrick hated this place. He wanted to get out of here, live somewhere with less holes in the walls. Dominek moved and finally looked up for their mother, shivers rattled both boys as the fire finally started to eat away the last of their wood. They'd have to go scavenge for more tomorrow, if they wanted to keep the cold at bay for just a night longer.
"Ma.. Mama!" Dom's voice softly called out as she finally rose to return to her boys, the blanket brought up to allow her to huddle under with them.
"Sh," she beckoned to Dom he and Pat laid there, "I'm here darling. Just go back to sleep." Patrick felt her arm wrap over him and Dom as he watched the fire, the air he breathed from his nose appeared like fresh smoke in the cold. "Patrick dear, rest your eyes."
"I can't." He softly argued with eyes still on the flame. "I'm scared that the big man will come back." There was no answer at first, she'd didn't know what to say to him in that moment.
"He won't be here for the next few nights dear, I promise you he won't." Patrick felt her icy hand drift over his cheek for assurance, his eyes finally parted from their fixation as he rolled to face her.
"Will we be alright Mama?" He finally asked with hopeful eyes, for some reason Elinora's became glassy.
"Of course love! You both are going to be fine, Cylus is halfway through and it'll warm up soon." She promised him with her fingers now tangled through his scruffy hair. Patrick felt his eyelids grow heavy as warmth slowly started to collect underneath their blanket, the cold finally somewhat at bay as he snuggled a little closer to Dom and his mother.
"Could you sing that song again Mum? It always helps me sleep." He requested quietly as he felt Dom get situated in their clustered form.
"Absolutely dear, just rest your eyes now." She beckoned him to do with a soft kiss placed on his forehead, and another placed on the side of Dom's as Patrick's eyes came to a close. "Anything for my dear boys."
For a moment there was only the sound of wood that popped from the fire, matched with the winds outside that threatened them with the cold. Then finally he could hear her soft voice, her tones vibrantly sounded out the lullaby he'd always heard her sing.
"Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Swim the sirens of Volta,
Out to the seas.
Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Float the souls left unbroken
by the flocks of vile writhes
Down by the reeds
Night-blooming weeds
Embrace those who go dancing,
In sad moonlit dreams.
Down by the reeds
A twisted path leads
To banshees who breathe out
A cold winter breeze.
Nobody knows.
Nobody sees.
The sirens of Volta.
Down by the reeds...."
Sleep swiftly took him to a better place with no cold, no big men, not even the streets of Dust Town he knew. No he dreamed of the plains and their endless hills, the warmth of the grass as Ashan rolled in to bring bright better days.
OOC
Credit to the original song: Lionhead Studios, Down By the Reeds from Fable II
