Eyesdown (Day 282)

" 'Something's happened?' What do you mean? Don't be so dramatic."

Sarah kneaded her brow thoughtfully and ran a nervous hand through her close-cropped dark hair in an agitated manner. She was clearly serious about this.

"What's wrong?" asked Brea, putting more concern into her tone.

"I found someone," Sarah replied simply, as if it explained everything.

"And?" Brea asked. "Is he cute?"

"Well yes, I suppose she's fairly attractive. I can't say. I'm not thinking about that right now, Brea! She's not supposed to be here!"

"Well yeah," Brea agreed slowly. "I mean, no one really belongs out here in The Stakes. I don't know why you come here, Sarah."

"That's not what I mean!" Sarah insisted. She had this way of sinking into herself, like a tiny scared bird. She was a small woman to begin with, but presently she seemed to be shrinking. She was slumped down awkwardly as if trying to evade the notice of predators. Judging by the absence of mysterious ghostly women in the immediate vicinity, it might have been working.

"Okay then, Sarah. Let's try to figure out what it is you do mean. We'll go through this slowly, okay?"

Sarah nodded, although she was clearly not unaware of the layer of condescension in Brea's tone.

"You saw a woman in the Stakes."

"Yes."

"And it wasn't you. Seriously, no one else comes out here."

Sarah let out an exasperated sigh and nodded in affirmation.

"Have you seen her before?"

"No!" Sarah insisted. "Of course not. There's. . .definitely no one like that on the plains."

"What did she look like? Maybe I know her."

"You don't, Brea. Trust me."

"Humor me, then. I'm curious! It's not often we get strangers around here. You should know that better than anybody."

Sarah winced, ostensibly at the reminder of the circumstances that brought her to the plains in the first place. It was not an area in which most gladly chose to live. Water was scarce and the neighboring areas were dangerous. Growing food was next to impossible, and the wildlife was a somewhat less than palatable food source. The people of the plains regularly journeyed to some of the larger cities to the south to purchase and trade for food. Diulane in particular was a common destination. Many of those that made this journey did not come back for various reasons, chief among them the realization that there were many opportunities to be had in these bustling communities. It was an alluring prospect to earn wages for an honest day's work and have easy access to fresh food and water. Brea was skeptical of being surrounded by so many people on a daily basis. It sounded terrifying.

Sarah seemed to think it was not so bad, but Brea could scarcely imagine it. If she lived deep in one of those big cities, when would she ever have time alone? People would constantly stare at her and ask her questions she'd prefer not to answer. She wouldn't even be able to wear the same clothes, most likely. Any time she wanted to take a walk and look around, she'd have to barge her way through huge groups of people, all who were staring at her and judging her. They might even yell at her and all her names like on the schoolyard when she was a child. No, she didn't like the sound of that at all.

Brea could tell that Sarah missed the city. She had grown accustomed to the blistering heat and the sunlight of the plains, but she could never seem to cope with the solitude and the boredom. She had confided to her on multiple occasions that she felt discontent and empty there--although if she were pressed, she'd be forced to admit she was glad to have made a friend like her. Brea felt she would be really sad to see her go if for some reason she ever decided to move to Diulane or another nearby city, but she had pretty firm suspicions that that wouldn't happen in the foreseeable future. Neither one of them liked to think about what had brought her there in the first place--so Brea suddenly felt awkward for indirectly bringing it up.

"Er, yeah," coughed Brea. "Yeah, just tell me what she looked like. I wanna know."